Interesting comment into today's ANews, and no, I did not send it in.

“Please Ohio University Athletics Department turn down the volume for the men's basketball games in the Convo. Are you trying to make everyone deaf? As a season ticketholder for many years, I will not renew my tickets next year if this crazy loud volume continues. We fans would like to talk about the game with each other but you make that impossible. Please turn it down to a reasonable level so we can enjoy being in the Convo.”

And as an aside, a few games ago I turned on my decibel meter app on my phone and it registered 104 dB on a couple of occasions when the piped in music was playing.

This complaint is absurd. Watch the game at home. After working in ticket sales for a couple years, it amazes me how many complaints like this I have seen. Toss this in the garbage.

Will the new scoreboard have updated speakers? Can't imagine new speakers to be quieter than what we have now.

I didn't write this either, Alan, but I agree with the sentiment. I never object to the volume of the 110, but that's live music and that's an entirely different thing altogether. One other poster said that this excess volume for canned music is true across the nation. I can attest that I've witnessed that too in other venues. That doesn't mean that one should just throw away these comments. That's really not good customer service and customer awareness. If a sizable group of fans feel this way, the powers that be should start to listen. Perhaps this is one of the reasons folks are noticing empty seats at even some of the schools with traditional strong programs.

Stadium acoustics is one of the most crucial factors in gameday atmosphere yet it's something that isn't always discussed.

I'm no expert on ideal sight lines or how sound waves travel, but I know we're at a huge advantage with the general design of the Convo. Whoever drew it up either knew what they were doing or got extremely lucky.

As long as the lower bowl is mostly full, the Convo has a "buzz" in it. In comparison, Peden can sometimes feel like "crickets" even when there is a good crowd and the game is exciting. But I think they both could see huge benefits from better speaker systems. In fact, I would rather spend less $ on the scoreboard and instead put that money into better speakers. New speaker technology isn't a miracle-worker, but I think it could really help both the people getting their ear-drums blown out sitting next to the speaker and also people at a distance from the speaker who can't hear anything. Ideally some architects or engineers could advise us on optimal placement.

...

With that said, loud music isn't going away. I think increased communication between the athletic department and the 110 would go a long way to helping song timing, but we should really just go all-in and move the soundboard guy directly into the 110. Create an app that allows O Zone members to vote on what song gets played next. The higher the decibel level, the better. If the Athens News readers want to call in a noise ordinance complaint, so be it.

They already do a text vote choosing between 3 songs for the next one played.

In regards to that though, does Ohio Athletics have a mobile sponsor (Verizon, Sprint, etc.)? With the new scoreboard, there is some opportunity for fan interaction via text that could be sponsored by the mobile provider.

While I was interning at X, there was an ad displayed during the 1st half of the game that allowed fans to text a mobile number with whatever text they wanted, and we would show it up on the scoreboard during halftime. Obviously you'll need an intern (this was my job before and during halftime) to monitor the texts to make sure nothing vulgar was placed on the screen.

The texts were usually tame though, simple things like "Go X!" or "Did you see that dunk?" were normal. And then you'd see some funny things like "tell the girl in Row XYZ to hit me up later" or "the guy in Section 123 is really annoying."

Got the fans involved and they actually loved it.

Here's another Athens Voice that recently appeared in the A News:

Please protect our hearing and vision at the Convo! It’s too loud for kids and other living humans. Decibels often reach 110 that can cause hearing loss and ringing in the ears (tinnitus) for periods longer than one minute, according to the National Institute on Deafness. I wear ear plugs to reduce intensity levels at the Convo (though it makes it hard to engage in conversations) and will continue do so if uncomfortable loudness levels persist. And protect your vision too. The lights are too bright, but wearing a hat or visor (and I’ve even seen people wearing sun glasses) significantly deflects the light and gives a much better view.

I don't disagree with any of this, except the part about the loud music.

This is actually a health concern. If we can be concerned, and we should be, about the brains of football and soccer players, then we should be concerned about permanent hearing loss: https://tinyurl.com/yb2z9kvs

This is aweseome. Why doens't everyone just sit quietly and watch, like at (most) movies?

Over the years my favorite complaint that was made directly to Athletics at an event (I was there and witnessed it) was that the basketball players shorts were too long and hindering their athletic ability. Tim O'Shea just laughed and moved on.

Obviously you have not sat in the platinum section in recent years. The angle of the lights on the student side are very bright for those in that section. I like to sit in the front row/rows of concerts but sometimes those are not the best seats for a variety of reasons including light angles. For someone in customer service, you have a great deal to learn. The customer is not always right but they are worth listening to and that's all that several posters are asking. No one is asking to eliminate anything. The requests are simply requests to review and perhaps modify. It's a shame that the polarization of societal opinions has spilled over to this board so that we can't seem to find a middle ground.

Please point out one post that asks for the Convo to be "tamed." Lowering the volume on a bad sound system is not taming the Convo. Adjusting the lights to shine on the court is not taming the Convo. Asking for better coordination between the person on the sound board and the band is not taming the Convo. All of those things would actually improve the customer experience. That said, there are many reasons why people aren't coming to the games and the fan experience in general and particular parts of that experience specifically are contributing to that decline. The problem is no one seems to be listening. I was looking at the Green and White Club membership list the other day and the year that we had 928 memberships, I see tens if not more than a hundred names of people who used to be season ticket holders who no longer buy those tickets and attend the games. I wonder if we have ever done exit surveys. Heck, I cut my four platinum seats from 4 to 1 this year and never got a call as to why. These are tickets that I've had since they reseated the Convo many years ago. That's bad customer service.

Supposed to be 55 today in Athens. Anyone want to go golfing this afternoon?

I've long believed the Athens News core readership is very anti-fun.

Have to agree with you Alan on customer service. Had six Platinum seats since they moved there in 94-95, I believe. Also five football seats. Had a very bad accident two years ago and let them all go as spent three months in nursing home and long time recuperating. Never heard a thing from OU as to why didn't you renew. Oh well, back now with three Tower seats and two Black seats. At my level should have had the sideline experience in football. (Done it before) Never heard anything. Should be getting two all sport passes, haven't heard about that either. I will still be there no matter, customer service sometimes sucks. Would like to see more half time entertainment as in past. Don't like the high school feel of kids running up and down the floor pre-game and half time, sure they are important folks kids. Never seen that anywhere else at college level, but it may occur. Don't mind the noise level and cant wait for center board.

several in the platinum seats wear sun glasses due to the brightness and angles of the lights.