Give fewer stadium seats a try

Nothing would fill the seats at Aloha Stadium like a winning University of Hawaii football team. Absent that, the University of Hawaii Athletics Department is left to experiment with ways to boost attendance — or at least create the impression that there are more fans on the premises.

That’s the thinking behind Athletic Director Ben Jay’s idea to close down the upper levels of the stadium for football games during the 2014 season.

Squeezing ticket holders together in fewer sections should boost the energy of the crowd, increasing the home-field advantage and creating the illusion of a fuller stadium that will look better on TV.

Image, after all, is no small consideration in a department that relies on football advertisers and boosters to help fund diverse sports programs throughout the university system.

UH also could save a little money on cleaning fees after every home game because maintenence crews wouldn’t be needed above the loge level. That savings is projected at more than $5,000 a game, although how much more hasn’t been specified.

Every little bit counts as Athletics continues to operate at a deficit, despite a $14.7 million bailout by the UH-Manoa chancellor’s office.

The university considered doing this for the 2013 season but backed off when the projected savings were less than anticipated and because of resistance from some fans. The reconfiguration is worth trying, though, as long as loyal season-ticket holders are not unduly affected.

Jay told a UH Board of Regents committee that there’s a 50-50 chance of going forward with the plan; the Athletics Department should commit soon to moving ahead with it. Then fans could look forward to a more exciting shared experience during the 2014 season, rather than being scattered throughout a half-empty arena.

If Jay is wrong about the cost savings or the crowd’s energy level, or if unforeseen problems arise, it should be simple enough to revert to full-stadium seating the following season.

Aloha Stadium holds 50,000 fans, and the Warriors have been attracting a little more than half that on average in recent years. Blocking off the seats above the loge level would reduce capacity to about 35,000 seats, still plenty for a team that ended the 2013 season 1-11 and hasn’t pulled in that large a crowd in any of its last 18 home games.

If the Warriors suddenly become a hot ticket, there’s an easy fix: Simply open up enough seats to accommodate any new ticket buyers.

UH should anticipate valid objections from loyal season ticketholders who have long bought seats in the upper levels, whether for the location or for the bargain price. Those fans should not have to pay a premium if they are forced to relocate to a more expensive section; Jay has said the department is looking into how many of its roughly 20,000 season ticket-holders would be affected by the proposed reconfiguration.

There are many reasons folks don’t venture out to UH football games as often as they used to: Traffic is a bear, parking is expensive, and unruly fans sometimes sully the experience, as Aloha Stadium remains one of the few venues to sell beer at college football games. Any of those can be a good excuse to catch the game on pay-per-view.

But perhaps the biggest reason is that it’s downright demoralizing to suffer through blowout after blowout sitting in a sparsely occupied section. Bless those diehard fans who never lose faith.

Ultimately, bringing the scattered fans closer together physically fosters a camaraderie that is more than illusory, and builds upon itself. When it’s more fun to attend UH football games, more fans will show up.

So let’s try this stadium reconfiguration as a step that will boost crowd excitement and help motivate the team toward the longer-term goal — and the true fix for sagging ticket sales. It’s easier to win when the players can actually hear the roar of the crowd.