The Upper Decks at the John Labatt Centre

It remains an utter mystery to me why they are so empty. Today a couple of sections are perhaps half-occupied. At the Scott Tournament here in 2006, my recollection is that every section was pretty fully occupied. And, I suspect, this added greatly to the atmosphere, because the students who had, I would guess, been given the seats, were under instructions to cheer raucously, and did, and for assigned teams.
The two students interviewed this morning gave no indication they had been so assigned - one said she was cheering for Northern Ontario because she lived in Ontario (she lives in Southern Ontario) and New Brunswick because her best is there or from there.
The economics of leaving those section empty baffles me. Nobody earns anything from an empty seat. The students mentioned having french fries at ten in the morning, so their presence would have driven concessions.
It really surprises me that the organization for the Brier seems so different from the organization for the Scott. Given the seat sales this morning, that could easily and profitably have sold tickets only to the lower levels, and left the upper levels entirely for kids.
I am forced to conclude that the Scott has better business management than the Brier.

UPDATE: The journalist next to me suggests sensibly that there may be a collision with March Break dates for some of the school boards.