UA to Renovate the JAR

[Staton14]

Zach The Zip: UA had a dynamic and creative young man in the Athletic/Marketing Department who was very creative. He also asked a couple of Zips players to speak to several student organizations as well as speaking in some dorms to ASK the students to ATTEND the games to provide the Zips with a home court advantage due by 1) attending and 2) being enthusiastic 3) sitting as close to the floor as possible.

The formula was: Win, interact with and invite the students and be creative. The young man in marketing was scooped up by Illinois to use his talents there.

They still use players to go into dorms to promote games. It just happened earlier this week to promote Wednesday and Saturday's games.

[Staton14]

Great point. From a marketing perspective, it's the old "less supply = more demand". We might even have scalpers for big games!!

I've made the point many times that shutting out a few people for a couple of games per year is a very, very small price to pay for improvements for the fans that will be there for multiple games every year. Having a packed house that's closer to the floor is a much better atmosphere too.

The only downside is that ticket prices will certainly increase. But, that means that the U will be able to make up the difference in the lost revenue for those couple of games where more total fans would have been in attendance.

To be fair, there was a guy scalping tickets outside the JAR last night. Just one guy, but still...

[Balsy]

Would UA really turn people away at big games if we "didn't have the seats"? I mean...supposedly our capacity is 5,500...but for those big games we regularly have an attendance of 200+ over that. Is there something I'm missing?

[Dave in Green]

I doubt UA will sell more tickets than there are seats due to getting in trouble with the fire marshal. So I suppose it's possible that the JAR has more than the officially stated 5,500 spectator seats. Another possibility is that there are in fact 5,500 actual spectator seats, and anything over 5,500 reported attendance includes the media, those in wheel chairs, all the worker bees who don't actually sit in seats, etc.

[zippy5]

DiG I think you're right. Plus standing room

[Staton14]

I doubt UA will sell more tickets than there are seats due to getting in trouble with the fire marshal. So I suppose it's possible that the JAR has more than the officially stated 5,500 spectator seats. Another possibility is that there are in fact 5,500 actual spectator seats, and anything over 5,500 reported attendance includes the media, those in wheel chairs, all the worker bees who don't actually sit in seats, etc.

Perhaps they sell more knowing not everyone who buys a ticket will show up.

[Balsy]

Just because there aren't seats doesn't mean it would be in violation of fire codes with the Fire Marshall...I'd expect that the JAR's maximum capacity for fire is much larger than the actual number of seats in there. How many "standing room only" tickets can be sold is my question....

[roopride]

The JAR looks wonderfull when there are butts in the seats..

[Dave in Green]

Fire marshal says spectators are not allowed to block any aisles in an arena, and clear paths must be maintained to all emergency exits. Where in the JAR is any standing room with a view of the court other than the aisles?

[Balsy]

I have created a stat thread where you can find a copy of attendance stats going back 10-years. I personally think this speaks volume to a lot of discussion going on here.

[taxpayer]

Good work Balsy; helps with this discussion. Attendance appears static with exceptions being 2006/2007 and 2012/2013. Time for some fresh ideas as well as more improvements to the JAR. With numbers like these who would consider financing a new 8-9000 seat venue?

I watched the Davidson vs Dayton game last night. Held at Davidson. Their arena appeared to be a similar vintage and design as the JAR. However, no track and better corner and close to the floor seating. UA

might consider reviewing as well as inspecting it for ideas to improve the JAR.

KD might consider implementing Davidson's offense as well. Excellent motion offense which doesn't require genetic freaks to function and succeed.

[RowdyZip]

The JAR looks wonderfull when there are butts in the seats..

This is a huge deal for me. I've seen some great, LOUD games when that lower bowl is full. It stinks that all our donor/season ticket holders think that its enough to just buy and not use the tickets. The lower bowl is usually 50-60% full. I know UA offers a ticket exchange, but NOBODY USES IT! I'd be willing to upgrade for a game or two over my GA season tix but there's no real opportunity to do so. I even called to inquire about some lower seats for a game and was given some silly amounts unless I bought a 3 game pack, then they'd mark down 20%.

Random suggestion of the day: Make any tickets left available 30 minutes prior to tip $10 ea, regardless of location. The Cavs used to do this back in the day with college IDs. Extra revenue plus full seats that look nice on TV/webcast. Win win.

[tomzip]

The JAR looks wonderfull when there are butts in the seats..

Yeah with all those people in agony having to sit on bleachers. I can find a lot of arenas that look great full-other than the dump a.k.a. the JAR

[Spin]

So, despite the examples of other area venues that saw drastic attendance increases, we still don't want a new arena because attendance might not increase...

Ignoring the need for basic creature comforts, easier access, better concessions/team stores/restroom facilities, and the community college impression of the university let's be happy with putting some lipstick on the gym that's smaller than many Division I practice facilities. This is all "we" want Zips basketball to be,

I'll shut up now.

[skip-zip]

This is a huge deal for me. I've seen some great, LOUD games when that lower bowl is full. It stinks that all our donor/season ticket holders think that its enough to just buy and not use the tickets. The lower bowl is usually 50-60% full. I know UA offers a ticket exchange, but NOBODY USES IT! I'd be willing to upgrade for a game or two over my GA season tix but there's no real opportunity to do so. I even called to inquire about some lower seats for a game and was given some silly amounts unless I bought a 3 game pack, then they'd mark down 20%.

Random suggestion of the day: Make any tickets left available 30 minutes prior to tip $10 ea, regardless of location. The Cavs used to do this back in the day with college IDs. Extra revenue plus full seats that look nice on TV/webcast. Win win.

You got it. Unfortunately, I feel that most of the "empty seat look" on footage can be attributed to the no-shows in the lower sections. Those tickets are already purchased, for the most part. So, there would be no way to just make them available in time for them to be sold to those arriving at the gate looking for a best available seat. But, I don't know how the ticket exchange works. I've never had to do it. Is it easy?

I wish there was a solution.

[ZachTheZip]

You got it. Unfortunately, I feel that most of the "empty seat look" on footage can be attributed to the no-shows in the lower sections. Those tickets are already purchased, for the most part. So, there would be no way to just make them available in time for them to be sold to those arriving at the gate looking for a best available seat. But, I don't know how the ticket exchange works. I've never had to do it. Is it easy?

I wish there was a solution.

The solution is that those seats become available at tip-off if the ticketholders are no-shows and haven't called ahead to reserve their spot because they're running late. Fans could go down to the box office and exchange their ticket for a discounted lower bowl seat.

Of course, this would require an actual ticket scanning system that updated available seats in realtime instead of doing things by hand.

I'm under the impression that most of the empty lower bowl seats are owned by companies.

[zippy5]

Call ahead to reserve your spot in your own seat that you paid for and made a donation to get? Good luck implementing that one

[ZachTheZip]

Call ahead to reserve your spot in your own seat that you paid for and made a donation to get? Good luck implementing that one

If you don't show up, you can't complain about people sitting in your seats.

[skip-zip]

If you don't show up, you can't complain about people sitting in your seats.

I would think you are right. But I can't figure out how this could work logistically. A mad rush of 1,000 people running down to the ticket window right before tipoff to exchange their seats? I don't see that working. And at what point is it "fair" to call them a no-show? What if they are just running late?

I can tell you this. I've been to some big arenas that simply allow everyone to move down once they are about 10 min. into the game. We've done this on very rare occasions in the past, but not recently, as I recall.

That might be the only thing that can reasonably be done.

[Dave in Green]

But Skip, you know how fast they can move people through the concessions lines. Seriously, you are dead right about the logistics of ticket exchanges 10 minutes into the game. Some would end up standing in line for the whole first half. Telling people to just move down after the first 10 minutes is not perfect, either, as a certain percentage of spectators will be at the concessions buying food and drink or in the restrooms. You'd end up with a constant flow of people moving in and out of your section as seats are claimed and reclaimed, and all that foot traffic would be pretty disruptive to trying to view the game.

I think it makes more sense for UA to identify blocks of reserved seats owned by companies and try to communicate with designated representatives from those companies on game day to see how many of those seats would go unused so they could be claimed by general admission ticket holders at a ticket exchange in the lobby. Trying to reassign reserved seats of individuals would be time-consuming and disruptive.

[skip-zip]

But Skip, you know how fast they can move people through the concessions lines.

That was good Dave. Very good. I'm guessing the ticket exchange could be completed by....maybe....the middle of the 2nd half?

Yes, why don't we get proactive and find out what seats are available on a particular evening, and make them available for purchase when we open up the ticket window an hour before game time? Heck, if I am not going to be there, I would rather that the U makes money off of my seat rather than leave it empty. It's not like I own the thing.

[zippy5]

If I were a donor with blue seats I wouldn't be too fond of having to call every game day and opt in to using my own seats. I don't see anything wrong with a voluntary program where season ticket holders can call and give up their seats for a game.

[skip-zip]

If I were a donor with blue seats I wouldn't be too fond of having to call every game day and opt in to using my own seats. I don't see anything wrong with a voluntary program where season ticket holders can call and give up their seats for a game.

Like you've already heard, that program already exists, but it's not used.

[morris buttermaker]

"Blue" seat holders will show up or give their tickets to someone if you play a decent opponent-- that's an easy fix. I think the upper limits of attendance - sustained- for a decent program at Akron is 5,000. I think a renovated JAR would be nice, it's crazy to think that this program -- needs, or can afford anything more. The JAR is a perfect size--- just poorly designed

[Balsy]

Sitting in the JAR yesterday with a couple of friends, watching the Zips grind out another win, it dawned on me just how much I hate the JAR. I'm surprised we have as many fans show up to that place. It's not a fun environment at all: and the college kids sitting near us looked bored out of their minds for large portions of the game. SOMETHING DRASTIC HAS GOT TO CHANGE.