How moving students closer in Stegeman Coliseum & flipping benches can help UGA basketball

Braelen Bridges views a decision by Georgia’s athletic administration to move the students lower in Stegeman Coliseum and closer to the floor as a good one. He’s seen its effect on the road in the SEC at a rival school.

“I think that would be nice,” said the Bulldogs center who is in his final college season. “Auburn has a pretty good student section. I think it will be nice for them, but I won’t get to see it.”

The re-seating of Stegeman at Georgia for men's basketball was unveiled by athletic director Josh Brooks this week and is set for the 2023-2024 season. Student seating will extend to section T next to their current sections U and V and be more towards the center of the court “where they can make an impact on the game,” Brooks said

“We’re shifting the student section in the lower section to command more of the baseline and we’re taking the seats all the way down to the floor level for the students,” senior deputy athletic director Darrice Griffin said.

The student sections near the court will begin behind the single row of courtside seats.

While season ticket prices will remain the same, Georgia will increase the per-seat contribution for 20 percent of its seats with the remaining 80 percent staying the same or decreasing. Georgia has just over 4,900 season ticket holders this year, according to UGA.

Courtside seating for this season required a per seat donation of $2,500 with sideline seating at $1,750 and remaining seats at $150.

The re-seating will bring additional premium seating to the horseshoe end of the arena in sections K-P. Georgia is eyeing loge seats, but those may not be in place until the 2024-2025 season.

Brooks said he’s talked to Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena CEO Steve Koonin about that.

“We’ve really taken a lot of notes from State Farm Arena,” Brooks said. “When you look at our seating and the tickets staying the same but changing some of the donation levels, the best seats were probably underpriced and the worst seats were overpriced.”

Per-seat donations level for 2023-2024, according to a slide shown to the UGA athletic board on Tuesday, ranged from $75 behind the basket upper-level to $3,000 for courtside seats.

Georgia reported just over $1.3 million in donor contributions to men's basketball in fiscal year 2022 and about $947,500 in ticket sales, according to its NCAA financial report.

Reseating Stegeman has been looked at by Georgia going back at least 10 years, but first-year coach Mike White and Brooks talked about improving the atmosphere after White was hired last March from Florida.

Brooks said one of the first comments he heard from White was that he enjoyed playing in Stegeman because “it’s a very comfortable place to play.”

“We’ve got to change that,” Brooks said.

White went 7-1 as a visiting head coach with Florida and Louisiana Tech at Stegeman.

He told Brooks “we’ve got to do something more to make it more intimidating.”

White said Tuesday “we’ve talked about it at length a few times and I know our administration has been really receptive and committed to giving us as much advantage as we can attain here in the Steg. It’s one of the reasons I was excited to come work with Josh and for Josh and his administration. They’re open to ideas.”

The visiting and home team benches will be switched for the 2023-2024 season.

That means opponents will now be shooting toward Georgia’s student section for the second half of games instead of the first “for that added disruption and noise from our student body,” Griffin said.

In home SEC games this year, opponents have shot 56.1 percent from the foul line in the first half (23 of 41) on the side where the students sit and 69.8 percent (44 of 63) in the second half on the horseshoe side.

Season ticket holders will select new seats for 2023-2024 based on priority points and longevity.

Per-seat donation levels will change for many sections.

Order of seat selection for season ticket holders will be based on multiple factors including cumulative priority points for Georgia Bulldog club members and consecutive years of season ticket purchases.

Season ticket requests will open in July.

UGA faculty staff and UGA athletic staff will also be “reseated,” based on years of season ticket purchases and usage of those tickets. Primary area will be in upper section of arena.

Griffin said Georgia was Inspired by “how electric,” the environment was at the preseason Stegmania event in October that is geared for students and they sat down lower. UGA athletics sought input from SGA and faculty reps on the plan.

“We understand that reseating Stegeman is a significant and emotional issue,” Grffin. “Many of our fans have held men’s basketball season tickets for a number of years… but a tremendous amount of time and thought went into our reseating plan and we do feel like this helps us achieve our goal of enhancing the atmosphere in Stegeman while remaining one of the most affordable men’s basketball tickets in the SEC.”

2023-2024 per-seat requirement

Source: UGA athletics

Center court, lower level, sections E,F: $250

Baseline to 3 pt arc, lower level, sections D,G, S: $200

Baseline to baseline, upper level, sections CC, DD, EE, FF, GG, SS, TT, UU: $150

Corners, lower level, sections A, B, C, H, J, Q, R: $100

Corners, upper level, sections AA, BB, HH, II, JJ, PP, QQ, RR: $100

Behind baskets, upper level, sections KK, LL, MM., NN, OO: $75

Courtside: $3,000

Baseline: $2,000

Premium: $1,500

Premium sideline: $1,000

Student sections: T, U, V, W, X, Y,Z, VV, WW, XX, YY

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: UGA hoop season ticket holders impacted by plan for student sections