Jim O'Day - It's time to give the students back their team. Revive the "ZOO" and get the dead heads out of that section. The student body is the heart beat of the University and that pulse has been gone from Griz basketball.
Put the students back in the east-side lower section and put the ousted GSA members in the north and south sections. Give them access to the Sky Club for their inconvenience. Another option would be to have any ticket sold in the north, south, and west lower bowl sponsor 1 student season ticket. This would offset the inome they are afraid of losing. You can also get rid of the big scorers bench that is hardly used and put in one or two rows of chair seating for the "true" fans that don't want to leave.
You can't have a true student body split up into 3 different sections. They need to be as one. How can the students get excited sitting way up in the North section? I don't blame them.
I don't like the current set up, but student support this year was lousy. If the same # showed up next season, the east side lower section would be mostly empty for many games.
Joined: 11 Dec 2004 Posts: 2673 Location: Mill Creek, WA 4361 eGriz Bucks
At the beginning of the year, I would have agreed with this post 100%. But after the students were given a challenge and failed to respond, I simply cannot agree now. Student attendance and participation was terrible this year. I could only get to one game (and granted it was Valentine's Day), but I was shocked and embarrased by the low student turnout and the sheer lack of energy they provided.
The golden ring was there for the taking. But the students didn't make much of a streatch for it, IMO.
OK - Next year give the students back their seats for the entire year, with of course the cheerleaders in front of them!!! If you get them back they will come. The Griz are going to improve next year, with that improvement and the students back it will make for the good old electric atmosphere of the past!!! But that will not happen if the students are not given their section back!!! Plain and simple!!! This isn't Rocket Science folks!!!! Just Do It!!!!
At the beginning of the year, I would have agreed with this post 100%. But after the students were given a challenge and failed to respond, I simply cannot agree now. Student attendance and participation was terrible this year. I could only get to one game (and granted it was Valentine's Day), but I was shocked and embarrased by the low student turnout and the sheer lack of energy they provided.
The golden ring was there for the taking. But the students didn't make much of a streatch for it, IMO.
Bingo - it's tough to support posts like mtcommonsense's and then see the students fill their current seats only 3 times a year.
Isn't it possible to give the students like 1/2 or 3/4ths of one side?
Something like this, maybe combined with one of the lower end sections is probably worth trying. Sticking the overflow students (when there actually are overflow students) in the upper end zone seats is not a good idea.
Being the old goat that I am, maybe the answer to the student problem would to move spring semester up about 3 weeks or go back to the old Quarter system so you actually have students in school when the teams play. If they show up in force then the problem is solved. If not I guess you would have to believe that there is lots of student apathy towards the mens basketball team.
At least when I went to school at UM in the 70's, the stadium was loud & rocking all the time. The games then were fun to watch then, now they are usually rather boring.
At the beginning of the year, I would have agreed with this post 100%. But after the students were given a challenge and failed to respond, I simply cannot agree now. Student attendance and participation was terrible this year. I could only get to one game (and granted it was Valentine's Day), but I was shocked and embarrased by the low student turnout and the sheer lack of energy they provided.
The golden ring was there for the taking. But the students didn't make much of a streatch for it, IMO.
Bingo - it's tough to support posts like mtcommonsense's and then see the students fill their current seats only 3 times a year.
Like the dead heads that are currently in those seats are filling them up and bringing a lot of excitement to the arena. Wake up RE/MAX. There hasn't been one post from you that makes sense.
the whole notion of an a.d. issuing a "challenge" to students to show up en mass would only be mildly repugnant if he put them in the seats they deserve. "challenging" them to show up in large numbers to sit in an area of the arena where they aren't going to be much able to influence the game atmosphere is just plain dumb.
the one game where the students sat in their traditional seats was, by the reports i've heard, the only game (other than maybe the bobs contest) where there really was much of an exciting atmosphere. the impression o'day gave off with his letter to the kaimin a while back was that the students had somehow 'failed' because they didn't go sit in their lousy seats after that game. that is silly. the administration should take as much responsibility for the crappy atmosphere as they give out blame.
At the beginning of the year, I would have agreed with this post 100%. But after the students were given a challenge and failed to respond, I simply cannot agree now. Student attendance and participation was terrible this year. I could only get to one game (and granted it was Valentine's Day), but I was shocked and embarrased by the low student turnout and the sheer lack of energy they provided.
The golden ring was there for the taking. But the students didn't make much of a streatch for it, IMO.
Bingo - it's tough to support posts like mtcommonsense's and then see the students fill their current seats only 3 times a year.
Like the dead heads that are currently in those seats are filling them up and bringing a lot of excitement to the arena. Wake up RE/MAX. There hasn't been one post from you that makes sense.
Maybe Jim O'Day should issue a challenge to the ticket holders of the Lower East Side to fill their seats, or lose them to the students - sure you could argue that the GSA members/corporations paid for those seats (usually through a corporation taking a tax deduction for their purchase, meaning taxpayers paid 40% of the cost their tickets) so they can use them or not as is their wont, but the truth is the students also paid (through their fees) for the seats (without the 405 tax break), so why judge the students for not showing up, but not judge the ticket holders, when the lower bowl section is usually less than 1/2 full (thus the 8 minute dash).
How about this - next season, if the season tickets are not used at a minimum of 90% of the games, they lose those seats to the students - issue those ticket holders a challenge Jim.
Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 2539 Location: The Zoo 2279 eGriz Bucks
I just think next year would be a great time to make a real push w/ men's basketball. Give the students back at least part of the east side while missoula products jack and jordo lead the team.
Maybe Jim O'Day should issue a challenge to the ticket holders of the Lower East Side to fill their seats, or lose them to the students - sure you could argue that the GSA members/corporations paid for those seats (usually through a corporation taking a tax deduction for their purchase, meaning taxpayers paid 40% of the cost their tickets) so they can use them or not as is their wont, but the truth is the students also paid (through their fees) for the seats (without the 405 tax break), so why judge the students for not showing up, but not judge the ticket holders, when the lower bowl section is usually less than 1/2 full (thus the 8 minute dash).
How about this - next season, if the season tickets are not used at a minimum of 90% of the games, they lose those seats to the students - issue those ticket holders a challenge Jim.
Number one, I agree the students should be courtside, but you are so off base on your assumptions of who owns and pays for those seats. I know most of them, and I can assure you few are bought and paid for by corportate dollars. Even if they were, if it were not for corporate support of Griz programs, do you think there would even be a WaGriz Stadium, much less the quality programs at UM? These things cost a lot of money. It takes all of use to make UM athletics what it is.
Maybe Jim O'Day should issue a challenge to the ticket holders of the Lower East Side to fill their seats, or lose them to the students - sure you could argue that the GSA members/corporations paid for those seats (usually through a corporation taking a tax deduction for their purchase, meaning taxpayers paid 40% of the cost their tickets) so they can use them or not as is their wont, but the truth is the students also paid (through their fees) for the seats (without the 405 tax break), so why judge the students for not showing up, but not judge the ticket holders, when the lower bowl section is usually less than 1/2 full (thus the 8 minute dash).
How about this - next season, if the season tickets are not used at a minimum of 90% of the games, they lose those seats to the students - issue those ticket holders a challenge Jim.
Number one, I agree the students should be courtside, but you are so off base on your assumptions of who owns and pays for those seats. I know most of them, and I can assure you few are bought and paid for by corportate dollars. Even if they were, if it were not for corporate support of Griz programs, do you think there would even be a WaGriz Stadium, much less the quality programs at UM? These things cost a lot of money. It takes all of use to make UM athletics what it is.
It isn't about corporate support vs regular people for me, really. But the Eastside lower bowl, where the students had their seats, is usually the lowest attended areas- and everyone I know, and I would guess (but can't prove) that 90- 95% of the seats on that side are corporate, which means that they are ran through their corporate books, and written off as a tax deductions. Everyone I know on the westside is people who own tickets as personal tickets. Maybe people on this site can weigh in - how about RE/MAX, are your seats on the east bowl or west bowl? Do you write them off as tax deductions? You don't have to answer, of course, I'm not trying to call you out, except you already posted on this thread, so it seem logical to ask you.
This is kind of a cruel analogy... but go with me here.
The UM students blew it. All they had to do was show up, but they barely made 60% of the projection the AD wanted in order to consider moving the student body back.
consider this:
If a homeless guy bugs a McDonalds manager for food every day, and the manager gives him a job, "just come work here, you'll get free food and money in your pocket" and the homeless guy doesn't show up... he stands no chance of getting a handout or another shot at a job.
the students, regardless of tuition payments, aren't entitled to anything they can't prove that they want.
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Four Home Losses In Conference Makes Seating A Dead Issue. 
