Senior Quentin Ochs, along with the rest of the seniors on the varsity boys basketball team, was pulled out of class around noon by his head coach, Shawn Hair. No one on the team knew what the meeting was about. After the entire team had gathered in the main office, Hair revealed the news.
The SM East versus Rockhurst rivalry basketball game was set to be played at Municipal Stadium, located in Downtown Kansas City, instead of the SM East main gym.
There were mixed feelings among the basketball team, but it was mostly excitement, according to Ochs.
“Everyone feels a little differently [about the game being moved],” Ochs said. “Municipal is a very cool place. It can fit way more people than [SM East], and for how many people can go now, that's really cool. [However], some of the seniors kind of wish we had it here for senior year.”
This game against Rockhurst will be played on Friday, Jan. 30, at 5:30 p.m. The new location of the game at Municipal has been a work in progress for around the last year, and SM East and Rockhurst administration worked together to switch locations.
In past years, the game’s location has alternated between the SM East and Rockhurst gyms, and both gyms have capacities under 1,800. This means that each year, hundreds of students from either school are unable to attend due to the limited space available.
“The biggest thing that we were looking at was people want to go to this game, and we want to let them go to this game,” Athletic Director Ryan Johnson said. “Municipal gives us the seats to get this game the attention that it really warrants.”
In past years, the SM East administration has developed ticket placeholder systems for students, in which students need to fill out a Google Form with their information to secure a place in line to purchase a ticket. Even then, the administration only had around 250-300 tickets to sell to students, and they were given to upperclassmen first.
Also, with the game being held at Municipal, the basketball team has adjusted by practicing a few times at the new location, but it won’t have a big impact on the actual game, according to Hair.
Every year, the Lancer Dancers and cheer team have performed at the Rockhurst game. This year, cheer hasn’t had to make any major changes in its routines to accommodate the larger space at Municipal. Pep Club and the Lancer Dancers, though, have had to lay out the student section and floor space differently.
“This year we're going to have lots more room for students, and since there are more students, Pep Club is going to have to spread out more,” senior Pep Executive and cheer captain LJ Morrissey said. “Usually, we like to stay together just because it's more fun. It's easier to coordinate chants.”
The Pep Club Executives are mostly excited for the game because it allows many more students to be included and watch it together, according to Morrissey.
Though some groups like the basketball team and Pep Club are looking forward to the change, many students are frustrated that SM East doesn’t get home-court advantage and that they now have to pay more for tickets to get into the game.
Previously, students could use their student IDs to get into the game for around $10-15, but now, because of the new venue, everyone has to pay a higher price.
There are 30 floor seats available for $100 each, and the rest of the regular seats are $20 each.
Students and other attendees can purchase tickets through Ticketmaster, which adds an $8 fee. To avoid these extra charges, however, fans can take the extra step of buying tickets in person at the box office.
“When working with Municipal and setting the ticket prices,” Johnson said. “Rockhurst and SM East both set the ticket price on what we thought would break even, just to cover facility rental and things like that. Then, the Ticketmaster fees and the municipal fees are out of our control, but that comes with being able to host at this historic arena.”
The agreement to host the Rockhurst versus SM East game at Municipal spans two years; then, depending on the success of the new location, both schools may decide to continue hosting the game at Municipal or return to the original hosting arrangement.
“[We] hope that it's going to be more people, better atmosphere, great for both schools, but it's a little bit of an unknown, because we've never done it,” Hair said. “It's a risk-reward. We're hoping that it's a good risk that will end up in positive results for our school and for progress as well.”
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