Start time a problem

Regarding John Blanchette’s column, “Tuesday Night lacked NIT-Pickers” (Nov. 15), concerning the half full, or half empty if you prefer, Spokane Veterans Arena, and the poor attendance at a GU game.

I, too, am somewhat surprised at the attendance, considering the huge demand for tickets to any GU game. I know many people I talked to chose not too attend because of the late starting time and the ability to stay home and watch on television.

Those of us who have season tickets to GU at the McCarthey Athletic Center do fill that venue for 9 p.m. starts, but, really, what choice do we have? Frankly, many of us prefer an earlier start, but that’s the way it is.

That being said, I would have attended the two games in the Arena regardless of the start times if that was one of the limited opportunities I had to see the Bulldogs live.

Regarding Mike Roth’s statement concerning the lack of response from GU season-ticket holders, I offer the following explanation:

The past two seasons, when GU and EWU met at the Arena, as part of our season-ticket package we were given tickets to that game. The seats were well up in the 200 level and I expected something a bit better than that. I chose not to accept tickets from GU for the NIT games and instead went to the Arena and purchased my own.

I suspect I had better seats than I would have through GU and I thought I was making tickets, which would have been available to me, available to the general public. As it turned out, getting tickets for the NIT was not a problem for anyone.

Terry A. Hontz

Spokane