Carver-Hawkeye Arena is scheduled to host 33 men’s and women’s basketball games for the 2025-26 season.
That’s 22 hours of playing time, more than a full day of action when pregame festivities and events are counted, all packed into a venue with a capacity of nearly 15,000 people.
Every part of a fan’s journey through Carver involves the efforts of countless people working behind the scenes to keep the facility safe, secure, and hospitable. Every action, from parking in one of the surrounding lots to buying a hot dog, is made possible by someone else’s work.
It’s normal to interact with employees of BEST, the security company that works at venues like Kinnick Stadium and Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but what may seem like part-time work is actually the result of a mutually beneficial partnership, one where student-athletes from local colleges can provide for their teams while making these events possible.
“The reason, mostly, is fundraising for our team,” third-year Ryan Brosius, a baseball player for Coe College in Cedar Rapids said. “We take trips, we have weekends [where] we have to stay in hotels, so us working basketball games, or sometimes football games, helps out with fundraising.”
The Dubuque, Iowa, native also noted the benefits that come from working events like Iowa sporting events.
“It puts more money in our program’s pockets and helps our team out as a whole,” Brosius said. “Everyone signs up for dates that they can work, and then guys on the team just carpool whenever Coe baseball works.”
First-year Brady Wise, a member of the golf team at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, agreed that while workers don’t necessarily get money themselves, the programs they represent still benefit.
“We get a certain amount of money that goes to our team so that we can get into more tournaments, get better equipment, stuff like that,” Wise said. “I feel like it might build a little bit of camaraderie. We get to all get together and go work a game, then watch some of the game, too, just being around each other.”
Hailing from Central City, Iowa, Wise also addressed how the team gets more opportunities by fundraising through BEST’s events.
“Our coach said that we’re going to get into more tournaments as a team,” Wise said. “We’ll be able to do more fun stuff or get better stuff again.”
Third-year Freddie Walker, a native of Australia and Wise’s teammate, said the work helps Mount Mercy’s team travel to events.
“It enables more gear and apparel for us, which helps with bringing better recruits in when they see how far we’re traveling and the sort of stuff we’re getting. It’s not exactly a hard job to do. We’re all pretty capable of working,” Walker said.
Walker noted the work helps grow relationships within the team, discussing his own experience traveling to work the men’s basketball game against Chicago State.
“You just joke around,” Walker said. “Seven of us were in the same cars [for] a pretty easy ride up. [We] just all made jokes, had fun, and then got dinner after. It seemed like it just brought us closer, the guys that were there.”
Brosius agreed with Walker that the work is manageable and often a good time.
“The guys have a good time when they’re working,” Brosius said. “Some of the guys, if they’re lucky, get to work on the floor during basketball games, so that’s an interesting one. We work two hours, three hours before the game, and then we get to go watch a little bit during the game. It’s free basketball, free wrestling, free football, whenever we’re working the games. It’s not too bad. It’s pretty easy stuff.”