Hats off to Evansville and all the people who worked hard to give us a State tourney. This post is NOT a complaint about this weekend. I’ve mentioned this in the past but will do it again this year. Bring back General Admission (GA) seating but with a caveat. As the kids say (and it drives me crazy), “Hear me out” . . .
The problem has never been GA as a concept. Get there early, get good seats and sit together. The problem has always been an enforcement issue regarding not saving seats. Teams send their best enforcers/pit bulls to hold 100 seats with blankets, sheets, and jackets. They then scream at people who want to sit where they are holding seats.
The solution - charge us all $3 more a ticket. Multiply that by 10k+ fans and use that $30k to beef up security simply for the beginning of each session when the seat saving stampede happens. $30k in security to tell people to quit spreading bedding over seats and a seat is not saved with nobody in it. Security can break/leave or whatever after the stampede is done. No octogenarian ushers - real security.
Who among us wouldn’t spend an extra $3 to go back to the old way but avoid unnecessary confrontation? Want to sit together? Great, have a bunch of fans meet in the lobby at “go time” and grab a whole section together. Want to show up late with only one or 2 people? Awesome, look for 2 seats together anywhere that’s open. And yes, common sense prevails. Holding 2 seats while someone is in the bathroom or your parents or in-laws who walk slowly is okay. That’s common sense. I’m talking about avoiding the people holding down ENTIRE sections with 5 “enforcers”.
$3. Come on folks, let’s do this! GA! GA! GA!