In a bid to boost basketball game attendance, the Department of Parking and Transportation has joined forces with the Athletic Department to hand out men’s basketball game tickets at the various lots and garages throughout the University.
“We have tried everything possible to increase attendance at our basketball events,” said Jeremy Lamb, Associate Director in charge of Ticket Operations and Sales at FIU’s Athletic Department. “This idea is just crazy enough to work.”
The problem, Lamb explains, is that all the ticket stubs are printed in advance when the schedule is drawn. “We have all this printed cardboard, and it is not even recyclable!”
But the Athletic Department has brainstormed an innovative solution to the ticket surplus problem. The plan consists of having the Parking and Transportation staff wedge a ticket stub in every car’s driver window, or under one of their windshield wiper blades. The hope is that some students, out of sheer pity, might see it in their hearts to attend at least the first half of one of the games.
“At the very least, we hope some of them might get it confused with an invitation to a frat party. Some of them have never been to the BankUnited Center, so who knows?” explained Heather Wight, Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing and Promotions.
As of press time, there is no word yet on the effectiveness of the new campaign. If the three-week promotion fails to meet expectations, the Athletic Department is contemplating paying students to show up, or installing life-sized people cutouts, as they currently do for women’s basketball games.