AFA game and $1 tickets
 

The game was a blast. Plaisted and Keena were great. We're going to need better wing production on the road, but overall great play.

Defense was superb. We switched on every pick, no matter the personnel or how good the pick was. Great strategy for this team against AFA. AFA has similar quickness and inside scoring ability from 1 to 5, and BYU actually has personnale that can defend inside and out pretty equally. Welsh and their #24 are great players. It's still hard for me to swallow that AFA is the class of the MWC, but they are.

On the $1 tickets:

I've read some of the a-holes on CB complaining about this game (and remember same comments in the past). If you're a season ticket holder, attending 95%+ of the games in person over the past ten years, please pick up your rocks to throw at the newbie $1 fans. If not, shut your ass up. I'm guessing there are not more than five active posters on the internet that fit that definition, and I'm one of them, so I will call you out.

I think the $1 tickets are a brilliant idea. It's my favorite game of the year, next to the U. It's always a great atmosphere, it brings in fans that normally wouldn't attend, it pumps the team up, concession $ are way up, and they usually do it in conjunction with a big FB recruiting weekend--very smart.

These are not cheap fans, dumbass out-of-staters. These are marginal fans. Several of my neighbors took their families to the game. These are guys that are not huge fans. Maybe they've been fans in the past and lost interest. Maybe they're FB fans and not BB. The kind of fans that will watch if it's on TV but not schedule their life around BYU (like me and some of you). These are the fans we need to go after. They come, they enjoy it, maybe they get season tickets next year.

The "cheap fan" thing drives me so crazy. I haven't been skiing in 20 years. If someone gave me a pass to take my family skiing for $5 each, I would probably do it. Am I a cheap skiing fan? HELL, NO!! I am simply not much of a ski fan, and given the option of doing it for next to nothing, it becomes an interesting option to me.

P.S. I doubt they'd ever spend the $ to redo the Marriott Center, but my season tickets are bench seats and when it is packed it is SO uncomfortable. My preference would be just as it's been the last few years. 10-12K per game, I can sprawl out, and then a couple big games a year that are packed and loud and fun where I feel like a sardine.

Why was Tavernari not more involved? He goes from being high point man in NM to Mr. Invisible against AFA.

I don't see what coach sees in Balderson.

Tavernari struggled in the game. He's not ready to consistently produce. He had a couple dumb turnovers and shot the ball at the wrong time. He's a talent but still raw. In a huge game like that in that kind of atmosphere, freshman crack easy, sometimes.

Balderson sucked again. I was hoping he'd turned the corner after the last few games. He's slow and he's not knocking down his shots--bad combination for a wing.

What most people don't understand is that the idea behind $1 or even free tickets is to get people into the venue to experience the game and ultimately convince them that buying season tickets would be a worthwhile investment.

Ain't nothing wrong with that.

Sorry, but when it comes to cheapskates BYU fans take that definition to a whole new level compared to other fans.

It's simply the truth.

Having said that it's just a Utah person thing in general. I've done sales in virtually every state in the country and Utah customers are without question FAR AND AWAY the biggest cheapskates out there. If someone can sell in Utah, elsewhere is cake.

Keeping the tickets at $1 won't help build a fanbase, it'll merely suck in additional fans while the deal lasts and then they will disappear from the MC once the tickets go up a couple of dollars and the MC Ticket Office will be barraged with a bunch of complaints about how expensive it is to see a game there.

True. Normal prices are $5 for upper sections, which is probably the most inexpensive ticket in major D1 basketball. And $5 is really a bargain, considering you can easily relocate to the lower section for the second half. :)

Why the attitude about these "marginal" fans?

I'm guessing less than 2,000 BYU fans paid for their season tickets with their own money, aren't students, and have actually attended 80% of the games this year.

The reality is that most fans--especially BYU BB fans--are of this variety. They'll watch or attend if it's convenient. Whatever the MKT department can do to bring them is all good. And it makes for a great atmosphere for the team and fans.

Well said, Jay. Agree on all counts.

Worse BYU teams in the past would average 7,000 to 10,000 more fans per game than recent BYU teams that were 15-6 after 21 games have. This, despite the fact that ticket prices (rafter seats) at best have increased at the rate of inflation and the population base has at least doubled during the last 20 years.