We also learned from Boilergal that if you don't like the seating situation, become a rich alum and buy good seats. Problem solved!
I don't think it's that big a deal that the good seats cost money. My issue is with the JPC control of everything and, more significantly, the weak student seating position within Mackey. To review, this is the proposed seating chart for the "new" Mackey in the fall of 2011:
For those with bad eyes, the darkest color is the proposed student section. Note, zero students tickets along either sideline...at any level. Reader Ryan went to work immediately and came up with what would be a dream solution and I felt it warranted being shared with everyone. Have a look:
Hoooo-baby. That would be fantastic. Can you imagine how that side of the arena would look/feel/sound? And they could carry the enthusiasm even over the lame-o people who sit on their hands and leave with ten minutes to go. Obviously, this would never happen. But it's fun to dream.
Thanks, Ryan, for the quick photoshop job.
19 comments:
That would be super sweet-- and I'm an alum who's been back to campus exactly 1 time.
I'm sure everybody will have their stories, but as a young lad, the first college hoops game I went to was at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY-- Rose Hill Gym is the oldest basketball arena in D-1, and at 3,200 fans, one of the smallest. But the student section-- which began at courtside, and was primarily on one side of the building-- was rocking and rolling that place.
In 1990, I was visiting a friend and fellow Boiler alum in Sacramento, and we went to see Purdue play Cal-Berkley in the notorious Harmon Gym. Holly crow, that place was beserk thanks to the student section... which started at courtside and was primarily on one side of the building. The courtside seats were literally on the floor, so close to the action the more fearless/aggressive fans could stick out their arms, and they would be well within the plane of the court, screaming like maniacs. Keady's kids looked spooked, and Gene had to alter his game plan to steer clear of these fanatics (great game, Purdue eked out a win, btw). That, my friends, is home court advantage-- group passionate people together (for cryin' out loud, don't split them up), it revs up the home team, freaks out the visitors, and alters every opponent's gameplan. Great fan support makes teams even in down years dangerous, and removes that Sharpie preseason "W"-- heck, University of Oregon basketball has been underachieving for years, but nobody liked to play at McArthur Court, aka "The Pit," because it is so effin loud as to be disorienting.
So yeah, let the students be grouped together, and give the fogeys their primo seats. Everybody's happy, and Mackey becomes an even more intimidating place to play. Sign me up.
Sorry if I came off as sassy earlier, I didn't mean any offense to anybody. It seems the alternate seating could work out really well. Since I will never be a lower-bowler, I will have to up my JPC giving to keep from being in the nosebleeds behind the goal.
Sidenote: There are 2 seats between my seats and T-Mill's... those are the FA's from FW.
Also, I'm an alum, before anybody accuses me of being a selfish student :) Although recent enough that it feels weird saying that.
Thanks J.
Am I the only one who thinks there is an economic angle to moving the students closer? Closer students = better crowd presence = better TV coverage = better recruits = better teams = more wins = more willing JPC members, despite less front row seating.
Is this crazy? Maybe I play too much chess...
right on benjamin, and thanks for your story expat... if only those that made these decisions would 'get it'
Exactly Benjamin. Unfortunately Purdue tends to focus mainly on short term and direct revenue streams. Understanding indirect, long term, and in many ways more impactful revenue strategies would benefit the athletic program/school immensely.
There is one advantage to the new layout: there'll be students behind both backboards. Now instead of being able to distract opposing free throw shooters during one half, both halves will become annoying. Having said that, I speak as a an alumnus, season ticket holder, and JPC member when I say the seating chart could be a lot better, and the $100/year tax on the upper bowl is unwelcome.
The seat tax is actually my bigger concern, more than the location of seats. The higher the ticket prices go, the fewer seats get sold when we have an inevitable down year or two. If we manage to have two bad seasons in a row at some point, expect Mackey to be a ghost town. As football has shown us, Morgan Burke is incapable of pricing the tickets to match the product.
The best seats, in my opinion, are the ones in the corner. They are much closer and you have a better view of the benches. I actually like the original new layout better than the alternate except I would add the other corner in the lower level on each side. That would be perfect!
I tend to agree with Ben C that having student seats right behind the baskets for general roudiness when the visiting team is shooting. While I think it would be great to have the students filling in almost a solid half of the arena (noise factor, camera shots, etc.) it may take away from the TV if they show free throws with crusty old JPCers sitting on their hands not doing a damn thing. And they will be sitting there quiet as mice during free throws.
Honestly, I'm a bit torn when I look at the two. As a student I got to spend a season in the second row of Section 13. That was very close to the action. Would the Paint Crew be as effective behind the Purdue bench? I really like the idea of having the students as one solid block, but would it be as good a little further from the court? Maybe shift it over to one side?
When Burke took over, attendance was at capacity (14,123), and stayed that way through most of the '90s, with a small drop (40-80 tickets) in 1995-96 and 1996-97. The Boilers were generally fifth in the conference in attendance, except for 1997-98 when they were second: this is more of a function of other teams' attendance, given the limited capacity at Mackey. (Expansion of other arenas meant that capacity attendance in 1998-99 was good for seventh in the conference.)
In 2001-02, attendance dropped below 12,000, and it dropped below 11,000 the next year. It didn't get back above 13,000 until two years ago, and it's still not above 14,000, even given the good runs the team has had lately. Purdue now settles between 6th and 9th in the conference, depending on how Iowa and Minnesota (and Michigan, once) are doing. Comparatively speaking, Mackey is a ghost town. Without a team capable of a Final Four run, ticket sales do slow ... and that's the problem.
We've already seen two bad seasons in a row, 2004-05 and 2005-06. Attendance dropped to 75% of capacity; unfortunately I can't find 2005-06 athletic department revenue to compare, but in 2004-05, men's basketball actually brought in more than it did in 2008-09. (The majority of the revenue comes from the conference and from NCAA tournament payouts; the Department of Education database doesn't split this out, so all I can see is the grand total. Anyway, it doesn't mean that Purdue didn't see a drop in ticket revenue.)
And that's the key, just like in football: Burke doesn't seem to care to balance enthusiasm and money. If there's a question, it's money first. Students will go where he wants them to, and if they don't make as much of a difference, as long as the overall revenue is good, then that's apparently fine with him. Personally, I'd rather have the students packed together to make a wall of noise and push some alumni (even if it meant me) to the ends of the court ...
Has anyone thought to e-mail this to Burke? Not that it would change anything much but it would be interesting to hear his thoughts. He's pretty good about writing back as long as your sincere.
I agree the edited seating chart would be sweet. Sweet enough we should fight for it. I think it would be fair to all parties involved.
4th -- Feel free to send it along.
I'm not sure how much value I put on the students being behind the baskets for free throws. It does look good on TV of course, but the actual effect....who knows. Besides, maybe that would give the alums an excuse to yell and wave their arms? Probably wishful thinking.
All I know is, the atmosphere at say, the Breslin Center, is so much more amazing with an arrangement like this. They also switched the Izzone side from facing the benches to behind the benches this year, for a better TV presence. I really don't think there's any doubt at all to the "Closer students = better crowd presence = better TV coverage = better recruits = better teams = more wins = more willing JPC members" theory. Maybe something like this is the difference between Branden Dawson playing in West Lafayette or taking his skills to East Lansing. Frankly, I don't want to know, because that would piss me off.
Before anybody sends it to Burke, anyone know if there is a higher quality image floating around on the internet? I'd like to photoshop it better but I guess it isn't a big deal. Wasn't planning on this showing up on the front of a popular Purdue blog or being emailed to anybody :P
Yes, I don't mind sending it to Burke. I could type something up, with Ryan's permission of course since the image is his. Let me know, what do we have to lose?
Go for it, I don't mind.
Here is Burke's response to my well thought out e-mail (as least I thought so)
Thanks for your comments. We worked with the Paint Crew to come up with the locations and everyone agreed it provided the best balance to support our students and to run the department as a self sustaining department which receives no student fees, university allocation or state funds.
Secondly we are not allowed to put students immediately behind the visiting teams bench per Big Ten rules. Your plan would not only bump all the alums out of the mid court seats behind the benches but do so.
Thirdly in a circular arena with a rectangular floor the closest space to the floor it at the ends.
Morgan
Not that arguing does any good most of the time, but it's hard to argue with that. If they can't put students behind the benches, then it's either opposite the benches or at both ends. If they won't bump alumni out of center-court seats (which is probably a wise decision), then you can't seat the students as a block ...
To be honest, I meant to have the student section behind the media. That's the orientation I usually think of Mackey in and the resolution on the image so low that I just assumed "home/away bench" said media or something. But I don't see any issues to flipping it?
Also, I'm confused. I'm watching the MSU game and I see what appears to be students with Izzone shirts on sitting behind the Wisconsin bench. There are about 3 rows behind the bench that Badger family/friends/whatever are sitting in...but other than that. Clearly those rules only apply to us.
I'm watching MSU and Northwestern and see the same thing, so you can put students behind the bench just not in the first couple of rows
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