The Dee Events Center is an incredible venue. At 11,500 seats, it is far and away the largest arena in the Big Sky, and the third largest college arena in the state of Utah. However, there is one glaring problem with the Purple Palace. It is far too large for the team that plays there, and the atmosphere suffers because of it.
If you've attended any of the games so far this season you know what I mean. The Dee was mostly empty for all six non-conference home games. Here are the attendance figures so far this season:
In the 671 men's basketball games played at the Dee since it opened in 1977, there have only been six games that have had 11,500 fans attend. Those six game all took place during the 1977 and 1980 seasons. That means the Dee has not had a sellout in 44 years.
I hate to state the obvious again, but the Dee is too big of an arena for the Weber State Wildcats basketball team.
Now, I've attended games with over 9,000 fans and that place gets rockin'. Games vs Utah State, BYU, Montana and the CIT championship game vs East Carolina, all in the last 15 years, had that place rockin' and I was glad to be there screaming my guts out with a large cohort of Wildcat faithful. A crowd like this feeds on itself and gives the Wildcats a real home court advantage. Unfortunately, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule, as most games I've attended were somewhere in the 4,000-7,000 fans range.
More so than most sports, the home crowd in college basketball has a huge impact on the outcome of the game. You need look no further than two of our in state neighbors to support this statement: Utah State and BYU. Both have huge home court advantages, large fan support, a rabid student section, and create a great game day experience. If you don't believe me, take a trip down to Provo and attend a game. Credit where credit is due - that place gets wild. There is absolutely no reason that Weber State cannot have this type of atmosphere as well.
The biggest factor that prevents a more rockus atmosphere is the size of the building. When fans are sitting in a relatively quiet, 70% empty building, its hard to get hyped and rowdy. This problem compounds on itself and fans don't want to attend games because of the lacking atmosphere at the game.
In my view, this is an enormous problem that needs to be addressed by the athletic department. Creating a top notch game day atmosphere will create a sense of excitement around Weber State basketball that is currently lacking. Weber has historically been a "basketball school" and it should be among the top priorities to improve the game day experience at the Dee Events Center.
Here's a few ideas that could be implemented to help the game day experience and hopefully contribute to filling the Dee and creating a home court advantage.
1. Get students to the game
The energy driver at a college basketball game is the student section, and ours is small, and since COVID, has shrunk to nearly nothing. The athletic department needs to do more to get students to the games. Let students in by just flashing the ID card, let them bring guests in for free, market the games on campus aggressively, pay students to be "hype men/women", do whatever is necessary to get students to the game. Accepting our current level of student attendance is not acceptable. It absolutely has to get better. This needs to be priority number one. Putting this responsibility on a student as "President of the Student Section" is lazy and a major cop out by the athletic department. Millions of dollars have been invested into this team, this venue, and this athletic department. We are tripping at the finish line if we don't get the students to feel some school pride, get excited about the team, and come to the games. This isn't an impossible task. Weber should be able to have 500+ students screaming their guts out at each game easily.
2. Don't schedule so many non D1 games.
Three of the six home games played to this point in the season were against non D1 opponents and the Cats absolutely destroyed their competition. I get that a team wants a "tune up" game early in the season, but having three seems like overkill. Fans don't want to watch it, players don't want to play in it, and coaches don't want to pretend like the game matters. It's a glorified scrimmage. These games are early in the season, when the focus should be generating excitement in the team and on the upcoming season. With endless opportunities for entertainment these days, why would someone spend their hard earned money to watch the Wildcats beat NW Indian by 83 points? Quite frankly, those games are ridiculous.
3. Hang curtains to reduce capacity
Having an empty arena detracts from the experience of attending a basketball game. It sucks the energy out of the building and discourages fans from getting excited, vocal, and emotionally invested in the game. Given that the Dee hasn't averaged over 7,000 fans in decades, curtains should be hung to cover up the top few thousand seats of the arena, forcing fans to crowd together and get closer to the action, giving the appearance of a more packed arena. Curtaining off 3,500 seats would be about right. This would leave 8,000 open seats, which would be enough to accommodate almost every game, while still allowing for easy ticket access for fans.
4. Drop ticket prices
Single game tickets currently range from $15-$27 per ticket. That means for a family of four to purchase tickets, plus some drinks and popcorn would cost between $80 - $150. That's a non starter for many families. The athletic department needs to be playing the long game here. Get people in the building and used to attending games regularly. When more fans attend due to low ticket prices, the atmosphere will be better, the team will feed off that energy and play better, and fans will be more likely to return and attend more games. Short term ticket revenue be damned. The athletic department needs to look at a long term strategy to get folks in seats.
5. Theme nights and ticket giveaways
This is a tactic that Minor League baseball teams use very effectively, and Weber State basketball could easily implement. When connected groups of people are given a large number of tickets, it becomes an event, and the seats will fill up. School district night, Jr Jazz night, Boy Scouts night, church group night, high school senior night, healthcare workers night, law enforcement night, etc. You could literally have a themed night for every home game, giving away hundreds of tickets to some group and therefore guaranteeing a boosted attendance. Focusing on youth groups should especially be a point of focus. No ticket revenue will be lost since most of those given free tickets and attending would not have attended otherwise, plus they'll buy concessions, and are far more likely to attend another game in the future if they have a good experience. This type of focus would help to rally a community around a team, even amongst casual fans.
6. Fix the bad concessions situation
A large percentage of fans attending a game want to have a drink and snack while watching the game. They are even willing to pay inflated prices to get these items during a game, however, when a fan sees a line a mile long and is faced with the choice of whether to get a popcorn and miss 30 minutes of the game, or skip it and see the game, many will say "forget it" and grumpily shuffle back to their seats, drink-less and concession-less. I know this is true, because I've been that guy. I'm not gonna miss the game to buy snacks. I would have gladly forked over the money if I didn't have to wait in line forever. Something has got to be done to speed up this process. I don't know what that looks like. Study best practices of surrounding universities and pro teams. It can be done. It should be done.
These are just a few ideas that I think the university could implement to drastically improve the game and fan experience at the Dee Events Center. Of course, it helps when the team is winning, but even when the Wildcats don't win, having a top notch game day atmosphere will keep fans coming back time and time again. This needs to be a major point of focus at Weber State.
I have no doubt that the Purple Palace can have an electric atmosphere. There are enough people and enough interest in the program to sustain it. Every dollar spent creating a better atmosphere will pay back dividends in fan and community support and loyalty. Come pack the Dee.
Go Wildcats
Michael Garlick
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