Go, Carolina-Duke, and open the upper level
I think I understand the calculations behind the decision to limit Greensboro Coliseum seating for Sunday's final game of the ACC women's basketball tournament.
Making only 10,719 lower-level seats available fueled a rush to tickets, guaranteeing a sell-out in advance.
That eliminates the risk of a flop on Sunday, which could occur if the expected Carolina-Duke championship match does not materialize.
Carolina-Duke are No. 1 and 2 in the country. They play outstanding, high-energy basketball. They feature big stars in Ivory Latta and Monique Currie. The coliseum will be rocking.
Unless Carolina and Duke aren't playing. Face it: a Maryland-Florida State game would be a disaster, attracting less than a full house.
If the entire coliseum were open, local fans might not rush to buy tickets in advance, waiting to make sure the top teams make it to the finals.
The downside is that coliseum and ACC officials are giving up the chance to make a killing Sunday. They might be able to sell thousands more tickets if they pull open the curtain.
I think that's what they ought to do, if Carolina and Duke win their semifinal games on Saturday. Announce immediately after the second game that upper-level tickets are going on sale immediately.
Won't it be a lot better for women's basketball to have a championship game crowd of 16,000 than 10,719?
Sure, the coliseum will have to call in more staff. Management should have them on standby.
They'll all be working the next week at the men's tourney anyway.
According to Robert Bell's story Thursday, some officials think it will be kind of cool to see ticket scalpers outside the coliseum Sunday. Why? The extra money won't go to the coliseum, to the league or to the schools. It will go into the scalpers' pockets.
Better to see thousands of additional fans lined up at the ticket windows for the chance to fill upper-level seats.
Go, Duke! Go, Carolina! Win today and Saturday, and sell more tickets.
Comments (1)
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Everything you say make sense, but people aren't sensible. Paradoxically, the fastest way to build a crowd is to tell people they can't come in. Witness, any exclusive nightclub that only picks certain people out of the crowd "worthy" of paying $20 or $30 to get in. Viola, people line up around the block.
Same thing with women's basketball. Tell people there's a chance they can't get in, and there will be a rush for limited tickets. But, tell people that plenty of good seats are available, and people just yawn and keep looking around for the next hot thing.
Posted on March 3, 2006 2:02 PM