The Arena is NOT the Answer!!!

[bluecrewprez]

I just wanted to address something that was being threaded on the "Rammer Today" post. I know the bottom of my posts lists me as the Billikens.com resident optimist, but I am so tired of everyone saying that once the arena is here, the entire SLU student body will become rabid basketball fanatics, go to every single game, and do so for years and years to come.

It's like what you said SLUSAE--"...were on a run and DB and KL were running the break and KL buried the 3 to put us up 9 i believe, the crowd went wild for 10 seconds then UD called time and the crowd immediately sat right down." I don't want butts filling seats...in fact, I never wants butts to even TOUCH the seats. Who cares if they're there if they're not participating/getting involved?? The arena is a LOCATION...what goes on INSIDE that building is the answer. Billiken Basketball--and college basketball in general--should create an atmosphere that goes BEYOND a head count, BEYOND a profit, and BEYOND a season record. SLU students/alumni/fans need to be able to stake ownership of that building and feel like they are a part of a full, rich tradition. You can't tell students, "Go to the basketball game...we have a building for that" and expect them to start caring. They need to understand WHY Billiken Basketball is important and WHY they should be proud to support their home team.

The arena will be a 2-3 year novelty unless the Athletic Department and SLU itself can develop a long-term marketing plan to MAKE people want to be there, want to participate, and want to belong. They need to come up with a strategy to make every person at SLU/in the greater St. Louis community feel like it is THEIR arena.

Call me a romantic (or just a loser), but one reason that I have grown to love SLU basketball as much as I do is because I am part of something much bigger than just I. I am part of a tradition that is more than just this season's record. It's a tradition of Larry Hughes, Anthony Bonner, Spoonball, and the SLU Pep Band. Students need to get an education about where we come from as soon as they step foot on this campus so they know WHY they need to be proud and WHY they need to go to the games and support...even when we don't win. Just by having this arena does NOT tell students why it is IMPORTANT we have this arena.

I am optimistic in the fact that the AD and SLU could get this done if they really work hard at marketing this facility and commit to a long-term strategy. If they do not start capitalizing on the arena NOW/if they do not start marketing exactly what need that this building will fill in the individual person, the AD will have spent tens of millions of dollars on a facade.

[Battlecat455]

"Call me a romantic (or just a loser), but one reason that I

>have grown to love SLU basketball as much as I do is because

>I am part of something much bigger than just I. I am part of

>a tradition that is more than just this season's record.

>It's a tradition of Larry Hughes, Anthony Bonner, Spoonball,

>and the SLU Pep Band. Students need to get an education

>about where we come from as soon as they step foot on this

>campus so they know WHY they need to be proud and WHY they

>need to go to the games and support...even win we don't win."

Certainly not a loser, Prez. Just someone that has things figured out beyond your years. Good post and observations, imo.

[Billikan]

Good points!

Some additional observations:

1. Generally, winning cures a lot of ills. This years team actually had a great record at home and some exciting wins. At times, the crowds were very loud but it seemed like we lost some momentum when we lost those two games that everyone thought we should have won and the constant negativity of the press and some fans really put a wet blanket on the season. For each team in each sport there is a vibe or a momentum that seems to come and go. The Blues were real hot for years and then they fizzled. The Rams were hot and then they were booed by their own fans. If we can just get the fans, including the students, more hyped about the team and the new arena then I think it can have a major impact. Hot new recruits would help as well. People get a mindset and it is hard to break. I am always fired up for Billiken basketball and I believe there is a real opportunity for the new building to give us a big boost!

2. Our fans will seldom be screaming the whole game but if we get a big concentrated student section really rocking and rolling I believe that will be a catalyst for more cheering from the rest of the fans. Time outs are called by coaches around the country to quiet the home crowd and we just need to come back cheering after the time outs. I personally often stand and lead the cheers and get people going but the building is so big that it is hard to maintain it. I think a smaller, more intimate building will be much better.

3. You probably have a better feeling as to how to get the students to the games and cheering loud than most of us. When I was at SLU I went to every game and we cheered like crazy but that was a different era. Are students just more apathetic about sports today? We are not like a state school that brings in thousands and thousands of freshmen each year. We have a smaller population of potential attendees so we need to get them hyped up about going to a game. One thing that will help is that we will get to set all of our own dates. When I was in school, we often played on Sat. night and then everyone went to the game and then out to party afterward. No one would have considered setting a party to start on a game night until after the game. I would also hope that just the fact that the students will only have to walk down the street to the new facility will entice them to attend and once they get there and see how hard this team plays I would hope they would fall in love with Billiken basketball like I did.

Thanks for all of your help! Keep the faith!

[Milwaukee Billiken]

Winning more games always always always increases attendance. It's true that we will have to see a good product on the court in order to see the maintenance of the attendance spike we are likely to see in the first few years of the new arena. However, I think the point was that for something to do on a weeknight or Saturday, students are much more likely to walk down campus than they would be to get themselves to the Scottrade to catch a ballgame even if the teams playing are horrible.

[Box and Won]

Your point about setting our own dates is a great one. We had well over 10k fans for LaSalle last Saturday - Saturday night games are great and we always end up with a much better student turnout on Saturday nights (Saturday afternoons just aren't the same). The proximity of the new arena should help student attendance on weeknight games too.

[kwyjibo]

I definitely agree with you and think you make a lot of really good points but there are some hardcore arena fetishists here and in their world you are now a heretic. Enjoy!

[Westy03]

For me its not about the attendance number. Other then the blue crew the students section just sits and hardly cheers. The whole point of the topic wasnt to get more people there it was to get the people there to be more energetic.

BTW, Prez you make some very good points.

[jimbofive]

Plain and simple - I don't feel like I am wanted, nor do I belong at the SCOTTRADE CENTER!!! There's Blues stuff everywhere, it's OLD, and hell, the only basketball stuff I saw walking around was a display for the MVC tourney. There will be Billikens stuff EXCLUSIVELY all over the new arena. The kids can see how they stack up next to a lifesize cutout of Dwayne "Double Penetration" Polk!, get up against a green screen and be in their own music video of "I'm Too Cool for Skool" with Justin Johnson, or even order a sometimes delicious, but mostly completely average gyro complete with Vouyoukas sauce!

The school has really gotten it done architecturally with the new BSC or the BMC or whatever, and the newly renovated Rec Center; I think the arena will be the best addition yet. If I was in school when the arena opened (and didn't have to work every night like I did through college) I would be drunker than Anna Nicole's ghost at her own funeral, jumping and screaming at every game. I guess all I can say is that if we get the recruits we're supposed to, the Arena arrives as scheduled, and we STILL don't have that college basketball atmosphere, then sadly, we just might never have it. But I think we've got a great shot at really jump starting a good program soon.

[bluecrewprez]

>Are students just more

>apathetic about sports today? We are not like a state school

>that brings in thousands and thousands of freshmen each

>year. We have a smaller population of potential attendees so

>we need to get them hyped up about going to a game.

My impression overall is that the SLU student body IS very apathetic when it comes to SLU athletics. I don't think it is because they don't care, it's because they really haven't been given the OPPORTUNITY to care. SLU doesn't not project an image of sports...it projects an image of studying and classes. Sports just doesn't seem like it is a key concern for the university...not to say that building this new arena isn't contradicting that statement a bit, but it just seems like having an arena is something we can add to our list of facilities we send out to prospective students.

**WARNING** BIT OF A TANGENT:

I think that if you asked any member of this board, "When did you fall in love with Billiken Basketball," the first thing that would pop into their heads would be a particular moment: one moment when they decided, "Wow...I am going to be Billiken fan for life." Whether it was standing next to your dad as he taught you everything you know about the current roster/coach or you were rushing the court vs. Iowa in the first round of the NIT in 2004, you had that moment (the latter was mine).

I just think that there needs to be some way to harness those moments (like a Billiken Basketball Mental Collage) to show students, alums, and the entire city of St. Louis how important those moments are, how important Billiken Basketball is, and how important this arena is going to be...if not physically in the new arena then on SLUBillikens.com or along the sidewalk into the arena...some physical, tangible location so students realize that being a Billiken Basketball fan is a priviledge, a lifestyle, and a tradition--not an option for when there's nothing else to do that night.

[P.S. Sorry for being so deep on this matter...sometimes I get carried away ]

[bonwich]

>it's OLD

This is a truly scary comment.

[jimbofive]

Clientele.

Boosters are essential, but I feel like I'm at a dog show sometimes.

[bonwich]

Understood.

And back to an earlier Prez statement -- we also somehow need to come up with a new/alternative set of boosters. We know for a fact that we don't have any Baby Blues because some influential and oversensitive booster crabbed about it. I'd also deduce that our P.A. announcer is a special favorite of someone who sits about 15 rows up at center court. This and other small-time behavior goes on because at least some major subset of our current booster population pays the bills, but has very little imagination or quality standards.

Maybe we can merge two ideas. Maybe we should have a dog show at halftime.

[SShoe]

good stuff jimbo, but I'm not sure I want to eat anything with "Vouyoukas sauce" in it.

[SLUAvtr]

Prez, you gave me goosebumps while I read this and recollected. Seriously! I knew I was going to be a lifer after my very first game. Of course, it helped that I shared it with about 90+ some odd other people wearing blue and white striped shirts and we were turned loose by one of the newest Billiken Hall of Famers. I agree, even when I was an undergrad, nobody really seemed to have those great moments stored with them. I think it's because for awhile between the SpoonBall era, and the departing of Romar (not counting the Miracle in Memphis), there wasn't much that kept SLU on the perverbial "map" of the college basketball scene. Yes, the new arena will help, so will winning, so will better marketing (btw, I can't wait 'til we don't have to ***** ourselves out for sponsorships during the game), it's all intertwined. The future hold many uncertainties, but with the right game plan, the SLU student body, and hell, the big STL itself will hopefully come around at some point.

[kevinfootes]

Everyone who sees the new arena as some kind of panacea is way off. The team needs to win and the AD's office needs to improve the marketing by a TON. Biondi needs to loosen the purse strings. SLU will run a big risk by undoubtably jacking up ticket prices with the move. Without the rest of the support, it could be a big flop.

Otherwise this new arena will be like watching baseball in Pittsburgh.

[Milwaukee Billiken]

Or like watching baseball in Milwaukee.

[Band Legend]

You're wrong about the possibility of the new arena being a big flop. It might, however, maintain a very sleepy status quo. Even that is doubtful. Here are the numbers. There is a very solid 6000 or so season tickets sold at this point in time; I don't anticipate this level to drop any further, in fact I think it will rise with the new building, at least for the first couple of years. The student section will also grow at least a bit larger, if only because of proximity. The 8000 to 10,000 that show up for every game right now will be exponentially louder in the new building even if they continue to sit on their hands. It's gonna be great, people, no matter whether you want to continue to wring your hands together or gnash your teeth. This is one scenario where there is no cloud hovering over the program. This is not even a 10,000 seat hockey arena like the dump in St. Charles. We're going to be right on the court, basketball only, and even if ticket prices are raised, which I'm sure they will be, Billiken basketball will still be the best sports value in town. Just enjoy the ride.

[Billikenbooster]

Watch it! As the resident Greek on the Board, I take offense there. You can do much worse than some good Greek cookin'!

mhg

[thetorch]

I think folks will be mildly surprised at the affecft the new arena has on even SLU's staid fan base.

In my over 25 years of watching SLU Bball I've never watched them in a traditional college basketball arena at least at home. We've been in the old kiel which was small but even worse than Savvis at being so far away from the court. The Arena was probably the best venue for watching Bball SLU has been in and even it wasn't great. Savvis is not a basketball arena and it seating section cowtows to the yuppies corporate crowd.

The new arena will be nothing like any Billiken fan has seen. Everyone wil be on top of the court, just the bodies massed together causes a frenzy. I've seen it plenty of other venues where the crowd is just as old as ours. Just being in such close proximity to other fans and the court will make for a much livelier crowd.

That said, SLU's piss poor marketing efforts need to vastly improve and a continued strong effort by the Blue Crew will be needed. I have to say though the last two years the Blue Crew has given SLU its strongest student section since I've been watching. Hopefully sustained success in the program will help breed bigger and better things for the Blue crew down the road.

[slu72]

The answer is an exciting winning basketball team. A team that has a legit shot every year of going to the dance, a team that can knock off a few biggies we bring in to the arena, read a UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Arizona....As for the cheering and noise at the game, the students have to start creating their own traditions. Last year at UNC, they did a Jump dance before the game, the volume was incredible. I don't know if marketing is the answer to get fans aroused. As someone posted, SLU has a core base of fans, there are area fans who like D1 hoops who attend probably more than a few games, and the students. That will probably mean 8,000 which is 80% full, so you'll always have a good crowd. but being there doesn't mean the crowd will be loud. Like many of the over the hill game, we're not gonna be jumping up and down for 40 minutes, that's up to the students. Every game has to be "an event" you can't miss for the students. That will come if the program reaches Biondi's goal of top 50.

[DoctorB]

you better believe the Arena will contribute to changing the culture around here. it may not be THE ANSWER; but it sure is part of the equation.

I agree, it will make a dramatic difference. Just sound-wise, the difference will be dramatic. Plus, it will be sell-outs or near-capacity, as opposed to half full or less. Recruiting will improve, many more students will make the effort to go and cheer, and as we get better, the culture will change.

(Winning and making some noise nationally is also part of this equation, and I expect that is already starting to emerge--though slowly it seems to many on here.)

These things take time, but the arenat is gonna help=a lot!

note: I sure hope they have enough sense to put the student section right on the floor, preferably behind the visiting bench.

[kevinfootes]

you'd go to every home game anyway. Students at SLU are notoriously disinterested in everything. In many ways it's still a commuter school at heart. When I went to SLU I was at every home game. Sure there were plenty of people who didn't want to make the 5 minute trip to the game. Those are the same people who will quickly lose interest even when the building is on campus. I agree that more students will attend games on campus, but not as many as people think.

The Kiel/whatever 12 or 13 years old. Do you think they're going to play in a new building every five years? Do you think that hanging more pictures will lead to a 25 win season? Were you ever in the old Kiel, the Arena, or West Pine gym?

[kevinfootes]

and the atmosphere would be better. Oh wait, they're a bunch of prima donnas who are too cool to go to games.

[kevinfootes]

This all goes back to SLU's horrible marketing.

[kshoe]

similar to how it is now...