This past weekend, I found myself asking, "Why are college sports fans frequently treated like no more than an annoying distraction?"
Take last week's SEC basketball tournament for example. After a tornado forced it to be moved to Georgia Tech's facility - which is much smaller than the Georgia Dome -- the conference made the inexcusable decision to exclude all fans - except family and school officials -- from the remainder of the games. Even though thousands of seats just sat empty.
This was a travesty. While the city of Atlanta had bigger things to worry about than a basketball tournament, the SEC didn't. They should have found a way to fill those seats.
People will probably get refunds for the tickets they couldn't use, but no one's going to get their hefty hotel bills, travel expenses or vacation days reimbursed. And that's a big deal to a lot of folks.
A note to college athletic departments and conferences: you are nothing, nothing without your fans. Fans are not an inconvenience. They are not a group to be dealt with. And the ones who bother to show up in person are the most valuable of all. Without the fans, events like the SEC tournament would be economically impossible. Think about that the next time you turn your back on them.
What do you think? Call and let us know.
I'm Bill Lamb, and that's my...Point of View.
