SMC

If the MC isn't sold out this year when Gonzaga comes something is wrong with Cougardom.



BTW, I headed to the Portland game and will be at the WCC tourney. Looking forward to seeing these guys in person.

Gunk wrote:

If the MC isn't sold out this year when Gonzaga comes something is wrong with Cougardom.



BTW, I headed to the Portland game and will be at the WCC tourney. Looking forward to seeing these guys in person.

I’ll be at the Portland game as well.

BYULV wrote:

scott715 wrote:

Attendance was 15,212 a season high but still we were 3,700 away from a sell out. Some people missed out.

Yeah, it makes you wonder what it would take to sell out a game these days. I'm not knocking our attendance compared to everyone else out west as I don't believe we've been out of the top 3 in over a decade, but a Saturday game against a key opponent? I don't believe the Gonzaga games have sold out in the last few years. Actually I believe it's been quite some time since BYU sold out a MBB game. I still believe it comes down to all the home games being on TV.

I went to the gonzaga game last year and sat at the very top because I bought tix late. It was about as sold out as can be. In fact, they were turning away students because the ROC was over capacity.

Actually, now looking back on it that was 2018 that I went. Time flies (but it was still sold out).

I stand corrected. According to BYU, our last 4 Gonzaga home games have been sold out.

Date: 1/31/2019; Attendance: 18,987

Date: 2/24/2018; Attendance: 18,987

Date: 2/2/2017; Attendance: 18,987

Date: 2/27/2016; Attendance: 18,987

I bet GU fans made it sell out. They travel pretty well.

Also, it was mostly the lower blue more expensive seats that were empty. Maybe lower your ticket prices? A last minute butt in the seat at half price is better than an empty seat. It also was a later start time than normal.



But none of those are good excuses. I was there and so should you have been!

byufan4ever wrote:

Also, it was mostly the lower blue more expensive seats that were empty. Maybe lower your ticket prices? A last minute butt in the seat at half price is better than an empty seat. It also was a later start time than normal.



But none of those are good excuses. I was there and so should you have been!

Sometimes those are season ticket holder's seats that don't come for some reason--good or bad. I just looked at lower bowl seats for Saturday's game vs USF and there are about 100 left.

There were sections in the upper bowl that were almost completely empty. The rest were packed.



In the lower bowl, the empty seats were scattered, but I would guess 10% or so were empty.



Difference is, the lower bowl seats were sold (I know because I bought additional tickets just hours before game time), so it was the upper bowl seats that left us short of a sellout. This game could have been a sellout easy, but BYU didn't drop the upper bowl ticket price from $38 to $10 until the day before the game. They prioritized $$ over the sellout.



The environment at games isn't what it used to be--at all sports events. On Saturday the Marriott Center was as raucous as it's been in recent years, but it still was nothing compared to what it was 7+ years ago. The crowd get excited in bursts, but the energy doesn't last long as the phones come out and everyone needs to tweet about the play or check a stat or read a text. Not a lot of sustained energy anymore with a multi-tasking, second-screening crowd. Changing times.

snoscythe wrote:

The environment at games isn't what it used to be--at all sports events.

The exception being men's and women's volleyball. The fieldhouse still rocks a great crowd most every game. $5 general admission and you're a lot closer to the action than at football or basketball games. And they rarely lose. ;)

I think prices, second screens, and moving the student section has affected the atmosphere in the MC.



With the students on one side of the court it added to the raucousness. Putting the student section at one end kind of isolates them. Students show up and are loud. Now, mid court on both sides of the court are dominated with season ticket holders and game-day fans, that may or may not show up and certainly aren't loud, raucous students.

Gunk wrote:

I think prices, second screens, and moving the student section has affected the atmosphere in the MC.



With the students on one side of the court it added to the raucousness. Putting the student section at one end kind of isolates them. Students show up and are loud. Now, mid court on both sides of the court are dominated with season ticket holders and game-day fans, that may or may not show up and certainly aren't loud, raucous students.

I agree that moving the student section was a mistake. I watched some awesome games in the MC in the 00s. So loud my ears would ring the rest of the night. Sad it's not the same.