How can Utah make every home game a hostile environment like the BYU game?

This topic has 30 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 3 weeks, 4 days ago by Utopia.

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- 01/20/2025 at 10:46 AM #240175
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  Holladay Ute
  Participant
  
  I loved the Huntsman Center last year against BYU. I couldn’t make it this year, but I heard it was also a dynamite environment.
  
  Coach Smith and the players were thankful for the turnout and talked about how it impacts winning and how they hope more games can be like that.
  
  RES is always hostile. The Huntsman Center is awesome…when it’s full. Obviously winning is the #1 thing that’ll create this environment. If you build it (win), they will come. But it also seems like the fan experience could be much better (like it is at RES).
  
  I’m happy we did the Moment of Loudness at the BYU game. I think it’d be awesome if they did that every game at half-time close-ish to the time when the players return to the floor to warm up. And if they aren’t honoring a specific person on the floor, maybe they turn out all the lights inside the arena so it’s pitch black and then play the video on the big screen w/ everybody’s phone flashlights on. That’d be cool.
  
  I do like the Light the U countdown at the end of the game. Sometimes, I think they need to get to it faster though so more fans can experience it before rushing out to avoid traffic.
  
  We need to have at least the lower bowl full every conference game + a rowdy student section just like at the football games.
  
  What are your ideas for improving the experience at the Huntsman Center? Some other ideas:
  
  1) The pre-game hype is okay, but it’s not as good as the football games or (I hate to say it) the Marriott Center (which has that “lights out” tradition w/ the curtains). I’d like to see us come up w/ something creative and then stick w/ it. The red glow sticks (or whatever those were) were cool for a while, especially when we were good and it was a packed arena.
  2) The Huntsman Center needs better food options inside the building. More places like Chick-fil-A, J-Dawgs, the Pie, etc.
  3) Would it help if they put towels on every lower bowl seat? Or maybe shirts on every seat in the student section? At least for the biggest games of the year (BYU and any ranked opponent)? They did this for the BYU game, right?
  4) More celebrities at the game to highlight on the big screen. Get more former players to attend big games. What about somebody from the Jazz or Hockey Club once in a while? Even just other student athletes from the football team or any other team. I remember when Cam Rising and Kuithe were in the Huntsman Center and I think they were wearing their letterman jackets…it helped build the hype.
- 01/20/2025 at 11:52 AM #240178
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  Jim Vanderhoof
  Participant
  
  Winning trumps everything. Parking is fine for small crowds but large crowds is a problem. Bring back the blackout rules for home games. If a certain number of seats aren’t sold the game is blacked out locally. It’s become to easy to sit on the coach and watch the game instead of fighting all the elements plus easy to hit the off button when we are getting destroyed.
- 01/20/2025 at 12:34 PM #240182
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  SteelUte
  Participant
  
  I think they should give seats away to football season ticket holders. You’d get people in the seats, and it would build momentum.
  - 01/20/2025 at 2:09 PM #240184
    
    GameForAnyFuss
    Participant
    
    They practically do that already. I have two lower bowl season tickets and they cost me less than a single game ticket for football. Sorry, price is not the issue.
- 01/20/2025 at 1:30 PM #240183
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  Tony (admin)
  Keymaster
  
  Sorry man. Food options, celebrities, swag and glow sticks don’t mean squat to me. That’s not going to get me to start attending games again, like I did for 40+ years.
- 01/20/2025 at 2:10 PM #240185
  
  GameForAnyFuss
  Participant
  
  How can Utah make every home game a hostile environment like the BYU game?
  
  Based on the responses I read here, the answer is “change it over to a football game”.
  
  Let’s face it: There are simply very few of us who like basketball as a sport.
  - 01/20/2025 at 2:21 PM #240188
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    highlandute7
    Participant
    
    I agree. I am not sure that winning will even help as they would need to really be winning to generate any excitement. The MUSS at the BYU bball game was probably less than a quarter of what we see at football games, which is sad but I get it. The MUSS could fill up a good portion of the Hunty if there was even half or more of what we see at football games.
    
    I have totally lost interest in college basketball and that started years ago. I think that could be said of the majority here on this board.
    
    I was there on Saturday night and it was fun. I do agree that the HC needs work on the concourses and better concessions but given any other game but BYU is empty, not sure why you would put $$ into that place right now. Not to mention, I paid $8 for a 20oz Diet Pepsi. Totally ridiculous. I’m sure its the same at football but still.
    
    It was sad watching the video they played before announcing the starting lineup as almost every shot in the video showed an almost totally empty HC in the background. I am not sure I have any answers as to how they can get people to come back other than giving away tickets to large groups/corps/students.
- 01/20/2025 at 5:36 PM #240200
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  Holladay Ute
  Participant
  
  This is sad! I think basketball is a great sport…one that people in the state still clearly love (e.g. the Jazz, the Aggies, etc.). I do enjoy watching football more than basketball, but the basketball games are still a lot of fun if there’s a good crowd and if we’re competitive.
  
  I think the biggest thing for Utah is building a stronger student section. Why don’t more students go? Too many commuters at the U? It’s too cold outside? Too many games? Weekday games? For college kids, I really don’t think they care about basketball versus football per se. I think they just want A) a fun environment and B) a competitive team to root for. Utah State and BYU both consistently have better student sections in basketball versus football. And those venues are a lot of fun if you’ve ever been to one of their games. And so maybe it really does come down to establishing a winning culture. Utah State and BYU both have established winning cultures in basketball, but not football. Utah has established a winning culture in football. The Jazz had established a winning culture in basketball (probably why they still have a lot of people going to those games even though we are one of the worst teams in the league). It’s too bad the Utes let the winning basketball culture fall so far after the Majerus years. Maybe the attention just flipped (and flipped permanently) to football b/c of Urban Meyer.
  
  Still, the Utes have so much history and tradition (including a national championship!) in basketball. And now we are in the best basketball conference in the country! Our team is decent. We are 3-3 in conference play. Come on guys! The BYU game proved it can be a lot of fun! The Huntsman Center was packed most games I went to when we had the Sweet 16 team back around 2015-17 w/ Wright, Poetl, and Kuzma. That was a great time.
- 01/20/2025 at 5:44 PM #240201
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  Utah
  Participant
  
  This is tough. College sports have screwed themselves.
  
  You don’t have to win. But you do have to be competitive.
  
  I think to make the Huntsman crazy again, you have to be a NCAA tournament team.
  
  You don’t have to be #1. You should at least be #64.
- 01/20/2025 at 6:44 PM #240205
  
  WJUte
  Participant
  
  I miss the Majerus days as well. For what it’s worth Utah had the 2nd highest attendance in the Pac12 last year. We have work to do—-but at least we aren’t Stanford.
- 01/20/2025 at 8:52 PM #240208
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  The Miami Ute
  Participant
  
  Nothing will change until the team starts winning consistently. And by winning consistently, I mean repeat NCAA tournament appearances, always in contention for winning the conference, and being nationally ranked. It’s a truism that winning fixes everything. I can guarantee anyone on this site that if Utah went on a decade plus run similar to what happened under Majerus, MBB would again be a tough ticket.
  - 01/20/2025 at 10:31 PM #240214
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    Hahnenwk
    Participant
    
    I agree winning would fix it. However the Utes are usually competitive at home and price is low. Come out and have fun.
    - 01/20/2025 at 11:32 PM #240215
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      The Miami Ute
      Participant
      
      Well, I’ve had season tickets for the last few years and I’m usually there for every home game. Utah’s biggest problem under Smith has been its inability to be competitive on the road. Tomorrow, the Utes will be at #10 Houston. If they get comprehensively blown out, we’ll be back to Square 1.
- 01/21/2025 at 7:57 AM #240218
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  Ute Dub
  Participant
  
  Any kid 12 and under in the upper bowl is free, everyone else in the upper bowl $5.
  - 01/21/2025 at 9:22 AM #240226
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    NYUte
    Participant
    
    How do you get this deal?
    - 01/21/2025 at 11:50 AM #240236
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      Ute Dub
      Participant
      
      I’m proposing it. There is no current deal like that I’m aware of. But until the upper bow is packed, might as well offer it.
      - 01/21/2025 at 12:58 PM #240237
        
        Tony (admin)
        Keymaster
        
        I’ve wondered why they don’t fire sale those seats…. I suspect it might be a slap in the face of season ticket / CC members who pay more than face value for their seats. For $5 I might be inclined to go to a game or two per season. But there are a lot of games. It’s a lot of logistics for me schedule-wise, people wise (elderly father, 12 year old kid, bedtime, school night) etc. There are a lot of things to overcome to go to bball games.
        
        01/21/2025 at 1:22 PM #240240
        
        Minnesota Ute
        Participant
        
        If you’ve ever been bumped up to first class, undoubtedly you were sitting among some folks that paid for that privilege. Strangely, everyone still seems happy 😛
        
        01/21/2025 at 1:26 PM #240241
        
        Minnesota Ute
        Participant
        
        Dang, I think I just hit on an idea, the more games you attend, you get preference points that allow you to buy better seats for less money, or opportunities for upgrades maybe… I’m not sure how exactly that might work, but reward folks for being there seems like a good idea.
        
        Maybe Season Ticket Holders could get some sort of tiered discount based on the number of times their ticket was used?
        
        Just thinking of things that would drive people to not just attend one game but a reason to keep coming back too. (Besides winning, which of course we all want, but so does ever other program.)
        
        01/21/2025 at 1:37 PM #240242
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        The Miami Ute
        Participant
        
        Tony, season tickets are pretty cheap regardless….mine are $150 per ticket in the Lower Bowl. And that’s for 20 home games. How much lower can ticket prices go?
        
        01/21/2025 at 8:14 PM #240252
        
        Ute Dub
        Participant
        
        Well how much for the upper bowl, then? Your season tickets are $7.5 per ($150/20=$7.5) I just proposed $5 and kids under 12 get in free until the upper bowl starts filling up.
        
        01/21/2025 at 8:19 PM #240253
        
        The Miami Ute
        Participant
        
        I don’t know. The Utes don’t come anywhere close to completely filling the Lower Bowl for any games I’ve been to recently with the exception of the games versus BYU. That’s why, at every game, during the first media timeout, they tell fans to come get closer to the action and fill empty seats.
        
        01/22/2025 at 3:54 PM #240272
        
        Ute Dub
        Participant
        
        But that’s what I’m saying…take the upper bowl as a loss leader and that will be your best perspective pool to get people to start coming down and purchasing those lower bowl seats…and during the dog opponents, those fans will sneak down at halftime and fill it up.
        
        01/22/2025 at 8:14 AM #240255
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        Tony (admin)
        Keymaster
        
        Price isn’t the deciding factor. Winning is probably the deciding factor but I’m not sure that’s enough anymore. Basketball isn’t as interesting to people in these times, and there are 20 games!
        
        01/22/2025 at 2:47 PM #240269
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        Holladay Ute
        Participant
        
        I agree price isn’t keeping people from the games and that winning is the #1 factor.
        
        I do think there’s embedded interest and if the Utes were consistently (i.e. for more than one season) winning and competitive, the Huntsman Center would gradually fill up again. Why?
        1) Utah is a basketball state. Yes, the U has become a football first school. It’s still a basketball first state. I’ve had season tickets to the Jazz for 15 years. The Delta Center holds 20K people. The last three seasons have been rough, especially this year where we are the worst team in the conference. Somehow, there is still a huge amount of interest. That arena is usually full! People in Utah (and Salt Lake City) like basketball. There’s no doubt.
        2) Wasn’t the Huntsman Center full in the 2015-17 timeframe when we had a consistently good team that made the NCAA tourney? I had my season tickets back then too and I remember having a lot of fun w/ generally full capacity (maybe not for the early season tune up games against small town teams, but for sure against the good teams and conference opponents). That was just a few years after we had what was probably our worst season in decades after the transition into the Pac 12. People can come back fast and they have before.
        3) The Jazz are in the middle of a full scale rebuild. People might start to lose interest there. And the football team has seen less success over the last year than the basketball team. If the Jazz remain depressed and if Utah football continues to slide, there’s an environment for Utah basketball (under the assumption that they are winning more and competitive again) to improve attendance in the Huntsman Center.
        
        You guys are all writing them off like basketball is permanently dead. Not true, in my opinion. I have 6 season tickets to Utah basketball. I have not wasted a single seat this year. I find different people to go to every game. There’s for sure an interest in going. The weekday games can be tougher b/c of school nights, but the weekend games are easy to give away if I can’t go.
- 01/21/2025 at 8:34 AM #240222
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  utefansince79
  Participant
  
  Hopefully some of the fans attending had a fun and exciting enough time to attend a few more games. Near the end of the game, the scoreboard indicated seats for future games were available for $10 each (which is pretty cheap compared to any seats in Rice-Eccles).
- 01/21/2025 at 7:10 PM #240251
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  TruckStopTerrors
  Participant
  
  Winning. Which means imo, a new coach with better recruiting abilities, increased NIL support etc. That’s the only way it will turn around.
  - 01/26/2025 at 9:17 PM #240495
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    Ute Dub
    Participant
    
    I’m sick of NIL. Ohio State had the biggest budget and they won. The leagues are losing me.
- 01/22/2025 at 3:40 PM #240270
  
  Rick
  Participant
  
  Winning. The product is not always fun to watch on TV, let alone travel up to the stadium in the cold. Parking also sucks. Also remember that the Huntsman center is about 5,000 to 8,000+ more seats than most college-level arenas. It would be nice if the students actually made up for some of the empty seats like they do at USU and BYU but I can’t speak for them. I can only speak for myself and as I have gotten older, going up to games in the cold is not always that attractive.
- 01/27/2025 at 10:57 AM #240498
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  D T
  Participant
  
  I might be traveling up there to SLC next month & would be in town when KU comes to town….Who’s planning on attending that game? It seems that would be the one game that would rival the zoob game for attendance.
  - 01/27/2025 at 2:14 PM #240505
    
    Utopia
    Participant
    
    I would expect a good crowd, but maybe not full house like the zoob game (consider that there were a lot of zoob fans). The schedule leading up to Kansas is pretty favorable for getting some wins and building some momentum — all five games are against teams in the bottom half of the conference. We should win the two home games and could be competitive @OKST and @CIN, so optimistically maybe 3-2 going into another harsh reality check vs Kansas. Then only maybe 1 or 2 wins in the final six games, finishing at 7-8 conference wins (12-13 losses) and right around .500 overall.
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