The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Last Friday, Bradley men’s basketball head coach Brian Wardle cast the athletic department’s latest line to try and reel in students to men’s basketball games.
Wardle, with Kaboom! standing guard, announced the introduction of the “Red Zone,” the new student section in Carver Arena.
The “Red Zone,” which has been in the works since June, will feature a roped-off, student-only section that includes a reduced-price concession stand, a lounge area, Wi-Fi exclusive to Bradley students and a bus drop off inside Carver Arena that leads students directly to the “Red Zone.”
And those are just some of the highlights listed in the release, which described these new additions as a “unique” and “one-of-a-kind” student experience.
Now, don’t get me wrong; these new features are original and fresh, and they will hopefully add a lively element to Carver Arena. Giving the students an established area with student-exclusive features is something which students will undoubtedly reap the benefits from, especially the reduced prices on arena concessions, which can burn a hole in anyone’s pocket.
However, looking at these implementations as a whole is when it becomes an enigma.
Sure, it’ll be fun having a DJ at games bumping pop tunes (oh yeah, that’s another thing the “Red Zone” will have), and having reduced prices on concessions is a huge positive, but some of these features need clarification.
Bradley will have Josiah Williams emcee men’s basketball games, as well as DJ for the crowd. NCAA rules state music cannot be played during game action, and the Bradley basketball band usually plays during timeouts.
Besides, Williams is going to continue to emcee the game, so he couldn’t DJ during the game itself even if he wanted to. For what reason does the DJ exist other than pre-game entertainment, when Carver Arena provides pre-game music anyway?
Also, the “Red Zone” will have a television in the student section broadcasting the Bradley game. Why is this needed when the game is going on literally right behind student seating?
These new additions are meant to enhance the student experience, but students that attend are there to watch Bradley basketball. No amount of television broadcasts, Wi-Fi or DJ-orchestrated pop music is going to make the team play better.
When it comes down to it, these features are going to provide a reason for students to take their eyes off the action on the court, rather than follow it.
That said, these features were solely created because of how low student attendance has become at Carver Arena, not to garner support for the team.
Athletics sent out a release last year announcing changes at Carver Arena, dedicating the lower bowl to students at $1 per ticket and allowing free parking to students at the arena if they had a valid Bradley ID and had three or more students in tow.
Those features were created to make it simpler for students to attend games, yet according to the Peoria Journal Star, student attendance in 2014-2015 dropped further, to just over 150 a game.
And that number is also one I feel is a little inflated, as more life can be found in the Dead Sea than the Red Sea at times.
Athletics made changes last year to make it excruciatingly easy for students to attend games and students never took advantage of the template athletics laid out.
I mean, they even changed the bus drop-off at Carver from the front doors to inside Carver so students don’t have to take a step outside when the weather gets colder.
Low student attendance doesn’t deserve all of the blame, it puts athletics in a position to create ideas such as the “Red Zone.”
However, whichever way you look at this, the only sure solution to the attendance problem is to win games. And that plan is still a work in progress.
