IS IT TIME?

[apaladin]

We turned away people today even though they sold the student section out. I got there 30 minutes before the game and there was a line of traffic in both directions trying to get in the gate. Haven't seen that in a while. How many people that got turned away will come back? Even though today was a sell out the attendance was 2,467. Considering some no shows apparently our capacity is a little over 2,500 now down a good bit because I know we have had crowds of 3,000 plus in the past. When the students come back and and if we keep winning many people will not be able to gat tickets.
I think it may be time to do whatever needs to be done to increase capacity by opening some seats or whatever. This is a good problem to have.

[CharlieFU]

I had thought our current capacity was 3,000, and was surprised when I was told it was more like 2500. Looks like we probably could get to 3000 without a whole lot of effort and I think we could fill that up most nights.

I actually complained to myself tonight when the downstairs concession line was out the door during halftime. Almost made me long for the nights of 785 as announced attendance with about 400 actually there.

[apaladin]

I know what you mean, LOL. I just hate that we will lose potential fans if people keep coming and keep getting turned away. Why can't the corner seats be pulled out? Lots of open space in the upper area. The end zone seats could be increased also with some height.

[Fessor]

No it isn't time. In fact, it's a bad idea for a number of reasons.
First, neither is desirable, but it's better to turn someone away than to take their money for a bad seat. You alienate people doing that.
Also, you'd have to pull back the curtains to use those upper tier corner seats and with that, you create a giant cavern and kill the intimacy and packed-house feel. Not good.
Also, having limited tickets creates urgency. Call it the Fenway phenomenon. Why do you think new baseball stadiums are being made smaller than their predecessors and existing stadiums are either ripping out or blocking off sections of seats?
Lastly, if you limit walk-up ticket availability, then you increase demand for season tickets. If you don't believe me, then ask every executive in MLB.
So, no, it isn't time.

[tya1]

I wonder what the cost would be for some increased endzone seating? Not only would that increase capacity with some seats close to the action, but it could improve the gametime atmosphere with more fans up close and personal.

[CharlieFU]

I was simply advocating we try to get it to 3000–which I am pretty sure can be done without the issues created by opening up everything. I agree we don’t need to open it up to 5,000 or whatever. And I’m not sure we should do anything at all this year.

[DungeonRealm]

Put me in the camp that says leave as is currently this season and lets invest in some larger endzone seating (height) this offseason for the future capacity

[Fessor]

No it isn't time. In fact, it's a bad idea for a number of reasons.
First, neither is desirable, but it's better to turn someone away than to take their money for a bad seat. You alienate people doing that.
Also, you'd have to pull back the curtains to use those upper tier corner seats and with that, you create a giant cavern and kill the intimacy and packed-house feel. Not good.
Also, having limited tickets creates urgency. Call it the Fenway phenomenon. Why do you think new baseball stadiums are being made smaller than their predecessors and existing stadiums are either ripping out or blocking off sections of seats?
Lastly, if you limit walk-up ticket availability, then you increase demand for season tickets. If you don't believe me, then ask every executive in MLB.
So, no, it isn't time.

I agree with the idea of adding 50 more seats or so in the each end zone this season; seems doable with steeper grandstands. Also , from the stream, there appeared to be large #'s of unused seats on the home side in the first ten rows or so. Try harder to get season ticket holders who aren't attending to turn those tickets back in.

[purplehorse]

A shame that someway they could not reclaim season tickets of those who aren’t there. There were quite a few empty seats at center court on the home side.

Yes I hate for ANYBODY to be turned away but actually a good problem to have if it continues the rest of this season.

A great crowd today!

[Flagman]

The university has made and continues to make an effort to reclaim those unused season tickets.

[gman]

The university has made and continues to make an effort to reclaim those unused season tickets.

I agree. There is nothing else the ticket office can do to get season tickets holders to get rid of unused tickets. The season ticket holder should take the responsibility. Here is a link to an easy process to e-mail tickets. http://www.furmanpaladins.com/sports/ti ... _To_Others

[furpep]

Missed our 2nd game yesterday. Things came up at the last minute and we were unable to come. Sounded like it was a good game. Student section was populated by an OLLI day with members of the Furman OLLI program getting some specials to attend game. Must have worked.

[apaladin]

We could easily add a few hundred seats to the end zone seats. There is app. 40 seats per row. Add 10 rows each and thats 800 seats. Add 5 rows per end zone and thats 400.

[furpep]

Hey, when you expand those endzone seats you gotta make sure you have room for those of us who use a Rollator or wheelchair! By the way, the bigger problem is the number of people who trip going up and down that metal ramp that is at the end of the court across from our home bench. Have seen many tumbles, slips and pretty serious falls this season. Our AD knows about this but right now everyone is sort of stumped as to what to do.

[paladinfan12]

A little reconfiguring in the offseason could make Timmons a much more intimate venue for basketball. I hope they find a way to eliminate the walking area behind the scoring table and add some more seats in behind the basket. Overall Timmons is still a very efficient venue for Furman basketball.