To increase the number of people who attend women’s basketball games this year, external motivation for attendance has increased exponentially.
This season, the department of intercollegiate athletics is creating a rewards program designed to bring bigger crowds to Bramlage Coliseum for women’s basketball games, in the same vein as the Purple Pit Rewards System for volleyball.
To enter the program, students need to pick up a punch card in the southeast entrance of Bramlage at any men’s or women’s basketball game. They can get one at a volleyball match if they did not stop by the table in the K-State Student Union earlier this week.
Then students simply present their card at each women’s basketball game to receive credit for their attendance. They are then entered into the prize category, which consists of three levels based on the number of attended events. At each of the three levels, and while supplies last, students receive a guaranteed prize and are entered into a drawing for a larger prize.
Students hit the first level after going to six games. For this, they will receive a glass tumbler and be entered in the drawing for one of two iPod Shuffles. After nine games, they will rise to the second level and be rewarded with a pair of aviator glasses adorned with a ferocious Powercat and one entry in a drawing for a flat-screen television.
If students attend 12 of the 17 home games, they will obtain a purple scarf — once again in high style, with a Powercat for good measure — and will be entered into a drawing for a trip to Chicago, which includes round-trip airfare for two from Manhattan Regional Airport to O’Hare International.
As students progress through the ranks, they earn the chance to win the prize drawing in all three categories. However, if a student wins the drawing for one prize, he or she will not be eligible for another prize.
Registration is open throughout the season, but the first 300 students to attend three games will receive a T-shirt; one can wager good money there will be a Powercat somewhere.
There are a few rules. First, students cannot receive a punch more than 15 minutes after tip-off. Second, they must show their student ID card to the table. Finally, they need to be present at the game when the drawings are held, which will probably be the last home game.
The athletics department is also offering special incentives to certain organizations. The residence hall floor that brings the largest crowds to the games will receive a Chipotle party after the season, and certain greek houses will be recognized at select games.