George McDonald's challenge

[AAM62]

He threw out a twitter challenge to see if we could get 20k fans at the dome for the spring game. Highly doubtful based off of historic trends but it would be awesome to get close to that number. I would go of I could make it.

 

[kingtidge]

Twitter challenge is nice, but until the athletic department does some real marketing/promotion for the spring game, it is what it is...

Yes - more fans should attend but it's a two way street... What is the school doing to promote the spring game and get people there?

It has to be more than the bare minimum:

"Admission and parking is free for the Spring game. Following the game, the team will be available for an autograph session."

Ideas:

• How about some cool sponsored giveaways at game for attendees that you can actually promote?
• How about a PR campaign (media interviews on local shows and some minimal amount of advertising) promoting the game and a theme around the "20K for for Spring Game Day!"... or whatever...??
• How about getting min. (3) SU heroes there for the game and autograph session?? (mcnabb, little, j-morris, freeney, harrison, etc... any number of guys to choose from...). Heck, maybe get them here 3 days before and actually get them on the news and talk shows pumping the game and attendance? People love their sports celebs...
• How about local reach-out to HS coaches and their F-ball players? Like special vouchers for an SU promo jersey for players that attend with their team/coaches along with SU player and coaching staff meet-greets after game and tour of facilities?

I am not saying these ideas all make sense, but if the athletic dept. isn't going to do more than the bare minimum, the realistic attendance expectations should commensurate:
http://suathletics.com/news/2013/4/14/FB_0414130122.aspx

 

[BlazeOrange]

Hopefully we can at least do better than the turnout that Da U got for their spring game:

 

[OrangeXtreme]

• How about local reach-out to HS coaches and their F-ball players? Like special vouchers for an SU promo jersey for players that attend with their team/coaches along with SU player and coaching staff meet-greets after game and tour of facilities?

I don't think the NCAA will approve of a jersey giveaway, especially if SU ends up recruiting some of these players down the road.

Your other ideas sound good.

 

[Millhouse]

Hopefully we can at least do better than the turnout that Da U got for their spring game:

are you sure that's not the acc championship?

 

[kingtidge]

I don't think the NCAA will approve of a jersey giveaway, especially if SU ends up recruiting some of these players down the road.

Your other ideas sound good.

Yeah - that's true... My only point was if we want more people at the game, then we need to up the promotion of the game and really make it an event that your average fan would buy into...

There are a plethora of ideas one could come up with to promote and market this event for added attendance - some that may make sense, some that may not... but if you do none of them, you really shouldn't expect any lift.

Then there is this reality: That the Athletic Dept. doesn't consider the game a priority.

If it was a priority, it would get more than the bare minimum of attention.

 

[Finwad32]

I pushed hard for the spring game with the school I coach at and our kids. We received permission and transportation for the JV and Varsity teams. Because its not a mandatory event we are struggling to get them to give up their Saturdays.

When I was a teenager we absolutely begged coaches/parents to bring us up there. I still remember seeing Chad Elliot, the JUCO, and wondering how he'd do. If I remember correctly he had a cannon for an arm, but, never amounted to much and was gone within a year.

Long story short, a piece of this equation, the youth, would rather have their Saturday to play PS3 or do whatever than take in a game with their friends/teammates. Man, it was awesome to me when I was younger that you could get so close to the players. And we knew who the players were, and what the competitions were.

 

[Frozen]

Twitter challenge is nice, but until the athletic department does some real marketing/promotion for the spring game, it is what it is...

Yes - more fans should attend but it's a two way street... What is the school doing to promote the spring game and get people there?

It has to be more than the bare minimum:

"Admission and parking is free for the Spring game. Following the game, the team will be available for an autograph session."

Ideas

• How about getting min. (3) SU heroes there for the game and autograph session?? (mcnabb, little, j-morris, freeney, harrison, etc... any number of guys to choose from...).

Marvin Harrison is not coming back to SU for an autograph signing nor for anything else.

 

[kingtidge]

Marvin Harrison is not coming back to SU for an autograph signing nor for anything else.

OK - get Larry Czonka then...

 

[timkay99]

Twitter challenge is nice, but until the athletic department does some real marketing/promotion for the spring game, it is what it is...

Yes - more fans should attend but it's a two way street... What is the school doing to promote the spring game and get people there?

It has to be more than the bare minimum:

"Admission and parking is free for the Spring game. Following the game, the team will be available for an autograph session."

Ideas:

• How about some cool sponsored giveaways at game for attendees that you can actually promote?
• How about a PR campaign (media interviews on local shows and some minimal amount of advertising) promoting the game and a theme around the "20K for for Spring Game Day!"... or whatever...??
• How about getting min. (3) SU heroes there for the game and autograph session?? (mcnabb, little, j-morris, freeney, harrison, etc... any number of guys to choose from...). Heck, maybe get them here 3 days before and actually get them on the news and talk shows pumping the game and attendance? People love their sports celebs...
• How about local reach-out to HS coaches and their F-ball players? Like special vouchers for an SU promo jersey for players that attend with their team/coaches along with SU player and coaching staff meet-greets after game and tour of facilities?

I am not saying these ideas all make sense, but if the athletic dept. isn't going to do more than the bare minimum, the realistic attendance expectations should commensurate:

http://suathletics.com/news/2013/4/14/FB_0414130122.aspx

All those ideas would cost money, so there would need to be an admission cost to help cover the costs. I would rather all the money go towards an IPF.

Once that gets built, I think you will see a lot more money go into the spring game. Both from a recruiting perspective and a fan perspective.

 

[SUinNYC]

Marvin Harrison is not coming back to SU for an autograph signing nor for anything else.

Why do you say that? I didn't realize he had a falling out with university. I knew him at SU--had some classes together, we were the same year--he seemed to like SU.

 

[All4SU]

Yeah - that's true... My only point was if we want more people at the game, then we need to up the promotion of the game and really make it an event that your average fan would buy into...

There are a plethora of ideas one could come up with to promote and market this event for added attendance - some that may make sense, some that may not... but if you do none of them, you really shouldn't expect any lift.

Then there is this reality: That the Athletic Dept. doesn't consider the game a priority.

If it was a priority, it would get more than the bare minimum of attention.

Probably true. I think these things take on a life of their own. Little efforts generate a. Little results. With a little more results, the University would be more willing to extend themselves on it. As for me, I'm talking up the spring game to anyone who will listen. This is a Grass roots effort, and we are all ants in Coach Shafer's army.

 

[Frozen]

Why do you say that? I didn't realize he had a falling out with university. I knew him at SU--had some classes together, we were the same year--he seemed to like SU.

Well, apart from his legal troubles, Harrison is on the record as not understanding why people still care about their college alma mater. He has no affection for SU in that regard. It's just the place where he went to college and played ball, and that's all it is to him.

 

[kingtidge]

All those ideas would cost money, so there would need to be an admission cost to help cover the costs. I would rather all the money go towards an IPF.

Once that gets built, I think you will see a lot more money go into the spring game. Both from a recruiting perspective and a fan perspective.

You mean the IPF that has no officially released plans?

I am not even saying that the spring game SHOULD be a priority... all I am saying is we get complaints every yar that attendance is low. My only point is if it's up solely to the fans to get people there via "grass-roots-word-of-mouth", then the priority of the event as far as the athletic department is concerned is low.

 

[AAM62]

You guys make good points. It would be cool if there was more student support for that game, or any game for that matter.

 

[OttoMets]

I pushed hard for the spring game with the school I coach at and our kids. We received permission and transportation for the JV and Varsity teams. Because its not a mandatory event we are struggling to get them to give up their Saturdays.

When I was a teenager we absolutely begged coaches/parents to bring us up there. I still remember seeing Chad Elliot, the JUCO, and wondering how he'd do. If I remember correctly he had a cannon for an arm, but, never amounted to much and was gone within a year.

Long story short, a piece of this equation, the youth, would rather have their Saturday to play PS3 or do whatever than take in a game with their friends/teammates. Man, it was awesome to me when I was younger that you could get so close to the players. And we knew who the players were, and what the competitions were.

That's really unfortunate. Seems pretty consistent with the sentiments of the community at large, though. There are too few of these diehards.

(Doesn't cast your kids in a great light, though - if the coaches are going out of their way to set the kids up with an experience they think would be beneficial, I'd hope that the kids -- or at least their parents -- would recognize that this is something they should attend.)

 

[gocraz4dasu]

Twitter challenge is nice, but until the athletic department does some real marketing/promotion for the spring game, it is what it is...

Yes - more fans should attend but it's a two way street... What is the school doing to promote the spring game and get people there?

It has to be more than the bare minimum:

"Admission and parking is free for the Spring game. Following the game, the team will be available for an autograph session."

Ideas:

• How about some cool sponsored giveaways at game for attendees that you can actually promote?
• How about a PR campaign (media interviews on local shows and some minimal amount of advertising) promoting the game and a theme around the "20K for for Spring Game Day!"... or whatever...??
• How about getting min. (3) SU heroes there for the game and autograph session?? (mcnabb, little, j-morris, freeney, harrison, etc... any number of guys to choose from...). Heck, maybe get them here 3 days before and actually get them on the news and talk shows pumping the game and attendance? People love their sports celebs...
• How about local reach-out to HS coaches and their F-ball players? Like special vouchers for an SU promo jersey for players that attend with their team/coaches along with SU player and coaching staff meet-greets after game and tour of facilities?

I am not saying these ideas all make sense, but if the athletic dept. isn't going to do more than the bare minimum, the realistic attendance expectations should commensurate:

http://suathletics.com/news/2013/4/14/FB_0414130122.aspx

Woah woah woah... are you trying to make the university actually put effort into this game? Out of the question. Preposterous! Far too logical.

 

[PhatOrange]

I'd be shocked if there are twenty thousand Syracuse fans who even know there is such a thing as a spring football game

 

[CusefanATL]

Woah woah woah... are you trying to make the university actually put effort into this game? Out of the question. Preposterous! Far too logical.

I'm guessing you have never organized an event or run a business?

They do put plenty of effort into this... But there has to be a return for them to put even more money into it than they already do (which is obviously a lot more than you realize) a la bringing in music like midnight madness or something else..

It's pretty clear - that the community and students don't care about it. So the university HAS to be fiscally responsible with it.

I'm not talking about the people on this board... I'm talking about the community and students as a whole.

 

[gocraz4dasu]

I'm guessing you have never organized an event or run a business?

They do put plenty of effort into this... But there has to be a return for them to put even more money into it than they already do (which is obviously a lot more than you realize) a la bringing in music like midnight madness or something else..

It's pretty clear - that the community and students don't care about it. So the university HAS to be fiscally responsible with it.

I'm not talking about the people on this board... I'm talking about the community and students as a whole.

Yeah, those phone calls to past athletes are really expensive. Gotta worry about going over your minutes or your data! having Shafer/Mcdonald go on local radio shows is just so darn expensive. The University is getting a major pay upgrade from the ACC... The least they can do is reinvest that into the program that got them into the position to make that money.

They need to try and make the students and the community care. Put out a crappy product and there will be a crappy response. Maybe they could give away some sort of ticket promotion with local high, middle, and elementary schools so you can start to bring in the fan-base of the future. Crazy idea, right? I know!

 

[AAM62]

It would actually be cool to have campus visits for general students tied into the event as well. Give them the option to see the dome.

 

[kingtidge]

I'm guessing you have never organized an event or run a business?

They do put plenty of effort into this... But there has to be a return for them to put even more money into it than they already do (which is obviously a lot more than you realize) a la bringing in music like midnight madness or something else..

It's pretty clear - that the community and students don't care about it. So the university HAS to be fiscally responsible with it.

I'm not talking about the people on this board... I'm talking about the community and students as a whole.

They put in the requisite effort in to the hold the event... I'm not sure what we don't realize otherwise??Supporting this event is part of the many things the athletic department does.

As for ROI, I have no doubts that this event is low priority... as it should be.

For perspective, I am sure that spring game attendance (for a free scrimmage) is barely on the radar screen compared to selling season tix and actually getting the fan game attendance to a level where we might be flirting with a home sellout or two each season.

 

[rrlbees]

All those ideas would cost money, so there would need to be an admission cost to help cover the costs. I would rather all the money go towards an IPF.

Once that gets built, I think you will see a lot more money go into the spring game. Both from a recruiting perspective and a fan perspective.

Is the IPF this years excuse?

Sent using my Commodore 64

 

[timkay99]

Is the IPF this years excuse?

Sent using my Commodore 64

I think the excuse would be the fact they would charge prices and turn away the casual fan.

If you put money into the event, you need to get money out of it.

I am sure many on the board would go to the spring game regardless of cost. Casual fans will not. There is that fine line between cost, opportunity cost and profit.

Syracuse is not Nebraska. Compare Syracuse spring game to a team like NC State. And, I couldn't find any mention of the spring game on their official football website (besides their twitter feed).

 

[Bayside44]

Yeah, those phone calls to past athletes are really expensive. Gotta worry about going over your minutes or your data! having Shafer/Mcdonald go on local radio shows is just so darn expensive. The University is getting a major pay upgrade from the ACC... The least they can do is reinvest that into the program that got them into the position to make that money.

They need to try and make the students and the community care. Put out a crappy product and there will be a crappy response. Maybe they could give away some sort of ticket promotion with local high, middle, and elementary schools so you can start to bring in the fan-base of the future. Crazy idea, right? I know!

It's a practice, and our starting QB next year won't be in it. Honestly to me it isn't a big deal at all.

The fanbase shows it can support winning programs just fine.