HURD aims to boost men’s basketball attendance with free Spectrum-colored T-shirts
The Utah State HURD released a promotional picture Tuesday displaying orange, yellow and beige T-shirts to be given away freely at Saturday’s basketball game.
The shirts are not USU colors, but hold a strong connection to Aggie athletics — particularly to the Dee Glen Spectrum.
“We were trying to think of great ways to try and energize the fans to bring back bigger numbers,” said Blake Lyman, HURD president. “It’s an idea I’ve had since November, I love the seats in the Spectrum arena.”
Lyman said his decision to print shirts the color of the non-traditional seats in the Spectrum has been a long process, but he thinks it is working out with perfect timing. Saturday’s home basketball game is the first game back from fall break.
“They are ugly and gross and seventies-weird and that’s what makes them so great to me — they’re part of Aggie history,” Lyman said. “We could just rebrand and look like fifty other arenas in the nation, or we could keep this kind of quirkiness.”
The HURD released a video Monday that recapped “Spectrum Magic” in past years, including legendary athletes and crowd sizes. Lyman said this is all in an attempt to get game attendance back up to what he remembers it was his freshman year.
“I remember no empty seats in the Spectrum,” Lyman said. “I don’t think we’ve lost our ability to be a good crowd, we just need numbers.”
Nefi Ramirez, an Aggie fan and USU student, said he thinks the promotion is a cover for the lack of attendance, since the gameday shirts are blue and the lack of attendance stands out more when the shirts don’t match anything.
“I almost feel like it’s a cover up for the lack of attendance,” Ramirez said. “I can see how the shirts can be nostalgic but I don’t think they are going for that.”
Lyman said that the promotions are not only to increase attendance but to reinforce the idea that every student is a member of the HURD, not just the committee that works with him.
“We want the students to be the ones who decide how these events go,” Lyman said. “I think the students create the magic, not me.”
Later promotions this season from the HURD will include Farmer Night on Feb. 11 against Wyoming and a potential post-game dance party on Feb. 25 to celebrate the end of the season.
The Spectrum Magic promotion will be Saturday at 7 p.m. and the first 2,000 students to arrive will get their very own Spectrum-colored shirt.