Comments on: Letter from a UH basketball fan

By: Michele

Michele — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 19:01:04 +0000

Wow – I am so inspired by Dave Reardon and thoughtful, considerate comments.

Thanks also for the additional information – I am unable to keep up with all of the ticketing “shenanigans” at UH and thus am unaware of some circumstances as pointed out.

Best wishes,

Michele

By: K-Bay

K-Bay — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 08:30:20 +0000

IF TRUE, UHAD Needs To Incorporate/Respond,
WHAT is The Truth (from their Perspective)
AND What WILL You Do/Pursue?

MAYBE Itʻs Time to Invoke an Acceptable Custom Stating (Announcing to the Crowd) that, For Example, After the first Ten Minutes of the Game, that It Is Acceptable to “Come On Down” But Please Agreeably Re-Locate IF The Seat Ticketholder Asks/Appears” (Similar to Les Murakami’s Standing Room Only Policy…)

(FAN) Perception IS Reality

FROM: We (Loudly) Occupy Our Seats

By: Turfwar

Turfwar — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 01:31:17 +0000

Sit in any available seat after the game starts. You will usually be good to go the rest of the night. Making administrative changes to available seats will eventually cause more problems even it seems to make sense. If you were to ask corporate donors to monitor the purchase of tickets on a week by week basis they would simply not do it and spend the money on something else and UH will not find enough fans to buy those tickets. Just take care of your own needs and go sit in available seats. The truth is that on nights when big crowds show up they just want to be there regardless of where they have to sit. More fans don’t come because of win/lost records and television. Not because of seat location. Take away tv and more people would attend despite seat location. A 10,000 seat arena probably only has 5000 great seats and that’s how many come on a average night anyway. Making better seats available by going thru a turn it in process will require a headache of new rules for everybody. I have great seats in the lower bowl and even i sit in different seats sometimes to get closer or for a different angle. And I’ve been doing this since the seventies at the Blaisdell. I see elderly fans who come in wheel chairs and are helped into their seats. Their time is short and valuable and yet they make the effort. If they can do this you can go walk to a better seat.

By: Manoa Mist

Manoa Mist — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 19:15:59 +0000

Classy letter Ms. Harris. If you’re looking for logic and rationale, you will not find it at UH so don’t get your hopes up. It’s like trying to understand women – no can, so just love ’em how they be. And buy a nice television.

By: man eating apple

man eating apple — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:37:54 +0000

Two words for people seeking a solution like Ms. Harris: paperless ticketing. Then noone can resell a ticket. Thus noone has an incentive to buy up tickets that they won’t use, and which they only got so that they could sell. Another bonus then is that all ticket money goes to the UH box office.

By: NotNasti

NotNasti — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:21:44 +0000

Critical Thinker: What you say is not entirely true. I have had season tickets in the lower bowl of the arena from the day it opened. We have four seats. There is a single seat (immediately to my right) in our row that is unsold. There is another single seat directly behind that open seat in the row above me that is also unsold. Those two seats are available for purchase on a game-by-game basis. My sister also has lower bowl season tickets elsewhere in the arena. On the days that our mother is in town visiting, she purchases a ticket for the empty seat next to her. UH Athletics does allow ticket holders to resell their tickets through the UH Athletics website. Corporations and individuals who would ordinarily let those tickets go to waste should resell them, and “donate” the proceeds from the resale back to the University. As far as the seats in the “premium” section of Aloha Stadium being available for game-by-game purchase, they should be made available, at a higher price than tickets in the non-premium section.

By: hanahou

hanahou — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 16:18:12 +0000

I thought it was strange when I bought a ticket from the guy selling them outside the SSC that it said complementary on it.

By: Mrs. C. Cranmer

Mrs. C. Cranmer — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 15:19:18 +0000

I am so grateful that a conscientious fan has brought this situation to light. When the fan base is discouraged, this can’t be good for morale or support for their team. Why is this being allowed to continue? Why do politics over common sense have to pervade everything? Why is it that the logic is so off. As a UF Gator basketball fan, the O’Connell center and all other arenas where they play are always packed to the gills with mostly student fans. This is so outrageous that money is King in Hawaii over everything else, even including the principles of good sportsmanship and athletic ethics.

By: Mattie cakes

Mattie cakes — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 09:25:56 +0000

I agree 100%. I recently came back from grad school at a university that is top 5 nationally in attendance for Men’s basketball. I’ve always followed UH on TV while on the mainland and it was always discouraging to me to see how empty the arena was. That trend continued this season so I was excited when I came back to support my original alma mater and attend some games. Unfortunately, it was exactly as Ms. Harris explains. The arena is empty while there are no lower level tickets for purchase!! This is incredibly stupid and if these premium seats are indeed held by sponsors, some system should be implemented to make these tickets available on a game-to-game basis to the general public if the sponsors will not be using them!

By: PurpleMaple

PurpleMaple — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 09:09:06 +0000

The condition or situation that Ms Harris describes is so true. That’s why I’ve stopped going to UH Men’s basketball and Women’s volleyball at the Stan Sheriff Center (SSC). You just can’t get tickets for seats where it is worth the time, effort and money to attend these games at the SSC. Why not investigate the situation to find out why fans are unable to purchase tickets for seats where you can enjoy the game/match, yet the arena is not even half full.