A trip to East Lansing, Mich., last weekend to cover the UW men's basketball team allowed me to witness an excellent gameday atmosphere. The Breslin Student Events Center is a unique environment, an older building with a rich tradition of basketball. But what impressed me the most about the experience was the setup and character of Michigan State's student section, the Izzone. UW's Grateful Red would benefit if the UW athletic department incorporated alternative policies from Michigan State and other universities.
Don't get me wrong, I think the Grateful Red still represent one of the better college basketball student sections in the country. Although attendance leading up to start time has been questionable at times, the Grateful Red shows great enthusiasm from tip-off to the buzzer.
The Badgers own a 118-10 record at home under head coach Bo Ryan, the fifth-best winning percentage in the nation during that time span. The student section is doubtlessly a huge reason behind this Kohl Center advantage. However, changes by the athletic department could elevate the participation of the Grateful Red to an entirely new level.
There are major differences in the layout between the Grateful Red and the Izzone. While the Kohl Center crams its entire student section in three levels behind a basket, the Breslin Student Events Center setup allows for much more student participation in the game's experience. Students are courtside, packed into a standing-only section that loops around most of the court.
With this setup, not only are students given a much better view of the game itself, but they are also more involved with every action taking place, including the players' emotions and substitutions from the bench. As a result, the students are tightly unified from their unique perspective. Throughout last weekend's game, the Izzone was effortlessly synchronized in their cheers, creating a contagious energy that carried throughout the building.
The MSU athletic department also uses a simpler, fairer system for assigning student seats. There are upper bowl and lower bowl sections. Admission to the lower bowl is determined by student attendance at games during the previous year. Attendance is determined by ranking students depending on how many games they attended, (students cannot miss more than two games to remain eligible for the lower bowl) along with the average arrival time prior to tipoff at each game, all calculated by scanning student IDs.
Students are motivated to show up early, and this creates even more school spirit. Despite the freezing weather, students were out hours before game time just to get a prime spot for the Spartans' showdown against the Badgers. It's important to reward such commitment.
It's probably no surprise to anyone that the UW athletic department didn't set things up this way for financial reasons. The Kohl Center opened in January of 1998 and funding relied heavily on donors and alumni. U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl donated $25 million alone, while other donor contributions exceeded $1 million.
Prior to the 2006-'07 men's basketball season, the UW athletic department sold 48 courtside seats at a price of $10,000 to $12,500 each. With a waiting list in place for other courtside seats should they become available, the athletic department has shown no reason to believe that the structure of things will be changing anytime soon.
Although I understand the university needs to take advantage of economic opportunities like this to raise money for the school as a whole, it also needs to reevaluate its commitment to the students with these financial decisions. Alumni can hold onto basketball season tickets for as long as they want. But as an undergrad, you're only here for a few short years, and the UW athletic department should give its students the opportunity to make the most of it.
Given the country's current recession, it may be unfair to ask the university to take another financial hit by moving student seating. But as for the lottery system that students have complained about for years, what better way to solve the problem than by instituting a system similar to that of Michigan State? It's time for the UW athletic department to stop using a lottery system that fails to recognize the most important element of being a fan: his or her passion and dedication to the team.
How do you feel about Wisconsin's student section lottery system? E-mail your thoughts to Matt at mfox2@wisc.edu.
