The SMU men’s basketball conference season may be nearly four months away, but the fight for Mob priority student memberships has already begun.
Launched last year as a way for spirited students to sit behind the teams’ benches, the Mob quickly became the spot to cheer on the Mustangs (and heckle the other team and referees). Mob memberships were still available up until the start of the NIT qualifying games, but were quickly snatched up to sell out the three sides of the court that make up the student section. This year, things are a little different.
By different, we mean competitive.
SMU Athletics announced last week that it will be using SMU Varsity, an app, to decide which students will be offered a chance to join the Mob. A point-based system, the app uses students’ phones’ GPS to check them in at a variety of sporting events around campus.
“It’s a race to 130 points,” Skyler Johnson, director of promotions and game day experience, said. The first 600 students to reach 130 points, accumulated by going to football (30 points), men’s and women’s soccer (10 points) and women’s volleyball (10 points) games, will be offered the chance to sign up for the Mob.
The app, which will let students check-in once they’ve entered Ford Stadium, Moody Coliseum, or Westcott Field for the respective game, is available for iPhones and Androids and can also be accessed online. A check-in table with iPads will also be at each applicable home game.
At this time, there is no restriction on how long students have to remain in the stadium or watch the game. To get points, the app only requires a check in within the designated radius of the sporting event.
The “student loyalty program” allows students to also share photos, check SMU Athletics’ social media, and keep up with which students are ahead on the leaderboard.
The app is not replacing the pick up process for tickets, though, so expect to camp out once again for tickets. A limited number of free student tickets will also be available.
“Even with Mob pickup, you’re guaranteed a seat but if you want to be in [section] 112, the section behind the scorers’ table, it’s going to be first come, first served,” Johnson said.
Mob membership will cost $79, up $40 from it’s initial year, and reaching the top 600 app users does not guarantee a chance to join the elite fan group. If a student does not register in a specific timeframe, his or her spot will be passed on to the next high scorer in line.
The price bump is a result of the season’s size, Johnson said. “Last year we only had a half a season in Moody,” he said, adding that students will see at least eight additional games in the renovated coliseum.
“It’s not a money-making thing for us,” he said. “We put it all back into giveaways, t-shirts, Nike gear. We just put it all back into the Mob.”
A donation to the Mustang Club is also included in the price of membership, which gives priority points to put Mob graduates above other alumni when basketball season tickets are passed out.
“We really wanted to reward the students that were the most spirited, not just the ones who can pay for the membership,” Johnson said.
