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Attendance
stays static A student incentive program geared to increase attendance at basketball home games is not working as planned, says Jason Booker, assistant sports marketing director. “It hasn’t been as good of a response as we would have liked,” Booker said. “It makes our job tough because people are saying (to us), ‘as a marketing department how can we get more people here?’”
Booker said the Frog P.L.U.S. or Proud, Loyal, Ultimate, Student Cards, which were first distributed to student mailboxes at the beginning of November, are supposed to reward students who attend the basketball games. After attending at least 10 women’s or men’s basketball games, students can redeem the card for a free fajita dinner at Rosa’s Café, or register to win American Airlines tickets after attending 20 games, he said. “Students get in free to games, and we give them free prizes (to come to the games),” Booker said. “We almost feel like we’re paying them to go to the games.” In the 25 home games the men’s and women’s basketball teams have played this season, Booker said only two students have redeemed their card for a restaurant gift certificate and no one has yet to register for airline tickets. Booker said at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, where a capacity crowd is 7,201people, the women’s basketball team is averaging 2,542 people at its home games, an increase of 264 people a game from last season. Head women’s basketball coach Jeff Mittie said the fan support is not what it should be considering the women’s team is off to its best 17-game start in program history. “I feel like we need more fans, no question,” Mittie said. “We have 5,000 empty seats. (The average attendance of) 2,000 is up from the past so we have made progress in that area, but I have high expectations for fans as well.” Booker said the men’s team is averaging 3,983 people a game, a decrease from last year’s average attendance of 4,395 people a game. Of this, he said the student portion of the average attendance is only 20 to 25 students at women’s games and 75 to100 students at men’s games. Booker said one of the reasons for the low numbers is because students do not know when the home games are. To better inform students of the games, he said the marketing department is putting more signs and schedules across campus. “It is a challenge,” Booker said. “One because we have a smaller student population. It’s fun though because I think there really is excitement here. I think students care about being Frogs and coming out to games.” Chip Hess, assistant ticket manager, said 2,304 season tickets were sold this year for the men’s team, and 760 season tickets were sold for the women’s team. This is a season ticket increase of three for the men’s team and 174 for the women’s team from last season, Hess said. Booker said more Frog P.L.U.S. Cards are available at the information desk in the Student Center or at home games this season. Kelly
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