Jays hope to boost bond with fans

Creighton's women's basketball and volleyball teams will be the main beneficiaries when the school opens its new on-campus arena next month.

But Bluejay men's basketball fans also could benefit.

Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen said Thursday that while nothing has been finalized, the men's basketball team might hold some public scrimmages or practices this fall in D.J. Sokol Arena inside the Ryan Center.

“One of the things we have not been able to do with our men's basketball team is to have as much contact with our fans as we would like,'' Rasmussen said. “We have not had the ability to hold public scrimmages or coaching clinics, things that a lot of other schools have been able to do in the fall.

“It's one of the exciting things about the move to the new building. It opens up some options that haven't been available to us in the past.''

Rasmussen all but ruled out using the new facility for some type of midnight madness event, which many schools use to mark the official opening of preseason practice in mid-October. He said the scrimmages or workouts would probably coincide with another event, such as a men's soccer match at adjacent Morrison Stadium.

“If our soccer team is playing on a Friday night or Saturday or Sunday,'' Rasmussen said, “I could see us trying to have an open basketball practice a couple of hours before the game.''

Since moving to Qwest Center Omaha in 2003, Creighton has annually held an open house in which the public could watch the Bluejays practice for a couple of hours. The university also used the open house to try to sell season tickets.

Rasmussen said he and coach Dana Altman would have liked to have provided more opportunities for Creighton's fan base to view the team's preseason development.

Creighton does most of its practicing on campus at the Vinardi Athletic Center. Seating in that facility is limited, and the cost of renting the Qwest Center made using that facility more than once for an open practice prohibitive.

“It just didn't make sense renting the Qwest Center, and when you only have about 10 chairs upstairs (at Vinardi), it kept us from being as aggressive as some schools have been in providing opportunities to fans,'' Rasmussen said. “Sokol Arena makes that more realistic.

“The new facility will allow us the chance for more contact between our players and our fans. That in turn allows you to build stronger relationships with our fans.''

The new arena also will allow Creighton to strengthen bonds with the community. Rasmussen and Bob Danenhauer, who oversees athletics for the Omaha Public Schools, have had discussions about holding a preseason basketball tournament at the arena that would involve boys and girls teams from the seven OPS schools.

Rasmussen said no contracts have been signed but that Creighton and OPS have a verbal agreement to conduct the tournament.

“We've had ADs from two or three other area schools tour the facility, and they've expressed interest in moving some of their activities to the arena,'' Rasmussen said. “One of the things I'm most excited about is the chance we have to make this a community facility.

“It will give us a chance to get people down on our campus. I think the growth we're experiencing as a university makes our campus significantly different than what most people envision it. The way we see it, the facility is going to be a lot more than just a place to play volleyball and women's basketball games.''

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com �