By Theo Lawson, Spokane S-R 1/3/2020
PULLMAN
– In more ways than one, Washington State fans are promised a more refreshing
experience at home basketball games this season.
WS Coach Kyle
Smith and his defensive philosophies have already made the Cougars more competitive
on the court and earlier this week, WSU’s athletic administration introduced
another amenity that should enliven the gameday experience for alumni, students
and casual fans who gather at Beasley Coliseum over the next few months.
On
Thursday, as WSU opened Pac-12 Conference play against USC, the school debuted
the “Cougar Den” – a beer/wine garden situated behind sections 18-20 on the
concourse of Beasley Coliseum.
The fenced off area will serve fans up to one
hour before basketball games and close 10 minutes into the second half of men’s
games and at the end of the third quarter of women’s games.
“This is really about amenities,” athletic
director Pat Chun said Thursday. “We are in competition with HDTV and
convenience at home, so we need to think of ways we can get all of our
consumers, all of our patrons, all of our fans to come to Washington State
events and having enhanced amenities is a piece of it.”
The
Cougar Den’s first customer was Jason Janosky, a Kennewick resident and 2001
WSU graduate who’s held football season tickets for a decade but decided to
spend more time at Beasley Coliseum this winter when the Cougars hired Smith
and announced they’d be retiring Klay Thompson’s jersey.
“Definitely
I think I’ll get some more buddies that’ll come up specifically for this
(Cougar Den),” Janosky said. “I think this Saturday for the UCLA game.”
Janosky
was already sipping on a Citrus Mistress IPA, produced by Eugene’s Hop Valley
Brewing Co., as a long line formed behind the concession booth just minutes
after the Cougar Den opened. Patrons can purchase Citrus Mistress, Coors Light,
Coors Banquet or Smith & Forge Cider for the not-outrageous price of $7,
while Blue Moon is even less at $6. Two wine varieties, Townsend Pinot Gris and
Townsend Red Blend, are available for $7.
“Frequently,
when we come to the (Hollingbery) Fieldhouse, we have two or three (beverages)
before we go to football,” said Leanne Ellis, who commuted from Ellensburg on
Thursday with her husband Ray, also a 1980 WSU grad. “This is great, there’s a
little growing pains. I don’t think they anticipated the attendance. And it
needs to be a little bit bigger and include more tables, but they’ll get
there.”
Cougar
Den attendees also have access to three food items not available anywhere else
at Beasley Coliseum. Frito pie, poutine and bangers & mash, provided by
Fork in the Road – the catering arm of Pullman’s South Fork Public House – can
be purchased for $8 each.
“When
we went to the Arizona State-WSU game down there in Tempe,” Ray Ellis said,
“they serve beer at the stadium there.”
Leanne
added: “It was a little magical.”
At
least six other Pac-12 basketball venues serve beer and wine in some fashion –
the University of Washington most recently adding alcohol sales at Alaska
Airlines Arena last October.
Chun
said a committee of WSU marketing/fundraising specialists surveyed the Pacific
Northwest, attending a basketball game at Gonzaga, a Portland Trail Blazers
game at the Moda Center and a Portland Timbers MLS game to “benchmark” against
other colleges and professional teams in the region.
“We
made a decision that we need to figure out how to make basketball a revenue
source,” Chun said. “There’s two pieces, one is the performance piece of the
team, which obviously that has been addressed. The other thing is, we recognize
we can’t put out a consistent basketball schedule relative to TV times anymore,
so we need to be able to have some amenities here that let people know, hey if
I come to a Washington State basketball game, we’re going to work hard on the
basketball court but all the things I could have at home may be more fun because
we’re going to also work to get more students out.”
Janosky
pointed out that on-site alcohol sales will prompt fans to spend money at
Beasley Coliseum, rather than at a bar or restaurant in Pullman prior to
arriving at the arena.
His
wife being a USC fan, Janosky had planned to attend Thursday’s game regardless,
“but once I knew there was beer, I was like, ‘Heck yes.’”
He’s
also encouraged with what Smith’s Cougars are doing on the court, noting “Just
our style of play, it’s going to take them awhile to jell, but I like where
they’re going.”
For
now, fans must consume beverages within the confines of the Cougar Den –
similar to the Fieldhouse and Cougville areas at WSU football games – although
Chun indicated the school may eventually explore options that would allow
customers to take containers to their seat.
“We’re
going to try to stay nimble enough where as our consumer needs change, as our
consumers wants are identified,” he said, “that we have all the data, that we
have the team, that we have all the amenities we need that hopefully get a few
more people to come out.”
