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KANSAN.COM
FOUR YEAR REVIEW: SPORTS
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original run dates:
Nov.12,2014
File Photo/KANSAN
Students throw confetti to show support for the Jayhawk starting line. Kansas defeated the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday the 15th.
The section filled up quickly. As soon as the donors knew it was going to be available, there were requests for seats.
Jim Marchiony associate athletics director
120 Fieldhouse student seats, previously said to be reallocated, permanently cut for donors in section U
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The Kansas basketball student section has long been considered among the best in the nation. It won the Naismith Student Section of the Year award in 2012 and played a major part in NCAA.com naming Allen Fieldhouse the loudest and most intimidating arena in the nation last December.
But that section has taken a bit of a hit this year, following a decision made by Kansas Athletics to permanently axe 120 student seats.
Some of Kansas students' most valued space in section U, which is adjacent to the Jayhawks' bench, became available to University donors this summer after a student senate proposal to remove the required $50 athletics fee that all students pay each year. Though the total elimination of the fee was eventually vetoed by KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, it was still reduced to only $12 per student - the lowest fee of any university in Kansas.
In an attempt to recoup as much lost revenue as possible, the athletics department reallocated the student seating in section U to wealthy donors.
Change in plans
Initially, those 120 seats were set to simply be moved an alternate area that Associate Athletic Director Jim Marchiony described as, "near where the students are now that may have been sold as General Admission in the past." But in a recent change of events, the department decided to
permanently cut the seats from the remaining student section.
Student body president Morgan Said said the Student Senate originally raised the issue because it felt students "shouldn't be required to pay an athletic fee to help keep Kansas Athletics federally compliant with Title IX regulations." She also said she was unaware athletics would respond to the reduction in the fee by taking section U away from the students.
With a seven-percent increase in its budget this year, Athletics projects $8.42 million in revenue, according to Said.
"It's unfortunate that Kansas Athletics deemed it necessary to eliminate some of the best student seats in the Fieldhouse to compensate for the minor cut in student fees," she said. "The student fee cut was a very small fraction of the overall budget."
The decision to do away with student seating in section U has upset many students who consider the seats to be among the top that were accessible to them.
"It's the only part of the student section that sits courtside and closest to the court," said Luke Miller, a senior from Wichita. "In my opinion, they were the best seats available to us."
Marchiony said the athletics department is aware of the student response, saying the reaction has been "about what we expected." He also noted that the department stands to lose approximately $350,000 from the reduction of the fee; he expects it'll regain roughly $180,000 of that
The move to reallocate the student seats was in lieu of several other options that Kansas Athletics discussed — one of which was drastically raising the price of the student sports package. Even with the ultimate decision to give donors seating in section U, the All-Sports Combo still increased from $150 to $175 this semester.
back by making section U available to donors.
"The way to try to recover as much revenue as we could, by affecting the fewest number of people was to do it this way," Marchiony said. "We essentially affected 120 people, and that was the fewest amount of people we could affect by doing anything. And so, that's what we did."
Pleasing the donors
Immediately following the announcement that the seats would no longer be designated for students, donors showed significant interest. Marchiony said it didn't take long for the section to sell out.
Beginning in early June, section U became officially available to Williams Education Fund donors. The fund, composed of various Kansas alumni and fans, raises around $18 million for KU student-athletes each year. While most priority seating for Williams Fund donors bases off of lifetime donations, section U works a bit differently. In order to encourage contributions in the short-term, Athletics only took donors' current amount of giving into consideration when determining who had priority.
as the donors knew it was going to be available, there were requests for seats. Within weeks, there were enough requests to fill the section."
"The section filled up quickly," he said. "As soon
The initiative succeeded.
Rudy Manes, a '92 KU graduate, is part of a group of Williams Fund donors that was excited to have the opportunity to grab some of the newly available seats.
"We were just right up in the other corner, just beside the band," he said. "They weren't bad seats, but obviously [section U] is a much better deal."
Even with the reallocation of section U seating, Marchiony stressed that no student who wants to get into a Jayhawks home game will be denied that chance.
Nobody turned away?
"I think the key point is to make sure that people understand that every student who wants to attend a game will get into the game," he said. "We're committed to that because we think the students are the main reason why Allen Fieldhouse is such a great place to watch a basketball game."
It's a slightly different narrative than the one given on Kansas' website, which still states the All-Sports Combo ensures all students entrance to football games but "does NOT necessarily guarantee admission to men's basketball."
Said said she's interested to see how exactly the department plans on admitting all students.
"Athletics has indicated that no students will be turned away from the games, so I'm still on the hunt as to how that is,"
she said. "If there's a sell out and there's a student excess, where do those students sit? And that's the question that I don't yet have an answer to."
It's an issue that other universities have struggled with as well. UCLA's "Den Pass" is the equivalent of Kansas' All-Sports Combo and allows students entry to the Bruins' six home football games and 18 home basketball games for $129. UCLA Sports Information Director Liza David said its athletics department is "generally" able to accommodate all students who want to attend a basketball game, but if there's "a significant overage, seating is on a first-come first-served basis."
It's not all bad
Kansas coach Bill Self said he hasn't noticed a major difference in regard to students through Kansas' two exhibition games.
"I guess it's a little bit different, but I hadn't really noticed [the reduction in students] at all," he said. "I know why the decisions were made to do certain things, but there's still plenty of good seats for the students to get though."
Prior to the reduction, Kansas athletics' annual revenue from student fees was approximately $1.1 million (just over one percent of its overall income), the fourth-lowest in the Big 12. In contrast, West Virginia rakes in the most in the conference, $4.3 million, while the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma have done away with the fees entirely.
Despite the elimination of student seating in Section U. Allen Fieldhouse actually remains among the more student-friendly venues in college basketball.
Roughly 4,000 seats are available to Kansas students for every home game
nearly a quarter of all available seating. Conversely, UCLA's Pauley Pavilion holds only 1,800 students (14 percent of total capacity) and Duke's Cameron Indoor has been said to support around 1,600 (17 percent).
Atmospheric changes?
Still, students such as Miller have expressed concern over how the change could have a detrimental effect on the atmosphere inside the Phog.
"Of course it will affect the atmosphere. You're replacing young, loud students with an older crowd that just doesn't have the same enthusiasm," he said. "There are other ways to bring in revenue without taking from the students—the students that pay thousands of dollars a year to attend."
Future outlook
The department may consider other options eventually; Marchiony said that it'll assess the situation again at the end of this year. But for now, there's no intention to give section U back to students in the near future.
"We'll probably take a look at it every year," he said. "Right now, there are no plans to change what's there. It's something we'll look at year-by-year."
Edited by Drew Parks
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