Jerome Tang challenges Kansas State basketball fans to shatter home attendance record
Tickets may be hard to come by for casual Kansas State basketball fans during the 2023-24 season.
The Wildcats have already sold the vast majority of their season tickets, and students have also snatched up all of their available passes inside the Octagon of Doom.
Jerome Tang leans forward in his chair and speaks with enthusiasm whenever he is reminded of the excitement that currently surrounds his team. But he also has something to say about this particular topic. You see, he wants K-State fans to do more than simply purchase tickets this season. He wants fans to show up for games. Every single one of them.
“We have never sold out every game for a season in the history of Kansas State,” Tang said. “I know that our student section is going to be rocking every night. Our students have answered the bell and purchased the passes and done all those things. They are going to be there. I want to challenge our alumni to show up.”
Tang expressed some frustration last season when K-State played most of its early season home games in front of sparse crowds. The student section was loud for every game. But the rest of Bramlage Coliseum only filled up for the bigger games after Big 12 play got underway.
He’s tired of seeing empty seats.
Some extra motivation: He thinks that filling up Bramlage could help K-State close the gap against Kansas when it comes to in-state basketball supremacy.
“The school up the road sells out every game and we say we want to beat them,” Tang said. “That is what the fans told me. We want to beat them. Well, I want to beat them. Let’s sell out this stadium every night. Don’t just buy the tickets. Show up and come to the games. Make it a priority. Get here. Let’s sell out every game.”
Filling a basketball arena while football season is underway has never been easy for K-State. According to Tang’s research, no K-State team has sold out more than 15 home games in a season while playing in Bramlage.
Attendance was down in general during the final years of the Bruce Weber era. But it is on its way back up now that Tang has breathed new energy into the program. The Wildcats averaged 9,596 fans (in paid attendance) per home game last season. Tang would like to see 11,000 strong (in actual attendance) this season.
He has issued his challenge.
“Don’t come to the game because of who we are playing against,” Tang said. “Come because we are playing. That is my challenge to the fans. Let’s sell this thing out every game. Don’t give any tickets away to somebody on the other side. Let it be all purple.”