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Post by Bornthrilla on Oct 7, 2006 18:08:16 GMT -5
... was the attendance.
How do you only get a crowd of 4,000 for university day? I understand it was cold and soggy, but damn, it wasn't even raining hard when the game started.
Sadly, I think the tickets may have been priced too high for the causal fan. I looked in the paper today and when I saw general admission: $20, resevered seating: $25, I almost fainted. That's just way too much for a team that's lost 10 straight games, dating back to last season. Elon is only charging $15 for their home games and I think we need to start emulating them until we can put a more competitive team on the field.
Our fans are loyal, but they aint stupid. If I didn't have this media pass I would have had to cough up $40 for me and my wife to watch an 0-5 team lose 32-0.
That's doesn't add up.
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Maxell
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Director of BDF Marketing
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Post by Maxell on Oct 7, 2006 18:35:00 GMT -5
I don't think it's the price. It's the losing. Losing badly is the thing that tips the scale. If the weather is iffy and we are winning or at least playing well, people will be there. And we shouldn't change the price, we should just win. If we're 2-2 like we were supposed to be. there would have been a nice crowd. Aggie like to talk. I don't mind losing, but lose in such a way that I can still talk shat about something, something. We got no material to work with.
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Post by Bornthrilla on Oct 7, 2006 18:50:14 GMT -5
I think if they lowered the price $5-10 dollars per ticket, it would be viewed as a nice gesture to the diehard fans who still want to support the team, even through these lean years.
It's like saying: "hey, I know we suck right now, but we'll make it a little bit easier on your pockets if you keep coming out."
That is what you call good customer service and good fan relations. When the Rockets were struggling in the second half of last season, we introduced a bunch of new discount ticket plans and had an entire fan apperication week were fans who came out to the games we're given a bunch of freebies the whole night. Everybody who came through the doors got rally towels, t-shirts, Yao Ming bobble heads, and crap like that. Plus, some lucky fans got to win autographed jerseys and shoes. It was long decided that we weren't going to the playoffs, but fans still came out because the atmosphere was a fun one.
Now that it is obvious this team is struggling and will be hard pressed to win a single game, our sports marketing department needs got to roll up its sleeves and find innovative ways to keep the fans for being apathetic.
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Post by aggiemarketingman on Oct 7, 2006 19:15:01 GMT -5
Two quick things...
Marketing dept. doesnt have anything to do with ticket prices. Its a totally different set up here than probably anywhere else.. Please understand that... I know that at most places the marketing and ticketing collaborate on that... just remember we are different than any other school in the country..
Second, We are dealing with a different demographic than the Rockets.
Id probably say its a pretty safe assumption that the ticket prices arent going to drop during the season...But we DO appreicate the support of the diehards... Doesnt mean we wont be working to get butts in seats.. rest assured of that... but then again we are dealing with a DIFFERENT demographic... I look forward to a packed house on 21 October...
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Post by JeffAggieFan on Oct 7, 2006 19:27:32 GMT -5
Born that why I ask about Homecomming who is coming to see a team win 1 game and they better hope FAMU bring the band on Nov 4
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Maxell
Official BDF member
Director of BDF Marketing
Posts: 12,460
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Post by Maxell on Oct 7, 2006 19:51:55 GMT -5
Marketing dept. doesnt have anything to do with ticket prices. Its a totally different set up here than probably anywhere else.. Please understand that... I know that at most places the marketing and ticketing collaborate on that... just remember we are different than any other school in the country.. That's stupid! How in the heck can you do promotions without the ability to do such things as group rates, discounts, ticket giveways and prizes, pee wee football teams, etc.? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. If your job is to fill the seats, you're cutting off your nose to spite your face.
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Post by aggiemarketingman on Oct 7, 2006 19:55:23 GMT -5
Be that as it may.. Call it what you like...it is what it is !!! So we stay on the grind...
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Maxell
Official BDF member
Director of BDF Marketing
Posts: 12,460
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Post by Maxell on Oct 7, 2006 20:04:53 GMT -5
I call it...... Marketing and Promotions 101
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Post by aggiemarketingman on Oct 7, 2006 20:26:24 GMT -5
Ok... Thats what you call it.. and thats what we do... and we will make sure we catch that Marketing 101 class on MWF from 10-10:50 Craig Hall Rm 335 ....... OUT.. !! ohhh and before recommending that we do those things.. check and see that we DO offer discounts to groups, seniors, parks and rec and 50 tickets per radio station for giveaways. EVERY WEEK... ok.. im done.. lets focus on the team not the infastructure.. we are bustin our butts to get it done.. and doing what we can to help make things better... Lets encourage everybody on here who has an opinion to do the same thing... GIVE.. (something other than suggestions about what SHOULD be done...).. Im out.. GO AGGIES !!!
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Post by Bornthrilla on Oct 7, 2006 21:32:33 GMT -5
Yes and no. At the end of the day, you are still talking about people who work hard for their money and want to make sure their entertainment dollars are being appreciated. When your school is 0-for-as long as you can remember, it hard to keep shelling out $20 dollars a pop to see them get steamrolled each week, especially when other 1-AA schools (who have winning records nontheless) are charging much less.
$15 dollars might not seem like a huge price reduction from $20 or $25 dollars, but just like $1.99 looks better on an sign than $2.00, it will have a pyschological impact on the minds of ticket buyers.
Right now, we are in a desparate fight to win the hearts and minds of Aggie Nation. Once the casual fan gives up on this program, they may never come back.
Sure, we will probably still sell out homecoming just because it is homecoming, but I cringe at the thought that we will begin to see more crowds of 4,000 when Elon and FAMU come to town later this year.
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Post by Aggie Monster on Oct 7, 2006 21:51:25 GMT -5
Dawg.............................. It was cold out there!! Might not have been raining hard during the game but it sure was colder than normal a little while before hand. You cant count on student that live on campus to be loyal. They been their 1-3 years. Which were all losing years. You get tired of cheering for a losers after a while. Especially when it's cold.
Weather and our record played a factor. I love my aggies, but we been getting beat down this year. Not just losing, but beat down. Thats demoralizing to even die hard fans.
This Norfolk State graduate I work with teased me so bad Weds and I didn't have anything to say but "We'll be back". She said our campus was to pretty now. We used to be hard and now we tissue paper. All the pretty lights, fancy scoreboard, and "aggie suites" have turned our boys into Bif and Chet instead of Deebo and Tiny. Even though that one hurt, it was funny. LOL
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Post by aggiemarketingman on Oct 7, 2006 21:53:39 GMT -5
Itll be tough be we will continue to stay on the grind and work to get butts in the seats..
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Post by Bornthrilla on Oct 7, 2006 22:31:40 GMT -5
Marketingman, we all know that you are working hard with very limited resources and a miniscule budget, but I think it would be a mistake not to view to this current situation as a seriously dire one. And as you know, desperate times call for desperate measures.
In my opinion, this football program is truly at a crossroads right now.
The reason I am so dissapointed by today's crowd was because prior to this game we we're ranked 4th in average attendance. Now we have probably fallen out of the top 20 altogether. And that, my friend, will greatly impact our future attempts to increase our corporate development dollars.
Imagine meeting with the adverstising director of Harris Teeter, and in your proposal you can show that even though A&T didn't win a single game this year, we still finished among the national leaders in average home attendance with 17,000 fans per game. Therefore, Harris Teeter should want to buy an advertising panel on the scoreboard next season because about 17,000 fans will be there to see their logo each home game - 17,000 fans who get hungry and need somewhere to buy their groceries. Then you can come up some cool cross-promotion where Harris Teeter stores can start printing out "$2 dollars off A&T football tickets" coupons on the back of their regular grocery receipts. And then you maybe can have Harris Teeter agree to sponor some Aggie rally towels which we can give out to the first 10,000 fans in attendance each week.
The possiblities are endless, but it's hard to make that same sales pitch when you are averaging less than 9,000 per game.
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Post by JeffAggieFan on Oct 7, 2006 23:02:14 GMT -5
I also notice for University day for the High School visting the school they charge $10 for tickets to the game. I am trying to think in the old days(20 Years) were the tickets free.
Also I wonder how the fans who bought season tickets feel that the Johnny b Lately get tickets for half price or reduce at the day of the game.
Well the bright spot today we lowered our oppenent points per average today.
Hey make sure Livingstone is also on the schedule for 07
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Post by JeffAggieFan on Oct 7, 2006 23:03:22 GMT -5
Oh one more thing to add. When Duke played VA this year in football the tickets was reduced from $20-25 to $10.
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