The so-called "Otto's Army" should be ashamed...

[rrlbees]

They also get the some of the crappiest seats in the house. When I was a student, we were given great seats- 15-20 rows up, parallel to the FT line, opposite the SU bench.

And the students did it to themselves for getting moved.

 

[Briancuse]

To play devil's advocate, it was a noon game, and it was dangerously cold there today.

 

[cuseguy]

They need to serve Jell-O shots at the Dome.

 

[Lrschill24]

And the students did it to themselves for getting moved.

The students were moved behind the basket so the side court seats could be turned into season ticket packages for Orange Pack donations. Lots of money made for the school to turn side court student tickets into season tickets that required Level A is the majority of the side court seating that wayback when was student seating. Considering that for basketball only a Level A donation for basketball is $770 per seat, there wasn't a way that the school was going to keep the students there and leave that money on the table. You can spin it anyway you want to feel better about your position but the students were forced out of side court seats to enable to the athletic department to raise money. Nothing wrong with that but it wasn't because the students did it to themselves unless you want them to pay Orange Pack money plus season ticket prices to sit.

I personally love how this message board cannot wait to criticize the students for their attendance and behavior at every chance. There is plenty of silver seats seen when it comes to the locals supporting Syracuse for basketball and football with lots of excuses given but the students who are paying for the right to attend the university (only a $60K total cost of attendance for the school for a single academic year now) don't show up to your liking and its the end of the world. Those December and January home games without the students in attendance aren't sold out events and let's not even talk about football attendance.

 

[CusefanATL]

A. 1st of all Otto's army has done a great job. This used to be pretty normal. Take a look at Gerrys senior day and the Hak/Forth senior day. Similar thing. Gerry;s, i believe was a "record breaker" too! Yet 40% of the student section was empty. Ottos army has changed the atmosphere A LOT.
B. the student section looked nothing like this by the beginning of the game.

 

[tipphill]

People who actually have to drive, come from all around CNY, not just locals. Everyone else is showing up except for the ones who actually go to the school and live on campus.

It's a problem.

my apologies, i mean all cny,southern tier ---etc--

 

[rrlbees]

The students were moved behind the basket so the side court seats could be turned into season ticket packages for Orange Pack donations. Lots of money made for the school to turn side court student tickets into season tickets that required Level A is the majority of the side court seating that wayback when was student seating. Considering that for basketball only a Level A donation for basketball is $770 per seat, there wasn't a way that the school was going to keep the students there and leave that money on the table. You can spin it anyway you want to feel better about your position but the students were forced out of side court seats to enable to the athletic department to raise money. Nothing wrong with that but it wasn't because the students did it to themselves unless you want them to pay Orange Pack money plus season ticket prices to sit. I personally love how this message board cannot wait to criticize the students for their attendance and behavior at every chance. There is plenty of silver seats seen when it comes to the locals supporting Syracuse for basketball and football with lots of excuses given but the students who are paying for the right to attend the university (only a $60K total cost of attendance for the school for a single academic year now) don't show up to your liking and its the end of the world. Those December and January home games without the students in attendance aren't sold out events and let's not even talk about football attendance.

I remember when it happened and a very big reason was how often the seats were basically empty. The shots also didn't look good on TV with the seats being court side basically. The extra money was secondary and not near as much then as is now.

 

[Cusefan95]

The students were moved behind the basket so the side court seats could be turned into season ticket packages for Orange Pack donations. Lots of money made for the school to turn side court student tickets into season tickets that required Level A is the majority of the side court seating that wayback when was student seating. Considering that for basketball only a Level A donation for basketball is $770 per seat, there wasn't a way that the school was going to keep the students there and leave that money on the table. You can spin it anyway you want to feel better about your position but the students were forced out of side court seats to enable to the athletic department to raise money. Nothing wrong with that but it wasn't because the students did it to themselves unless you want them to pay Orange Pack money plus season ticket prices to sit.

The decision was probably going to be made regardless...but the incredibly poor student attendance in the mid-90s provided excellent cover to the university, and left students no real way to object (how dare you take away the great seats I wasn't using anyway!)

The student performance since then pretty much guarantees they will continue to be stuck behind the basket, instead of moved back like they did at Michigan State.

 

[Cheriehoop]

To play devil's advocate, it was a noon game, and it was dangerously cold there today.

Not too cold for 90 year olds traveling many miles driving through snow to the dome. The guy next to me drives to every game from a little west of Geneseo (2 hours in good weather) so sorry for those poor kids walking from their dorms to the dome. Bet most people walked further from their parked cars than the students had to walk from their dorm.

 

[Stevenson]

Maybe the fact that Boehiem got caught again had something to do with it. This season is toast, so why go?

 

[jarandle9]

I was at the game, and the student section was filled by tipoff. Looked nothing like that.

 

[Lrschill24]

The decision was probably going to be made regardless...but the incredibly poor student attendance in the mid-90s provided excellent cover to the university, and left students no real way to object (how dare you take away the great seats I wasn't using anyway!)

The student performance since then pretty much guarantees they will continue to be stuck behind the basket, instead of moved back like they did at Michigan State.

You could have 4000 students attending every single day and be the best student section in the nation and they will never get the side court again.

The preferred seating chart says it all: http://carrierdome.com/media/documents/2013/4/Basketball_Preferred_2013.pdf

The side court seats the students had are mainly Priority A with a small sliver of priority B seats. Behind the hoop is Priority D seats. The donation level difference is huge per seat and the university will never give up that money. When you are talking literally $500+ per seat difference and considering the students had half the side court, it is probably between $500K & $1M+ dollars in donations difference just on seat licenses by having the students not sit on the side court.

As for the Michigan state comparison, an arena that seats 16,280 people with an undergrad population of 38,000 makes it pretty easy to fill a student section which is a lot smaller than the student section that Syracuse allocates to its students.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Level A seats are $815 plus season ticket price. There wasn't enough students at the game today to fill the side bleacher seats. Another poor showing by the students.

 

[Lrschill24]

Level A seats are $815 plus season ticket price. There wasn't enough students at the game today to fill the side bleacher seats. Another poor showing by the students.

My point on priority seating was the difference in cost between A and D which is $550 if purchase both football and basketball or $520 if its only basketball. Considering that there were students sitting in the 300's by the time the second half came around, then yes there were enough students in attendance to fill what was the old allocation of side court seats (which only went to half court).

I'm amazed at the anger directed at students not meeting the expectation of how dedicated they are to attendance. I mean why shouldn't students who are paying up to $60K for total cost of attendance to the university then not be in their seats early for a game. Sadly their seat license fee is a bit more than the $815 for priority A seating for basketball and football and they get to pay $199 for their basketball season ticket. But feel free to be angry at the students for not meeting your expectations for the types of fan they should be. Not like they have anything else to be concerned about while they are on the campus.

 

[Macky44]

People who actually have to drive, come from all around CNY, not just locals. Everyone else is showing up except for the ones who actually go to the school and live on campus.

It's a problem.

It's the same thing i have always said. The students at SU arent fans for the most part. They go there to be seen and nothing else. Look at the football games...enough said. If the basketball team was in the post-season..those seats would be full because it's a "cool scene". Syracuse students are the worst in all of college sports in terms of being "fans". This is a new thing though, i would say going back about 12 years and it has gotten worse every year. Syracuse is a pro team, and the locals and out of towners who fill the stadium for all sports are the people that CARRY this program.

 

[Macky44]

My point on priority seating was the difference in cost between A and D which is $550 if purchase both football and basketball or $520 if its only basketball. Considering that there were students sitting in the 300's by the time the second half came around, then yes there were enough students in attendance to fill what was the old allocation of side court seats (which only went to half court).

I'm amazed at the anger directed at students not meeting the expectation of how dedicated they are to attendance. I mean why shouldn't students who are paying up to $60K for total cost of attendance to the university then not be in their seats early for a game. Sadly their seat license fee is a bit more than the $815 for priority A seating for basketball and football and they get to pay $199 for their basketball season ticket. But feel free to be angry at the students for not meeting your expectations for the types of fan they should be. Not like they have anything else to be concerned about while they are on the campus.

Noone is angry at students...they are just pointing out the fact that they are not real fans for the large majority of them. Of course there are some fans sprinkled in...but let's all just be honest and admit that the large majority of students don't know who played 2 years ago..and don't care about much more than getting on tv.

 

[snowycuse]

Student section, up top, has been bad for a few years now. As was the case last game they move the paid spectators over a section and by half-time the remaining two sections are about half fill so it looks decent. I would rather just strip the students of the top section all together at this point.

 

[Lrschill24]

Noone is angry at students...they are just pointing out the fact that they are not real fans for the large majority of them. Of course there are some fans sprinkled in...but let's all just be honest and admit that the large majority of students don't know who played 2 years ago..and don't care about much more than getting on tv.

It's also the difference in the size of the student section. If Syracuse had a student section the size of Duke's at 1200 then you would see a much different experience but when your student section is 2x to 3x in size then yes you are going to have more students who are there for the experience than being die-hard followers.

That said saying the students aren't real fans because they don't know who played two years ago is a bit much considering that most students become fans at the time of admission and before that if not from this area it's a passing interest for the most part. I can speak from personal experience there is a difference rooting for Syracuse against Georgetown as a high school junior in NJ versus as a senior once I had my acceptance letter. But before the local fanbase in throws stones from their glass houses, there have been plenty of examples of the local fan base being just as fair weathered in their support of Syracuse for both basketball and football. The student body is the easy target for this message board to vent on when it comes to attendance but it's not like there is a massive waiting list of people looking for season tickets from the local fanbase. To me the local fanbase has always treated Syracuse more like a professional sports team than the local collegiate team that is supported throughout good and bad times

 

[Macky44]

It's also the difference in the size of the student section. If Syracuse had a student section the size of Duke's at 1200 then you would see a much different experience but when your student section is 2x to 3x in size then yes you are going to have more students who are there for the experience than being die-hard followers.

That said saying the students aren't real fans because they don't know who played two years ago is a bit much considering that most students become fans at the time of admission and before that if not from this area it's a passing interest for the most part. I can speak from personal experience there is a difference rooting for Syracuse against Georgetown as a high school junior in NJ versus as a senior once I had my acceptance letter. But before the local fanbase in throws stones from their glass houses, there have been plenty of examples of the local fan base being just as fair weathered in their support of Syracuse for both basketball and football. The student body is the easy target for this message board to vent on when it comes to attendance but it's not like there is a massive waiting list of people looking for season tickets from the local fanbase. To me the local fanbase has always treated Syracuse more like a professional sports team than the local collegiate team that is supported throughout good and bad times

Give me an example of the local fan base being fairweather for basketball. GIVE ME ONE SINGLE EXAMPLE OF THAT. Football the locals are always there...The Dome is loud even when its only 30k of us locals and zero students. You are crazy if you think the locals don't support this team through the good and bad...you have a sample size of however many years you have been enrolled.

 

[Shotclock]

Thought same thing before game. But they filled it in pretty good during game. Even the 300 section had a good amount. We probably get more students per game than any other school so relax. It's just that that section is HUGE. If you want to complain about student support at the Women's games or LAX/football go ahead. But cant complain about support at bball games.

 

[DoubleDee]

Are other teams student sections all fans before they enroll? I doubt it.

 

[Bayside44]

Are other teams student sections all fans before they enroll? I doubt it.

At state schools for the most part yes.

 

[BlackKnight76]

The students haven't been as great this year, it is probably a combination of the post-season ban, mediocre team, and the weather (which is harder to overcome because of the first two), but as others have alluded to, at full capacity, Syracuse—a private school—has the biggest student section in the country. It is way easier to fill up Cameron every week. It's not an excuse, kids should come out, because when they're a few years out like I am now, they'll savor those memories, but it is the reality of things this year. If we get off without a ban for next year, and the team is back into the Top 10, the section will be filled every game again.

 

[wolfeisland]

I think comparing our students in the Dome to Duke's at Cameron is a bit of an apple and oranges thing(forgive the pun). Cameron is a band box that holds under 9500. Our b'ball capacity tops 34000. Of course the smaller the venue, the fewer number of students it takes to look impressive. I'd love to put our student section in Cameron and see how it compares. I think we'd rock the house and then some. Another point, to the issue of late arriving students, it was a noon game people. These are students, most probably still in bed 15 minutes before tip-off.

I'm proud of our fan base. Especially this year when there is no post season. This team is a team of scrappers and I'm glad the Dome and all it's denizens are supporting their fight.

 

[CaptainJ]

A handful of people seem hellbent on fighting ISIS. Might as well send Otto's army because they sure as ***t can't do any worse than theyre doing here. And if ISIS wins, no big loss. I mean better than sending the lower class kids who likely have better character.