UNC-Wilmington @ (11-0) #23 Furman Saturday Dec. 15th

[FU03times]

Let's have regular and consistent sell-outs first. If folks want to be assured of a good seat, they can buy season tickets. I'm happy to see my tickets have more value. Just opening up those bleachers is no guarantee that they will be filled as some of you suggest. When students have to start camping out to get in early for a seat, I'll go along with opening the bleachers.

Students showed up at least an hour before the game started. This has never happened before.
I also heard from a very dependable source that Dwight wanted to start SELLING the student section seats. He started selling some of the seats that the students usually take up, including the section behind the baskets where the lacrosse team stands, and that resulted in students being TURNED AWAY FROM THE GAME. UNHEARD OF!!! Someone needs to have a talk with Dwight as the team mostly feeds off of the student’s energy, and FOR ONCE the student section starts being alive and full, and Dwight wants to throw all that to waste so he can make some extra money. Well I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about some extra $$ for Timmons if there’s no support from the students. This is simply outrageous, in my eyes.

[gman]

We should never turn away students. Never. I also noticed the ushers were giving students next to me on the front row a hard time for sitting there. Seems as though the normal seat holder couldn’t make it so the seats were available. After the third attempt, the usher finally gave up.

[Paul C]

Regarding the students, we should have a reasonable allotment and sell the rest. And by reasonable I mean maybe 600 (record for students is 620)....leave them a little wanting. And we are going to need every penny available to keep Bob. My nephew goes to N.C. St and he can’t attend every game. Happens most places.

[youwouldno]

Regarding the students, we should have a reasonable allotment and sell the rest. And by reasonable I mean maybe 600 (record for students is 620)....leave them a little wanting. And we are going to need every penny available to keep Bob. My nephew goes to N.C. St and he can’t attend every game. Happens most places.

Perhaps, but they should try to get creative some way or another, when there are going to be empty seats and other free space in the facility.

[FUpaladin08]

Regarding the students, we should have a reasonable allotment and sell the rest. And by reasonable I mean maybe 600 (record for students is 620)....leave them a little wanting. And we are going to need every penny available to keep Bob. My nephew goes to N.C. St and he can’t attend every game. Happens most places.

Perhaps, but they should try to get creative some way or another, when there are going to be empty seats and other free space in the facility.

Exactly. I realize this is new found territory, but a school the size of Furman should not turn a single student away. There are plenty of corners in Timmons available for standing room. Students will have no problem standing the whole game. I know there are logistical issues and fire codes, but Timmons can hold over 5,000 for a concert with plenty of standing room. Also options for opening some overflow seating up top of people want to see the team play that bad. We have to harness this attention the team is garnering, not turn folks away.

[Flagman]

Let's have regular and consistent sell-outs first. If folks want to be assured of a good seat, they can buy season tickets. I'm happy to see my tickets have more value. Just opening up those bleachers is no guarantee that they will be filled as some of you suggest. When students have to start camping out to get in early for a seat, I'll go along with opening the bleachers.

Students showed up at least an hour before the game started. This has never happened before.
I also heard from a very dependable source that Dwight wanted to start SELLING the student section seats. He started selling some of the seats that the students usually take up, including the section behind the baskets where the lacrosse team stands, and that resulted in students being TURNED AWAY FROM THE GAME. UNHEARD OF!!! Someone needs to have a talk with Dwight as the team mostly feeds off of the student’s energy, and FOR ONCE the student section starts being alive and full, and Dwight wants to throw all that to waste so he can make some extra money. Well I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about some extra $$ for Timmons if there’s no support from the students. This is simply outrageous, in my eyes.

I would like to know the name of your reliable source. My source (the horse’s mouth) reputes your source. We have many empty seats because many major donors who receive tickets as a benefit of their contribution never use them because they didn’t actually “purchase” them as most os us do so they are not as invested in their ticket as we are. We are experiencing a great moment in Furman basketball, and as Paul C suggested, we have a limited space allocated for students. Most schools have a lottery to distribute student tickets. It’s a good problem to have, and if their is a demand for paid seats, and there seems to be, we need to sell as many tickets as we can. People on this forum have whined for years about the lack of community interest in Furman sports and now that we have it, some seem to want to turn them (and their dollars) away. Posters to these forums have also whined about the lack of support from our students. As I’ve posted before, once a constituency proves the support is long-standing and not just fair weather support, perhaps it will be more feasible to expand the capacity of Timmons. Right now, my season ticket has real value. And a seat in the student section has real value.

[FU03times]

Regarding the students, we should have a reasonable allotment and sell the rest. And by reasonable I mean maybe 600 (record for students is 620)....leave them a little wanting. And we are going to need every penny available to keep Bob. My nephew goes to N.C. St and he can’t attend every game. Happens most places.

Y’all are kidding, right? You can’t possibly think this is a sustainable plan. I’ve lost count of the number of posts where everyone complains about student attendance and now that they show up y’all want to max out at 600 just to keep them wanting?? For what? No Dwight and not anybody should be thinking like that, taking this moment away from the students. Who knows how long we will be ranked and people will be showing up? Let them have it! If you want to keep coach Richey here how about we stay in line with his requests and goals, which are very much aligned with GETTING MORE STUDENTS TO THE GAMES!?! The money will come. Can’t possibly expect selling 100 more tickets that could be given to students to make enough of a difference for Bob’s paycheck. A friend of mine had a talk with the coach’s wife last night and she was very disturbed when she found out about the turned away students. No one brings as much energy and passion as they do and pardon my take, but since this is COLLEGE basketball, then maybe the COLLEGE people should have some kind of priority (hence the free admission for FU students) since they are the ones represented the most by the team. Standing room will be fine too, but again, this doesn’t change the fact that this was no utilized yesterday and students had to be turned away. Simply outrageous. And as are not N.C. state, not size wise, not fan base wise, so the comparison is not just or something that we should be looking at for inspiration.

[FU03times]

Let's have regular and consistent sell-outs first. If folks want to be assured of a good seat, they can buy season tickets. I'm happy to see my tickets have more value. Just opening up those bleachers is no guarantee that they will be filled as some of you suggest. When students have to start camping out to get in early for a seat, I'll go along with opening the bleachers.

Students showed up at least an hour before the game started. This has never happened before.
I also heard from a very dependable source that Dwight wanted to start SELLING the student section seats. He started selling some of the seats that the students usually take up, including the section behind the baskets where the lacrosse team stands, and that resulted in students being TURNED AWAY FROM THE GAME. UNHEARD OF!!! Someone needs to have a talk with Dwight as the team mostly feeds off of the student’s energy, and FOR ONCE the student section starts being alive and full, and Dwight wants to throw all that to waste so he can make some extra money. Well I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about some extra $$ for Timmons if there’s no support from the students. This is simply outrageous, in my eyes.

I would like to know the name of your reliable source. My source (the horse’s mouth) reputes your source. We have many empty seats because many major donors who receive tickets as a benefit of their contribution never use them because they didn’t actually “purchase” them as most os us do so they are not as invested in their ticket as we are. We are experiencing a great moment in Furman basketball, and as Paul C suggested, we have a limited space allocated for students. Most schools have a lottery to distribute student tickets. It’s a good problem to have, and if their is a demand for paid seats, and there seems to be, we need to sell as many tickets as we can. People on this forum have whined for years about the lack of community interest in Furman sports and now that we have it, some seem to want to turn them (and their dollars) away. Posters to these forums have also whined about the lack of support from our students. As I’ve posted before, once a constituency proves the support is long-standing and not just fair weather support, perhaps it will be more feasible to expand the capacity of Timmons. Right now, my season ticket has real value. And a seat in the student section has real value.

Flagman, I have great respect for you and Paul C, even though I’ve never met you. But besides season ticket holders, I don’t see how the student section is for sale to anyone but the students. Unlike what people have complained about here, Bob Richey first and foremost wants Furman students and community to accept this team and support it (which is the case for the past bunch of Home games) and then expand to the Greenville community. If I were to choose between a member of the Grenville community and a Furman student to put in the game, I’d pick the student a thousand times. Don’t forget that students pay activity fees which partially cover admission to athletic events so it’s not freeloading (on top of the $60K they pay a year...). So outside of the season ticket holders, I don’t understand why it is such a big deal to sell even more than the normal community seats and not fill them up with students.

As for my source, they work for Furman and that’s all I will reveal about them. I don’t want them to get in any trouble for sharing facts with y’all.

[Bootie]

On one hand... If a school has seats reserved for 600 students, I see nothing wrong with teaching college kids the laws of supply and demand, and the wisdom of planning and preparation, aka: "if you snooze, you lose" and "the early bird gets the worm."

On the other hand... if paid seats are still available, it makes sense that students should be able to either buy those at a discount or maybe even free with their ID instead of being turned away.

[gman]

I hate turning away any fans when we know the arena was configured to hold 5,000 for basketball. That said, it's a fun problem to have. I hope the energy continues into SoCon play and then into the tournament. It is a thrill to be a season ticket holder and a Roundball Club member.

[CharlieFU]

How remarkable is this? That we are even talking about how to accommodate all the students! Look how far we have come. Let’s enjoy the ride.

I hope a reasonable solution ( as suggested by Bootie) will be found and that no student will be turned away.

[FUPlayer74]

Speaking of tickets, anyone interested in seeing the Paladins over at Wofford on 1/19 might want to go ahead and get em while you can. Just sayin'

[apaladin]

Speaking of tickets, anyone interested in seeing the Paladins over at Wofford on 1/19 might want to go ahead and get em while you can. Just sayin'

If you believe the seating chart on the official site, there are only about 100 tickets left for the home game against WC on 2/23. All are in the upper section except for a few single tix.

[fufanatic]

I'm OK with creating a bit of demand among students if the place is truly a sell out, but to turn a single student (or anyone else away for that matter) when there are empty seats visible around the arena is just outrageous. Figure out which donors aren't using their tickets and devise a plan to fill those seats.

[Bootie]

I'm OK with creating a bit of demand among students if the place is truly a sell out, but to turn a single student (or anyone else away for that matter) when there are empty seats visible around the arena is just outrageous. Figure out which donors aren't using their tickets and devise a plan to fill those seats.

Seats that have been paid for cannot be given away, regardless if someone is not there. Maybe they're just can't get there until halftime or later for whatever reason. Empty seats that have been paid for have to sit empty. I don't see a choice in that. Open seats that have not been sold, however, should be fair game, and it seems simple to allow students to purchase those tix for a discount, at the least.