“The Fair”

[Cusefan95]

I took my kids to a Syracuse basketball game for the first time in four years yesterday (pretty long road trip for us) - they were so little the last time they don’t really remember much. By far the part my nine year old daughter loved the most was “the fair” (her term) in the backcourt before the game. We got there early and they played cornhole, jenga, got pictures with Otto and my daughter with some of the dance team…

We go to other sporting events, and my daughter was baffled why nobody else has a “fair” before games - I explained it’s because we’re in a football stadium where they have the room. Almost uniformly when I’ve taken people to a Syracuse game that haven’t gone before, the backcourt events pregame are a huge hit. I’m not sure it really dawned on me how big a selling point from a fan perspective that is until yesterday.

 

[cayugacuse]

Great post! Love that you are supporting the Cuse and planting the seeds for your kids to enjoy basketball and especially our orange. My love for sports began when a cousin of mine was kind enough to take me to a high school basketball game when a was like 10 or 11.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I took my kids to a Syracuse basketball game for the first time in four years yesterday (pretty long road trip for us) - they were so little the last time they don’t really remember much. By far the part my nine year old daughter loved the most was “the fair” (her term) in the backcourt before the game. We got there early and they played cornhole, jenga, got pictures with Otto and my daughter with some of the dance team…

We go to other sporting events, and my daughter was baffled why nobody else has a “fair” before games - I explained it’s because we’re in a football stadium where they have the room. Almost uniformly when I’ve taken people to a Syracuse game that haven’t gone before, the backcourt events pregame are a huge hit. I’m not sure it really dawned on me how big a selling point from a fan perspective that is until yesterday.

Supposedly the new seating was on display in the backcourt. Any observations?

 

[Cusefan95]

Supposedly the new seating was on display in the backcourt. Any observations?

Seats for both upper and lower levels were there for people to check out. My biggest issue around seating is with maintenance and ease of servicing & repairs. One example is at Prudential Center, cupholders were installed between the backs in the row in front of you - great idea for getting more seats in a defined area - terrible in actual use. Really easy for people walking in to kick. or bump into your drink and spill it all over the place - and more importantly damage the holder. My guess is at least 5% of seats there don't have holders anymore, because they got damaged and the design makes replacement challenging.

I was trying to assess how easily a damaged seat portion could be removed and replaced while my kids tested the seats out... I may have gotten slightly more aggressive with the seats than they were comfortable with because one of the guys came over with an overly ambitious sales pitch which I think was designed more to chase me away than to get me to buy in. Me telling him I already had season tickets and that not slowing him down in the slightest was a clue he wanted me gone more than anything else. I'm unsure how durable the seats will be, but they'll be fine out of the gate.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I took my kids to a Syracuse basketball game for the first time in four years yesterday (pretty long road trip for us) - they were so little the last time they don’t really remember much. By far the part my nine year old daughter loved the most was “the fair” (her term) in the backcourt before the game. We got there early and they played cornhole, jenga, got pictures with Otto and my daughter with some of the dance team…

We go to other sporting events, and my daughter was baffled why nobody else has a “fair” before games - I explained it’s because we’re in a football stadium where they have the room. Almost uniformly when I’ve taken people to a Syracuse game that haven’t gone before, the backcourt events pregame are a huge hit. I’m not sure it really dawned on me how big a selling point from a fan perspective that is until yesterday.

I guess this shows how spoiled I am, but when I was up for a game in December, my kids were walking around in that backcourt and felt like there was nothing to do. Cornhole is nice, but everything else is a cheap money grab. Given the cost of tickets and parking for families, does the university really need to charge money for kids to shoot free throws? There were 2 or 3 stations, mostly pushing SU merchandise, and it just felt like the whole space was sterile and underutilized.

Ironically, I was thinking to myself, why not go full-on carnival? Put up a ferris wheel or a couple smaller rides that are easy enough to disassemble and have a variety of food trucks selling corn dogs, fried dough, etc. TL;DR: bring the football quad atmosphere indoors. Try it as a one-off for a marquee weekend game, promote the H-E-L-L out of it and maybe expand it to a couple other games if it's successful. Heck if that's asking too much, just set up several basketball hoops, some at 10' and a few at 8' and 6' for younger kids, and let them have a ball (literally). I just feel like the university always mails it in and never thinks outside the box.

 

[Jcuse_44]

I guess this shows how spoiled I am, but when I was up for a game in December, my kids were walking around in that backcourt and felt like there was nothing to do. Cornhole is nice, but everything else is a cheap money grab. Given the cost of tickets and parking for families, does the university really need to charge money for kids to shoot free throws? There were 2 or 3 stations, mostly pushing SU merchandise, and it just felt like the whole space was sterile and underutilized.

Ironically, I was thinking to myself, why not go full-on carnival? Put up a ferris wheel or a couple smaller rides that are easy enough to disassemble and have a variety of food trucks selling corn dogs, fried dough, etc. TL;DR: bring the football quad atmosphere indoors. Try it as a one-off for a marquee weekend game, promote the H-E-L-L out of it and maybe expand it to a couple other games if it's successful. Heck if that's asking too much, just set up several basketball hoops, some at 10' and a few at 8' and 6' for younger kids, and let them have a ball (literally). I just feel like the university always mails it in and never thinks outside the box.

I still think they should put a roller coaster on the roof of the Dome like that building in Vegas. HAHA

 

[dollarbill44]

I still think they should put a roller coaster on the roof of the Dome like that building in Vegas. HAHA

I think they should put in an octagon and let fans "have a go" at each other.

 

[CousCuse]

Corgy races at the "fair" pregame with the winning heat at halftime. Blow the roof off.

 

[CousCuse]

I guess this shows how spoiled I am, but when I was up for a game in December, my kids were walking around in that backcourt and felt like there was nothing to do. Cornhole is nice, but everything else is a cheap money grab. Given the cost of tickets and parking for families, does the university really need to charge money for kids to shoot free throws? There were 2 or 3 stations, mostly pushing SU merchandise, and it just felt like the whole space was sterile and underutilized.

Ironically, I was thinking to myself, why not go full-on carnival? Put up a ferris wheel or a couple smaller rides that are easy enough to disassemble and have a variety of food trucks selling corn dogs, fried dough, etc. TL;DR: bring the football quad atmosphere indoors. Try it as a one-off for a marquee weekend game, promote the H-E-L-L out of it and maybe expand it to a couple other games if it's successful. Heck if that's asking too much, just set up several basketball hoops, some at 10' and a few at 8' and 6' for younger kids, and let them have a ball (literally). I just feel like the university always mails it in and never thinks outside the box.

Look how I'm treated here. No vision in the paint.