Saints aim to have fans at Times Union Center
College hopes to have up to 4,000 in the seats
Peter Lapan of Clifton Park has been going to Siena men’s basketball games since the Mike Deane days when the team still played on campus in Alumni Recreation Center.
“I got married in 1986 and my wife said, ‘Why don’t you pick something to do on a routine basis,’ and Siena basketball was it,” said Lapan, who is retired from the state Education Department. “Been a lot of fun over the years.”
Lapan is waiting to see whether he’ll be able to add to those memories next season — if there even is a season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Lapan, a season-ticket holder, already put down a $50 deposit toward keeping his seats in Section 119 at Times Union Center.
But he’s aware of how many local colleges have called off their
fall athletic seasons because of the virus and wonders if basketball season could be delayed or even canceled.
“With the fall sports going down the tubes pretty quickly, and the pandemic looks like it’s here for a while, I’m sure they’ll wait until the last minute,” Lapan said. “But it does have me leery there will even be winter sports, to tell the truth.”
Siena athletics spokesman Mike Demos said the program is preparing for several contingencies while hoping they’ll be able to have fans at games this season. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced this week there will be no fans allowed at college games this fall, but a spokesman later clarified the policy could change depending on science and new information.
The Saints haven’t released their schedule yet because of the pandemic, but they’re supposed to open against Colgate at the TU Center on Nov. 10.
Demos said Siena and the TU Center are collaborating on a plan that would allow about 3,500 to 4,000 fans into the arena for men’s basketball, if crowds are permitted. The plan, which still needs approval from the state, would follow social-distancing guidelines and the curtains would be removed from the upper deck to space fans properly.
Under normal circumstances, Siena plays in front of a curtained capacity of 7,146 at Times Union Center, with curtains drawn to bring fans closer together and create demand. The Saints averaged 6,228 fans per game while going undefeated at home last season.
They had 3,100 seasonticket holders last season, including sponsors and the Dog Pound student section. Demos said renewals are lagging behind, though that’s not a surprise given the uncertainty regarding the season.
Siena delayed the popular “30 in 30” gift promotion for season-ticket holders. They have organized a few Zoom calls for fans, including one with former Siena basketball stars such as O.D. Anosike, Ryan Rossiter and Ronald Moore.
Instead of the usual $50 minimum deposit toward season tickets, Siena allowed those renewing to put down any amount and extended the deadline for renewals to Friday.
If games are canceled, fans can decide if they want to apply their seasonticket deposit to the 2021-22 season or donate it to the department’s Saints Alive fundraising arm.
“Obviously, our numbers are down, but that’s kind of what we expected going into this,’’ Demos said. “With what happened last year with how the team played, we’d hopefully exceed last year’s numbers. But we’re figuring it’s probably going
to be a lot later than sooner and we’ve taken that approach, too, to not put too much pressure on people knowing it’s probably going to be a last-minute decision for a lot of people this year.”
Even if the season is played and fans are allowed, Lapan admits he’d be a little wary of going to the arena because of COVID-19. He said it will depend on what the case numbers look like then.
And, in a worst-case scenario, if there’s no basketball?
“It would make the winter a lot longer,’’ he said. “They’re long enough around here, but it would make it a lot longer. Personally, I’m retired and I have my pension. I’m OK, so it’s easier for me to say if the pandemic is that concerning, what the hell is a year off in the long term of things?”