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Post by Aggie Monster on Oct 27, 2011 11:06:50 GMT -5
I decided to start this thread so we can bury the "Homecoming Attendance" one. This topic had taken it over.
The question is CAN, and if so, HOW our culture surrounding our football games be changed? Can we ever get the majority of our fans to care more about football than the social aspect of it.
And on top of that the 2nd issue is can A&T football ever be a "hot ticket" to Corporate Sponsors and the City of Greensboro residents?
Are we just destined to always be slaves to homecoming, classics and rivalry week?
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Post by DOOMS on Oct 27, 2011 11:58:49 GMT -5
Can't change the culture. We like music and chilling.
There will always be a smaller minority that is more into the game, but it will always be a smaller minority.
It's possible to be a hot ticket, but that would take embracing the whole city and being embraced by the whole city or merging with UNCG. Or the school would have to find a way to double or triple the current athletics budget so that we can produce a consistent winner across the board. People love winners, and once you do it for a number of years you'll be reeling them in.
Yes we are destined to be slaves to homecoming, classics, and rivalry week.
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Oct 27, 2011 12:01:04 GMT -5
in my opinion, all of what you've stated is dictated by the performance of the football team. when we consistently win and are consistent contenders for the meac championship (like during the hayes era), our attendance figures will be "off the charts" both at home and on the road. when we consistently win, it attracts more true "football fans" who want to see the game. true "football fans" come to see the game, but if we're losing consistently, they're the first ones to stop coming.
folk who come for social reasons and/or half time entertainment, are the ones who hang around the fan zone area and trickle into the stadium just to socialize. it don't matter too much whether we're losing or winning, they're just interested in socializing. we can't change those kinda folks, that's just who they are.
so to me, its not a matter of changing the culture. to me, its a matter of improving our football program to the point where we're consistent meac championship contenders again. if we do that, the true "football fans" will return and our game day noise level will increase.
i think corporate sponsors don't care about the culture. all they care about is how many butts are in the seats who are willing to purchase their services or goods. they could careless whether the butts in the seats are football fans or not. all they care about is how many potential customers are in the seats. so for corporate sponsors, they're attracted to huge numbers in the stands. and again, winning football games consistently will take care of that.
so to me, the driving force behind butts in the seats and corporate sponsorship is dictated by exactly the same thing. a consistently winning football team...
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Post by Aggie Monster on Oct 27, 2011 12:43:27 GMT -5
Have we EVER really had "off the charts" attendance numbers? Even in the Hayes era(which was my era and I dont remember them being off the charts for REGULAR games)? And what HBCU ever has?
For the record, my version of "off the charts" atttendance would be completely full home side and at least half-full visitors.
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Post by aggiejazz on Oct 27, 2011 12:44:38 GMT -5
The number one catalyst for changing the culture is the Chancellor and his attribute and actions as follows: 1) his vision; 2) his planning; 3) his hiring; 4) and finally his administration’s execution.
We have seen all four attributes in action with a lot more needing to come and will come.
How to the change the culture?
a. There isn’t much you can do with the older crowd but gently persuade, push, and tug them along and maybe into action.
b. You can set in motion a mode to change the culture with the students. To do this you need marketing people who are in tune with the students.
How to get the Greensboro residents, local businesses and corporate sponsors really interested in A&T sports?
a. You set in motion an operation to get the local white students (high school and middle school) involve with A&T sports and social events on A&T campus. The parents will follow their kids and get involved; and then the local businesses will follow those kids and parents and get involved because they will feel they are helping everyone in the city. Here again you will need marketing people and social event planners who are in tune with the kids in the whole community of Greensboro.
b. Corporate sponsors will respond more positive when all of the above is being accomplished, A&T’s marketing specialists can show corporate their wide-ranging demographics.
Are we destined to always be slaves to homecoming, classics and rivalry week?
I don’t see anything wrong with the faithful following of the 2 or 3 “must see” football events. A&T needs to do the following things I mention above to make the other 9 or 8 weeks special, too, along with a winning football program.
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Post by Aggie Monster on Oct 27, 2011 12:51:18 GMT -5
a. There isn’t much you can do with the older crowd but gently persuade, push, and tug them along and into action. b. You can set in motion a mode to change the culture with the students. To do this you need marketing people who are in tune with the students. This is actually the answer I was waiting to see if someone would say. It has to start with the current students and we have to have a plan in place for after those current students graduate to keep them connected. It wont happen unless you keep in touch with the TRIAD, TRIANGLE, and maybe Charlotte graduates. Those are the people(besides current students) that would fill the stadium for a game against Coastal, BCC or Hampton. How to do that? I have some ideas, but they are to lengthy to type. But we have to keep those recent grads connected, plugged in, and excited about re-visiting campus and games after they are gone if they are still close by. Very short answer - Your local NC based Aggie Clubs should be the primary focus. Increase membership in those and make sure leadership is very good in those clubs and football game attendance will increase will REAL football fans. |
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Aggie77
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Post by Aggie77 on Oct 27, 2011 13:13:55 GMT -5
The first step to changing this mindset is marketing. When the marketing is a success the new behavior become the mindset. Of course you have to have some success on the field to market. Homecoming is the perfect example, it needs no marketing, it's almost a word of mouth affair and has become a destination event.
We have not cultivated any local organizations. There are no Wall-Mart nights, Cone Hospital, Krispy Kreme nights were we offer (severely) discounted group tickets to local businesses, give them a section and recognize them a couple of times during the game. We don’t have any specials event nights, like kids night, were one adult gets two kids in free. The idea is to develop goodwill in the community, region, etc. We don’t publicize the success of the players. There should be a press release issued each week about Mathew’s success to every major and mid-size paper in the state. This guy is 1000 yard rusher every season in Aggieland.
Maybe you can’t change the culture, but you can enhance it, expand it, and expose it to other cultures. What you can’t do, is expect change without implementing change.
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Post by DOOMS on Oct 27, 2011 13:23:41 GMT -5
I decided to start this thread so we can bury the "Homecoming Attendance" one. This topic had taken it over. The question is CAN, and if so, HOW our culture surrounding our football games be changed? Can we ever get the majority of our fans to care more about football than the social aspect of it. And on top of that the 2nd issue is can A&T football ever be a "hot ticket" to Corporate Sponsors and the City of Greensboro residents? Are we just destined to always be slaves to homecoming, classics and rivalry week? Just curious. Is there any hbcu that has a different culture? Second question. Do we need to change the culture? |
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Oct 27, 2011 13:27:38 GMT -5
Have we EVER really had "off the charts" attendance numbers? Even in the Hayes era(which was my era and I dont remember them being off the charts for REGULAR games)? And what HBCU ever has? For the record, my version of "off the charts" atttendance would be completely full home side and at least half-full visitors. "off the charts" to me means that our attendance figures peaked compared to any other era. during the hayes era, we routinely brought in extra bleachers during homecoming (before the new track was installed) and we had some of our all time high attendance figures. when we travelled, we always brought a big aggie turnout with us. this i know because i go to a lot of away games because a bunch of them are within a 3 hours drive from where i live. during that era, i've seen some of the biggest aggie turnouts ever. another example is when we "packed" aggie stadium for a "non-homecoming game" against famu that decided the meac championship. i believe that was in '99 (but i could be mistaken). it was a complete sellout at home towards the end of our schedule against a "non-arch rival". i've never seen that happen before. so that's what i mean by "off the charts"... |
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Post by aggiejazz on Oct 27, 2011 14:09:44 GMT -5
I decided to start this thread so we can bury the "Homecoming Attendance" one. This topic had taken it over. The question is CAN, and if so, HOW our culture surrounding our football games be changed? Can we ever get the majority of our fans to care more about football than the social aspect of it. And on top of that the 2nd issue is can A&T football ever be a "hot ticket" to Corporate Sponsors and the City of Greensboro residents? Are we just destined to always be slaves to homecoming, classics and rivalry week? Just curious. Is there any hbcu that has a different culture? Second question. Do we need to change the culture? 1. Only HBCU that I know may have a different culture is the HBCU in West Virginia that is majority white, today. 2. If the revenue is not enough to match your spending and you want to stay competitive in Division I, then I say yes, you have to change the culture. It reminds me about the old parable question: "When will we see Indians winning battles against the cowboys in the movies?" answer: "When Indians make their own movies". |
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Post by DOOMS on Oct 27, 2011 14:46:11 GMT -5
Well, we have no biz in d-1, but that's another topic for another day.
Do we need to change the culture, or maximize the potential of the culture?
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Post by Aggie Monster on Oct 27, 2011 14:49:14 GMT -5
"off the charts" to me means that our attendance figures peaked compared to any other era. during the hayes era, we routinely brought in extra bleachers during homecoming (before the new track was installed) and we had some of our all time high attendance figures. when we travelled, we always brought a big aggie turnout with us. this i know because i go to a lot of away games because a bunch of them are within a 3 hours drive from where i live. during that era, i've seen some of the biggest aggie turnouts ever. another example is when we "packed" aggie stadium for a "non-homecoming game" against famu that decided the meac championship. i believe that was in '99 (but i could be mistaken). it was a complete sellout at home towards the end of our schedule against a "non-arch rival". i've never seen that happen before. so that's what i mean by "off the charts"... I feel ya. A championship game(and a wining tradition) is always an instant crowd magnet. I was speaking more of a week-in and week-out thing though. Take App for instance. App had the A&T culture in the early 90s. Games were kind of dead, etc, etc. Now they sell out a lot of games due to winning tradition and years of reaching out to recent/local alumni, not to mention older local alumni. I really think we could do that if we went about it the right way AND we averaged 7 or more wins every year. Before someone says "Well they are not an HBCU!". The same principal can be applied to help with attendance though. It may not work on all, but the true football fan base will grow. |
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saabman
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Post by saabman on Oct 27, 2011 14:49:17 GMT -5
aggiejazz> Right on point.
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Post by Aggie Monster on Oct 27, 2011 14:53:35 GMT -5
Do we need to change the culture, or maximize the potential of the culture? I dont think we NEED to change it. I think we will do fine just ADDING to it by doing some of the things I stated earlier about keeping in-touch and reaching out to NC alumni. |
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Post by Aggie Monster on Oct 27, 2011 15:13:43 GMT -5
People tend to think that traditional white things dont work with black people. It does, but we just always give up cause it's easier to open a hair salon, barber shop, nightclub, etc, etc. We are afraid of the hard route of investing in a franchise or non-traditional black business.
Or in our case, showcase the band more than the team or highlighting the tailgating and partying instead of putting in the work on the ground with local alumni for a better weekly experience for the program.
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