The Izzone's intensity, complete with the loud echoes of stomping feet and screaming fans will multiply by four this season.

For the 2004-05 season about 3,050 student seats will be added to one of the best-known fan sections in the country that touted 950 members last year.

The men's basketball student spirit section, whose membership has created fierce competition between rival basketball fans, will now be opening its membership - making all student tickets at Breslin Center part of the Izzone.

Due to changes made by the MSU athletics department and the Student Alumni Foundation, organizers hope the popular spirit section will show increased solidarity during games.

"We had a lot of meetings over summer with the athletics department and basically we decided we wanted to unite the students - not just two different systems of Izzone tickets and non-Izzone tickets," said Frankie Orlando, Izzone co-director and political science junior. "It just makes more sense to have one big section."

However, students who have sat in the regular lower bowl student seating in the last season (not last year's Izzone) expecting to return will have to survive the lottery and a campout to stay in the lower bowl.

As a fan for the past four years who sat in the lower bowl's regular student seating last season, accounting graduate student Mike Schmansky is upset with the new policy.

"We sat in upper bowl for three years, and to sit in lower bowl for one year, and then have it taken away - as a fifth year student, I have to go through lottery and campout," Schmansky said. "I am not going to sit in the upper bowl as graduate student."

But civil engineering junior Matt Stachel is glad the two different sections will now be combined.

"The Izzone is going to have more of a voice on the court," he said.

This year, the Izzone will include 4,000 students in both the upper and lower bowls out of the 15,085 total seating. Of the 4,000, 1,550 will be part of the lower bowl, where traditionally the MSU basketball fans get the front-row experience during the games. Last year, only 950 Izzone seats were in the lower bowl, and the remainder were regular student tickets.

Associate athletics director Mark Hollis hopes this new program for the Izzone will make underclassmen feel more involved and motivate them to get closer to the action in future years.

"It is sort of like a brand-new, bigger, and improved Izzone," he said. "From an athletic perspective, it is the one team philosophy, one seating together. It will evolve into something where the freshmen will be excited to be upstairs and have something to look forward to."

Specific seats on game day will be assigned by a first-come basis, similar to how football seats are done. Each student will bring a voucher and receive a ticket for their previously assigned section.

"We want students to get there early to get the atmosphere going, similar to Kansas and Duke," Hollis said.

When the vouchers are exchanged for tickets, the new scanning ticket technology at Breslin will record attendance and arrival time records of the Izzone members to monitor for their next season membership.

The newly-christened seats in the lower bowl will now be surrounding the Spartan Brass, MSU's pep band during the basketball games.

"We are not affected by the Izzone," marching band director John Madden said. "The Izzone is affected by us. We'll still be definitely doing our own thing. This is just a move toward unity - a way for more to get involved.

"Izzone members are big fans of the band, and the band are big fans of them. I think we work in tandem with each other."

Together, the band, the returning Izzone members and the rest of the students will form a group with a massive and powerful presence in the arena.

The Spartans begin the season 7 p.m. Nov. 10 with an exhibition game against Grand Valley State. The Spartans have one of the toughest schedules in the country with home games against Florida A&M, UCLA and the grueling Big Ten schedule.

"We're definitely really excited about it," said Aaron King, Izzone co-director and political science junior. "Once the season starts, everyone is going to see all the changes made. It is going to be one of the most intimidating environments in the Big Ten."

Staff writers Agnes Soriano and Kris Turner contributed to this report.