Jerry on the game
- Thread starter Halldan
- Start date
Not sure I would call it a toxic atmosphere on campus as Jerry did. More like apathetic. The school is doing everything possible to engage the students. They just don't seem to be interested.
Sell their seats. Having that block of seat so empty is embarassing (and pisses me off when i look there). It us their right to not be interested. So set up a great deal and sell the seats. Nice crowd yesterday, except...
I think you’re seeing the effects of a generation that grew up as kids with iPhones and iPads. Sports isn’t a huge part of kids lives anymore. They have a lot of other stuff that keeps them busy.
couple that with a weekend game in which we’re a commuter school. Most kids leave on Friday or even have work Saturday
A bus ride for the kids that are on campus. Freezing weather, early start time and mediocre matchup. Our games just aren’t viewed as an “event” like they would be for an on campus game at other schools.
All that said, give them a top 25 matchup and they’d show but for regular students it’s just too much time and effort in my opinion.
couple that with a weekend game in which we’re a commuter school. Most kids leave on Friday or even have work Saturday
A bus ride for the kids that are on campus. Freezing weather, early start time and mediocre matchup. Our games just aren’t viewed as an “event” like they would be for an on campus game at other schools.
All that said, give them a top 25 matchup and they’d show but for regular students it’s just too much time and effort in my opinion.
These are all good points but wasn’t that all true up until recent years when the students would show up?
What are the current promotions for students? Do we do a beer night like Creighton and UConn does?
UConn Students Dominated Men's Basketball Game's $2 Beer Night
UConn students went wild during $2 beer night as they cheered on the men's basketball team to another victory as the No. 1 ranked Huskies defeated Creighton.
www.outkick.com
Our next big home game should be “This Budd’s For You” beer night. $1.65 beers for students (his listed weight of 165, obviously can’t price it based on his number)
They don't even show up for games at Walsh.
Respectfully, stop with the excuses. Their support, or lack thereof this year has been pathetic.
You can't say kids are different these days, and then look at a place like Villanova where they pack their student section and it is clearly an "event" for them.
We had 8,000 or so tickets sold yesterday. Saturday at noon. Absolutely nothing going on outside or in the professional sports world. Our team having a nice bounce back year after the debacle of 2024. The students are on an issue but even without a strong student turnout that number is light.
It’s not excuses but until we hear from 100 or more students on why they don’t come it’s all speculation. Your opinion, my opinion, etc.
If other comparable schools have consistent large student turn outs then maybe our athletic dept or whoever should reach out and find out how they do it.
Bottom line is that they aren’t seeing a value for their time attending
Exactly. Turn on any major conference game & most student sections are always packed.
I'm not even asking that they fill the student section, but can they at least fill the first 10 rows? Let's start with small goals. I went to the Butler game, and there were literally 3 rows of students. There were more cheerleaders and band members than students.
Dan - It was not that long ago the student section/Blue Beard army was filled. We even had the guys dressed as lobsters in the front row that Willard even mentioned in postgame. Delgado, Desi, KC and the team ran over to them after one of the games.
And per your note, the school has no idea why they are not interested. Is it the hangover from last year's awful team?
The “student section” for the past few years is the new version of the high price of pretzels. The kids aren’t showing up in Newark or on campus. Keep complaining or:
- Ask the students like you suggest. Be prepared to listen and to hear things you may not like or agree. If participation has gotten this bad even with the team’s success, there’s likely an underlying issue that students have some kind of silent protest.
- What is the athletic department and/or school doing (reach out, promotions, player engagement etc)? What does Father Reilly and the BOR think? Do they care if the kids show up?
- Every school is different. Is the school enrolling kids that don’t have interest in supporting sports teams as a priority?
Maybe the students are angry that the players, who they’ll never know or grow with over the years are not only attending school for free but also getting paid.
While the students are going broke for potentially no ROI
Previous year performance always affects the next year attendance, no matter the team or sport, unless it’s situation where corporate people buy up the tickets to sell out the Knicks and Rangers.
UConn didn’t sell because it was a Tuesday night in January. Didn’t matter who was the opponent.
The school has made better efforts this year and have had student giveaways (Jerseys, Rugby Shirts, various T-shirts, etc.) at just about every game. They also had the Jersey Girl Beer Garden before a game at Walsh.
I don't pretend to know what's in the mind of 18-22 year old college students but I've always said that engaging the Greeks would be the best way to get consistent attendance. The one or two Fraternity/Sorority themed games always do the best.
Here's an idea.
Every Frat/Sorority and other large Clubs on campus raise money for various causes and spend time on fundraisers. Tie that into the basketball games somehow with the school donating XX amount to each charity of a club per student who attends the games.
Make a deal with Greek Council on behalf of all 20 Frats/Sororities to commit to a total minimum number of students for each game (say 300) and have 1 or 2 charity(ies) be the focus of each game. School will donate XX amount per student in attendance and promote the charity to everyone in the Arena and viewers on TV and radio broadcasts asking for support. Would also try to line up support from our corporate sponsors.
Would be a Huge Win for the Clubs to raise thousands for just supporting the team/school at games and SH would have a baseline minimum of student attendance at each game. That will help attract other students to the games seeing that there is always a solid showing at every game.
I don't pretend to know what's in the mind of 18-22 year old college students but I've always said that engaging the Greeks would be the best way to get consistent attendance. The one or two Fraternity/Sorority themed games always do the best.
Here's an idea.
Every Frat/Sorority and other large Clubs on campus raise money for various causes and spend time on fundraisers. Tie that into the basketball games somehow with the school donating XX amount to each charity of a club per student who attends the games.
Make a deal with Greek Council on behalf of all 20 Frats/Sororities to commit to a total minimum number of students for each game (say 300) and have 1 or 2 charity(ies) be the focus of each game. School will donate XX amount per student in attendance and promote the charity to everyone in the Arena and viewers on TV and radio broadcasts asking for support. Would also try to line up support from our corporate sponsors.
Would be a Huge Win for the Clubs to raise thousands for just supporting the team/school at games and SH would have a baseline minimum of student attendance at each game. That will help attract other students to the games seeing that there is always a solid showing at every game.
All great ideas. But even schools without optimal student environments can supplement that with attendance by alums or other fans in the surrounding area. So, you aren't so reliant on students to fill seats.
Very Good Point. Hard to gage how many new fans they have acquired from the surrounding areas of NJ since moving to Prudential?
Not sure, but IMO there are so many ripe for the taking, especially with Rutgers being what it is. This is where I think Sha can do so, so much more given his profile as a former SHU star player.
Between the Jersey, Rugby shirt and sweatshirt they more than make back the price of their tickets. We got tshirts... it's beyond baffling at this point it's infuriating. The school has always been seen as a commuter school. It's been a long time since there were "reasons" to stay on the weekends. There's definitely a new level of apathy and entitlement (suddenly after 19 years the commute is to much to the Rock). The UConn game was 2 ranked schools that section wasn't fantastic either. I don't have anything productive to say just that these kids are something else
According to website there are 20+ Greek frats recognized on campus with 1,300+ student members. Add some of the larger Clubs too. Next Greek Night game is Wednesday 2/18 vs DePaul. To fullfill their charitable and fundraising duties and gain some free publicity, should be doable to get them to attend some games. Better use of time and more profitable than most of their fundraising duties.
Students didn’t show up against 2 bad teams after we got our butts kicked by DePaul. That’s nothing new. I did expect more than we got but I think a win at Nova might spark some interest. Get the W. Build some excitement.
We were right on the precipice of a sustained period of success when Covid hit. Not saying we were gonna win it all in 2020, but there was a decent chance for a Sweet 16 bid. Who knows how the next few seasons look if that happened. Who knows if Willard leaves (b/c also, who knows what the landscape nationally even looks like after the season if we had actually had March Madness). We had strong student/regular attendance that season after a few consecutive years of NCAA berths. Remember the Rock the night of the Michigan State game? Yeah we lost, but that was a big time environment, w/the whole country watching as well. I felt like we had arrived to some degree, but in reality, more was & now is needed to lock in steady attendance.
Every idea under the sun was mentioned above & many variations have been tried & I don't think they're going to be the answer. Long term, if you want there to be a locked-in student culture of coming to games, we need to make the tourney 5, 6 or maybe even 7 years in a row. And then you need to win a game or two most years once you're there as well. Doing something like that changes the perception of the program to students & casuals alike: "oh yeah, Seton Hall...they're always good/they're always in the tourney." I absolutely think there's a major hangover from last season, and frankly Sha's first two seasons as well. First season was miserable, with tons of injuries, not many big wins & a brutal style of play that no one wants to watch. The NIT championship season ended pretty strong, but was horrendous until some time in January, so there was no excitement on campus when the season kicked off. And then yeah, a season like last year destroys so much good will with pretty much everyone.
A short term solution would be this: whenever there is a little bit of mojo cooking with the program, we HAVE to capitalize on it. I know it's easier said than done, but the buzz was there amongst the casuals & the students when we got ranked. So then what do we do? Blow our next four games. But honestly, the deflation set in the second we lost to UConn. I know it's not realistic to expect a win against a FF team like UConn, but we're psycho fans, we get that. Someone mentioned a "star" above as well. That absolutley would help with the casuals. It doesn't have to be Michael Jordan out there, but there needs to be a "go-to" guy that casuals can latch onto. Kadary was that guy.
The students are so apathetic at this point, that's what's required to get them to come back. Sucks, but that's how I see it. Apologies if this is a bit all over the place.
Every idea under the sun was mentioned above & many variations have been tried & I don't think they're going to be the answer. Long term, if you want there to be a locked-in student culture of coming to games, we need to make the tourney 5, 6 or maybe even 7 years in a row. And then you need to win a game or two most years once you're there as well. Doing something like that changes the perception of the program to students & casuals alike: "oh yeah, Seton Hall...they're always good/they're always in the tourney." I absolutely think there's a major hangover from last season, and frankly Sha's first two seasons as well. First season was miserable, with tons of injuries, not many big wins & a brutal style of play that no one wants to watch. The NIT championship season ended pretty strong, but was horrendous until some time in January, so there was no excitement on campus when the season kicked off. And then yeah, a season like last year destroys so much good will with pretty much everyone.
A short term solution would be this: whenever there is a little bit of mojo cooking with the program, we HAVE to capitalize on it. I know it's easier said than done, but the buzz was there amongst the casuals & the students when we got ranked. So then what do we do? Blow our next four games. But honestly, the deflation set in the second we lost to UConn. I know it's not realistic to expect a win against a FF team like UConn, but we're psycho fans, we get that. Someone mentioned a "star" above as well. That absolutley would help with the casuals. It doesn't have to be Michael Jordan out there, but there needs to be a "go-to" guy that casuals can latch onto. Kadary was that guy.
The students are so apathetic at this point, that's what's required to get them to come back. Sucks, but that's how I see it. Apologies if this is a bit all over the place.
Not all over the place. A lot of what you said is both honest and spot on.
We had about 15K at that Michigan St game as I recall. It was awesome.
it can be turned around perhaps quicker than you think though. That’s happened other places that don’t have the big football school/campus environment.
Yeah. Cant do that. But I used to buy a general admission ticket for Yankee Stadium, grease the usher $5 a man and sit behind home plate. Or sit in MSG watching the Rangers, see some seats vacant and watch the third period in those seats. So, people should just go to the empty seats at a TO after 10 minutes and sit there.
If I am fan with a less than ideal ticket and see an opportunity to relocate to a better spot.
I’m not choosing to sit behind the basket.
I want one of those premium mid-court seats that also have a bunch of vacancies.