change of venue

[clawman1]

The administration should consider having bball games played @ high schools in the Spokane area. The games could rotate to numerous area schools that would hold the meager attendance at most games.
The students do not show up anyway and maybe more local fans would attend a game in their neighborhood.

 

[GoldenEagle]

I think the YMCA is a better choice. The Zumba class can provide halftime entertainment.

 

[Rafter_Reese]

The administration should consider having bball games played @ high schools in the Spokane area. The games could rotate to numerous area schools that would hold the meager attendance at most games.
The students do not show up anyway and maybe more local fans would attend a game in their neighborhood.

I actually really like the games being played at Reese Court. It is a very solid venue for the Big Sky. You can sit wherever you want, the tickets are cheap, and it's usually a pretty good atmosphere for hoops. I think too many of our alumni still consider us a football school with all the success we have had. If they would look closely though, they would see that the product we are putting out on the basketball court is pretty impressive. These guys play hard and they are all great students and human beings. I feel like the worst thing the conference ever did was move the Big Sky tournament to Reno and now Boise. Regular season games used to mean a whole lot.

go eags!

 

[clawman1]

The administration should consider having bball games played @ high schools in the Spokane area. The games could rotate to numerous area schools that would hold the meager attendance at most games.
The students do not show up anyway and maybe more local fans would attend a game in their neighborhood.

I actually really like the games being played at Reese Court. It is a very solid venue for the Big Sky. You can sit wherever you want, the tickets are cheap, and it's usually a pretty good atmosphere for hoops. I think too many of our alumni still consider us a football school with all the success we have had. If they would look closely though, they would see that the product we are putting out on the basketball court is pretty impressive. These guys play hard and they are all great students and human beings. I feel like the worst thing the conference ever did was move the Big Sky tournament to Reno and now Boise. Regular season games used to mean a whole lot.

go eags!

I was actually being facetious, I like the venue as well but am disappointed students do not show up. Your last two sentences seem like two different subjects. Why do regular season games not mean a lot?

 

[Rafter_Reese]

The administration should consider having bball games played @ high schools in the Spokane area. The games could rotate to numerous area schools that would hold the meager attendance at most games.
The students do not show up anyway and maybe more local fans would attend a game in their neighborhood.

I actually really like the games being played at Reese Court. It is a very solid venue for the Big Sky. You can sit wherever you want, the tickets are cheap, and it's usually a pretty good atmosphere for hoops. I think too many of our alumni still consider us a football school with all the success we have had. If they would look closely though, they would see that the product we are putting out on the basketball court is pretty impressive. These guys play hard and they are all great students and human beings. I feel like the worst thing the conference ever did was move the Big Sky tournament to Reno and now Boise. Regular season games used to mean a whole lot.

go eags!

I was actually being facetious, I like the venue as well but am disappointed students do not show up. Your last two sentences seem like two different subjects. Why do regular season games not mean a lot?

I get what you're saying about the students not showing up. I really do. Our athletic director probably needs to do something to help address that situation. We need more student involvement. There are a lot of creative things they could do. Maybe have some sort of Midnight Madness when practices officially begin where free pizza is served. Then the players and coaches could get on the microphone and could really promote the regular season games and why they need the student body's support. Then have a dunk contest. If you've watched warm-ups at one of our games you know we have many guys that can jump out of the gym. That would be entertaining for students to watch.
The only thing the regular season games are good for now is to get the first round bye. So I guess if you're in the top five they mean something. However, I feel bad for the 1st place regular season team. They used to get to host the conference tournament which was the coolest thing ever. It really gave you a home court advantage during the tourney. Let's say the Griz make the championship game this year. They will have to play somebody on essentially a neutral floor now. There's no advantage there. If you've watched the tournament down in Reno over the past few years you understand what I'm talking about. It's been a complete embarrassment for the conference in my opinion.

go eags!

 

[EdubU10]

I never really understood why the students were so apathetic to the basketball teams. Granted, when I attended EWU, the men's team was pretty mediocre but it was something to do during the winter when the weather sucked.
I think a lot of teams across the country are facing this exact issue. Whether it's too many entertainment options or if your team isn't a top 25, seems like I'm seeing a lot of empty seats when I watch mid term CBB on tv these days.

 

[marceagfan5]

This years attendance for students has been awful...I saw a handful of games and there were maybe, 30-50 students there, maybe...

Not sure what eastern can do to help attendance, they've tried combining mens/womens games with Idaho, moving up start times, nothing seems to work unfortunately.

I do think Reese is a good venue and when the crowd is decent the atmosphere is a lot of fun.

 

[Guitarguy]

Once upon a time, EWU was the premier basketball team in the region. The summer basketball camp drew hundreds of the top athletes in the state and Gonzaga wasn't even on the radar. Even after Gonzaga made their first few runs in the tourney, we had amazing crowds and even sold out Reese on numerous occasions. That all pretty much ended after the Stuckey era. Earlywine's tenure seemed to take all the air out of the program and we have never recovered.

For better or worse, we have become a football school. None of the current students remember a time when EWU basketball was relevant. To be honest, our product, while improving, is still in the middle of the conference. It's going to take a championship season to begin to draw the casual fan back.

Everyone is struggling with getting students to attend events. Hockey game attendance is down, special events are poorly attended etc. It's a different generation and you have to figure out how to engage them.

 

[rontheoldwiseeagle2]

The administration should consider having bball games played @ high schools in the Spokane area. The games could rotate to numerous area schools that would hold the meager attendance at most games.
The students do not show up anyway and maybe more local fans would attend a game in their neighborhood.

I actually really like the games being played at Reese Court. It is a very solid venue for the Big Sky. You can sit wherever you want, the tickets are cheap, and it's usually a pretty good atmosphere for hoops. I think too many of our alumni still consider us a football school with all the success we have had. If they would look closely though, they would see that the product we are putting out on the basketball court is pretty impressive. These guys play hard and they are all great students and human beings. I feel like the worst thing the conference ever did was move the Big Sky tournament to Reno and now Boise. Regular season games used to mean a whole lot.

go eags!

I was actually being facetious, I like the venue as well but am disappointed students do not show up. Your last two sentences seem like two different subjects. Why do regular season games not mean a lot?

What about some type of system of points for student tickets, so if your going to basketball or volleyball games you get better seats at football games?

 

[Obzerver]

Ron, I like your idea. When you said "What about some type of system of points for student tickets" I thought what about fellow athletes. Have student athletes able to acquire points for attending other teams athletic events. If they get a certain amount of points they get a rice crispy square (probably against NCAA rules). Maybe they get out of wind sprints (they still use that terminology?). Our coaches should "encourage" their student athletes, especially scholarship athletes and especially if they live on campus, to attend other sports games/matches/meets, ect. The AD could/should "encourage" coaches to "encourage" student athletes to support all EWU athletic events.

 

[Rafter_Reese]

Once upon a time, EWU was the premier basketball team in the region. The summer basketball camp drew hundreds of the top athletes in the state and Gonzaga wasn't even on the radar. Even after Gonzaga made their first few runs in the tourney, we had amazing crowds and even sold out Reese on numerous occasions. That all pretty much ended after the Stuckey era. Earlywine's tenure seemed to take all the air out of the program and we have never recovered.

For better or worse, we have become a football school. None of the current students remember a time when EWU basketball was relevant. To be honest, our product, while improving, is still in the middle of the conference. It's going to take a championship season to begin to draw the casual fan back.

Everyone is struggling with getting students to attend events. Hockey game attendance is down, special events are poorly attended etc. It's a different generation and you have to figure out how to engage them.

Disagree and agree with you on a couple of things. Totally disagree about the product we are putting on the floor. Look at our last three or four seasons. Some 20-plus win seasons in there. You can't just look at this year. We have put a great product on the floor over the last few years and the students have still not showed up. Agree with you on your point about needing to figure out how to engage the students. It's going to take some creativity with this new generation. They've grown up with cell phones in their hand.

go eags!