They’ll be no fans in Calihan Hall for the 2020-21 season

[Rogobob77]

Titan Fans,

First off, I hope that you are all doing well during these unprecedented times, from dealing with a pandemic to economic and racial injustice issues. I know all our lives have been impacted in some way over the last several months and my heart goes out to all who have lost a loved one during this tragic time.

After long, careful, and extensive planning in hopes that we could have as normal a regular season for men's and women's basketball as possible, we have decided that we will not have fans in attendance for games at Calihan Hall this season.

Like many Universities and athletic departments throughout the country, we are looking for the best way to keep our student-athletes, staff, and fans safe. I know this is extremely disappointing news for all our loyal fans, some of you who have been coming here since the great teams of the 1960's and 70's, but I want to share with everyone a way to cheer on your Titans this season. We have agreed to a partnership with AAA Flag & Banner to offer our fans the chance to purchase a cardboard cutout for the upcoming season and the cutouts will be placed on a seat inside Calihan Hall so you can indeed be there cheering for the red, white, and blue.

More information and the opportunity to purchase will be announced in the coming days.

This year, we have also partnered with WLQV 92.7 FM & 1500 AM FaithTalk Detroit as the new radio home of Titan men's basketball and the stations have numerous options on apps for everyone to listen to, whether it's on the local radio or on your phone or computer. The Horizon League will also continue to broadcast all its games on the ESPN3/ESPN+ platforms.

Thank you for your continued support of Titan athletics and I hope to see everyone again on campus and in Calihan Hall cheering on the Titans next season.

Robert C. Vowels, Jr.
Director of Athletics

https://detroittitans.com/news/2020/10/ ... games.aspx

[JDetroitTitan]

It looks like Tommy the Titan is being gagged in that photo.

Tommy, what are you trying to tell us?


P.S. Boo

[Tacitus651]

So, we are keeping the same policy as the previous four seasons?

[JDetroitTitan]

So, we are keeping the same policy as the previous four seasons?

I thought we were social distancing the last four seasons?

[sacredheartgreg]

Nice, easy, early opt out. Pure laziness and political liberalism at it's worst. Shut it down; best team in 10 years and the hall goes silent!

Thanks

[dennycrane]

I agree with shg here. There was an opportunity to get creative, to be progressive, to lead and instead the AD took the easy way out. You could label every fourth seat in the upper arena as available for seating, stagger the rows and I'm quite sure there's room for the faithful 1500 at a social distance of at least 6 feet. Churches in the Archdiocese have been doing similar spacing since June, albeit for smaller crowds generally.

[Rogobob77]

FWIW, YSU’s coach Calhoun stated in a recent newspaper article that he is looking forward to seeing fans at their games. “We are trying to get 900 fans into the Beeghly Center,” he stated. “I know that our athletic director, Ron Strollo, is working closely with local and state health officials and trying to get 15 percent of the capacity. They remain a big part of our success.”

[JDetroitTitan]

best team in 10 years and the hall goes silent!

I guest that is why they have a photo of Tommy the Titan with a gag on him.

The funny thing is your fan base did a poll and voted about 2/3 wanting to go to the games this year and what does the University do? They decide to be the first one in the HL to pull the plug.

[1975SHjoe]

I find the AD's decision premature, from the perspective of why be first. Wisconsin has a raging pandemic yet Green Bay has not announced a decision. YSU is looking into reduced fan participation. The more I think about the decision and its timing undermines my support of Vowels. Waiting to see what the other members decide would have been my first consideration.

[1975SHjoe]

Mr. Vowels, FYI Oakland held its Black and Gold game on October 29 and it was carried live on ESPN+. Excellent marketing in my opinion. It will be most embarrassing if Oakland has fans at their games and we do not. ( or worse if we are the only exception)

[JDetroitTitan]

Mr. Vowels, FYI Oakland held its Black and Gold game on October 29 and it was carried live on ESPN+. Excellent marketing in my opinion. It will be most embarrassing if Oakland has fans at their games and we do not. ( or worse if we are the only exception)

I like the marketing too and if OU has fans and we don’t it will be embarrassinnnnnnggggg. A school literally just down the road with a junior size gym. All I can say is this is sad and shake my head.

[Tacitus651]

People thought Vowels would be a great AD because he had experience working for the NCAA. At the end of the day, the NCAA is mostly a bureaucratic organization that doesn’t really need to be all that creative. So, that’s exactly what happened here. A guy who has never really had to be creative or take any risks decided not to be creative or take one iota of risk. Can you blame him? He gets paid $200,000+ either way and the fans nor Garibaldi really expect anything dynamic from him. Honestly, I’d be pretty upset if I was one of the hardcore 50 dudes who buy season tickets and show up for every game and give additional gifts. Vowels could have easily said that fan capacity this year will be extremely limited due to COVID but that he will consider ways to help longtime fans maybe attend games. Instead he just called it quits and gave up on you guys before November.

At any rate, I suspect that not many NCAA MBB games will be played this year anyway - so it probably doesn’t matter all that much.

[Rogobob77]

FWIW, Northern Kentucky University has decided to begin the 2020-21 men's and women's basketball seasons without spectators at home contests through at least Dec. 31, 2020.
 
A determination on NKU spectators after the start of the 2021 calendar year will be made at a later date to allow flexibility based on changing conditions surrounding the pandemic.