Change the seat colors to match the stripes. Easier solution than getting people to attend
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- Thread starter QChawks
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Change the seat colors to match the stripes. Easier solution than getting people to attend
I am season ticket holder and Student attendance is still an issue.
I think they allocate 4000 seats and I would guess half are used.
People have said the Tix are too expensive for students but every time they let them in free they show up so not sure what the answer is on that.
Winning top 20 team is probably what it will take
yeah, the way we played vs Michigan State didn't help things
I would paint the chairs these colors combinations to begin with......that way the place always looks black and gold.
I said before the game if we win or are super competitive the place would be packed today. Granted they're talking snow storms so I'm sure that won't help things either.
There wont be 8500 people at the game today.
Tickets 11 dollars after fees on seatgeek.
Iowa website has easily over 5000 Tickets unsold.
Tickets 11 dollars after fees on seatgeek.
Iowa website has easily over 5000 Tickets unsold.
Fans really need to get out and support this team. There is no excuse for a half filled Carver on a Saturday afternoon.
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I agree the place should be full but it was better than half filled today. Pretty loud crowd in the first half also.
There were times it was loud-ish but we still have guys on the bench starting defense chants at home. That is totally pathetic.
The students were given over 100 free tickets? Would have fooled me. Lots of empty seats.
I don't think I'm being too hard, our fan base sucks. It wasn't Fran, it is just lack of support for the Hawks. This team is ranked #25/26 with a new coach and a team that plays hard every possession. Go watch in person... the defense is incredible. These guys do everything to stay in front of the offensive player and move their feet so well. Stirtz takes zero plays off. He is he never a liability on defense while playing 40 min a game, he's constantly getting after it.
We are just at that crossroads where it is just easier to stay at home and do nothing to help make a better environment. I get that the university needs to improve as well (lower costs, better food, improved theatrics, etc...) but come on.
We have to do better.
The students were given over 100 free tickets? Would have fooled me. Lots of empty seats.
I don't think I'm being too hard, our fan base sucks. It wasn't Fran, it is just lack of support for the Hawks. This team is ranked #25/26 with a new coach and a team that plays hard every possession. Go watch in person... the defense is incredible. These guys do everything to stay in front of the offensive player and move their feet so well. Stirtz takes zero plays off. He is he never a liability on defense while playing 40 min a game, he's constantly getting after it.
We are just at that crossroads where it is just easier to stay at home and do nothing to help make a better environment. I get that the university needs to improve as well (lower costs, better food, improved theatrics, etc...) but come on.
We have to do better.
I agree with basically everything except saying it wasn't Fran. Fran contributed with Iowa's fan base staying stagnate / getting worse.
Fan bases grow with post season runs (like what just happened with the Woman's team). You don't need back to back Final Fours, but you do need some Sweet Sixteen runs where you have the week of intense local basketball coverage that gets talked about beyond die hard fans. The absence of that for the entire Fran era and beyond has been the #1 factor of where we are at now.
Actual butts in seats today was around 6-7k maybe, pretty sad for a B1G Saturday home opener. The concourse never seemed too busy, about half the concession stands weren't open, and even the ice cream lines were relatively short.
Crowd at least got into it first half some and seem to be engaged. Continued success should bring some bigger crowds.
There are times Dolph doesn't even know who is playing. : (
Okay, I'll concede that Fran did have something to do with some people not going to games. But the attendance today was dreadful based on what this team has done so far.
There is a major problem now and I see it in every high school. Nobody wants to support their classmates because they are too "busy." Supporting your school is no longer a thing in most of American high schools outside of showing up to football games. I'm not quite sure how to fix it either.
Crowd was much larger and louder today than the previous games I have been to this year. It's not going to be over night, but it will get there. I've said before Iowa fans have learned to live "without" Iowa bball for years. They have to learn to "with" it again.
Official attendance (tickets sold & distributed) was 10,956.
Actual butts in the seats (tickets scanned) is always less.
Iowa 83-64 Maryland (Dec 6, 2025) Final Score - ESPN
Game summary of the Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Maryland Terrapins NCAAM game, final score 83-64, from December 6, 2025 on ESPN.
www.espn.com
I'm glad it looked.that way. There were noticeable empty seats in every section including sections at half court.
There are still many of the fan shaped backboards in use throughout the country. Go to any major city park and you will find them everywhere there is a basketball court. Same in many rural areas. Oh, and they aren't 1950's style backboards. They are still sold today and if you had a backboard on your garage or along your driveway in the 70''s the odds were about 99 to 1 that it was the fan shape. Heck, I grew up in Cedar Rapids, and I didn't know anyone who had a fiberglass backboard at home. The only place you could find them were in high school and college gyms. Even then the baskets along the sides of the court that raises up during a game so as not to block the view were fan shaped.
PS we didn't call them fan shaped; we just called them backboards.
Ummm. Not the case at every school. Let’s not over generalize.
Especially small town schools. They seem to have better student sections in my experience, especially if the team is good.
Spot on. I attended Iowa many moons ago at the height of the Lute Olson and Ronnie Lester era and we always had a packed and loud Fieldhouse which included many students. Ben understands the history here and the hard work it takes to get us there again. He has the smarts and the right culture to make it happen. Like real life we have to take things a step at time.
I honestly don't think I am. Look at these big schools around the country, not just in the state. Many of the highlight films these guys put out are in front of half empty gyms. As kids feel that clubs sports are more important (totally backwards in my opinion) there is an even further disconnect with community sports.
I can't speak for all small schools but I was at one for one year and there wasn't anything else to do in the winter. We still didn't get great crowds.
I looked up Indiana football's attendance numbers. The year before Cignetti, they had 46K/game. After last year (his first year) they averaged 48K/game. This year, they started selling out (53K) around mid year. It will take time, but winning, and a quality product cures all. And this is a program that has lost only three times over the last two years!
It wasn't JUST Fran. Licklighter and Alford as well, which leads us to Barta and bad decisions.
All that being said it IS 2025 and no reason that arena isn't MUCH closer to full than it is today. It is being lazy particularly if you are a student. For adults there are plenty of people in IC and CR to get the arena packed again so it is either being cheap or hardheaded that we USED to have 3 coaches and an AD that couldn't get it done, both of which have NOTHING to do with this coach or this team. Hell I live in WDM and I have been to 3 home games.
I was there as well. The old Fieldhouse Would get INCREDIBLY loud in those Lute Olson days. Acoustics were horrible, which was GREAT! I had a friend who had some connections through Michigan State and we were able to sit behind the MSU bench when Jud Heathcote was coaching. It was the days before the shot clock and Jud was running a 4 corner stall for the entire first half. I think the halftime score was something like 6 to 8. The entire crowd as chanting "Heathcote Sucks! Heathcote Sucks". Funny, and fun as hell. Look forward to those days coming back and we are getting a little peek at it now.
Remember Bobby Knight walking out on the floor and the entire crowd booing!
Or Lute walking clear out on the floor to argue a call 
For younger fans the crap officiating we see now goes way back just different faces.Ben just gets it and I say that as a guy who tuned out basketball for a long time as I never liked Fran's style of play. We just have to wrap our arms around the fact that he and his staff have their own way of doing things which may seem a little different. We will like what we see the longer this goes.
Agree with you comments on Ben and the team.Remember Bobby Knight walking out on the floor and the entire crowd booing!
Ben just gets it and I say that as a guy who tuned out basketball for a long time as I never liked Fran's style of play. We just have to wrap our arms around the fact that he and his staff have their own way of doing things which may seem a little different. We will like what we see the longer this goes.
I remember Lute chasing after a ref at Purdue when bad calls cost us the game!!! He was moving pretty quick!