Thanks For Bailing Out Our Asses

by BSD on Jan 29, 2008 8:13 AM EST in Basketball

It's no secret that our basketball team has had trouble selling tickets the past few years. There are times you could hear a pin drop in the Bryce Jordan Center.


Plenty of good seats still available!

It's been so bad in recent years that the athletic department has resorted to literally giving tickets away for free. But this year it appeared they wouldn't have to do that since the team was looking kind of good. A few weeks ago they announced this "Target 10" campaign to raise money for THON. Basically, if the university could sell 10,000 tickets for tonight's game against Ohio State all of the proceeds from student ticket sales to the Michigan State game on February 2 would go toward THON. Then Geary Claxton went down, and now the Jordan Center is quieter than the Paterno Library.

Well, apparently not even supporting THON and helping find a cure for children's cancer can get the Penn State students to come out and support the team since the Big Ten Network is having to bail them out by buying 1000 tickets to the game.

The Big Ten Network is buying 1,000 student tickets to the Ohio State-Penn State men's basketball game to help support THON, the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.

The network's goal is to help the Penn State Athletic Department attract 10,000 students to the Tuesday, Jan. 29, contest. If the school sells 10,000 student tickets for the Ohio State-Penn State game, all of the proceeds from the single-game student ticket sales for the Michigan State game on Saturday, Feb. 2, will go to THON.

Now don't look at this as a knock on the students, though the lack of turnout is disappointing. I'm more disgusted in the program in general for letting things fall to this level. If tying Penn State basketball to THON can't put butts in the seats I don't know what will.

Tweet Comment 28 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

But what about THON?

There are rumors that the THON organizers aren't exactly helping out to get fans in the seats.

You'd think a group that is set to benefit from such a promotion would want to do their part to max out their return.

by underscore on Jan 29, 2008 8:40 AM EST reply actions

I'm a grunt

in THON and we've been getting the word out within our own organization. There have been ads in the paper, people handing out things in the HUB and various other ways to spread the word. It's just tough to get 10000 students to do a lot of things, especially with such a weak attitude towards basketball. I know some freshman on the team and it sucks that they play in front of weak crowds. I try to go to as many games as possible.

JoePa is my hero.

by psuphiman80 on Jan 29, 2008 9:01 AM EST reply actions

THON

I can't recall attendance numbers, but do they even get 10,000 people to turn out for THON?

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Jan 29, 2008 9:08 AM EST up reply actions

I can't find any numbers

but they would probably look at how many people came into the BJC over the whole weekend. I don't think the whole thing is packed for the weekend, but a large number of people stop by.

JoePa is my hero.

by psuphiman80 on Jan 29, 2008 9:26 AM EST up reply actions

10,000 Students

That is a huge number. How many undergrads are there in U Park? 40,000? You're basically hoping to get one out of every four students to come out to the game. How realistic is that on a Tuesday night? Even the football team struggles to fill out the 22,000 student section most games.

I think Target 5000 would have been better. I bet they don't even get 10,000 total attendance tonight let alone 10,000 students.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Jan 29, 2008 9:30 AM EST up reply actions

From the second

I heard about this those were my thoughts. Way too ambitious.

JoePa is my hero.

by psuphiman80 on Jan 29, 2008 9:37 AM EST up reply actions

Other than the very end

There is not much to see at Thon. After about 24 hours its not much more than 500 zombies walking around in circles, with a line dance every hour.

Most of the people who do go are there to support a friend who is dancing, and sneak them in some manner of forbidded item, usually a caffenated beverage.

One other thing, if you happen to know somebody who is dancing, if you don't do anything else, make sure that you send them a card or a note or something for the mail call at the 24 hour mark. You can find out the details on the Thon website.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Jan 29, 2008 9:36 AM EST up reply actions

two things

its been a year or two but i remeber the paterno library getting fairly loud.

also, am i the only one who thinks its a bit of a sham to keep the profits from the 10,000 tickets and give thon the cash from the 1,500 tickets sold to THON?

by Big 11th on Jan 29, 2008 9:13 AM EST reply actions

to clear that up

i'm guessing 1,500 students show up for MSU, maybe, maybe a lot less depending on how the OSU game turns out.

if they are getting thon people to show up simply for THON, then that money should go to THON, not to the athletic department.

by Big 11th on Jan 29, 2008 9:14 AM EST reply actions

also

what happens when 8,000 students show up, plus the proceeds from the BTN's 1,000? Is the AD going to keep the money from 9,000 'fake' ticket sales and give nothing to THON?

sorry for mass posting.

by Big 11th on Jan 29, 2008 9:16 AM EST reply actions

THON

I suspect the proceeds to the MSU game will go to THON regardless.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Jan 29, 2008 9:21 AM EST up reply actions

Why not

just do all proceeds from tonights student sales go to thon? Instead, you make them watch a poor product twice. If I get sick from the food I eat at a place once, I sure as hell am not going back for seconds!

Or, they could just give the BTN money to THON and call it even.

by JGuiher on Jan 29, 2008 10:07 AM EST reply actions

How About It

If I were a student I would be very inclined to say I'll just drop another $5 in a can to rid myself of any guilt I might have rather than walk up to the Jordan Center in the bitter cold to watch the team get slaughtered tonight.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Jan 29, 2008 10:16 AM EST up reply actions

If you think about it

Thon is going to raise close about six million dollars this year (more if it grows as much as it did last year). This promotion essentially requires Thon to promote Penn State Basketball to an extraordinary degree, in order to collect about $12,000 ($5 x 2,500 tickets) or about a quarter of one percent of the take.

No wonder Thon organizers are not spending a ton of time on this, it's a shitty deal and fools errand. They would probably raise more money collecting donations from the fans at the two games.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Jan 29, 2008 10:30 AM EST up reply actions

THON meetings

i know people just buying tickets and not going to the game. just because students buy 10,000 tickets doesn't mean you'll see 10,000 people in the stands. Basketball isn't the "cool" thing to go see at Penn State sadly. I think there's even a couple THON meetings during the basketball game.

Josh

by PSULion on Jan 29, 2008 10:42 AM EST reply actions

I found the whole promotion to be

a bit confusing and, as stated above, uninspiring - why not give all the proceeds from tosu game to THON and a free ticket to the MSU game - thon gets their money and the Ath Dept sells seats -

and why limit it to students? why put all the burden/focus on them? it's just very odd.

The basketball notwithstanding - it would seem that the marketing department has a brain sprain.

by PSUgirl on Jan 29, 2008 3:49 PM EST reply actions

The more I thought about the promotion

the more I thought it was a huge rip-off, and a transparent attempt to trick the Thon marketing people into promoting the basketball team.

It's absurd that after the folks at Thon promote the OSU game sufficiently to sell 10,000 tickets, but the Four Diamonds Fund only gets the take of single game student ticket sales for the Michigan State game. I have to think that at least half of the students at the game would be season ticket holders. So in retrospect, there is no way in hell they would clear even $10,000 for their efforts.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Jan 29, 2008 3:59 PM EST up reply actions

Of course

now that those whimps only dance for 46 hours, it's hardly a challenge. They don't really deserve the extra money.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Jan 29, 2008 4:06 PM EST up reply actions

First of all,

I hope you are sincerely joking about the switch to 46 hours. The primary reason why it was changed last year to 46 hours was because of logistics at the bjc (there was some other event to prep for the next night). then i believe the new time stuck with the psu administration because they thought that more kids would come to class on monday with the extra 2 hours of sleep.

Also, i agree with most people about this being a scam and having a lot more benefit for penn state bball than thon. I was just looking through a list of the top bball student sections in the country last week and the highest student attendance for any of the schools was somewhere slightly above 4,000. That makes 10,000 seem rediculous. I would not be surprised if 10,000 students at one basketball game would be some kind of record for normal college basketball venues ( that means no football stadium games).

For the better games this season the students have come out to the games. I believe there was 4,000 for v.t. and wisconsin (according to gopsusports.com). Expecting more than 4,000 (which is a pretty darn good number considering the state of the bball team) students to show up for a game is a little extreme. If penn state really wants to focus on getting more people in the stands, they should focus on alumni and non-students. Of course, to actually do that they would have to produce a quality product to go root for.

by rmcmillen50 on Jan 29, 2008 4:49 PM EST up reply actions

Well...

[1] I was joking;

[2] I danced for the whole 48 hours, and I can tell you without any hesitation that I would have cut off any finger on my left hand to go home two hours early; and

[3] you can't put on shoes for two days after Thon, let alone go to class.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Jan 29, 2008 5:12 PM EST up reply actions

Just so you know I'm not full of shit

I danced in the 25th Thon, the last one held in the White Building. The theme was Miracles in Motion, the line dance song was "Knock on Wood" by, for the love of god, Menudo.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Jan 29, 2008 5:20 PM EST up reply actions

ok

i had a suspicion you probably danced because not many people can legit say something like that.

and yeah the teachers' hopes that kids would come to class was a huge underlying joke last year.

by rmcmillen50 on Jan 29, 2008 5:32 PM EST up reply actions

The switch

was because Spanier didn't have the balls to stand up to the Big Ten and tell them they can't use the arena on Monday after THON. However, 46 hrs is still a hell of a long time to dance.

The whole athletic department trying to sell tickets in order to donate to THON is disgusting. Get a good coach and people will show up. When I was in school and we made the NIT finals a few times, we used to pack 5 or 6 buses full of kids to go to the games in MSG. Throw in that sweet 16 run and there was support. I hate to say it but the team sucks.

by JGuiher on Jan 29, 2008 5:10 PM EST reply actions

I took one of the booster buses to MSG

I'd never been to the arena before - I remember walking through the gangway and looking up at the ceiling and being so giddy that I actually felt faint -

PSU basketball beating unc (even if it was a down year for them) is still one of my proudest/happiest moments as a Penn State fan - for me, it was on par with the great football wins. They need to start a Penn State Classics Channel - and show that game again.

by PSUgirl on Jan 30, 2008 9:58 AM EST up reply actions

UNC

What was great about that game was that it was no fluke. Penn State won that game rather handily and was the better team. Moreover, they were in sweet sixteen, and their two most probable opponents Temple and Michigan State were teams that they had actually beaten during the regular season. I remember actually thinking, wow, this team has a chance to go to the final four.

Of course they lost to Temple, fu#@ing Temple; I hope we beat them by 60 points every time we play them in football just to makeup for the long string of basketball related disappointments.
.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Jan 30, 2008 10:08 AM EST up reply actions

that temple game

was a great disappointment - I think that the team and the coaches had too much time to "think" about it and they psyched themselves out - they looked so nervous - instead of the devil may care attitude they had in the earlier rounds. Still - it was great - just to see PSU play the second week was monumental.

by PSUgirl on Jan 30, 2008 11:36 AM EST up reply actions

It's really a shame

That season was a great opportunity we let get away. After an appearance in the sweet 16 and a win over UNC we should have had top recruits knocking down the door to come to PSU. It should have propelled us toward being one of the elite Big Ten teams. How badly Jerry Dunn dropped the ball on that cannot be overstated enough.