With the fall sports season in full swing and basketball season right around the corner, many students’ Facebook feeds have been flooded with notifications of upcoming athletic events and had their email inboxes filled with a steady stream of reminders to purchase season tickets basketball season. The majority of these efforts come from Hoya Blue, Georgetown’s student fan group, and the Georgetown Athletic Department to drum up student attendance at home sporting events. Unfortunately, the numbers are against them, as national attendance at college sporting events have been declining over the last decade.
According to annual reports released by the National Collegiate Association of Athletics, the average Division I men’s basketball crowd has declined each of the past nine seasons. College football is following a similar trend. The Georgetown Athletic Department and Hoya Blue are working together to bring students back to Verizon Center. But this can be difficult in a city that boasts so many sporting attractions.
“One of the challenges Georgetown and other college teams in the area face is the competition in this market,” said Mex Carey, Assistant Athletics Director for Communication, on behalf of the department in an e-mail to the Voice. “With that said, we are always looking for ways to engage with our fans and the community in order to create the best possible atmosphere at Verizon Center.”
Georgetown Athletics and Hoya Blue look to increase student attendance at home games. Photo: Kari Sullivan/Georgetown Voice
Nobody understands atmosphere more than Hoya Blue President Nick Santaniello (NHS ‘16). The senior knows that his band of Blue and Gray hooligans are largely responsible for creating an environment that makes people want to keep coming back.
“We try to be the people at the game who are leading the chants, cheering, and showing up to as many games as possible just to be that presence that our varsity teams want at the games. We want to provide that.” said Santaniello. “We also want to get other people involved who are interested in sports, who are interested in Georgetown varsity athletics, to not only feel that they are welcome at the games, but, when they are there to get them involved.”
But to get students involved, the students first have to be there. And to get them there, Hoya Blue and the Athletics department have to go where the students are. That means flyering and promoting games heavily online.
“We really try to take advantage of the impact social media has on campus, so we’re always trying to get Facebook events and tweets up at least a week in advance of big games to increase visibility and hopefully reach as many people as possible to start getting them excited about the teams,” said Hoya Blue Promotions Officer Maeve Healy (SFS ‘18). “These have been extremely effective in getting the word out and drumming up interest in the different games.”
“Word of mouth still reigns supreme for marketing, so we want to make sure when students attend an event, they enjoy themselves and tell their friends about it,” wrote Carey. .
Despite advertising efforts, there are a number of reasons students stay away from Verizon Center. First, many students find travelling to games difficult. Free University shuttles run from campus to the Rosslyn Metro Station. Students can then ride either the Silver, Orange, or Blue Lines to Metro Center, connect to the Red Line, and then arrive at the Gallery Place stop below the stadium. One-way travel time varies from anywhere between 30 minutes and a hour.
In an attempt to increase convenience, last year the department introduced a one-way direct busing program to men’s basketball games at Verizon Center for all games played when students were on campus. With an advance purchase of a $2 ticket sold on first-come, first-served basis, students were guaranteed a spot on one of two buses that left outside of McDonough Arena an hour and 15 minutes prior to a home game.
“We thought this program worked well last season…” wrote Carey. “We will look to continue this again in the coming season.
The Verizon Center during more livelier times, when Georgetown played Syracuse in March 2013. File photo: Miles Gavin Meng/Georgetown Voice
Although the Athletic Department told the Voice that there was an increase in student attendance last season compared to the year prior, the number of student section seats has fallen over the last two seasons. For example, in Santaniello’s freshman year, 2012-13, the sections behind both baskets at Verizon Center were fully reserved for students. Starting in 2013-14, however, the student section behind one of the baskets has been cut in half, allowing the department more lower level tickets to sell to the general public. The department declined to provide specific figures regarding student attendance at men’s basketball games.
“We’ll have some home games where you expect we would have a much better showing and we don’t,” said Santaniello. “I understand their reasoning. Those are valuable tickets that they can sell for the lower bowl.”
It’s a good idea. The general public is far more likely to be able to afford those seats. At $125, student season tickets for the men’s basketball team are the most expensive in the Big East, 25 percent higher than the next closest league member, Seton Hall at $100. Schools such as Butler, Xavier, and Villanova grant free admission to their students but either on a first-come, first-served basis or through a lottery system.
Santaniello feels that the current season ticket price is a barrier to some students attending games, especially since students are charged for games that they’re not on campus for due to winter break.
“A lot of those games are not during the time we’re here on campus,” said Santaniello. “I think that should be reflected in the price. That would be a help for students.”
The athletics department, on the other hand, disagrees.
“Student season tickets are a great value for students who are interested in attending multiple games,” said the Athletic Department in their statement. “Interest-free, monthly payment plans are available to help make season tickets convenient and affordable. Furthermore, separate from season tickets, individual game tickets are also available to students at heavily discounted prices.”
While Hoya Blue and the Athletic Department both remain focused on creating a fan-friendly atmosphere at Verizon Center, they’re also committed to attracting students to games on campus.
The department has gone about this through various unique promotions including “Dad Bod Day” for a men’s soccer game earlier this season and “Hail to Kale Night” for a women’s basketball game last year. The department has even more ambitious plans forthcoming for this season.
“We have some very fun stuff planned for the coming season. The follow-up to Hail to Kale Night will be announced in the next few months and we are really excited about it,” wrote Carey. “We have some great student section themes planned for men’s hoops, as well as some very unique and cool giveaways throughout the season. Our goal is always to do better than we did the season before, so we are really excited for what is to come”
Hoya Blue, in close coordination with the department, has sought to create a tailgating culture for on-campus athletic events such as soccer and football games. Unfortunately, there are challenges that make creating a widespread tailgating culture difficult on the hilltop, such as the school’s condensed campus and the University’s alcohol policy. Because the student group is not allowed to provide alcohol to students of legal age while utilizing University facilities that are open spaces, such as Leavey Esplanade and Regents Lawn, Santaniello feels that the group loses potential interest from upperclassmen.
“We just need to do something about the tailgating atmosphere. We do think that is something that is very much lacking here at Georgetown’s campus…” said Santaniello. “We think that will engage another demographic, particularly upperclassmen, who don’t usually come to games for whatever reason. What makes it difficult here is that we don’t have locations like a parking lot at other universities outside their football field or basketball stadium where it makes it easy to do that in a very relaxed setting,” he said.
Despite these detractors, Hoya Blue has had some recent success with their newly established tailgates. A beach-themed tailgate prior to the men’s soccer game against then-No. 1 UCLA on Sept. 7 helped attract nearly 1,000 students to Shaw Field, the largest student crowd in program history. The group will look to continue this energy into the many events they have planned for the future, including for the men’s soccer team’s game this Saturday against Providence. The group will be hosting a pre-game party in Bulldog Tavern where there will be food and drink specials for students to take advantage of before heading up Shaw Field to cheer on the Hoyas.
But Healy and Hoya Blue know that their goal is unfulfilling in nature and feel that there’s always that one more person that they can reach out to and convert into a lifelong fanatic.
“There’s no such thing as a student section that is “too big”,” said Healy. “The more people cheering, the better.”
This article was originally published in the Sept. 25, 2015 issue with the headline: “Bucking the Trend: Georgetown Athletics and Hoya Blue’s Efforts to Increase Student Attendance at Home Games.”
