Some students will still sit in the front row at home basketball games, according to Athletic Director Tim Kenney.
Wednesday night, Kenney hosted a town hall meeting for students in the Reilly Center (RC) to inform students about the new RC seats and to discuss student attendance at games, Kenney said.
In July, the university announced plans to install a new row of courtside seats that run the length of the floor on both sides of the tunnel. These seats, which cost $710 per season per seat, moved the student section back from the court and place a row of chairs in front of the Wolfpack.
At the meeting, Kenney explained to students that mounting pressure from the conference to “secure the court” led to the decision to add the seats.
However, he also noted that the school has also received complaints from referees.
Despite the changes, Kenney noted that he does not want the new arrangement to hinder student involvement.
“We’re not trying to do anything to you guys to change what you do,” Kenney said.
According to Kenney, 48 chairs will be placed from baseline to baseline. Twenty-four will be placed where students used to stand.
Of those 24, 14 have been purchased and donated back to the university to give to students.
“How do we dole out these 14 seats?” Kenney asked. “We want you to decide.”
No decision has been reached, but student suggestions included a pre-game raffle where students attending the game will be randomly selected to occupy the seats just prior to tip-off.
“Knowing that students are going to be around that area, I think it will be a little bit different. . . but I still think it will be a good environment and I still think it will be fun,” said Josh Svetz, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major. “I’m a lot more optimistic about things now than I was when the announcement first came out.”
After answering all questions posed about the seats, Kenney asked students what changes they would like to see to game presentation.
Students suggested better halftime shows and promotional giveaways at the door.
According to Kenney, the athletics department has already begun discussing how to increase student attendance at games from last year’s average of 600 students per game.
“Each game you guys are on campus, you get a different t-shirt,” Kenney said. “[But] that might not happen this year.”
According to Kenney, an emphasis has been placed on student support.
“This is your team; these are your games,” Kenney said. “We’re going to make this even a tougher place, but we can’t do it without you guys.”
Students said they found the meeting to be informative and worthwhile.
“I did a lot of research before because I was really into the whole seat thing,” Svetz said. “Now that I sit here and look at it, it seems like the most fair compromise. I thought he [Kenney] was very open to student suggestions.”
Sophomore strategic communications major Jordan Tyson, a center on the men’s basketball team, said after listening to Kenney, he does not view the seats as a problem.
“I don’t think it will affect me or my teammates on the court,” Tyson said. “As long as [the students] are there supporting us, everything will be fine.” But he added, “A lot of people don’t like adapting to change, so even if it isn’t any different, people will look at it like ‘Oh, they’re messing up our student section.’”
kibbeei14@bonaventure.edu
