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Post by ibleedblue on Jul 5, 2019 11:25:58 GMT -5
To increase attendance, we need to improve the game day experience. Attending a game, whether you watch it or not, should be enjoyable/fun. I feel our experience has too many issues for the causal fan to enjoy themselves. A few suggestions: - better/faster concession service - easier access to stadium - improve sound system - enhance stadium facilities (i.e., expand home side walkway, improve appearance (main entrance looks old, brighten up color scheme) - create "large covered" patio for beer garden / socializing - stop vehicle entrance into tailgate areas two/three hrs before kickoff (safety, my issue) - others? Improve the experience/VALUE and attendence will increase. I for one don’t believe in dropping prices, however we have to do something to make the price of the ticket worth coming out of pocket. Don’t get me wrong, better and faster concession, enhanced facilities, and everything noted above would help the game day experience. But, as a fan, I can say that once you’re seated, games in Aggie Stadium can be really dull, winning team or not. A&T football fans tend to be a “wine and cheese” type of crowd. -the BGMM is one of best marching bands bar none, but they seldom play in the stands, nor do they follow the game, nor is there much chanting or crowd engagement. - The cheerleaders are all but ignored other than them being eye candy and (Golden Delight has them beat) -The Student Select often has nothing to be excited about, -The sound system, sounds horrible -And most to of the player’s playback on the score board look bad. -There has to be a way to pump so life into these game, and give people a reason to send 30 plus
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Post by The Professor on Jul 5, 2019 19:59:18 GMT -5
You can do all the marketing and promotions in the world but if someone doesn't feel a connection or kinship to A&T it's only going to produce minimal results. Besides A&T is always one of the leaders in fcs when it comes to attendance. Our focus needs to other mediums. With most of our games now on espn, espn plus or streamed it's inevitable our attendance is gonna drop. Cant understand how we consistently in the top 15 of FCS attendance and people still aint happy
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Post by The Professor on Jul 5, 2019 20:00:18 GMT -5
Also add a family game day package are something that entice the families game day experience . There is a disconnect somewhere between A&T and the over all community in Greensboro . More outreach and community involvement on campus is needed . I remember back in the day A&T would have ; what we called back then " Coffee House's" for the high school kids where they could socialize in a college environment with Portree , interaction conversation and dialogue and more . Also they would allow people from the community to access the bowling alley, billiard tables and barber shop/hair salon in the basement of the Student Union . These activities where posted on all the high school bulletin boards with times and dates around the city and in some of the schools out in the county . I remember the bus dropping of students from Palmer Academy from time to time . You get the community on board you get the fans . the disconnect with the greensboro community that you referred to was caused by much higher ticket prices. when i was an undergrad back in the late 70's/early 80's the locals in the immediate neighborhoods used to always come to aggie football games and most of them weren't alums. that stopped when we kept raising ticket prices and the game zone sealed the deal... Sent from my SM-G950U using proboards And yet we generate more revenue. Damn those bumming fans
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Post by oldschool on Jul 5, 2019 20:47:23 GMT -5
Also add a family game day package are something that entice the families game day experience . There is a disconnect somewhere between A&T and the over all community in Greensboro . More outreach and community involvement on campus is needed . I remember back in the day A&T would have ; what we called back then " Coffee House's" for the high school kids where they could socialize in a college environment with Portree , interaction conversation and dialogue and more . Also they would allow people from the community to access the bowling alley, billiard tables and barber shop/hair salon in the basement of the Student Union . These activities where posted on all the high school bulletin boards with times and dates around the city and in some of the schools out in the county . I remember the bus dropping of students from Palmer Academy from time to time . You get the community on board you get the fans . the disconnect with the greensboro community that you referred to was caused by much higher ticket prices. when i was an undergrad back in the late 70's/early 80's the locals in the immediate neighborhoods used to always come to aggie football games and most of them weren't alums. that stopped when we kept raising ticket prices and the game zone sealed the deal... Sent from my SM-G950U using proboards First and foremost attendance is down all across the board for college athletics , FCS and FBS . It’s hard to imagine Saturdays in the fall without a heavy dose of college football. Whether you can be found outside your favorite team’s stadium cooking on your grill of choice or sitting at home where the beer is cold and your gigantic television never misses a moment, the allure of the college game is unparalleled. Despite the wildly popular College Football Playoff being introduced in recent years, less and less fans — both students and older adults — are actually walking into stadiums to see most games.
According to initial attendance numbers from the NCAA, average attendance among the 129 FBS teams during the 2018 season was 41,856 fans per game. As reported by CBS Sports, that’s the lowest mark since 1996, and it’s the seventh time in the last eight years that attendance has declined.
It ain't just us it's erybody ,I think it's ludicrous to compare the social environment of 40 years ago to today's social environment. The local community didn't have anything else to do back in the day ,no internet ,no cable ,no nothing .And it's gonna get worse with all of our games being broadcast on one platform or another .
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Post by thefriscotxaggie on Jul 5, 2019 22:21:10 GMT -5
You can do all the marketing and promotions in the world but if someone doesn't feel a connection or kinship to A&T it's only going to produce minimal results. Besides A&T is always one of the leaders in fcs when it comes to attendance. Our focus needs to other mediums. With most of our games now on espn, espn plus or streamed it's inevitable our attendance is gonna drop. Cant understand how we consistently in the top 15 of FCS attendance and people still aint happy It’s not about being happy or FCS attendance status it’s about having a stadium that’s rougjly 1/2 full for most games
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Post by captaggie on Jul 6, 2019 4:32:02 GMT -5
IMO, it's about revenue for a high performing/limited budget athletic department.
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oleschoolaggie
Official BDF member
2009 Poster of the Year, 2009 Most Knowledgeable Poster
Posts: 24,164
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Jul 6, 2019 9:44:23 GMT -5
the disconnect with the greensboro community that you referred to was caused by much higher ticket prices. when i was an undergrad back in the late 70's/early 80's the locals in the immediate neighborhoods used to always come to aggie football games and most of them weren't alums. that stopped when we kept raising ticket prices and the game zone sealed the deal... Sent from my SM-G950U using proboards And yet we generate more revenue. Damn those bumming fans i'm just stating an observation, ain't got nothing to do with whether revenue increased or not. so are you saying folks in our surrounding neighborhoods are so called "bums" just because they can't afford our ticket prices anymore? man, if i didn't know any better i'd think your attitude is that of a duke alum rather than an hbcu alum... Sent from my SM-G950U using proboards
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Post by aggierattler on Jul 6, 2019 17:48:32 GMT -5
You can do all the marketing and promotions in the world but if someone doesn't feel a connection or kinship to A&T it's only going to produce minimal results. Besides A&T is always one of the leaders in fcs when it comes to attendance. Our focus needs to other mediums. With most of our games now on espn, espn plus or streamed it's inevitable our attendance is gonna drop. Cant understand how we consistently in the top 15 of FCS attendance and people still aint happy Because we all know that we can do much better (and bring in much more revenue) with a little more planning and effort in our marketing/promotional strategies.
It's not going to take a whole lot of tweaking, but we should have at least two (2) solid sold-out games every season by simply promoting attending our games to our students and by really, earnestly marketing to our community.
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Post by marchingband1969 on Jul 6, 2019 18:04:50 GMT -5
Cant understand how we consistently in the top 15 of FCS attendance and people still aint happy Because we all know that we can do much better (and bring in much more revenue) with a little more planning and effort in our marketing/promotional strategies.
It's not going to take a whole lot of tweaking, but we should have at least two (2) solid sold-out games every season by simply promoting attending our games to our students and by really, earnestly marketing to our community.Amen! We're holding our own doing nothing to entice non Aggies to show up for games. Think what we could accomplish if we actually got serious about promoting our games. Every business understands that making the first sale is the toughest. We've got to find a way to entice non Aggies to attend their first game and then make them feel special enough to come back.
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Post by marchingband1969 on Jul 7, 2019 14:37:14 GMT -5
What a Honor to rank that High as A HBCU.I think it maybe time to Fly the Coup... Be careful what you ask for . Moving out of the MEAC will not change anything as far as getting fans to turn out to games . And cut that Wine and Cheese BS your are either a football fan are your not . The true fans will show up the fair Weather fans are 50/50 at best know matter what conference you are in . You have to get the fans involved and excited in the stands and the eye candy is not going to get it anymore . Have a section for the best Aggie costume or costumes in general just do something to Engage The Crowd . No one likes coming to a game with a bunch of bougie acting fans it's just to boring . Let's be clear, we have got to have a two phase strategy...one to get the non Aggie fans into the stadium for the first time and one to persuade them to come back to future games. Doing one without the other is a waste of time. Right now we are doing neither. And folks don't need knock those wine and cheese fans. They are our base customers that consistently buy season tickets, donate to the AAF and show up for every game. We have to add to our fan base not change then. I think we have the creative talent to revamp the game day experience but I'm convinced we don't have a clue how to better promote our game to non Aggies.
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Post by The Professor on Jul 7, 2019 14:46:51 GMT -5
Cant understand how we consistently in the top 15 of FCS attendance and people still aint happy It’s not about being happy or FCS attendance status it’s about having a stadium that’s rougjly 1/2 full for most games Maybe building a 20k seat stadium was a bad idea in hindsight
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Post by The Professor on Jul 7, 2019 14:52:22 GMT -5
And yet we generate more revenue. Damn those bumming fans i'm just stating an observation, ain't got nothing to do with whether revenue increased or not. so are you saying folks in our surrounding neighborhoods are so called "bums" just because they can't afford our ticket prices anymore? man, if i didn't know any better i'd think your attitude is that of a duke alum rather than an hbcu alum... Sent from my SM-G950U using proboards Bumming is when we had people outside tailgating who were enjoying the experience of Aggie Athletics without paying. Our regular game tix is 20 bucks. I know kids who pay more for socks. So what's a good price point? You can't pay million dollar salaries , build million dollar facilities , have a low donation level from your alums and then wonder why decisions are made like they are. A&T made the decision to be on the national scene in FCS. That comes with a pricetag. Sorry that because i was taught logic at A&T that my loyalty is questioned.
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Post by The Professor on Jul 7, 2019 14:55:03 GMT -5
Cant understand how we consistently in the top 15 of FCS attendance and people still aint happy Because we all know that we can do much better (and bring in much more revenue) with a little more planning and effort in our marketing/promotional strategies.
It's not going to take a whole lot of tweaking, but we should have at least two (2) solid sold-out games every season by simply promoting attending our games to our students and by really, earnestly marketing to our community.Who is in our athletic department for marketing and promotions? Are we paying for the best people? I will bet 25 bucks the students aren't being used. And hell we have one of the better business schools in the state.
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Post by The Professor on Jul 7, 2019 15:03:52 GMT -5
Be careful what you ask for . Moving out of the MEAC will not change anything as far as getting fans to turn out to games . And cut that Wine and Cheese BS your are either a football fan are your not . The true fans will show up the fair Weather fans are 50/50 at best know matter what conference you are in . You have to get the fans involved and excited in the stands and the eye candy is not going to get it anymore . Have a section for the best Aggie costume or costumes in general just do something to Engage The Crowd . No one likes coming to a game with a bunch of bougie acting fans it's just to boring . Let's be clear, we have got to have a two phase strategy...one to get the non Aggie fans into the stadium for the first time and one to persuade them to come back to future games. Doing one without the other is a waste of time. Right now we are doing neither. And folks don't need knock those wine and cheese fans. They are our base customers that consistently buy season tickets, donate to the AAF and show up for every game. We have to add to our fan base not change then. I think we have the creative talent to revamp the game day experience but I'm convinced we don't have a clue how to better promote our game to non Aggies. Facts the people who pay the bills
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Post by aggierattler on Jul 7, 2019 16:06:46 GMT -5
Because we all know that we can do much better (and bring in much more revenue) with a little more planning and effort in our marketing/promotional strategies.
It's not going to take a whole lot of tweaking, but we should have at least two (2) solid sold-out games every season by simply promoting attending our games to our students and by really, earnestly marketing to our community. Who is in our athletic department for marketing and promotions? Are we paying for the best people? I will bet 25 bucks the students aren't being used. And hell we have one of the better business schools in the state. I can't answer those questions.
I'm not saying that the people aren't good. Maybe a different strategy needs to be implemented OR maybe emphasis needs to be shifted to a different area of the plan.
Most of our (MEAC) schools don't utilize our students nor our departments on campus properly, IMHO. Collectively, we have hundreds of Journalism/Mass Communications, Business and Marketing majors who would absolutely love to be working on behalf of their athletics departments just for the experiences to be reflected on their resumes...but we don't reach out and connect with them.
That failure is on our MEAC administrations...but it's not too late to fix it!
FOR YEARS, I've been calling for a March meeting during the MEAC Basketball Tournament of all MEAC marketing people, game operations people, stadium operations people, SGA reps and SIDs to brainstorm together and figure out ways to increase all of our revenues, customer service and game attendance numbers, but it always falls on deaf ears in the Conference Office. But I keep bringing it up every chance that I get.
AND GETTING BACK ON-TOPIC, this is what we should be doing for the Aggie-Eagle Classic and Aggie-Eagle basketball games...getting together to formulate plans for games in both Greensboro and Durham so that we can maximize our revenue opportunities and fan experiance.
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