In a time when most universities are struggling to get students to show up to sporting events, Troy is setting records. The university has employed an innovative tactic to up game attendance and student participation: Greek involvement.
“The Greek organizations at Troy are incredibly popular and active on campus. A lot of our students partake in that,” Brent Jones, Troy’s Deputy Director of Athletics for External Operations told CollegeAD. “The idea of the promotion was brought up by our Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain about how could we better involve and engage our student population on campus. We came up with this idea this year, instead of just honoring Greek life at one game, we’d extend a challenge to them.”
That challenge involves all of the Greek organizations on campus. Jones says the department did a lot of leg work to tackle an area where they knew they could do better. The department contacted the presidents of all the Greek organizations and pitched their idea. Two organizations would be honored at each basketball game, men’s and women’s. The organizations who had the most turnout and participation, percentage-wise, would win a donation to the charity of their choice at the end of the season.
“It’s been incredible, not only are they showing up to the games but they are also really involved in the game as well,” Jones said. 
“They were all in, the buy-in was immense. Our team creates graphics to promote on screens across campus, on the video boards at Trojan Arena and on social media. It’s a true promotion of the Greek Life. They are involved in the game entertainment, even the players and coaches are involved. The players have actually gone over to the student section after the game to shake their hands and thank them for showing up. Everyone is participating in the effort.”
And it’s paying off.
Student attendance is up 25% at the men’s games and up an astonishing 400% at the women’s games.
But the numbers don’t quite tell the whole story.
“It’s pumping everyone up. We moved the student section over one section to include center court, so the students have great seats and our other ticket holders are noticing the energy in the building that our student section is creating. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from our fans about the increase in student attendance,” says Jones.
Troy’s men’s basketball head coach, Phil Cunningham was impressed and grateful: “The crowd played a HUGE part in the way! Appreciate the students – they gave us the energy to win!” Cunningham said after a recent win over Georgia State.
Jones hopes the massive success of Greek involvement will continue all season long.
“It totally changes Trojan Arena when you have a full, loud, rowdy and engaged student section, it really makes a difference,” Jones said.
He also says they are looking at ways to extend the upped participation and Greek involvement to other Trojan sports.
“You need to look at how each sport plays out,” explains Jones. “We have a great fanbase all the way around and they really support our teams. For baseball, we have a great section where they can grill, even hold cookoffs where the coaches are the taste testers, but we can always do better.