This season, the University of San Francisco’s Athletic Department has implemented a new point system in an attempt to increase student attendance at USF sporting events.
USF has made a strong effort to rally support for our student athletes who put so much time and effort into their sport to represent USF. The daily dedication of these students is not lost on the Foghorn staff, and we encourage the student body to attend games and appreciate the hard work that goes into playing each sport.
The Foghorn staff believes the point system is a good idea and a clever way to increasing the level of attendance at games.
Students can win prizes such as Bon Appetit gift cards and Los Locos t-shirts among other prizes as they accumulate more points based on how many games they attend during the year.
Although we think the point system has the right idea, we think the types of prizes awarded should be reconsidered if it is going to appeal to all student demographics. Prizes like a Los Locos t-shirt, which you can get by being one of the first 1,600 students to accumulate five points, would appeal mostly to the types of students that are probably already attending sporting events. In order to curbe, or at least address the lack of school spirit on campus, one must extend beyond sports-related awards.
Even offering a wider range of non-sports related USF apparel might be a reasonable solution.
Again, priority seating at the home basketball game against Gonzaga (which students earn by collection 30 points throughout the season), is likely to appeal mostly to those students who are already sports fans.
Giving students USF sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, and other things they can wear to the games would be more of an incentive for students to go.
Furthermore, raising game attendance is not a matter of where students are sitting, but what they are watching. If students are not going to games, changing their seat at the game will not make much of a difference. That said, we mostly approve of the point system and its effort to involve everyone.
According to the Athletic Department, the points system can also be used by other clubs on campus to promote their events. A club can contact the Athletic Department to notify them about an event at which they would like a strong student attendance, and points can be given to students for attending that event. This is a very effective way to move students around campus and get them involved in different events.
The more involved a student is on campus, the more likely he or she is to be invested in the school and will hopefully take more pride in supporting it. We encourage clubs to take advantage of the points system and get students involved around campus by way of issuing points to their events.
USF has many good academic and social opportunities for people of all backgrounds and interests.
The goal we should have with this new system in place is to foster a new generation at USF that is proud of the school they go to and want to get involved in other ways besides going to class.
We hope that the new points system will encourage students to seek out those opportunities and make the most of their time at USF.
