Fill the Bram

[katlander]

After attending the Nebraska game and seeing their beautiful 15,500 arena mostly full I was forced to think about our anemic crowds. I know this has been a subject of conversation here in the past.

But this time I'm serious. Let's fill the Bram if it is even possible. We pay tens of millions for facilities, millions annually for coaches and millions for a myriad of other staff, amenities, unis, transportation, advertising & promotion and on and on. But we fail to fill our arena. This is not good. It does not help in recruiting. It makes the fan experience less for those that do come. It makes it hard to improve the program and win.

How can we make it happen? It probably won't be easy until we start to win. We don't have the numbers to make it easy so we have to try harder. Here is what I propose:

1) Lower ticket prices. Reduce season tickets and make general admission very reasonable. I think we should approach ticket prices as the airlines do. No empty seats. If we have to give tickets away. When we have really good teams and strong demand we can raise prices, and vice versa.

2) Improve concessions and lower the prices. $6 popcorn & Pepsis is highway robbery. For a family of five to each get a Pepsi and popcorn we're talking $60 freakin bucks for about $3 of product. Rip-off. Too much for a mediocre product. (Both the concessions & the game). Also give people something really good to eat. Good polish sausages for $5, better nachos for less, pizza. Good stuff at good prices. Make it a place to come and eat supper. Affordable and good. Bring in vendors if we have to. Why not some Call Hall ice cream. Cotton candy. Stuff people really want. Fill the place up and make some $$ on good concessions.

3. Halftime entertainment that is really great. Acrobats, dog acts, the guy with the chairs, phi slamma jamma etc. every game. Make it fun for the whole family. Make it the place to be. Maybe the entertainment could do a teaser performance half an hour prior to game time.

We may take a revenue hit, at least initially, but we will be helping the program, providing a service to the community and our fans, and building for the future. I come to games from out of town and often meet friends, made on this board, for a meal, either before or after the game. People shop, buy gas, groceries and go to movies after football games.

We need to get the young on board early and create wildcat fans across the area and across the state. We have to be family fun, family affordable, and family friendly. We have to make the kids nag to go to our games. I was a fan from about the age of ten because we started to watch the Cats on WIBW. We could only get 3 channels, and one was fuzzy. I was the first one in my family to attend college and others have followed. We will not create fans if we are not good and we will not win if we do not get the better players. When it's time to go to college many are going to follow their heart. I know I did. Time to make the Bram a great experience for all generations of fans.

[kswildcat]

You have a great plan, kat. I hope someone is listening. Lower ticket prices and better, affordable concessions will go a long way to encourage people to come. I love the idea of coming early to eat supper and making the game a true family outing. I'm not sure about half-time entertainment but maybe for a few Saturday games, it would be a great idea. With a 2-hour drive, weeknight games don't work for us anymore but lower GA prices would really help. If the team can be in the top half of the conference and occasionally challenge for the top spots I believe that and your ideas can fill the Bram.

[ToledoCat#3]

When I worked in Ames, Iowa, I appreciated the way ISU handled its women's basketball games. Low admission, better and more affordable concessions, lots of family activities. It worked and, I think, still does. Hilton would be rocking and near capacity with tons of full families, lot of kids becoming die-hard Clone fans.

I think Kat's plan could work, given a little time. The new facilities would make it much easier to put such a plan in place. Attending a KSU basketball game should be fun -- not a "wallet-emptier."

Sports maxim: An empty seat is never a good thing.

[katlander]

Continining to think about this why not make admission free to anyone under 18? Those kids are our future. Pack em in. One thing I have noticed is that the younger generation of today really likes free. Can you imagine a couple thousand more high school kids in there? Make it fun.

There have been some really good halftime acts in the Bram in the past. I am always a little disappointed when there isn't one. One amazing act was a guy around seventy balancing himself on chairs. Dude was about twenty feet in the air with some of the chairs balancing on 2 legs and him doing a handstand. We have had jugglers and a variety of other good acts which I really enjoyed. Women and kids appreciate the acts even more.

Tuesday night games are tough. Limits the crowd to those within an hour or so from Manhattan. Also school nights. We'll have to brainstorm on that one. How about 6:00 tip offs?

Maybe we can work to sell out the Saturday games first, and just improve the week night games. Just more butts in the seats, a lot more.

Free parking.

[tmcats]

covid, the mask requirement, parking issues all complicate attendance. i admit to walking this year over the politics of covid.

[katlander]

Another thing I hate at Men's games is the friggin volume of the sound system. You can't hear yourself think, and it is almost constant. it makes me think they are trying to create artificial excitement. Pack 'em in and turn down the volume. Let's create real fan excitement. Nebraska wasn't like that and neither was the women's game I attended last week. You have to yell to be heard by the person in the next seat. It sucks. Can you hear me now?

And the sound system is messed up. You can't understand what people are saying. It's muffled. Totally ridiculous for a facility like that. The announcer sounds fine but when they play the games with the players and interview Weber after the games it is really hard to know what they are saying.

Time to step it up.

[AlabamaLane]

All of these are great ideas. Comparing our attendance to the Huskers however is not apples to apples. There are more than a quarter million people that live in Lincoln, and Omaha with a half million is a short drive away. But that is no reason to think we can’t do a better job of getting people in the stands.

[xtrawildcat]

Cost 10 bucks for me to buy a general admission ticket for my daughter last night. Making it 5 bucks won't change things.
Offer 1 dollar tickets like we are to the Texas game might help if offered to young people under the age of 18, Might get young parents to for out 10 buckes for a ticket if they can bring their kids for next to nothing.
The team plays an enjoyable brand of basketball this year. But only thing that will really bring in fans is winning.

Fans boycotting due to non existent mask issues doesn't help.

[gdgjr78]

You have a great plan, kat. I hope someone is listening. Lower ticket prices and better, affordable concessions will go a long way to encourage people to come. I love the idea of coming early to eat supper and making the game a true family outing. I'm not sure about half-time entertainment but maybe for a few Saturday games, it would be a great idea. With a 2-hour drive, weeknight games don't work for us anymore but lower GA prices would really help. If the team can be in the top half of the conference and occasionally challenge for the top spots I believe that can fill the Bram.

Just do the bold part and people will come. There is no enthusiasm surrounding this program because it’s been terrible the past 2 years. When you start talking about lowering prices and getting the circus to perform at halftime to get people to go to the games that is a big indictment of BW and the staff.

[IStillLikeHarv]

If this team is much closer to 20 wins than 20 losses, then the fans will return -- the students in particular. Covid is likely to depress college basketball attendance overall this season, but winning will help no matter what the exact impact of Covid turns out to be. Just win as the saying goes.