The anatomy of hype
Seat 111 in row V of section 323 in the Carrier Dome is about as far away from the basketball court as you can get.
Jersey numbers are a blur, and the ticking shot clock is nearly unreadable. The court has the toy town-feel you get when looking out an airplane window after takeoff.
Yet many basketball fans would consider whoever bought the ticket to this seat lucky. It was likely one of the last sold for Saturday’s matchup between Syracuse University and Villanova University, when the Dome will hold 34,616 fans.
What the person sitting in seat 111 has is a panoramic view of the 34,615 other people expected to be at the Dome. It’s a sold-out crowd, the largest on-campus attendance for a college basketball game, breaking the 2006 record of 33,633.
It breaks the record from a 2006 game also between Syracuse and Villanova. The Orange lost 92-82.
Technically, the Dome doesn’t sell out. Though the Villanova game has been deemed ‘sold out,’ tickets are actually capped because there are worse views than from section 323, tickets that the Dome isn’t willing to sell tickets for. But as the two universities’ rankings rose and hype began to build, seating was extended one section beyond 322, the usual ‘preferred’ seating.
Since the game sold out on Feb. 3, both teams have had big wins and losses. Ticket prices online have fluctuated with rankings. T-shirts were made and campouts are being planned. ESPN is bringing its College GameDay broadcast to campus.
The question is: Will this game live up to three weeks’ worth of hype? Syracuse won its last two games and Villanova is coming off two consecutive losses followed by a win. Since the sellout, fans on and off campus are dying to become one of those 34,616 people.
Feb. 8
Syracuse No. 2
Villanova No. 4
Outside the Carrier Dome before the Feb. 10 game against UConn, Kari Wilmot and her friends said they already had plans for the day of the Villanova game, even though it was still more than two weeks away.
Wilmot, a junior speech pathology major, and three of her friends all have tickets to the game. Two of them sold theirs due to previous plans to see a John Mayer concert. But all the girls have the ‘Beat ‘Nova’ shirt that’s been sold at the bookstore and will be sold up until tip-off when the bookstore extends its hours. Gale Youmell, merchandise manager at the bookstore, said the shirt has been selling well on campus and online.
‘I don’t think Villanova will be as good a game as the six-overtime one,’ Wilmot said. ‘It’ll be depressing if we lose.’
Whether or not this game will go down as epic, Wilmot noticed an unusual demand for tickets. She said a lot of people e-mailed her sorority’s listserv asking for extras, and Gamma Phi Beta alumni have been pestering their sisters for a way inside the Dome on Feb. 27.
‘I’ve seen signs hanging up in Heroy (Geology Building), too,’ she said. ‘Someone looking for tickets.’
David Schwartz, a senior natural resource management major at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, hung up that sign. He posted about 35 of them across the SU campus after the sellout. This was his second plan, after searching Craigslist and not finding student tickets for sale.
He wanted to pay $30 for a ticket, around face value. He wanted a student ticket, too, so he could sit with his friends. But with hype for the game still high, the 10 or so people who e-mailed him wanted about $100 a ticket.
‘They don’t like my low offer, but that’s what it’s worth to me, you know?’ Schwartz said.
Schwartz wanted the experience of a big game before graduation. But instead he’ll be watching the game on TV like a lot of other ticket-less fans.
‘I’ll be at Chuck’s and have a blast anyways,’ Schwartz said.
Feb. 15
Syracuse No. 5
Villanova No. 3
The last time ESPN GameDay came to Syracuse was in February 2006, for a win against the University of Louisville. Free GameDay broadcast tickets gave students with or without game tickets a chance to be in the Dome on game day.
Despite an unexpected Valentine’s Day loss at home to Louisville the day before, the anticipation surrounding SU vs. Villanova escalated when ESPN tickets became available on Feb. 15.
‘ESPN doesn’t come around here very often, so I wanted to go,’ said Mike Acchione, a sophomore child and family studies major. ‘I thought I’d have to wait a lot longer to get tickets.’
The line from Schine Box Office stretched toward the bookstore entrance around 8:45 a.m., 15 minutes before the ESPN tickets became available. As 9 a.m. passed, the line disappeared, but a steady stream of students kept heading toward the box office.
Jim Walsh, a sophomore history major, was one of the first people to get an ESPN ticket. He said it will be fun to be on national television. As for the actual game?
‘It’s gonna be wild,’ Walsh said. ‘There’s going to be so many people there.’
Feb. 22
Syracuse No. 4
Villanova No. 7
On campus, it’s easy to forget that a majority of the 34,616 people in attendance won’t be students. They will be locals, high school students, alumni and even Villanova fans.
Jessica Esernio, a sophomore at Villanova, wanted to drive up to SU for the game with her friends, a fun Spring Break trip. She checked the Web site StubHub.com the week tickets sold out and found a group of cheap seats. When Esernio and her friends went to buy the tickets after class, they were gone. The cheapest tickets they found were $100 each – not worth it anymore, Esernio said.
Esernio is planning on meeting up with other Villanova students from her native Long Island to watch the game at home. She said despite the last two losses, the game is still a big one for ‘Nova fans.
‘The losses just make it that much more important that we win,’ Esernio said. ‘People are still looking forward to the game, but a lot of confidence has been lost.’
The outside demand for tickets on eBay, StubHub and Craigslist has remained high despite the teams’ wins and losses. Tickets went for more than $1,000 in the A-level on eBay and StubHub. The cheapest ones were still $100, at least until Villanova’s two consecutive losses, when prices dropped to about $50.
Steven Newler, a Class of 2007 alumnus, wasn’t willing to pay that much for tickets and put an ad on Craigslist asking for offers. He also searched other online vendors for tickers.
He became the owner of a pair of tickets behind the hoop in section 115 on Feb. 20, for about $380 off of eBay.
‘It was still pretty high considering face value, but I’m happy,’ Newler said.
Newler was an SU student the first time ESPN came to campus, for a 2005 game against Notre Dame. This year he’s ready for SU to go far. Final Four far.
‘I’m already ready for Indy,’ Newler said. ‘My friends and I got tickets for Detroit last year, but then they lost to Oklahoma. Hopefully that won’t happen this year.’
Brenna Wilson isn’t getting her hopes up for a national championship trip, but she’s showing her support by camping out at the Carrier Dome three days before the game.
‘Since ESPN is here, we wanted to do it a couple days in advance instead of right before the game,’ said Wilson, a sophomore broadcast journalism major who’s camping out with six other people. For this game, SU decided to hold a raffle to determine student seating in the interest of safety.
Wilson and her friends plan to stay there in one- or two-person shifts and spend the time doing homework and decorating signs.
‘I’m excited to see how many people will be there to camp out all those days,’ she said.
For the time being, whatever happens after tip-off seems almost like an afterthought. People are excited to be in the Carrier Dome, on ESPN, and watching the SU basketball team inch closer and closer to Indianapolis. It probably doesn’t matter if you’re sitting in the nosebleeds in section 323 or sitting courtside and see sweat dripping down Andy Rautins’ face – as long as you’re there.
Correction: Due to a reporting error, The Daily Orange incorrectly stated that Syracuse lost to the University of Louisville in February 2006. The Orange won, 79-66. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
Published on February 25, 2010 at 12:00 pm
