UNLV Rebels Director Of Athletics Erick Harper: "Winning Cures A Lot"

It is now common knowledge that the UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team has been struggling with subpar attendance at their home games. Recently, UNLV director of athletics Erick Harper spoke about what they need to do to get attendance up. You may notice a recurring theme of Harper believing that winning will solve most, if not all, of their problems in that department.

UNLV Rebels Director Of Athletics Erick Harper On Winning Being The Bigger Issue With Attendance Than Playing In An Older Building Like The Thomas & Mack Center

“If you’re competing at a high level and you’re winning consistently, case in point, University of Kansas, they’re in a much older building than we are here, but they’ve won a ton of games to include national championships over and over again,” Harper said. “But their place fills up regardless of what time the game is. But, that’s based on really how they play and as much as they win. So that, I wouldn’t say that the age of an arena is an issue at all whatsoever. This is still an iconic arena that has a lot of activity, over a million visitors a year to the building. So I think it’s still a place to have a great atmosphere, regardless of the fact that the age of the building. I think it’s still a great opportunity and a great facility. “

Harper On Winning Being The Bigger Issue Than Location Or Tip Off Time

“But I’ve seen teams that have won consistently that are on the West Coast and whether they tip off at 8 o’clock or 9 o’clock, they’ve got a large crowd. Obviously, in this city, there’s a lot of things to do in this city. which is fantastic, which is why it’s a great city. There’s so many different things to do. But when you when you match up against 8 o’clock or a 9 o’clock game and you’re not winning consistently, it’s easy to say I’m not going to go to the game.”

Harper On The Seating Arrangement Changes

“We thought it would be, it was time to go back to that, but at the same time, flip the benches so that the visiting team was still shooting into the student section as well as into the band. And our band has grown quite a bit in the last couple of years, which is outstanding. But we wanted to have that experience for them.”

Harper On Winning Getting People Into The Buiding

“We’ve done a lot of different things; winning helps. That kind of starts the catalyst and then when somebody goes and has a great experience, they’re more apt to come back than if they go and they have a so-so experience. Then it becomes, maybe I’ll go to the game, maybe I won’t. But if you can get them in a building with various different ways, winning cures a lot. It doesn’t cure all, but it cures a lot when it comes to attendance.”

Harper On Needing To Finish The Season Strong

“I mean, when you can finish the season strong, you definitely build on that momentum to go through the summer and through the remaining part of spring and through the summer and the fall and with our fall sports kicking off, when things are exciting, It builds excitement, it breeds excitement, and it’s a domino effect from an excitement perspective,” Harper said. “And I’ve been in places where you have a good football, volleyball season, it just catapults into basketball season and you have success in basketball. It’s infectious.”

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