Section 26 will not be touched during The Pit’s new renovations — but that doesn’t guarantee all students will get tickets come game day.
Due to The Pit’s $60 million renovation, 3,000 seats in the mezzanine will be off limits, lowering the capacity of The Pit from 18,018 to a little over 15,102 and reducing the amount of potential overflow seating for students.
And if past attendance is any indication of this season’s attendance, those 3,000 seats will be missed, said Wesley Henderson, president of Howl Raisers.
“With the success this team has had and the success this team is going to have, we are going to be looking at a lot of sold-out games before tip-off because of the reduced amount of seats,” Henderson said. “I don’t think there will be many opportunities for overflow student (seating).”
The student section, located at the north end of The Pit, holds 1,209 fans. Remove 153 of those seats to accommodate the band, and that leaves 1,056 guaranteed seats for students, said John Brewer, athletics marketing manager.
Over the last three years, the student section hit maximum capacity 12 times — all during men’s basketball games. When that happens, additional students are usually ushered up to the mezzanine level on the upper deck.
Now that the mezzanine is off limits, Brewer said that after Section 26 sells out, students can get free tickets in the general seating area or take one of the 1,000 standing-room-only tickets if the game is not already sold out.
Fans can usually anticipate which games will sell out. The Pit fills to the brim when the Lobos face ranked teams, NMSU and conference opponents when the stakes are high. It is during those games, Brewer said, that seating can become a problem.
“In the case of a sellout, fans are turned away — students and public,” Brewer said.
And though The Pit only sold out once last year, it held 3,000 more fans than this season, Brewer said.
Last season, the Lobos averaged 13,994 fans per game, and eight of 18 home games brought more than 15,102 fans — The Pit’s new maximum capacity.
In the 07-08 season, The Pit saw more than 15,000 fans six times and averaged 14,361 per game.
Brewer said attendance correlates to wins. If the team is good, the fans show up. Over the past two seasons, the Lobos had a winning record and were in the hunt for an NCAA tournament bid.
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“Student attendance often mirrors how the team is doing,” Brewer said. “For instance, the one game last year that we had to turn students away was the game we were playing for the Mountain West Conference Championship (against Utah).”
So the seating troubles of the season ultimately fall on the Lobos. If head coach Steve Alford can take his young team on a MWC championship run this season, the only thing students can do is get their tickets early, Henderson said.
“It is as simple as that,” he said. “There are many opportunities all over campus… There are probably about seven or eight games I can see the student section and The Pit selling out way in advance.”
And though the seating woes will only be a problem this season because of renovation, Henderson has been pushing the idea of widening the student section, possibly doubling it in the near future.
“We have talked about expanding it to include section 25,” he said. “It is very much preliminary at this point, but students have to keep showing up to the games to have that happen.”
