This is a public service announcement. If you wish to attend tomorrow's hockey game against Vermont, go buy your tickets today to avoid waiting in a 30-minute line on Saturday. I know this may sound funny to some, students actually buying tickets to go to a game, but this is one of those rare six times per year that Dartmouth students actually rally around their sports teams and show their support.
Wait, I must have it wrong. A school that prides itself on school spirit like Dartmouth does must have incredible student attendance at sporting events. But, alas, to claim that I would be duping you, since in my years at Dartmouth I can claim to have attended maybe four games for which the student section was near capacity. The truth is, students here only attend six Big Green contests per season--the first football game of the year, homecoming, the Penn and Princeton basketball games and the Vermont and Princeton hockey games. In fact, in the student handbook, it is written that to be a true Dartmouth fan, all you have to do is attend these games, and just to make sure you are a real fan, you must throw tennis balls at the Princeton goalie.
It's appalling to me how little students support their teams here. Indeed, the era of translating Catallus and reading poetry has taken its toll on Dartmouth athletics, as students have traded in ticket stubs for pens, programs for library books. Of course, this doesn't apply to every student. One can always be sure to spot Theta Delt brothers in the front row of basketball games, Heorot brothers auditioning for advertising jobs by finding some cute jingle to razz an opponent in the penalty box at hockey games and loyal Kappa girls cheering loudly at women's soccer games. One of the biggest benefits of the Greek system on campus that is always overlooked is their enthusiasm for Dartmouth sports and their faithful turnout at Big Green contests.
But sports at Dartmouth shouldn't be about sports fans and non-sports fans and certainly not about Greek and non-Greek members. Sports at Dartmouth should be about community and supporting one another. If student-athletes can manage to study, maintain social lives and be on a team, then why can't the rest of us be student-fans, balancing our busy lives with a weekly trip to Leede Arena.
Yet, just when I was about to give up on our apathetic student body, there was a blip on the attendance radar screen that caught my attention. With the Athletic Department offering free admission to last Friday night's contest against St. Lawrence to any student brave enough to battle the elements, over 800 students turned out at the game. Ironically, on the same night that Big Green men's hockey coach Bob Gaudet expressed his displeasure with the lack of attendance recently at Thompson Arena, the Dartmouth student body managed to put together its best effort of the year.
Before I celebrate a victory for student-kind and proclaim Hanover a sports wonderland, one has to remember that college students would go over Niagara Falls in a barrel if there was free pizza or beer at the bottom. However, maybe Friday night's mass turnout signifies that there are those willing to go to games, they just aren't willing to pay for it. Maybe with some creative financing and a little effort, Dartmouth can return to the idea of the student-fan.
The numbers are very simple. For the past four years, season ticket purchases by students are on the decline, as is student attendance. Instead of paying $78 for season tickets to football, hockey and both men's and women's basketball, most students prefer to pay for each game they go to. If you assume that students attend the afore-mentioned six games per year, their average atheltic expenditure comes to $24. You don't have to be able to balance the budget to understand why ticket sales have declined. While it is ridiculous that games aren't free for students, its even more absurd that to go to every home game costs nearly $80.
Instead of offering season ticket packages, Dartmouth should charge every student a $20 athletic fee at the beginning of the season, just as they charge a student-activity fee. Figuring that 4200 students attend Dartmouth, that works out to $84,000 every year in ticket revenues, which would be a substansial gain for the ticket department. In return, every Dartmouth student would get a pass that allows them into every sporting event (with the exception of NCAA Tournament games which the school has no control over.) without ever paying another cent. In essence, every game then would be free to students.
But the benefits don't stop with attendance. In the last year, the Athletic Department has increased its marketing efforts to everybody in the Upper Valley. With the extra money generated from students, the Athletic Department could spend the money on programming at games, having groups like Sheba dance at halftime or holding acapella concerts after the game for all in attendance. Sporting events would not only provide for a chance to support our Dartmouth teams, but basketball games would evolve into programming events as well. Too many people complain about Dartmouth having no social options, but the truth of the matter is that most students are too lazy to search out the opportunities that are available, which includes attending sporting events.
It seems to me that this is a win-win plan for everybody.Students get to attend more games for less money, the athletic department increases its student ticket revenue and the school increases its programming opportunities and its school spirit. If the school can charge you $20 for throwing a snowball or leaving a thumb tack in the wall, then $20 for close to 40 sporting events a year is a great deal.
For now though, savor the atmosphere of a raucous Thompson Arena crowd tomorrow and pray for more snow and free games.
