College teams add more glitz in attempt to keep fans coming

(AP) — College basketball teams are trying to get fans to keep coming to games in the age of smartphones by making those phones an integral part of the experience.That’s evident every time cellphones in the stands light up arenas across the country during pregame lineup introductions.Over 20 schools subscribe to a service enabling fans to have their phones light up in sync with music playing during pregame festivities. That includes participating in basketball trivia contests at halftime or having fans take selfies that appear on the video board.“It’s all about capturing the fans’ attention and keeping them engaged in the game when what they came for is not going on,” Beale said.Other teams have discovered more organic ways of attracting fans.Tennessee’s players added some flair to the end of their pregame warmups this season by having one player dunk while teammates jumped in unison, a stunt nicknamed “One Fly, We All Fly.”After slow-motion versions of this stunt started circulating on social media, the stunt went viral with numerous high school and college teams and even the NBA’s Miami Heat trying out their own versions.One Fly / We All Fly pic.twitter.com/eH3ewNZiflTennessee has won 25 consecutive home games, and its average attendance of 18,945 is up 16.9 percent over last season and 38.9 percent over 2016-17.