Improve Mason home game experience discussion
- Thread starter Jack Strop
- Start date
Pretty sure this has been talked about at length from
1) the economy
2) traffic on weeknights
3) cost
4) ability to tune in at home
5) other priorities in life than watching mason beat up some unknown team by 25
Early season games are hard for just about everyone, but thankfully when the conference season rolls around people wake up and want to attend a bit more. At least ODU and JMU are coming and that will bring at least 4k each.
1) DMV has lots of government related employees.
i know of people who have lost jobs and gone without paychecks approaching a month.
Many are surviving on friends and family, credit card debt, home equity loans, and in some cases withdrawals from retirement savings - with the 10% penalty.
going to a basketball game is not on their top 10 list
2) OOC schedule is weak. Including 2 non-D1 programs. Yet GMU uses an average cost pricing model where a ticket to see vcu is the same price as a ticket to Catawba and Alfred State. No one but diehard season ticket holders will buy at that price.
I paid $5.73 for a ticket to Alfred State and $5 for a ticket to Catawba. Premium seat holders are effectively paying $100 for their seats to those games.
3) Unless you are at a Top 10 program, Women's BBall games are poorly attended. Note that not even the full band is there for Women's games. Only 1 home game for the women so far, so maybe they will see a bump in attendance.
In my 20 years of observing this program i find that the ticketing staff is not very good and has an acute lack of marketing, pricing and innovation skills, which may in part be hampered by the concessions contract.
With a weak OOC schedule i could not see any value in buying any of Men's games ticket offerings from GMU. Instead, i did buy season tickets for the women, and have picked up 4 games via stubhub, et al., for prices between $5 and $10 max per game.
Good points. I agree the focus should be on the basketball game. But the arena experience matters too, and right now it just feels empty. I was at the game, and the whole building feels dated.
I still remember walking into the Patriot Center as a freshman in 2008 and to my younger self, it felt like a professional arena and something special. Now, it feels old and tired. The concourse especially needs attention. First impressions matter, and right now it feels more like walking through a run-down high school than a Division I arena.
Update the concourse. Have cheerleaders greet fans and create energy before they even reach their seats. Set the tone early then, as you said, let the game take over from there.
.
Portlandian
Hall of Famer
Ten bucks is good for GA and if I lived say within 15-20 minutes (each way) away from the arena I would have travelled and shelled out for Wofford and Winthrop. I don't know I would have driven 25-30 minutes each way for those games.
Traffic sucks, especially after a long work day. I can watch from the comfort of home, there's a lot of good things on TV and streaming these days, and the schedule, especially the out of conference schedule, isn't always very exciting.
JMU and ODU would be the 2 games I'd go out of my way to see because of old CAA nostalgia.
It would be interesting to see if there was any sort of long-term attendance pattern with the move to the A10, if it moved the dial much one way or another.
I am glad that GMU move to the A-10, but I can't work up the same amount of excitement for conference games against say Fordham or Chicago as I used to for UNCW or JMU.
Traffic sucks, especially after a long work day. I can watch from the comfort of home, there's a lot of good things on TV and streaming these days, and the schedule, especially the out of conference schedule, isn't always very exciting.
JMU and ODU would be the 2 games I'd go out of my way to see because of old CAA nostalgia.
It would be interesting to see if there was any sort of long-term attendance pattern with the move to the A10, if it moved the dial much one way or another.
I am glad that GMU move to the A-10, but I can't work up the same amount of excitement for conference games against say Fordham or Chicago as I used to for UNCW or JMU.
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most people saying they wouldn’t travel to the arena to see the team has a lot to do with a lot of people saying they wouldn’t travel to the arena to see the team. If the arena had 7k fans in it and the arena was popping and Mason was beating the crap out of someone and people were dancing and singing and cheering and the Green Machine was loud and raucous, you can’t replace that with an espn+ subscription.
It’s circular reasoning but it’s true. More people would come out if more people came out.
It’s circular reasoning but it’s true. More people would come out if more people came out.
Got to the Gold Room around 6:30 (about the same as for Wofford game) but line was quite short and the food was almost gone. Cause or effect? .
No cookies on the long tables where they were for the Wofford game so I asked someone who had a couple cookies on his plate. He pointed me to the table closer to the entrance that has popcorn and soft drinks. Sure enough, plenty of big cookies there! Much better place for them for folks like me who aren't lookin for an "entree", only a dessert. Won't need to wait in line for them,
No cookies on the long tables where they were for the Wofford game so I asked someone who had a couple cookies on his plate. He pointed me to the table closer to the entrance that has popcorn and soft drinks. Sure enough, plenty of big cookies there! Much better place for them for folks like me who aren't lookin for an "entree", only a dessert. Won't need to wait in line for them,
One other thing that I noticed for the first time was that when we made a foul shot, there was a distinct "ka-ching" sound as if that shot had swished through. I thought that they must have miked the nets at our end of the floor.
Later I noticed that some (many?) of the made shots didn't "look" like shots that would make that sound. Indeed, after more made foul shots not looking "right", I thought that someone must have recorded that "ka-ching" sound and played it when we were in the process of making the shot. Many times the timing of the audio was off just enough that it became quite clear that the ball was not making that sound. Shortly after mentioning this to my friend, a Mason player took a foul shot that started to go in--ka-ching went the audio--but then rattled out and then dropped back through!
How long has this been going on?
Later I noticed that some (many?) of the made shots didn't "look" like shots that would make that sound. Indeed, after more made foul shots not looking "right", I thought that someone must have recorded that "ka-ching" sound and played it when we were in the process of making the shot. Many times the timing of the audio was off just enough that it became quite clear that the ball was not making that sound. Shortly after mentioning this to my friend, a Mason player took a foul shot that started to go in--ka-ching went the audio--but then rattled out and then dropped back through!
How long has this been going on?
OP
- Thread Starter
- #410
I have been to each game this season... tonight was the first time I heard this sound-effect.
GunstonsGhost
Sixth Man
This was a sound effect from the student dj who folks are hating on. Personally, I thought he did a decent job. Playing an arena setting likely for the first time AND trying to do something a little different is pretty admirable in my opinion.
Aaaaannndddd we have a DJ inserting himself into the game trying to make it about him and what he can do. It only took 3 games.
The sound effect was AWFUL. Particularly the time the ball hadn't even gone through the net and he played it. Please just play music for the students or when Doc Nix tells you to. Trying to 'add' to the game experience things which don't belong isn't addition, it's subtraction.
Jesus christ some of you will complain about ANYTHING! The sound effect was funny, especially when the shot almost rimmed out.
FreeGunston12
All-American
Wasn’t it the “students run the show” game? I think we can relax and enjoy if it’s just one game of the year.
NewPatriot
Starter
How about stuffing gummy bears in your pocket to keep them warm and soft?
You new here?
Masonman
Specialist
We noticed this too. I think it started last night, not sure how I could miss that. It was funny when the swish sound would go off whilst the ball was still rolling around the rim.
Could we just get something like this how hard could it be. doc Nix great but we need this at times through the game: https://x.com/i/status/1988399679655342450
thebiasedannouncer
Sixth Man
Me and the people I was sitting next to last night were cracking up at this. Actually made us more excited for the free throws. I kinda like it.
New GMU Gear trailer will be available for the game this Saturday where you can buy gear before and after games.
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GiantKiller.co
ByGeorge
Expat Hoops
Fourth Estate
Doc Nix and the Green Machine
Bill Bride - DMV Sports Shots
Patriot Brew Blog/Newsletter