Improving our home court experience

[BradleyBrave]

More band, more winning. Everything else will fall into line, especially with more winning.

I think Carver can be a great place to watch a game. I might dim the lights a bit on the crowd, make the court stand out a bit more, but people I have brought to the games before who aren't familiar with us are always kind of shocked that little ol' BU plays in such a big arena with such a 'big time' feel. Sure there are some tweaks that can be made, but we have a great home court set up IMO.

[Double D]

When we are winning, out enviroment is great. Very few schools in our situation can top it. The band, the fans are right on the court, kids during warmups, all are good.

The "tinkering" with the pregame routine over that last 3-4 years has confused fans. Most places with a great pregame atmosphere, have done the same thing (routine, music, etc.) year after year.

One item I would change however, is during intros. Whatever we do, Zombie Nation or the band; PA Paul needs to allow some time to begin clapping before he starts in with the "PJStar.com lineup, bit" He literally gives no time to start clapping. It iritates me bigtime, and I know it would liven up our intros.

OK, I feel better now

[JMM28]

One item I would change however, is during intros. Whatever we do, Zombie Nation or the band; PA Paul needs to allow some time to begin clapping before he starts in with the "PJStar.com lineup, bit" He literally gives no time to start clapping. It iritates me bigtime, and I know it would liven up our intros.

OK, I feel better now

The sponsoring of the starting lineups is INCREDIBLY tacky.

Cheap beer for students is a good one, but probably against that whole anti-alcohol glasser crusade.

SLU, who used to share grounds with the Blues, used the hockey goal horn after 3 pointers. It is pretty cool. They brought one in for the new digs too. It might even wake up some blue hairs.

[thefish7]

The sponsoring of the starting lineups is INCREDIBLY tacky.

Cheap beer for students is a good one, but probably against that whole anti-alcohol glasser crusade.

SLU, who used to share grounds with the Blues, used the hockey goal horn after 3 pointers. It is pretty cool. They brought one in for the new digs too. It might even wake up some blue hairs.

Hockey horn is fun idea. I like this thread, as it's something that we can all agree on and where some progress needs to be made (even if winning is the best medicine for this issue). I think subsidized beer is a great idea, but probably not politically acceptable. However, subsidized (by local businesses) pregame parties I think could fly (and have flown in years past I think). On campus marketing was non-existent when I went to BU, but it's been ten years so I dunno it may have improved. Game days should have all kinds of frequent reminders across all modes for students-- flyers (those were around when I was on campus), e-mails, cheerleaders & players active on campus.

I have a weird idea, that someone kind of touched on above... But how about introducing some competition into the student section in terms of more than one student club. We have the Red Sea and those guys seem to be really trying hard (kudos to you), but what if there were actually multiple clubs who were competing for membership and with each other during the game to outdo each other. It feels like a strange concept, but the capitalist in me suggests competition will make everything better.

[ph]

More band, more winning. Everything else will fall into line, especially with more winning.

I think Carver can be a great place to watch a game. I might dim the lights a bit on the crowd, make the court stand out a bit more, but people I have brought to the games before who aren't familiar with us are always kind of shocked that little ol' BU plays in such a big arena with such a 'big time' feel. Sure there are some tweaks that can be made, but we have a great home court set up IMO.

I like where you are going from an experience standpoint, but I think marketing currently suffers enough as is when people watch on TV and the crowd wearing red turns into a sea of darkness vs the court on camera.

[AZ BU Fan]

More students = free food . You get free softdrinks, slice of pizza or burger, nachos...Could set it up in the concours area, just got to show BU ID and game ticket...

Get sponsors to support one section (or one half of a section vertically) in lower bowl between the baselines for students to sit. This overcomes the the loss of revenue from big buck lower bowl ticket buyers.

Students sitting there get free T's with the sponsors' logos on back, BU on front. Movie theaters, fast food joints, bars, restaurants, car dealerships,clothing stores, cell phone companies etc. Tie in a discount for these students with the sponsors etc.

Less taped music, more live music.

Free kids tickets when accompanied by paying adults in upper bowl outside the baselines..

Approach grade schools to have games for them with a package deal...All students get to come down on the floor at half time for 5 minutes of shooting with their parents/grandparents. Free popcorn and soda for the kids from the school who attend their game.

Do some sort of Bradley Idol competition (singing, dancing, etc) at half time of each home game and let fans vote on contestants, culminating in some sort of champion at the last home game.

Create a young singles room in the CC where they can mingle at pre-game, halftime, post game with beer/wine, appetizers, music etc....Create a date night?

[ph]

Bring in the Chicken or Fanatic to make fun of the refs all game.

End the kiss cam on 2 opposing players.

[Chico]

Give the students better seats! The ones that do go deserve to ring the court and be able to stand up when they want without the oldies yelling at them to sit down. There are way to many stiffs at the game and I expect a few of them to shout my post down.

Winning also really helps.

How many games do you watch that have the students ringing the court instead of behind the basket? Being there like every place else, they can stand all they want and not bother anybody. Not shouting you down, just disagreeing.

[BUFanatic]

How about promoting our new Renaissance Collesium with a rally the day before a game? Or at least all conference games. Tickets could be half off for those that would buy during the rally and the fans could get involved somehow with the players. Sounds tacky, but maybe someone could sponsor the rallies to pay Peoria Charter Coach to bus as many fans that sign up during the rally downtown and back (with a bar crawl?). Promote it as a "Red Sea" event?

[BUFanatic]

Approach grade schools to have games for them with a package deal...All students get to come down on the floor at half time for 5 minutes of shooting with their parents/grandparents. Free popcorn and soda for the kids from the school who attend their game.
.....
Create a young singles room in the CC where they can mingle at pre-game, halftime, post game with beer/wine, appetizers, music etc....Create a date night?

I would also approach local High Schools whose Alums are playing for BU (IE DSE from Washington) and see if the kids will come out to support the player (sort of goes along with the individual fan sections) that went to their HS as many people there (at least for the next two years) will probably know him. Maybe half off tickets in a section next to the students? Give them some sort of membership that would get them into a sort of "player club" maybe that other home display booth no one uses??? Snacks and beverages laid out with ESPN on the big screen and highlights from the Kids career or the school of the night.

To the singles, maybe we could get the Lexus Club and use the Suites? They have tables and chairs and no one ever seems to be up in them. Anyone know the policy on those? Can you just sort of waltz into one or is there a rental fee?

[real fan]

Win games, especially at home.

When BU is winning and winning consistently the Civic Center is full, loud, and into the game.

Exactly how I feel as it is hard to get the support from the fans when you are not playing good and winning games, I doubt many d-1 basketball schools would draw as many fans as BU has this year with as poor as a record as Bradley .

[BUFanatic]

How many games do you watch that have the students ringing the court instead of behind the basket? Being there like every place else, they can stand all they want and not bother anybody. Not shouting you down, just disagreeing.

I know several that do the ring (Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Penn St. I think, Duke, etc.) but I also know several that don't that have just as loyal fan sections (Oklahoma, Texas, and I don't think Florida's student Section is around the ring either) It's mostly what you make of what you got. At this point, we couldn't move the students and shift the big bucks season ticket holders away from their seats, so I believe that this is really a moot point.

[Chico]

Move the students to center court lower bowl and put all the ashen-colored, big money boosters in the end zone.

Without the "ashen-colored, big money boosters", the Braves would be playing club ball and might be able to play in the Salvation Army gym and that's even farther from campus than the Civic Center.

[Da Coach]

Without the "ashen-colored, big money boosters", the Braves would be playing club ball and might be able to play in the Salvation Army gym and that's even farther from campus than the Civic Center.

We might not need the Salvation army gym, since we would still have the old stinky Fieldhouse. That is if we could find a way to pay for the heating and electric bills.

[BUFanatic]

We might not need the Salvation army gym, since we would still have the old stinky Fieldhouse. That is if we could find a way to pay for the heating and electric bills.

HEY! That hurts... I loved the Fieldhouse. Saw my first Red-White scrimmage with my grandpa there.... Wanted to slap Glasser silly when I saw it go down. RIP