Students could win free rent through one of the many promotions the Convocation Center is having throughout the basketball season.

David Lichtenstein, NIU’s athletic director of marketing, said he hopes offering a variety of promotions will attract students and community members to attend basketball games.

“If we could get 6,000 students to a single basketball game, the Convocation Center would rock,” Lichtenstein said.

There are many promotions throughout the men’s and women’s basketball seasons.

One promotion the arena is sponsoring, called “Show for Dough,” gives students the chance to win $1,000 just for showing up to a game. There is a catch to the contest, though. Once a student’s name is drawn, he or she has only two minutes to go to the scores table to claim a prize. No student has won this contest so far.

Other promotions have corporate sponsors. U.S. Cellular is sponsoring a shoot-out that gives fans a chance to win free food, free groceries and $1,000.

“Beat the Landlord” is another promotion that gives students the chance to win $25, $50, $100 or even $10,000 for rent. To win, students must shoot from various spots on the basketball court. To win the $10,000 prize, the contestant must make a shot from half-court. Lichtenstein said there already has been one $10,000 winner this year, and there could be more.

“All the promotions sound great. I guess it’s just a matter of getting the word out to students,” junior English major Ben Sells said.

Lichtenstein said students can join the Huskie Dog Pound for only $5 and will receive a Dog Pound T-shirt and free food at pre-game pep rallies held at Fatty’s Sports Bar, 1312 W. Lincoln Highway.

“I work for media services and often film the basketball games, but during timeouts, there is always something fun and exciting going on due to the many different promotions going on,” junior communication major Mike Gentile said.