Jill Bodensteiner, J.D., director of athletics, told The Hawk on March 27 that St. Joe’s men’s basketball student season tickets will be free of charge starting next season.

With this decision, every Big 5 school now offers free men’s basketball season tickets to their students.

Bodensteiner said she thought about her decision throughout last season and conducted an analysis of barriers to student attendance, the cost of purchasing tickets being one of them. 

“Students are paying a good deal in tuition to attend St. Joe’s, and you should be able to come watch your classmates compete and not have to pay,” Bodensteiner said.

Sam Robinson ’20, co-president of the 54th Airborne, the Hawks’ student section, said paying for season tickets was a huge barrier for students. Fellow co-president Kevin Duncan ’20 agreed, saying that by eliminating that financial hurdle, it will greatly increase student attendance.

While attending field hockey and soccer games in the fall, Robinson interacted with fans to get a sense of student interest, the extent to which fans want to attend athletic events.

“I ran into a lot of kids in the fall that would show up to [other] games, but when they started to talk about basketball, an overwhelming response, especially from upperclassmen, was that they want to go to games but don’t want to pay $85 for tickets,” Robinson said.

Chuck Scalies ’20, who didn’t buy season tickets last season largely due to price, said he will most likely be at every home game in the 2019-20 season now that student  admission is free.

“Students that like basketball, regardless of how the team looks, will go to the games now that they are free,” Scalies said. “It’s easy and convenient to swipe in and watch. It will also influence the social aspect as well because people want to be with their friends.”

Bodensteiner said she realizes that St. Joe’s will lose a certain amount of revenue by not selling tickets to students, but the upside associated with that loss is worth it in the end.

“It is the right philosophical approach to say we are building community, and I am not going to charge you to do so,” Bodensteiner said.

Duncan said that same sense of community surrounding the team is what enhances the watching experience for fans, and by eliminating cost, students will make more personal connections within that community.

“That personal connection we have with the players, this is a relatively small school,” Duncan said. “Walking around, we have classes with them, we know their names and faces. When [redshirt sophomore forward] Charlie Brown hits a big three, it’s my classmate from sociology that hit a big three. You always have more fun watching your friends than you do strangers.”

Making that first personal connection with the team is critical for repeat fan attendance, according to Duncan.

“Removing cost will be the biggest way to open that door to those experiences,” Duncan said. “Because if you’re not going to games, you don’t want to spend a lot of money on one game to just try it out. When it’s free, that’s not the case. You might have an amazing experience and decide that it’s something you want to keep doing.”

While getting fans to attend games is a large part of the process to create an improved experience, Bodensteiner is also going enhance in-game engagement in Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena.

“The in-game, whether it is the playing of music, the role of band, cheer, dance, the way we implement and execute a T-shirt toss,” Bodensteiner said. “We are going to break it down from the beginning and start over. I am going to ask my staff to spend a lot of time this summer going to other games, NBA, WNBA. I had one year to look, observe and listen. Now is the time for action.”

Bodensteiner said she has also drawn inspiration for improving the St. Joe’s fan experience from both local and Atlantic 10 Conference programs.

“Whether I was at a Villanova game, or Davidson, at Saint Louis, I take all of those opportunities to steal notes,” Bodensteiner said. “We won’t be able to get to any basketball games between now and when I have to roll out the new plan. I did a video study of Dayton’s student section, VCU’s student section and really learned a lot about what works and what might not.”

Bodensteiner said she hopes that by applying her notes, students will provide an added amount of energy for all St. Joe’s sports.

Both Robinson and Duncan have an increased expectations for fan attendance next season. They both believe that with stronger fan support, the Hawks’ student section will be able to overpower a certain local rival. 

“If we can get more students out there, we can make the Villanova student section look like church mice in terms of how quiet they are,” Robinson said.