You know the economy is bad when the wealthiest state in the country can't afford to send enough student spectators to the Championship game.

http://www.nesn.com/2011/04/uconn-students-call-on-houston-a...

The University of Connecticut has had some troubles filling the stands in the last couple of months, and the latest episode came prior to the arguably the biggest UConn game in quite some time.

According to ESPN.com, UConn students attending the men's national championship in Houston between the Huskies and Butler had to recruit students from Houston-area schools to help fill UConn's allotment of 800 student-section seats. The travel costs from Connecticut to Houston proved to be too much for many students.

Huskie fans offered free tickets to students at nearby Rice University and the University of Houston for Monday night's title game. All students from the local schools had to do was sit in the UConn section.

UConn students sent out emails to both schools and the first 300 responses from each school earned free tickets.

UConn reportedly lost $1.8 million following its Fiesta Bowl appearance earlier this year, with much of the loss stemming from unsold tickets. Women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma recently called out the Huskie fan base for not meeting his standards when it came to attendance for the women's team games in the tournament's opening rounds.

</snip>

intercst