(UPDATED: 8:30 PM) Percy Allen has multiple postings from today on the possibility of UW and Gonzaga renewing their yearly matchup starting next season. Here’s the link.
Softy Mahler reported on KJR-950 today that UW has made an offer to Gonzaga for a three-year series of games, all at Key Arena, in which the schools would split the gate 50/50. The series would start next season.
Of all the comments and emails I get, this subject of fans wanting a series with the Zags comes up very often, as does the hope of the Huskies toughening up their non-conference schedule. So, pretty exciting for the Husky hardcores.
(Thanks for the heads-up, Dawgman.)
And, thanks for coming!
Tags: Gonzaga, Softy Mahler
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Awesome! I’m excited to see some good basketball…
No more having to listen to annoying Zag fans claim that the UW “avoids” them (even though that argument is totally unfounded and uneducated)……The thing is, you know they’ll find something else to nag about anyway.
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I thought we heard about this proposal before. The Zags didnt like this idea very much cuz they already play a game at the Key.
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Why not play two games at the Key.
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This series should just be a home and home. Charge more if revenue is a concern. At first, I thought it was a decent proposal, but the more I think about it, the more I dislike the idea of a neutral (or semi-neutral) court game. UW is not Duke. We won’t be selling out MSG anytime soon. I would be embarrassed if we had a “home” game at Key arena because unless it is GU (with a hearty contingent of their fans) or North Carolina, it’s not going to be sold out. I’d happily eat my own words if this were not the case, but I suspect the only test we’ll have of this is if UW ever plays Seattle U at Key Arena.
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But this game would be sold out uwhoop. So what’s the problem?
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I think the fan experience at Hec Ed or the Kennel is far superior to Key Arena. The “worst” seats at Hec Ed are still better than 2/3 of the seats at the key.
Additionally, if I were a fan of either school, I would be disappointed with playing at Key Arena because, as a UW fan there would be at least 1500 fewer fellow supporters at the Key than at Hec Ed. I could easily see there being more GU fans at the game than UW fans because basketball is a bigger deal to GU. And as a GU fan, I would be miffed that my team has to travel 400 miles to play a “neutral” game that UW only has to travel 4 miles to and I could easily see there being more UW fans than GU fans because the game is so much closer to UW and there are so many more alumni.
I think for these reasons, it’s better to simply resume the home and home series. The fans get what they want. Who cares about the revenue? If UW can schedule some decent teams to come play at Hec Ed, we don’t need to worry about the missed revenue when our rivalry game is played in Spokane.
This deal definitely benefits the Huskies more than Gonzaga, which as a UW fan I don’t mind, but as a BASKETBALL fan, I would rather see these games as a home/home series (or yes, even a Key Arena series) than nothing at all.
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