Courtside is for fans in red

Seventeen thousand fans showed up in red and white Tuesday night to watch the men's basketball team smash Purdue. Four came to the game decked out in the color of money. Four women dressed in electric-green Varsity Villas T-shirts adorned the sidelines, getting up at every time-out to draw attention to themselves and their fluorescent T-shirts. Of course the color stood out from the cream and crimson covering the hall. Apparently someone wanted those shirts to get noticed.\nThose good seats are extremely difficult to obtain and are new this year. Varsity Villas Investment Group owned the tickets to seats that night, said Manager Dave Kerber. The IU Varsity Club awards "priority points" for donors to the Varsity Club, and the points help donors get a prime seat courtside. \nThis being America, someone saw a prime space to make a sales pitch. Unfortunately, the spokesmodels inhibited other fans from enjoying the game, were broadcast as a couple of bouncing stereotypes on national television and were even shooed aside by the referees for getting too close to the action on the floor. \nThese women had something to offer that the owner of Varsity Villas wanted, and the owner had tickets that the women were willing to trade for. For courtside seats, a few pretty women made sure attendees and fans at home knew the Varsity Villas' name.\nVarsity Villas is in the middle of the leasing season and saw an opportunity to get its name out and give loyal tenants a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience, Kerber said. It was a business deal between consenting parties; few good capitalists would have acted differently.\nThe seats' face value is $26, plus massive donations to the Varsity Club, but surely that marketing space could be sold for more. Although we all are well aware that the athletics department needs revenue badly, no advertising is allowed on the court at Assembly Hall. But this stunt is clearly creative back-door marketing, and it's probable that other businesses might follow. Compared to the expense of print courtside advertising, these decorated seats are a steal, and the University is missing out on big money.\nFurthermore, our reputation as a university is at least as important as money. High school students and their parents watching at home see a couple women going crazy in the best seats at a game against our in-state rival -- and they're not even wearing red. It sure can't be fun for generous alumni watching, knowing they were only a few points away from getting those tickets. They just weren't as marketable.\nBasketball team, take note. Your "fans" on the court might enjoy the game and want you to win, but their primary job there might not be to support their school but to grab attention for their particular business. The athletics department and Varsity Club should develop some protocol for these premium seats so that attendees are there to cheer, not to make a sales pitch.