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They use all of those retractable goals for practice. I think they do not raise them up as far as possible b/c they never usually obstruct anybody due to the crowd size.

Need to promote basketball attendance among student groups as well as local townsfolk.....it is sort a chicken and egg problem....recruiting improves with capacity crowds and crowds grow as the team plays at higher levels.... need to jump start the attendance.....any ideas? How did Gonzaga get it done?

GoBears!!

I hate that awful white wall around the court. Nothing says, "Stay off the court; fans not welcome" more than a 50 foot fall to your death if you happen to slip on an ice cube while walking on the lower level. When I used to practice with the team, I used to look UP in the stands..way up in the stands...then I realized that I was only looking at the first 2 rows...We have a magnificent set up with the FC. We need to move the fan closer to the game, even at the cost of removing the swing down goals. I mean, it's not like a jump shot is used in todays games anyway. It's dunk or be dunk on anyway...

I'm still going with my idea of making attending the ball games an elective 3 hour course. The more games you attend the higher your grade. Could call it FAN-atics 101. Make it a freebie course, no charge. Students like things that are free. The crip courses I took in college, way back when, I had to pay for.
As far as all the new ideas for closer seating to the floor, I'd prefer to actually see the students closest to the floor. They make the majority of the noise at the games and just maybe they could start some kind of new trend that would entice other students to come.

Interesting idea about putting students on the courtside seats.....maybe a special spirit section with free food?? In my day, free food would have gotten all the guys to watch a chess match, much less a b-ball game!! How to work the pep band into that? Keep up the thinking>

GoBears!!

the pep band is in that mix already with where they are situated in the south end. Our pep band was absolutely second to none in playing and spirit/heckling, they have that down already. They did a great job this season. The only one that could even remotely compare playing wise was Northwestern St. and that was it, at least from the one's I got to see, which was quite a few. I could see putting the rest of the students on the courtside though. By the end of the women's season, it looked as if some of hte students had made their way to those seats anyway, at least the oneso n the south end. I'm not sure if, or how many sat in the south end seats for the guys' games, but I'm sure someone could fill me in on that.

Monkey,
I understand your concerns about practice goals, but if the bleachers were retractable, they would only take up the space of one row when closed. The goals could be moved closer to the court to provide some room. They don't use side goals expecting a full court experience anyway. I just think seats closer to the court could provide more of a home court advantage.

Phil

You're ahead of me on this one. Great points and I liked the idea of having fans right on top of the action.

Are you saying that we don't necessarily knock down the existing walls but to just cut pathways through the wall down the existing aisles?

Maybe something like they have at Stanford?

just looking at that picture, and from how I am remembering the Farris Center, I'm not so sure that place at Stanford has more room than we do in the Farris Center. I guess I'm trying to say I'm not sure we have 6 rows worth of space in between the wall and the purple on the side of the basketball court like they do in that picture at Standford.

But my memory maybe off right now since I havent been in the building in a while.

I agree, we probably don't have that much room, but maybe we could just put a few rows there in a similar fashion...here is a picture of the same arena set up for a camp of some sort...

I think either cuts through the wall, or a nice railing in place of painted concrete. Take your pick. This whole discussion is great. We could easily go over 6,000 in the Farris Center (capacity, attendance is another thread altogether) and it be pretty cheap and quick.

I like the whole idea of having students right on top of the court. What if we just put some type of platforms like they use for choir and make it a standing student/fan section opposite(east side) players benches. The platforms could run the length of the court and would not be elevated to a point where it would be blocking the view of those sitting in the stands.

Behind the players benches we put more upgraded chair back seating. If we had to do this in phases than I would first get the platforms and students involved and attendance should grow as student spirit grows.

DING, DING, DING!!! We have a winner!!! Sounds good to me Monkey

Where are you guys planning to put the press/radio guys?
There is probably 8 feet between the press tables and wall - before putting someone in a chair at the table.

I find it hard to believe that you could fit more than a single riser behind the tables.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of people being closer to the floor. But I don't think you have many options with the way the place is currently setup.