Sellout crowd?
- Thread starter phs55
- Start date
I think it’s kind of silly, too, but in reality no we do not seat more than 5,700 anymore. I will say it seems to have helped with the atmosphere, though. Chair backs are packed and everyone is closer to the court.
It speaks volumes to me that we only tarped the bleacher seats that are literally above the rafters, and we lost approximately 38% of our seats. The design of the arena is that bad. Hopefully we can do something about it. Once the baseball field is built, correcting the HC or building a new arena should be the next major project. I know it won't happen soon but... mercy.
And then some. There is a section at the east end of the Cam that was sold as a whole to somebody for a kids party. Maybe 50 seats +/-. Then, they also sold those tickets again, meaning those 50 people were on their own to find a place to sit. I heard the usher say he was sorry but he couldn't do anything about it. He was telling people if they could find a seat to sit in it. I believe one of those unseated people was Taeveon's grandmother. If I had known this before she left around halftime I would have found her a seat in the lower chair backs. There were a lot of those without anybody in them.
What?????
The design is bad???
Because there are bleacher seats way up high???
So
And they are not tarped just so we can get sellouts.
They are tarped over for reasons. Beer plus steep bleachers with no hand rails is probably frowned upon by insurance companies. Just a thought.
Beer. Plus very few, if any, discounted tickets equals more money than untarped seats.
The Cam is perfect for what this program needs.
This happened to me at a game earlier in the season. I purchased single game digital tickets but when I went to my seats there was a group already seated with paper tickets for the same seats. Fortunately, there were empty seats nearby that we could use. Not sure how a mixup like that could occur in todays digital age.
What this thread proves to me:
Herd fans during football season:
Why can’t we get more fans to come out to the games? The Joan looks half empty! Marshall fans will find any excuse not to go to a home game……
Herd fans during basketball season:
(attendance swells during an unusually successful season; New AD is trying innovative ideas to encourage fans buying in to attending in person)
…..wellllllllllll, why are they tarping the upper bleachers? We could get more fans in the rafters! This “selling out” the games is a joke….
The Faithful, when presented with good news, will always find something to bitch about.
Herd fans during football season:
Why can’t we get more fans to come out to the games? The Joan looks half empty! Marshall fans will find any excuse not to go to a home game……
Herd fans during basketball season:
(attendance swells during an unusually successful season; New AD is trying innovative ideas to encourage fans buying in to attending in person)
…..wellllllllllll, why are they tarping the upper bleachers? We could get more fans in the rafters! This “selling out” the games is a joke….
The Faithful, when presented with good news, will always find something to bitch about.
No, it's not perfect. 8k seats in a bowl or octagon-like configuration would be perfect.
I fully understand the tarping of those seats. I'm all for it. What I'm saying is that large of a percentage of the seats being up there is not optimal. The design was always bad. That hasn't changed.
The atmosphere, fans and team are doing great. They're a lot of fun to attend. I do think we can still have that and a better configuration both. Just not right now. But the HC would be far better if they had the room to move the wall-side back and bowl in more lower level seats, more like a horseshoe in that part.
I think MU's current administration is doing absolutely everything it can within the boundaries of the current configuration.
The idea that the upper seats were tarped over for any reason other than they were unsellable is false. It has nothing to do with beer, insurance companies (the state is its own insurer), or anything else other than creating a false shortage.
It is small time, bush league, and sad.
It is small time, bush league, and sad.
Stupidest statement you have made, and that’s saying something! To illustrate why:
The state is self-insured. Marshall comes to the underwriters and says: We want to sell beer in the Cam.
State says: Do you have all of the required safety measures in place that will reduce the risk of serious injury, should a ticket holder become too inebriated?
MU: Mostly.
WV: Please explain.
”mostly”, like “I mostly put locks on all entrances of my house, but the damn thieves entered through the door that was unlocked!
or
“We mostly filled in that 20 foot deep hole in our yard, but the neighbor’s kid fell into the 8 foot deep hole, breaking both legs and sustaining a concussion.”
You see Sam, insurance underwriters are in place to gauge risk, and if an insured comes to them with a higher than allowable risk, the uw’s can say: you can sell beer in the lower seats, but where there are no handrails, you can’t have anyone sitting in those seats.
You also make a false statement that the tarpEd seats are unsellable, since in the past fans have paid $ to sit in said seats.
take your best shot, my fren’
WS
p.s. Everyone with a beer in their hand in the lower seats: stfu Sam!
Beer, plus steep steps, with no railing to reach the upper chair backs is OK then? It makes no sense. And those seats were selling for $15. You need a better argument.
I guess if the team is ultra successful and you can't find a reason to bash it, go to Plan B and bash the facilities.
That is real nice.
Except the state charges a flat rate per budget dollar for liability insurance.
You simply do not know what you are talking about.
If you want to believe that we tarped over 40% of the arena because of beer you are too gullible to be taken seriously.
Hell we need to tarp the Joan too. I rather have it looked packed with a tarp on a section or two vs the over half empty stadium look
Will we say its because of beer, or make up some other excuse for stupid people to believe?
Do you not comprehend anything? If the state starts absorbing substantial liability payouts because of a known uninsurable risk, they are going to have to increase (if we accept your premium payment statement) what they charge the insureds (schools, in this case) for coverage. Why would they do that?
You also failed to address the 2nd part of your asinine post, that the seats in ? are “unsellable”
Do tell……
Not sure about the insurance issue. I do believe the administration is thinking about safety. The steps are steep and without handrails. Anyone the least bit inebriated would be at risk to themselves and others.
Before beer was sold, I have seen folks fall, young and old alike. What other explanation would make any sense?
It is my understanding that the building was constructed so it could be used for other purposes besides basketball. The main level bleachers once rolled back before they broke and had to be left in a fixed position.
It would be nice if some minor remodeling of the upper level could be done so the space was usable, but I doubt that will happen. They can’t even figure out how have air conditioning.
It would be nice if some minor remodeling of the upper level could be done so the space was usable, but I doubt that will happen. They can’t even figure out how have air conditioning.
The lower level bleachers did roll back years ago but they aren't broken and left in a fixed position. They were remodeled and changed to permanent during the Greg White era.
Other than a handful of games over the last several years, I don't recall more than a 100 people or so sitting in the bleachers . It was the right move.
Hard to believe Marshall basketball had years in the 80s where average attendance in the Cam was 8,000+. Even in the old Field House days, attendance above 5,000 was not uncommon.
Sadly, Huntington has lost about 15K since the Huck days, as has Charley West.
Lost some good Corp. partners as well. Key Centurion and Ashland Oil being big ones. We were a basketball school then as football was just starting to see moderate success. Jmho
As a student during those days, it was awesome when we packed the Cam. It was loud and rowdy
Right move? what purpose does trapping available seats serve? I don’t get it…
Those bleachers look nasty and were rarely occupied to any degree. I'd say the school makes just as much revenue now if not more; especially considering the edition of alcohol sales. It's been a great atmosphere and looks much better on TV since those upper bleachers don't show and look like no man's land.
It's too bad the legislature screwed us when it was built and demanded cuts so money could be diverted to Mountaineer Field. But that's water over the dam.
Speaking of remodels, has anything begun on the Joan Endzone Promenade.
So removing seats that could be potential revenue is good because it looked nasty and rarely used? That makes zero sense.
Instead of spending money on a tarp why not clean the so called “nasty” bleachers and start promoting, maybe actually try and schedule some legit teams that will draw crowds. Just throwing a tarp up because your trying to force everyone lower to make your gym feel more full isn’t a good game plan.
#RemoveTheTarp
Call Spears and ask. Just sharing an opinion. Obviously someone did some homework and felt this was the best course of action. We can always question some decisions over the years, but I highly doubt this move was done without some cost/benefit analysis. Since we need every dollar we can get.
Man, I miss a day and a half on here and there is so much to unpack... Lol
The tarp inside the Henderson Center is small-time and gimmicky, regardless of the reason for its existence.
Beer sales have nothing to do with tapping over the bleachers. Some of you guys need to go to some games at other universities. Most sell beer now, many with much larger arenas than the HC, that are equal too or more steep at the top. Also, if this were about hand rails [its not], then installing some cheap metal hand rails and keeping the upper seats open would be easily fixable and not cost prohibitive.
This is a move to try to create "sellouts" and give the illusion that people care about MU basketball. It's marketing, and it appears to be working, whether any of us like it or not. Dont be shocked when next year MU schedules some creampuffs to start 5-0 or so and the tarps magically get pushed back to create more seats due to "need" that has been created.
The good news is, 5,700 people cared enough to show up for a basketball game against Troy... 10 years ago that would have been unheard of.
The tarp inside the Henderson Center is small-time and gimmicky, regardless of the reason for its existence.
Beer sales have nothing to do with tapping over the bleachers. Some of you guys need to go to some games at other universities. Most sell beer now, many with much larger arenas than the HC, that are equal too or more steep at the top. Also, if this were about hand rails [its not], then installing some cheap metal hand rails and keeping the upper seats open would be easily fixable and not cost prohibitive.
This is a move to try to create "sellouts" and give the illusion that people care about MU basketball. It's marketing, and it appears to be working, whether any of us like it or not. Dont be shocked when next year MU schedules some creampuffs to start 5-0 or so and the tarps magically get pushed back to create more seats due to "need" that has been created.
The good news is, 5,700 people cared enough to show up for a basketball game against Troy... 10 years ago that would have been unheard of.
Lol there is no benefit when you remove nearly 4,000 seats that have a potential to gain money.
It was done to force everyone attending down lower to make the crowd appear larger. It’s a gimmick/scam/lie to potential followers or students to trick them into thinking, wow this Marshall school really fills their stadiums, it just means someone isn’t doing their job.
#RemoveTheTarp
