USC Hoops!

The USC basketball season  has begun. Here's a note from Pat Haden, Charles Griffin Cale Director of Athletics' Chair outlining some exciting updates for the 2011-2012 year. For more info and a schedule, also check out the following links.

Dear Trojan Fans,

I am excited to begin another great year of basketball for USC!  ...

Men’s coach Kevin O’Neill has his team vying for their 5th NCAA Tournament berth in 6th years, while Women’s coach Michael Cooper has his team ranked #23 heading into the season. It’s going to be an exciting year for hoops fans at Galen Center!

Just as you’ve seen with our improvements to football game day at the Coliseum, we’ve also been hard at work to improve your Galen Center experience as well. Here are just a few of the items you’ll notice at our basketball games this year:

1.       Reduced Ticket Prices and Fees

We have reduced ticket prices across the board for both our men’s and women’s basketball games. In addition, for men’s games we have added three pricing tiers for each game to allow you to have more selection and value when you choose to bring your family or friends to a game. We’ve also cut print-at-home fees in half and eliminated others all together. We want our basketball programs to be a terrific value for your entertainment dollar.

2.       Improved Concessions

Working in conjunction with our Galen Center concessionaire, we’ve pledged to improve food variety and quality while reducing the average wait time at each concession stand. You’ll see these improvements unveiled throughout the early season, culminating with a test of in-seat ordering by season’s end.

3.       Kennedy Founders' Room Improvements

For our support group members with access to the Kennedy Founders' Room, we’ve made significant changes this year. For the first time we’re serving both food and drinks in the bar area of the Founders' Room, as well as our traditional full buffet dinner option. We’ve also increased the size of the bar service areas to reduce lines and wait time. In addition, Head Coach Kevin O’Neill will be speaking in the Founders' Room one hour prior to tipoff at each men’s game to give a preview of what to expect in that night’s game.

4.       Pregame and Postgame Activities

Based on positive feedback from last season, we’re adding pregame FanFest as a regular event at all men’s games and select women’s games this year. In the Hall of Fame area on the lower level you will find a variety of fun activities including face painting by the Helenes, sign making, pictures with the Song Girls and Dance Force, pop-a-shot, arcade games, and novelty concessions.

After men’s games Coach Kevin O’Neill will go live on the ESPN 710 postgame radio show and we’ll broadcast the audio throughout the Galen Center.

5.       Student Attendance

We all know that nothing impacts the atmosphere at gameslike a loud and rambunctious student section.  This year we are doing more than ever to engage our students to get them to support all our Galen Center sports. We’re working closely with student groups to promote games, developed a loyalty points program, delivering free student section pizza at all games, planning more student giveaways, and more.

6.       Parking

To help ensure parking access to our games is easy for you, our staff has worked with University Parking and LA Department of Transportation to increase staffing and traffic control to minimize delays. We will have all entrances and exits open at the Galen Center garage, as well as traffic control officers in place for our larger crowds.

7.       Game Day App

Coming off the heels of our incredibly popular football Game Day App, we’re in the process of developing a similar app for Galen Center events. We anticipate this being ready in December and if you’ve downloaded the Football App no further download will be required as an app update will be available.

8.       Arena Improvements

You will notice cosmetic improvements throughout Galen Center. Similar to the new painting of the Coliseum tunnel, we’ve painted all four entry tunnels cardinal and gold and decorated each with logos and Trojan imagery. We’ve also painted or decorated significant portions of the grey concrete visible from your seats. Further improvements to the concourses are in the planning stages.

9.       Ticket Transfer and Turnback

Finally, with 17 home men’s basketball games this year it’s likely you won’t be able to attend every single game. For those nights when other commitments keep you from Galen Center, we have new free online services for you to email your tickets to a friend or even give them back to USC Basketball. 

It’s critical for our teams to have a home court advantage caused by a full crowd of Trojan fans. When you can’t make it to a game, please do all you can to find a fan to use your tickets. If you prefer, you can use our “Ticket Turnback” webpage to send the tickets back to us and we’ll find a local organization or other deserving fans to give your tickets to.

We hope that these improvements lead to a better game day experience for all our fans. We are working hard to make USC known as a perennial basketball power, and we can only do it with the support of great fans like you. I look forward to seeing you at Galen Center this season.

Fight On!

Pat Haden
Charles Griffin Cale Director of Athletics' Chair