College hoops needs to keep fans connected

Several summers ago, whenever I would join my brothers and one of their friends at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I was required to take part in a ritual.

"Take off your watch," the friend would say as I settled into my seat a few rows behind the third base dugout. "Time doesn't matter at a baseball game."

Never mind that there is a huge, analog clock atop the Camden Yards scoreboard; it was the symbolism that was important. The game was the thing.

This was before cellphones were standard equipment. A night at the ballpark was meant to be a breather from everyday concerns - even what time it was.

Apparently, nobody thinks like this anymore. Today's crowds - for all sports - split their attention between the live action and what's happening on the hand-held electronic devices they bring with them.

This explains a lot. And to digress for just a moment, it sheds some light, I think, on why attendance at college basketball games is declining.

A story in Tuesday's Pilot noted that attendance for men's basketball has fallen off from last year at nine of the 12 ACC schools. Sellouts are now uncommon; student participation - even at Duke, known for its Cameron Crazies - is weakening.

At the current pace, this would be the fourth year in a row attendance has dropped around the ACC.

I'd be the first to agree that the primary factors involved are inferior (or at the very least, boring) teams and a dearth of riveting individual stars.

Fewer games between traditional ACC rivals don't help, either.

At the risk of repeating myself yet again, some of us saw this coming.

Conference expansion, done with football in mind, led to the end of round-robin play in ACC hoops.

Without the comforting rhythm of a home-and-home schedule, traditional rivalries have been diluted and replaced by games with opponents - i.e., Miami, Florida State, Boston College - that are a hard sell in any market, even their own.

One way ACC teams could lure fans back to the arenas is by playing more attractive nonconference games.

Big programs should be embarrassed asking fans to pay premium prices for so many games against badly overmatched opponents.

But before wandering too far off the intended path, let's bring this back to the impact of electronic devices on today's fan participation.

The belief here, certainly not original, is that the decline in student attendance can be attributed, in part, to college kids preferring to stay in and do what comes so naturally to them - multitask on their laptops and other gizmos, perhaps pulling away from Facebook long enough to watch a little hoop action on hi-def TVs.

When distractions are plentiful, students are less inclined to make an effort to see a game. Or at Duke, sleep in a tent city.

It shouldn't surprise anybody that certain generations are more connected to satellites than tradition. The issue, in any case, is basketball attendance. There must be more important worries for colleges.

The NFL encounters very few problems entertaining its audience, yet it, too, is worried about modern technology eroding attendance.

No one questions that the game is better on TV now. The message must be getting through to people whose game-day experience involves snarled traffic, steep ticket prices and seats too far from the action.

With all that, to be denied the use of their smartphones at the stadium is just too great of a sacrifice.

At NFL venues, improving connectivity for hand-held devices is now a priority.

The league understands people are dependent on texting, tweeting, Facebooking and updating their fantasy league stats.

The game is not enough anymore.

Said NFL executive Eric Grubman: "The new fan of today, this is the only 3-1/2-hour window in their lives when they're not connected to an incredibly important part of their life."

Now they will be.

Is it progress? Maybe that depends on your definition of in-stadium connectivity.

If you're like me, it means talking with the brothers and friends sitting next to you.

Bob Molinaro, 757-446-2372, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com, Twitter@BobMolinaro