MickeyDavis wrote:I watch very little college basketball outside of WI and Marquette (and of course the tourney) but is it Duke that gives all of the prime seats on one side to students? I love that. I get that donors pony up but it's really cool to see mid court fans really into it. Maybe it's another school(s) that does it. Even for the high school tournament Badger donors get first crack at all the good seats. Students are on the ends and parents/other fans get the leftovers.
Yes Duke does that and so do a bunch of others now. I think MSU in the last 6ish years did something like that too to put students on the TV side.
Sure it seems good for people watching on TV. But it has to be a pain for those there as if the students stand it makes everyone stand behind. And in UWs current iteration of student fans, they don't really deserve it. I guess if given the best seats in the house $15 maybe they'll actually show up consistently but who knows. At this point, other than the big games the students struggle to fill past the bottom level. 15-20 years ago when the team was early into being good, every games was filled through the 3rd level other than finals/break. This is also probably a factor in the pregame thing being changed, you usually have half as many students there than in the past for average games.
There is also a big issue specifically with UW to make this happen. When the KC was built the donors who ponied up for those great seats with donations to get the KC built were given lifetime rights to the seats and to the best of my knowledge do not have to do the huge yearly donation. Thus, no one is ever giving up those seats and it would be a really difficult process for the school to go back on that deal. And also why our "its all old people" there comment holds more weight than at most schools. They are also allowed to pass them on when they die or whenever they want.
ETA: I haven't looked into it in a few years, but the way its been for as long as I remember is its almost impossible to get lower level season tickets. I think you had to donate over 10K every year because so few seats ever come available due to these people having a now sweetheart deal they'll never give up. To be fair, they probably earned it with what was a big donation in 1998 or whatever, but they're basically 'grandfathered' in now. Which I guess is a good choice of words for the situation.
Resident Lillard truther since 2015.
