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Post by DOOMS on Apr 20, 2011 13:29:48 GMT -5
It seems we've gone from one extreme to the other. We've gone from standing pat on issues and doing things the way they've been done forever to moving entirely too fast on issues with what appears to be little to no forethought (as opposed to foreskin, which would be termed circumcision of the issues as opposed to circumvention of the issues).
It will be interesting to see what happens at homecoming when we sell 55,000 game tickets so people can get into the fan zone, but when 55,000 people attempt to get in the stadium to see the band the fire marshall shuts our @ss right down. There is nothing like a well-executed and planned moneymaking scheme...
I always cringe when the old guard starts rabidly thirsting for things to be done in a new, novel way. That's because we don't have the ability to do it. Look no further than the last few bastions of rapid change to see what that gets us. Exhibit one currently works in the school of education and exhibit two, last I heard, works in Kansas.
We constantly strive to avoid our hbcu past and be pwc worthy, but conveniently ignore the main difference between ourselves and pwcs is money. Very few pwcs (and no properly run ones) would institute this type of fee with our lack of on the field success. They would sooner just kill the football program altogether, become a non-scholarship football program, or drop down a division. We won't do what they would do in our position, but we pretend to be doing what they are doing. Perhaps the correct term is circumcision, as we seem to be painfully cutting ourselves.
We've paid 200 large to a coach who is clamoring to play St. Pauls for his inaugural game, and the band draws more fans than the football team. Where is the sense? Now we're charging anybody who dares come inside the tailgate area the full price of our already outrageously overpriced tickets, whether they go to the game or not.
When we lived in Chattanooga, my wife took our daughter to a UTC game while I was at work. Cost 10 bucks. That's how you build community support. A team that can barely win a game needs community support. Gauging the community to make a few extra nickels for the short term, I just don't know.
I do know that there is a pretty sharp division among the folks on this board. I'm assuming 2/3 are for it (being generous) and 1/3 is against. I'm also assuming that the non-diehards and casual fans won't have a similar division; it will probably be skewed more in the "against" category.
To paraphrase trues, some things are worth more than money. If we hired this coach and we couldn't afford him, that's just stupid. But then we honestly can't afford to be competitive on the d-1 level either, even with the NCAA basketball welfare check.
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bluehaze
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Post by bluehaze on Apr 20, 2011 13:34:15 GMT -5
Forgive me if this has already been proposed my last post was on page one and i skimmed the last four...Why not have game zone specific tickets at a reduced price that offer you access to all the "entertainment" (for lack of a better word) around The Stadium but simply don't grant you access to the inside...Yes, it would cost more to print said tickets that have in bold ***GAME/FAN ZONE ACCESS ONLY*** printed across the top for say 5 bucks or so. A&T still gets revenue from the folks not watching the game and people don't have to pay full price if they are not trying to get inside *Shrugs* I agree with this approach.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2011 13:42:35 GMT -5
Forgive me if this has already been proposed my last post was on page one and i skimmed the last four...Why not have game zone specific tickets at a reduced price that offer you access to all the "entertainment" (for lack of a better word) around The Stadium but simply don't grant you access to the inside...Yes, it would cost more to print said tickets that have in bold ***GAME/FAN ZONE ACCESS ONLY*** printed across the top for say 5 bucks or so. A&T still gets revenue from the folks not watching the game and people don't have to pay full price if they are not trying to get inside *Shrugs* I agree with this approach. People would still be pissed regardles.
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Post by DOOMS on Apr 20, 2011 13:45:37 GMT -5
People are going to be pissed either way. But will they be pissed enough to stay completely away is the question.
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trues
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Post by trues on Apr 20, 2011 13:50:44 GMT -5
On Point Dooms!!!
Dooms some of us don't give a dam about the folks who will now stay home then to pay these unjustly Jack up prices. But I do care about those folks.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2011 13:55:18 GMT -5
People are going to be pissed either way. But will they be pissed enough to stay completely away is the question. Knowing us, no. It won't keep us away. All you will see is just grills sparked up all over campus, especially on homecoming. Nothing else changed. I do not feel this is nickeling and diming us to the point where we won't show up.
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DECKS
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Post by DECKS on Apr 20, 2011 13:58:57 GMT -5
Dex I get the economy side of it. But we ain't winning sheeet yet JACK. We will do good to win 3 games this year and you asking oh by way pay $25-$35 person. We act like we got going on and we really don't. But I am willing to meet you have way Dex. If you going to charge I am willing to bet you if the charge was only $5 or by the price of a ticket will get you in the taligate you would make more revenue vs charging $25-$35 per person especially at homecoming. I have more of a problem with the greed why price yourself out. Although you're still focusing to much on people who aren't patrons or fans I can understand your point on a lower price to tailgate. I suspect we'll have to tweak this thing every year until we get it just right. Overall I still think it's a very good concept.
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Post by aggiejazz on Apr 20, 2011 14:49:33 GMT -5
Can I ask a question, how much is the Game Zone ticket, not the football game ticket, not the season football book, not the parking ticket, but the Game Zone Ticket as stated in the article?
7 pages of posts and I still don't know.
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Post by ohsixrain on Apr 20, 2011 15:00:35 GMT -5
Well since we are known as the tailgate university, it should work. Oh yeah, we got that label when went all the way out to Las Vegas and tailgated and didn't go in the game. So...it can work. They will just have to pay for what they do...tailgate.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2011 15:01:15 GMT -5
Can I ask a question, how much is the Game Zone ticket, not the football game ticket, not the season football book, not the parking ticket, but the Game Zone Ticket as stated in the article? 7 pages of posts and I still don't know. As of this point, there will be no tickets sold for just entry into Game Zone. All Athletics will be doing is just requiring either a Valid Student ID, Game Ticket or season Ticket (and tailgate/parking pass for those who want to park & tailgate in the zone) for entrance into the Game Zone area, which will also grant admission into the stadium itself. If you do not have anything above, you will not be allowed entry.
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Apr 20, 2011 15:44:16 GMT -5
decks, scsu's product (their football team) is in high demand. even famu could do it for the same reason. but give scsu a 14-62 record over 7 years and you'll see dawson stadium and their fan zone near empty just like ours will be. at this point, our program cannot model itself after the most successful football program in the meac. they call that "putting the cart before the horse". we need to rebuild our program first before asking folk to shell out money they haven't been asked to shell out before. that's my only complaint. maybe we could get away with it just for homecoming or maybe nccu. but if its not homecoming, a dsu game would draw high school attendance figures... Why can't we model ourselves after SCSU when our attendance is usually comparable or better than theirs? Last year we finished #4 in BCF attendance with only 1 win. Two years ago in Lee's first year we led BCF in home attendance. On field performance obviously doesn't affect our fan base as much as it does for others. We should absolutley be following SCSU's lead because even though they've had very good teams their home attendance has always lagged. Them being the only show in town has never mattered before. I'm convinced that If it worked for them then it will probably work for us. its not true that scsu's home attendance has always lagged, its quite the contrary. plus, scsu's fanbase, alums, and enrollment is much smaller than ours. so it says a lot about the demand for their product that they're able to average as many fans as we do when our fanbase, alums, and enrollment is "twice" the size of theirs. we should be averaging over 30k fans per game if you want to compare us to scsu. also, the only reason we averaged 17k in lee's first year is because "we won our first 2 games" and we also beat nccu (at home). but in lee's 2nd season, our attendance figures substantially "dropped" and the trend is downward. last season, after selling out wssu and homecoming, we had only 6,000 fans at the howard game (15,500 "empty" seats), 7,000 fans at the famu game (14,400 "empty" seats), and 10,000 at the scsu game (a game we usually sellout at home and many of the fans were from scsu), still 11,500 "empty" seats. we averaged 13k per game last season and dropped from 4th in the nation to 19th. its been a very long time since we've averaged so few fans in attendance. and ya'll think the way to bring them back is by charging folk to tailgate? scsu can get away with it because their fans get their money's worth, they win almost every home game they play. on the other hand, we lose almost every home game we play. and you think we're comparing apples to apples when you compare our fan zone to theirs? scsu's attendance was trending upward when they imposed their fan zone. our attendance is trending downward. i'd say you folk are comparing apples to oranges...
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Post by aggierattler on Apr 20, 2011 15:52:25 GMT -5
OK...what would be your suggestion?? Just throwing open the gates and saying, "Y'all come!!" or what? You can have a Fan Zone... How about not overpricing the idea?... "...overpricing the idea??" In other words, your complaint is that the game tickets are too high...because there is no price on "the idea."
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Post by aggierattler on Apr 20, 2011 16:20:22 GMT -5
OK...what would be your suggestion?? Just throwing open the gates and saying, "Y'all come!!" or what? You can have a Fan Zone , but how about bringing in the people who actually own spots to have a say so. How about not overpricing the idea? How about informing people not thru a letter but have info sessions so people can ask questions on the spot.Evidently, input was sought from the alumni base by the athletics director...and no input was offered. This is part of the email that I received through my alumni chapter concerning the AGGIE GAME ZONE: "...FYI. The much awaited announcement of the new Aggie Game Zone is here. Please read both the press release and the Frequently Asked Questions to find the details. This will be instituted for the Fall 2011 Football season.
Previously, the Athletic Director, Mr. Earl Hilton, offered to meet with Alumni chapters to provide updates on the Athletic program and that invitation was extended to you through our last Presidents call and our chapter mailing. So far, no chapters have accepted the invitation, at least not through the Association’s office. The offer is still extended to all of you to have him or his representative meet and greet our alumni and provide updates on the direction of our Athletic program. Also, Mr. Hilton has been invited to the Annual Meeting on May 6, 2011 as well.
There are exciting new changes happenings which we should all be current on..."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2011 16:44:44 GMT -5
Hmm...
Well that's interesting.
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Post by Jesse Jackson's Side eye on Apr 20, 2011 21:14:02 GMT -5
I agree with this approach. People would still be pissed regardles. I think if there was more entertainment in the "fan zone" other than just the sights of RVs, and the smell of Grills...there wouldn't be as much opposition to paying a reduced rate to get into "The Zone" For starters: * Would it be possible to get in bed with and have 102 Jamz do on location broadcasts on game days. (I know it goes down for big games like the battle of I-40 and Aggie-Eagle. so why not for games against the Del States and Saint Pauls of the world.) * Have more pregame festivities going on (ie:. cheerleaders & Pom Squad Performances, Aggie Paraphernalia Giveaway/ A&T Trivia Contest sponsored by the Bookstore or SGA, maybe even a mini step exhibition featuring 1 or 2 frats and sororities per game (depending on # of Home Game on the schedule) *This might be a stretch and a mini logistics nightmare BUT maybe we can re-route the band and have them march through the Front tailgate area, perform an "A" and "B" Selection...preferably something "traditionally A&T" then be on their merry way into the stadium for pre-game. These are some ideas just off the top of my head...Now if ppl get that for only 5-10 whole dollars and still ain't happy, then Eff 'em...they can stargaze from the sidelines while the party goes down inside "THE ZONE" Note: I would have proposed a meet and greet with the team but judging from out previous records, the team needs all the time before kickoff to get into the right frame of mind to win...
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