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ITT: We Discuss Students & Mike Bohn (For Some Reason)

I know the AD has a lot of other priorities right now - and getting football facilities done has to be #1 on the list, but we shouldn't be ignoring the kids. They're the next generation of donors. They're the next generation of season ticket holders. We have to keep them involved.

This x 1,000,000. Can't be overstated how important it is to cultivate a culture of buy-in from the students. It would appear that we're doing exactly the opposite right now. Shameful.
 
2011, we got screwed out of the Tourney, the following year, fans rallied around that.
2012, we had the improbable Pac-12 run with the UNLV win in the Tourney, that brought out more fans.
Last year, we didn't do anything out of the realm of possibilities. Still a huge achievement for this program to play in the postseason for three straight years and back-to-back Tourney appearances.
I'd say if they got to the Sweet 16 this year, that would be raising the bar.
 
Yeah, doors open at 6. Great. Then what?
If CU is smart, they'll have breakfast burritos and refreshments as an enticement to show up.

Also, if I were them -- I would've held back some tickets for the game -- and done a raffle or something for students who showed up early who didn't already have a ticket.
 
And this has been my entire point. The problem is that the vocal minority of the student section that acted like complete dip****s totally spoiled the well for the good kids there. The Kansas game fiasco really pissed a lot of people off - and I'm one of them. That was a God damn disgrace. And the truth is that there are a lot of students who whine about KU and Zona tickets, but then sit at home and play NCAA football online instead of actually going to the game. **** those people. But why isn't the university doing more to help the diehards? Did the university do ANYTHING to promote the LuOut? I mean, I wasn't the biggest fan of that idea, but at least C-Unit was trying something. And I didn't see the men's basketball twitter or facebook do anything to promote it. Gameday is in 2 weeks. Have you heard anything from CU about what we're doing that day? Do we know what time the doors open? Do we know anything?

Listen, any students whining about KU/Zona tickets or the Vegas trip are idiots. But there are legit concerns on the disconnect between C-Unit and CU. I know the AD has a lot of other priorities right now - and getting football facilities done has to be #1 on the list, but we shouldn't be ignoring the kids. They're the next generation of donors. They're the next generation of season ticket holders. We have to keep them involved.
I think RG was very short sighted not to spend the amount that they did on Vegas/LA to spread the wealth to other programs. Men's basketball is the pride and joy of CU athletics with all due respect to cross country and skiing.

Bohn's biggest strength as myself and others have pointed out was getting all students involved from the band to the spirit squads to the casual students.

Agree with you on the LuOut as well, not my favorite idea but nonetheless it's something. Not sure exactly the cohesion between the AD and C-Unit, but they should be working together on this stuff.

The simple truth about the diehard versus casual fan is we don't need bacon or a trip to Cancun to come to the game. We'll go no matter what, regardless of the opponent, weather, or anything else going on. That's why the Vegas/LA trips were so good IMO, because it naturally rewards the people who are already going to support the team but gives others an incentive at the same time.

Not exactly sure of the structure of the AD, so maybe this exists (if it does they aren't doing a great job), but there should be some person in the AD whose sole job is to do Mike Bohn-like things.
 
I saw on twitter that they are moving the pre-game gameday to 4 leading to the Cuse Duke rematch at 5 with our game at 7. Is there any truth to this? If so that sucks that it doesn't start the hour before the game. Are supposed to be there at like 4 then just stay til 7 or is it going to be the free admission thing again?
 
Sure. That's why the entire 2 million+ Denver metro population isn't lined up outside Coors trying to find a scalped ticket. It's why all 20 thousand+ students aren't fighting to get into the arena.

But that's true everywhere.

What isn't true everywhere is that students are this apathetic about an 18-6 team that's poised for a 3rd straight trip to the NCAA tourney.

That's a problem. It needs to get fixed. Part of the problem is that CU doesn't do enough to build its brand within the state so there's not the normal level of passion among in-state students. Part of the problem is that the university doesn't engage the students effectively enough to get them excited about supporting the men's basketball team. Those are the problems that are readily fixable.

Exactly fix what you can, address what you can control. Too many people around CU seem to think the teams are owed allegiance, we are not Duke, we are no longer on par with Michigan - we NEED to focus on engaging and building a fan base, like it or not.
 
I saw on twitter that they are moving the pre-game gameday to 4 leading to the Cuse Duke rematch at 5 with our game at 7. Is there any truth to this? If so that sucks that it doesn't start the hour before the game. Are supposed to be there at like 4 then just stay til 7 or is it going to be the free admission thing again?

Uhhhhhh yea. That's how Game Day works. It's a long day. There's a reason they don't call it "College Game Half-Hour"......
 
Uhhhhhh yea. That's how Game Day works. It's a long day. There's a reason they don't call it "College Game Half-Hour"......
I know what gameday is, but you don't. If you have ever watched it, they have the stuff in the morning. Depending on the time zone there is a 7 to 9 hour afternoon break from the morning telecast. For example when gameday was at Syracuse, there was a shorter time between the two because it started at 7 or 7:30 eastern time. This was preceded by a pregame show by the gameday crew an HOUR before the game. What I heard is ESPN changed the schedule so this pregame show is THREE hours before. That makes a key difference on the atmosphere because you will be sitting there for two hours after without the gameday crew, whereas normally it is the hour right before the game. Also the pregame show is an hour so I don't get where you got the half hour from.
 
Exactly fix what you can, address what you can control. Too many people around CU seem to think the teams are owed allegiance, we are not Duke, we are no longer on par with Michigan - we NEED to focus on engaging and building a fan base, like it or not.

I agree with both of they you - but I'm not sure "fix" is the right way to think about it. CU needs to build, fixing means that they are doing it wrong, I'm not sure that CU's had enough of a history in bball to even have time to qualify it as doing it wrong where they need to fix it now. As many have stated before, CU isn't a destination school for sports for students. Just because CU's good at bball doesn't mean that makes it a draw to future or current students, it doesn't mean students are lazy for not going to games, it simply means they came to CU for a lot of reasons outside of athletics (i'd include myself it that statement).

This isn't about Vegas - but just because CU plays a team that's rated in the top 10 on a Saturday doesn't mean it's the only show in town. Does CU need to give incentives to get students to the game? Probably. A lot more kids came to CU for a Saturday powder day than a Saturday marquee bball game.
 
The excuses being made for the students not filling the seats have the same feel as the Russian officials' excuses as to why there are so many empty seats in Sochi. Plus both leave a bad taste in your mouth.

I hope we consider doing something about the issue, unlike the Russians, who deny there is an issue.
 
The excuses being made for the students not filling the seats have the same feel as the Russian officials' excuses as to why there are so many empty seats in Sochi. Plus both leave a bad taste in your mouth.

No excuses are being made for the students why cant anyone see that? thier effort realitve to last year sucks, but so does the admin. Which is controllable? the behavior of 2500 18-22 year olds? Or the behavior of a paid professional staff? Is it really that ****ign difficult to grasp that we arent Duke, Carolina, Arizona? or some other mythical NCAAM team? this is Colorado, as most of our opponents like to remind us we are fairly sure Tad invented basketball in 2010. Until the school realizes who we are and adapts to it to build the following then this will always be an issue unless we are surprisingly good.
 
I know what gameday is, but you don't. If you have ever watched it, they have the stuff in the morning. Depending on the time zone there is a 7 to 9 hour afternoon break from the morning telecast. For example when gameday was at Syracuse, there was a shorter time between the two because it started at 7 or 7:30 eastern time. This was preceded by a pregame show by the gameday crew an HOUR before the game. What I heard is ESPN changed the schedule so this pregame show is THREE hours before. That makes a key difference on the atmosphere because you will be sitting there for two hours after without the gameday crew, whereas normally it is the hour right before the game. Also the pregame show is an hour so I don't get where you got the half hour from.
It varies depending on if the preceding game goes over or not. There was GameDay earlier this year that lasted 5 minutes.
 
Yeah I'm talking about the night one, not the AM to clarify. It's usually one hour sandwiched between two games, but if the early game goes to multiple OTs or something, it could end up as a very short show.

I want to say this one I'm thinking of was before the first Duke-Syracuse game
 
The way we're handling our basketball success reminds me a lot of how we handled our football success in the 80's and 90's. We did absolutely nothing to capitalize on it. We didn't get long-term buy-in from the students then, and we're not getting it now. Long term, that's what sustains a successful athletic department. It's been said ad-nauseum, but today's students are tomorrows season ticket holders, Buff Club members, and major contributors. Get them hooked while they're on campus, when they are are a captive audience. Failing to do so ensures long term struggles.
 
The way we're handling our basketball success reminds me a lot of how we handled our football success in the 80's and 90's. We did absolutely nothing to capitalize on it. We didn't get long-term buy-in from the students then, and we're not getting it now. Long term, that's what sustains a successful athletic department. It's been said ad-nauseum, but today's students are tomorrows season ticket holders, Buff Club members, and major contributors. Get them hooked while they're on campus, when they are are a captive audience. Failing to do so ensures long term struggles.

^^Absolutely^^

For some reason they just don't get it.

If it takes doing some promotions and giving away some inexpensive free stuff to get the students consistently to the games do the promotions and give away the free stuff. This is about a lot more than this individual moment. Especially true in a market with as many alternatives as this one has.

Habits take time to ingrain. One year or even a couple of years aren't going to do it.
 
The way we're handling our basketball success reminds me a lot of how we handled our football success in the 80's and 90's. We did absolutely nothing to capitalize on it. We didn't get long-term buy-in from the students then, and we're not getting it now. Long term, that's what sustains a successful athletic department. It's been said ad-nauseum, but today's students are tomorrows season ticket holders, Buff Club members, and major contributors. Get them hooked while they're on campus, when they are are a captive audience. Failing to do so ensures long term struggles.

this
 
The attendance at the ASU game will be interesting. 9 pm start. How many non students will be there?

I forgot to address this yesterday, but this is a damn good question. The students aren't the only ones who have sucked this year - and I'm including myself. I've missed 3 games this season. I know lots of people who have had extra tickets for games that they couldn't even give away. Every pregame at the Horse there will be at least one bar announcement of "we have extra tickets to the game if anyone wants one".
 
The way we're handling our basketball success reminds me a lot of how we handled our football success in the 80's and 90's. We did absolutely nothing to capitalize on it. We didn't get long-term buy-in from the students then, and we're not getting it now. Long term, that's what sustains a successful athletic department. It's been said ad-nauseum, but today's students are tomorrows season ticket holders, Buff Club members, and major contributors. Get them hooked while they're on campus, when they are are a captive audience. Failing to do so ensures long term struggles.

yes
 
If you are directing that at me, I went to the game and played that game right after the bball game
And this has been my entire point. The problem is that the vocal minority of the student section that acted like complete dip****s totally spoiled the well for the good kids there. The Kansas game fiasco really pissed a lot of people off - and I'm one of them. That was a God damn disgrace. And the truth is that there are a lot of students who whine about KU and Zona tickets, but then sit at home and play NCAA football online instead of actually going to the game. **** those people. But why isn't the university doing more to help the diehards? Did the university do ANYTHING to promote the LuOut? I mean, I wasn't the biggest fan of that idea, but at least C-Unit was trying something. And I didn't see the men's basketball twitter or facebook do anything to promote it. Gameday is in 2 weeks. Have you heard anything from CU about what we're doing that day? Do we know what time the doors open? Do we know anything?

Listen, any students whining about KU/Zona tickets or the Vegas trip are idiots. But there are legit concerns on the disconnect between C-Unit and CU. I know the AD has a lot of other priorities right now - and getting football facilities done has to be #1 on the list, but we shouldn't be ignoring the kids. They're the next generation of donors. They're the next generation of season ticket holders. We have to keep them involved.
 
I forgot to address this yesterday, but this is a damn good question. The students aren't the only ones who have sucked this year - and I'm including myself. I've missed 3 games this season. I know lots of people who have had extra tickets for games that they couldn't even give away. Every pregame at the Horse there will be at least one bar announcement of "we have extra tickets to the game if anyone wants one".
I was pretty damn optimistic this year when I found out the season tickets had sold out. What what the renewal rate will be?
 
The rest of the arena seems pretty full most of the time. Not filled to the rafters, but pretty full. It's really the South end that looks empty.
 
The rest of the arena seems pretty full most of the time. Not filled to the rafters, but pretty full. It's really the South end that looks empty.

Would be interesting to think about cutting the student allotment down to say 2,000 or 1,500 and selling the rest of those tickets, the problem is it would only generate 50-100K in extra revenue because they'd be cheap seats.
 
Would be interesting to think about cutting the student allotment down to say 2,000 or 1,500 and selling the rest of those tickets, the problem is it would only generate 50-100K in extra revenue because they'd be cheap seats.

If they cut student seats, it will not start at the top of the arena. Wouldn't make much sense to have people that will likely be seated the whole game sit behind a wall of standing students.
 
If they cut student seats, it will not start at the top of the arena. Wouldn't make much sense to have people that will likely be seated the whole game sit behind a wall of standing students.

Behind the band? Move the band?
 
Behind the band? Move the band?
I think if they were to cut 500-1000 seats the seats would be baseline, premium seats. The students get fantastic seats, they need to use them or lose them IMO. Could move the band, but it would be difficult to get a functional, confined setup like they have anywhere but the corners.
 
If they cut student seats, it will not start at the top of the arena. Wouldn't make much sense to have people that will likely be seated the whole game sit behind a wall of standing students.
Ohio State moved the seats of the students not too long ago, as a result their capacity decreased (also the student capacity decreased to makeup for the revenue shortfall).
 
If I were Rick George, I'd tell the students, if you don't show up, were going to decrease capacity. Hopefully that's enough of an incentive. I think you always want some demand and that's not just for the UofA and KU games.
 
Before cutting student capacity or accepting empty student seats I think they have to consider the contribution a full student section makes to the atmosphere and game experience. How many of those people buying season tickets are there because of the entire game experience, not just what happens on the floor.

I go back to Sacky's post. CU cannot just put this thing into cruise control and count on having the fans and money keep rolling in. If efforts need to be made to get and keep the students engaged for the current and future health of the program then make those efforts.
 
If I were Rick George, I'd tell the students, if you don't show up, were going to decrease capacity. Hopefully that's enough of an incentive. I think you always want some demand and that's not just for the UofA and KU games.


That's an ineffective stick, when a more effective carrot is probably the appropriate course of action. Seriously, you're going to tell the students "show up or we will sell your seats", when they don't use the seats anyway? That's just another "F you" to the students. Hardly what we need to be doing right now.
 
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