In under one month, it will be time for basketball. The Convocation Center will be cleaning its seats, getting the concessions ready and moving the upper-bowl seats back in preparation for the capacity-level crowds.

The problem won’t be with standing-room only capacity, but rather the capacity of the lower-bowl seats, which are left empty on a regular basis.

I would say that it’s not for a lack of trying, but it seems more and more that it is the case.

If you’ve been a student for more than a few semesters, compare two general time periods in your head. First, consider how much the student body is bombarded throughout the fall with football tickets.

Every week, there are convenient places that students can get tickets for free with a student ID. Also, whoever is manning the table (often accompanied by members of the football team) often is calling out to crowds of students that this is the place to get their football tickets.

Think back to freshman year: how big of a deal did everyone make of telling you how to get your football tickets throughout the week?

Now compare that with how much you know about where to get basketball tickets.

Not even close, is it?

That comparison alone is evidence why the Convo is always so empty. Where are the tables in DuSable and the Holmes Student Center when winter rolls around? In my two-plus years at NIU, I have never had a university representative say a word to me about how or where to get my basketball tickets. I’m guessing a lot of students are in the same boat as I am.

But our boat is lost at sea, and that’s a problem.

Maybe the athletic department doesn’t know how effective the act of telling students, “Hey, if you want a basketball ticket for free, come on over,” can be. Maybe it’s the location of the Convocation Center.

Maybe building the Convo was a bad idea in the first place (although this is a whole different debate for a different time).

Maybe they are content with putting all of their chips into football, and taking what the student body gives them when it comes to other sports. Maybe nothing will help attendance, save for a winning team.

In any case, the lack of everyday, on-campus publicity for basketball isn’t OK, and it’s not helping the attendance numbers.

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