Where are the fans?

Georgia College & State University has a student population of approximately 4,600 students. Milledgeville has a population of more than 43,000 people.

For GC&SU home basketball games, the average attendance for the last four years has been 754 for men and 356 for women.

GC&SU is sometimes called a ‘suitcase college.’ It’s called that because many students leave on the weekend to go home.

A majority of the games for basketball, baseball and tennis are played on weekends, so many students are not around to attend.

Attendance is recorded differently at GC&SU sports as opposed to larger universities. At larger universities attendance is recorded by tickets sold and/or turnstiles. At GC&SU there is no service like Ticketmaster. The school does not have a method at the entrance that can provide the exact number of bodies passing through a door during a game. So there is no exact number for attendance. Attendance in the Peach Belt Conference is recorded by game managers and is taken at halftime of each game.

The bowl in the gym can hold 2,000 people and when the bleachers are folded out the seating capacity is slightly more than 4,000.
Usually the bleachers are only folded out for the Georgia Independent School Association (G.I.S.A.) High School Final Four Tournament or graduation. The bleachers have never been folded out for a regular season basketball game.

“I understand that we do have a very large arena,” said Brad Muller, assistant director/director of sports marketing and information. “So even a great crowd of 1,000 people or more would still give the appearance of half empty. I’d still be happy with that.”

Efforts have been made to increase attendance, including fan involvement such as half-time shootouts and free giveaways. These giveaways include free food and winning $50 cash. Many of these efforts have gone unnoticed by students.

No matter what promotions are used or what special guests show up, some people are just not sports fans.

“I’m a senior and I’ve never been to a sporting event on campus,” said Trisha Melling, a senior mass communication major. “I’ve never had the time and I’m just not interested in sports.”

Some feel that the attendance is not great, but it is not a serious problem.

“We have one of the better attendance rates out of the PBC,” said Terry Sellers, head men’s basketball coach. “We have better participation out of students than a lot of teams we see during a season. I think that the attendance has improved, but it can always be better.”

The athletic ability of the student athletes at GC&SU is not in question. In fact, most of the teams at GC&SU win more than they lose on a consistent basis. The baseball team is constantly nationally ranked and was ranked number one in the nation last year according to the Collegiate Baseball Magazine NCAA Division II Poll.

The tennis programs are also constantly ranked nationally including individuals who have been ranked in the top three in the nation.

The Lady Bobcats basketball team won the Peach Belt Championship last year and advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four Tournament.

Millions have been invested in sporting facilities that are not being fully utilized. The sporting programs at GC&SU are budgeted through student activity fees, but are also dependent upon sponsors and financial support from concessions and attendance. Although, students who show their student I.D. get in for free.

The coaches and athletic directors try to make the schedules convenient for students allowing them to have time to watch the games, but also not cut into their homework or social time.

“As a coach, it’s very helpful to have a good crowd and have the crowd participate; we want students to get involved and support the team,” said Sellers. “We’ve got to do a better job of promoting our team. We don’t get out to many other parts of campus other than the Centennial Center. I feel like we need to get out and get students to want to get behind their team.”

The times may not be a problem for some students, but they don’t know when these times are. Many strides have been made to better promote game times and sporting schedules.

“A common complaint I also hear from some students is ‘I don’t know when the games are,’” said Muller. “I cannot ignore the fact that our efforts to publicize the games are not always being seen. I am always open to new suggestions on how to keep people better informed.”

Sometimes students are deterred from coming because of the low attendance.

“Not that many people come,” said Kristin Valdez, an undecided sophomore. “It’s fun when you go. I’d like it more if there were more people to go or more encouragement for fan participation.”

Students who do go to games go for different reasons. Some are sports fans, some love the school and some just like the appeal of a college game.

“I love going to games,” said Adrienne Paquin, a sophomore physical education major. “Every time I come I usually stay until the end. The atmosphere here is great and the band is really good, too.”

“I go to games about every other week,” said Kaci Jackson, a freshman special education major. “I go because it’s fun. I like the basketball games and I’m exited about the upcoming baseball season.”

Many ideas and promotions have been used to increase attendance, many with futile results. Some students have ideas about how to not only get them to come to games, but also other students and members of the community.

“I don’t have time to come to the games with school and my fraternity,” said Chad Folsom, a sophomore chemistry major. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have like a fraternity night.”

The attendance at GC&SU has been on a steady decline over the last five years. The coaches and sports directors have used countless tactics to rectify the low turnouts. But they are very reliant on student input.

“I would love to see the arena filled each night and have to pull back the upper bleachers,” said Muller. “If there is anyway to keep school spirit alive and get people out more often, I’d like to hear any suggestions.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 21 2003. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry