The fan base IS aging out. If we surveyed our season ticket holders we would find that our average fan's age is 45 while in the rest of the country it is 35. Huge difference. Sadly, we must cater to the millennials. (See my other posts for details). Don't ask us over 45 what we would like to change, ask the 25-35 year olds what they would like to change. Social media interaction for one. Like many progressive colleges, we need to post twitter posts in real time on the scoreboard. "Text" a number for a prize. Sadly, we have to bring the game experience to the millennials, not the millennials to the game.
Cater to millennials....
- Thread starter Herd Insider
- Start date
Add a party deck (21 and over) to the South end zone. Club Thunder. Minor league baseball does not make money from tickets, it makes money from concessions. Lower the cheap seat prices to $10 to $15 and you'll make it up in concessions. Simple economics concept,
Develop some kind of interactive video game in the stadium to follow the game. Create an app to predict the next offensive play (just offer our current four options: run left, run right, pass, punt). Show the predictions on the scoreboard. Follow the lead of the NFL on interactive games.
HI - you’ve hit the nail on the head (millennial s would shorten that to yhtnoth) . Get them in, in #’s, and more than make up the difference in beer! This would work MUCH better if MU instituted no return, but we do not have the attendance demand to do it. + we don’t want to give us old farts another reason to bi!ch & moan.....
I agree, we should start catering to the millenians; just like they have taken over the majority of donations in dollars, and far surpassed the number of elder donors as well. They deserve all they get, they've earned it and need to be rewarded for their investment.
I fall between 25-35 years of age. I guess that means nobody likes me 
But there are a few things we can do, if you want my opinion.
We should take a look at some programs with somewhat similar economic situations we are in.
That, however, is the biggest driver of them all. I know several people who simply couldn't live here because there was absolutely no jobs in technology nor business friendly areas (unless you grew up in a mom and pop shop already) nearby.
I don't want to get into politricks, but the way things are going for WV, the fact that they'd risk personal health to keep WV in the 1900's with coal mining absolutely drives me nuts.
Marshall should partner up with a major company like Marathon or some energy company, inquire about their employment needs for the next 25 years, give them a nice tax break if they offer to assist in building educational facilities to train and educate the locals and students, then integrate them into jobs nearby. You'd have a healthy partnership, a mega sponsor/donor, and something to keep students close.
Williams' plans for Huntington, are moving very slowly, but they are moving and they seem to have an eye for future economic growth, solar panel construction, which could be great for the locals, and his intention was (specifically stated in the HIP Project) "for displaced and out of work coal miners."
Huntington needs to realize that the culture of the younger up and coming crowds is no longer "traditional West Virginia" they now see Tesla, they see Facebook, Twitter, Hollywood, technology, etc., and they see whats out there. If they can't get it here in WV, they'll move away to get it. Inspiration no longer comes from close knit nuclear families, it comes from memes, quotes, and social media.
That, for the record, terrifies the traditional WV family.
What can Marshall and athletics do?
Well, first, let's find an Athletic Department with similar spending budgets that we do. Obviously in the G5, but lets look at some lower tier P5 schools as well, because some of them are good with money. I recall hearing Indiana actually made a surplus of income a while back (not sure if its there now but it was before, you'd just never guess them).
One thing, is make MU students feel more wanted. I'm not saying MU doesn't cater to the students already, but something to RETAIN them. Retention rates are much, much more important than overall numbers.
It costs much more to recruit a student than it does to keep them. We have to have a type of student we want. I'd say you spend some money and have all the HS' in the state, give a questionnaire to rising juniors and seniors in HS. It would be a brief survey of what they want out of their college experience, possible majors, and things they enjoy doing. MU then collects the data, enslaves their marketing department students, and comes up with groups, that will be sent customized packets, which hit the majority of the students' needs. If the student doesn't fit the needs, check their GPA's and if they are above a certain number, recruit them. I'm not saying to keep the dumb kids out or lower GPA students, but again, the idea here is long term, you wanna keep as many students in your school as you can. MU will still get a pretty good number of applicants regardless, but you want a very healthy and large core of students staying here and if MU knows what they want, it's easier to attract interest.
It also makes the student feel wanted if they are given mail throughout the year, perhaps updates on the department they may intend to major in as well as facts about the place.
It also builds an identity to your school and a positive one at that.
As far as MU and attracting Big Green members? One of the things they could do is something that Clemson does...ITPAY Program.
http://www.clemsontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=28500&ATCLID=209961890
HOLY CRAP!!!
http://www.clemsontigers.com/ViewAr...12&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=28500&ATCLID=211663807
That's Clemson...yet their approach is VERY simple and affordable. It's broken down pretty easily.
Arizona State (and I imagine many others) offer full in-state tuition for active military. Do we do that? Do military folks even know this? It would be nice to work with local recruiters and (maybe have to write a small check to them) have them showcase Marshall being military friendly for anyone who wants to serve but also get an education.
I imagine that would also mean a step up in our online courses. I haven't seen them in ages, I hope they are decent.
(End Part 1)
But there are a few things we can do, if you want my opinion.
We should take a look at some programs with somewhat similar economic situations we are in.
That, however, is the biggest driver of them all. I know several people who simply couldn't live here because there was absolutely no jobs in technology nor business friendly areas (unless you grew up in a mom and pop shop already) nearby.
I don't want to get into politricks, but the way things are going for WV, the fact that they'd risk personal health to keep WV in the 1900's with coal mining absolutely drives me nuts.
Marshall should partner up with a major company like Marathon or some energy company, inquire about their employment needs for the next 25 years, give them a nice tax break if they offer to assist in building educational facilities to train and educate the locals and students, then integrate them into jobs nearby. You'd have a healthy partnership, a mega sponsor/donor, and something to keep students close.
Williams' plans for Huntington, are moving very slowly, but they are moving and they seem to have an eye for future economic growth, solar panel construction, which could be great for the locals, and his intention was (specifically stated in the HIP Project) "for displaced and out of work coal miners."
Huntington needs to realize that the culture of the younger up and coming crowds is no longer "traditional West Virginia" they now see Tesla, they see Facebook, Twitter, Hollywood, technology, etc., and they see whats out there. If they can't get it here in WV, they'll move away to get it. Inspiration no longer comes from close knit nuclear families, it comes from memes, quotes, and social media.
That, for the record, terrifies the traditional WV family.
What can Marshall and athletics do?
Well, first, let's find an Athletic Department with similar spending budgets that we do. Obviously in the G5, but lets look at some lower tier P5 schools as well, because some of them are good with money. I recall hearing Indiana actually made a surplus of income a while back (not sure if its there now but it was before, you'd just never guess them).
One thing, is make MU students feel more wanted. I'm not saying MU doesn't cater to the students already, but something to RETAIN them. Retention rates are much, much more important than overall numbers.
It costs much more to recruit a student than it does to keep them. We have to have a type of student we want. I'd say you spend some money and have all the HS' in the state, give a questionnaire to rising juniors and seniors in HS. It would be a brief survey of what they want out of their college experience, possible majors, and things they enjoy doing. MU then collects the data, enslaves their marketing department students, and comes up with groups, that will be sent customized packets, which hit the majority of the students' needs. If the student doesn't fit the needs, check their GPA's and if they are above a certain number, recruit them. I'm not saying to keep the dumb kids out or lower GPA students, but again, the idea here is long term, you wanna keep as many students in your school as you can. MU will still get a pretty good number of applicants regardless, but you want a very healthy and large core of students staying here and if MU knows what they want, it's easier to attract interest.
It also makes the student feel wanted if they are given mail throughout the year, perhaps updates on the department they may intend to major in as well as facts about the place.
It also builds an identity to your school and a positive one at that.
As far as MU and attracting Big Green members? One of the things they could do is something that Clemson does...ITPAY Program.
http://www.clemsontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=28500&ATCLID=209961890
HOLY CRAP!!!
http://www.clemsontigers.com/ViewAr...12&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=28500&ATCLID=211663807
That's Clemson...yet their approach is VERY simple and affordable. It's broken down pretty easily.
Arizona State (and I imagine many others) offer full in-state tuition for active military. Do we do that? Do military folks even know this? It would be nice to work with local recruiters and (maybe have to write a small check to them) have them showcase Marshall being military friendly for anyone who wants to serve but also get an education.
I imagine that would also mean a step up in our online courses. I haven't seen them in ages, I hope they are decent.
(End Part 1)
(Begin Part 2)
Setting: It was a dark and chilly late November night. All4 sits there, frustrated that the website made him cut up his approach of ideas however hopeful that they would be positively received.
As far as gameday itself, part of it is scheduling someone people want to see...Hamrick's doing a pretty good job of that.
I hate saying this because it's gonna sound pretty real, raw, and awful...but MU has to polish the turd that is C-USA as best we can.
We don't have to pretend we like the teams, I get it, they aren't good, and most of them are directional schools rotting in weird areas nobody would want to be in.
But MU can approach this through focusing on itself over who we play, which seems to have been abandoned here lately, minus the bigger names of OOC opponents, MU fans tend to focus more on who we're playing...almost like asking "hey, who's gonna be at the party? Are they cool? If not, I'm not going, I don't care if it's my friend's house, it's lame and wasting my time."
Apparently we have the most bowl eligible teams of anyone else in America. One of the things C-USA actually kinda isn't bad at, is propping up what they HAVE done...because until we leave this mad tea party, it's still our little world we live in, so might as well do what we can until the time comes.
Have some sort of positive story running about something to generate fan interest for the game...Litton's consecutive games with a passing TD, perhaps a friendly social media contest to see how many first downs, completed passes, 10+ yard runs, TD's scored, longest FG, etc., during the games and have the social media channels keep fans up to date.
One of the better things MU seemed to do away with was MU fan experiences on Twitter, and using a hashtag, you'd get featured on the big video display.
Where the hell did that go? I know many beautiful MU students LOVED that and some of their selfies could blow up Twitter and Instagram (in fact, some did).
MU also needs to cater to the greeks. I said this before in another thread but greek life sucks. MU seems to have given all control to 2 people and both of them suck donkey nuts.
Most fraternity homes aren't even real fraternity homes, and are crumbling.
I'd advise the greeks to do what I did when I was in charge of recruitment for my greek chapter...it's simple,
Go find a greek chapter who has huge numbers, ask them what they do, get tips from them, and try them out here.
I did that and increased our pledge classes by 10 people. For our greek life, that's not bad.
I think MU should offer discounted parking passes in the main lot to MU organizations. Many of them pay out of pocket, which is fine, but those parking passes can be expensive. Maybe give them 4-5 in a row for a discounted price. Same with the greeks (however, this is a very fine line due to the paranoia that surrounds greeks and drinking).
Perhaps have a roll call with the MU greek life, where the fraternity or sorority who has the most people for a season, gets like a free parking pass for a football season...or something.
But what this will do is not only attract people to a social event, it will give them an incentive to go to a game.
I was drunk as hell one night and on Instagram. My favorite MLB team had their annual calendar of their players and their pets. It was a fundraiser for adopting pets or some charity, I thought, "why can't we raise more for MU through weird stuff like that?" I'd admit, I'd chuckle to see someone mean as hell like Yulee holding a puppy with a big bulldog collar on it, like its mean too. MU art and design could do it for practically nothing I imagine. Proceeds go to charity and MU...or something.
Now, you're probably thinking, this stuff is small amounts of money and fans...well...yeah it is. But you need to start somewhere and with a solid base. If you market it frequently and it can stay consistent, it will grow and generate more of an identity. That's what we need for gamedays and the athletic programs here in general.
One more thing...the city should really invest in something it can make a real seller for the social aspect of the school. Something that students would spend 4 years at the school, just to do once a year.
Ohio U has their Halloween party...Radford had Quad Fest, wvu has their party reputation (which kills their retention rate), ohio state has that lake run thing before the Michigan game (it's stupid, just like them), Marshall should have something as well. We have a bonfire before homecoming, Texas A&M has them before each game...and they practice their cheering (which is why they probably didn't get into Baylor because they need to be taught cheering, haha its a joke).
I vote for making Huntington on St. Patty's Day to being THE place to be...I'm talking shutting down the main street, having bars and vendors all over with food and beer...of course, stick to the laws, but students will want to be a part of it, and will find a way to be drunk regardless, and people, inherently, just like being a part of something like that.
Plus, what MU fan wouldn't want to see 4th Ave COMPLETELY GREEN?
Personally,
I think one thing is to be open to the fact that younger generations are simply not going to have experienced what you all have. It annoys the crap out of me when the age card is played. Well no sh*t I haven't seen as much as you, I'm not old enough. That's like telling a 10 year old who doesn't like home, that they can "move out, get a job, and live on their own" knowing full well they really can't do that (unless they're in Asia or Africa). It's not like younger generations won't learn, they just need to see it themselves and understand it on their own. You can't force people to see your point of view on the first try. Give the younger generation the same amount of time you had to live and I'm sure they'll have a wealth of experiences like you did.
I could continue to go on and on and I will likely add to this in the future.
(End Part 2)
Setting: It was a dark and chilly late November night. All4 sits there, frustrated that the website made him cut up his approach of ideas however hopeful that they would be positively received.
As far as gameday itself, part of it is scheduling someone people want to see...Hamrick's doing a pretty good job of that.
I hate saying this because it's gonna sound pretty real, raw, and awful...but MU has to polish the turd that is C-USA as best we can.
We don't have to pretend we like the teams, I get it, they aren't good, and most of them are directional schools rotting in weird areas nobody would want to be in.
But MU can approach this through focusing on itself over who we play, which seems to have been abandoned here lately, minus the bigger names of OOC opponents, MU fans tend to focus more on who we're playing...almost like asking "hey, who's gonna be at the party? Are they cool? If not, I'm not going, I don't care if it's my friend's house, it's lame and wasting my time."
Apparently we have the most bowl eligible teams of anyone else in America. One of the things C-USA actually kinda isn't bad at, is propping up what they HAVE done...because until we leave this mad tea party, it's still our little world we live in, so might as well do what we can until the time comes.
Have some sort of positive story running about something to generate fan interest for the game...Litton's consecutive games with a passing TD, perhaps a friendly social media contest to see how many first downs, completed passes, 10+ yard runs, TD's scored, longest FG, etc., during the games and have the social media channels keep fans up to date.
One of the better things MU seemed to do away with was MU fan experiences on Twitter, and using a hashtag, you'd get featured on the big video display.
Where the hell did that go? I know many beautiful MU students LOVED that and some of their selfies could blow up Twitter and Instagram (in fact, some did).
MU also needs to cater to the greeks. I said this before in another thread but greek life sucks. MU seems to have given all control to 2 people and both of them suck donkey nuts.
Most fraternity homes aren't even real fraternity homes, and are crumbling.
I'd advise the greeks to do what I did when I was in charge of recruitment for my greek chapter...it's simple,
Go find a greek chapter who has huge numbers, ask them what they do, get tips from them, and try them out here.
I did that and increased our pledge classes by 10 people. For our greek life, that's not bad.
I think MU should offer discounted parking passes in the main lot to MU organizations. Many of them pay out of pocket, which is fine, but those parking passes can be expensive. Maybe give them 4-5 in a row for a discounted price. Same with the greeks (however, this is a very fine line due to the paranoia that surrounds greeks and drinking).
Perhaps have a roll call with the MU greek life, where the fraternity or sorority who has the most people for a season, gets like a free parking pass for a football season...or something.
But what this will do is not only attract people to a social event, it will give them an incentive to go to a game.
I was drunk as hell one night and on Instagram. My favorite MLB team had their annual calendar of their players and their pets. It was a fundraiser for adopting pets or some charity, I thought, "why can't we raise more for MU through weird stuff like that?" I'd admit, I'd chuckle to see someone mean as hell like Yulee holding a puppy with a big bulldog collar on it, like its mean too. MU art and design could do it for practically nothing I imagine. Proceeds go to charity and MU...or something.
Now, you're probably thinking, this stuff is small amounts of money and fans...well...yeah it is. But you need to start somewhere and with a solid base. If you market it frequently and it can stay consistent, it will grow and generate more of an identity. That's what we need for gamedays and the athletic programs here in general.
One more thing...the city should really invest in something it can make a real seller for the social aspect of the school. Something that students would spend 4 years at the school, just to do once a year.
Ohio U has their Halloween party...Radford had Quad Fest, wvu has their party reputation (which kills their retention rate), ohio state has that lake run thing before the Michigan game (it's stupid, just like them), Marshall should have something as well. We have a bonfire before homecoming, Texas A&M has them before each game...and they practice their cheering (which is why they probably didn't get into Baylor because they need to be taught cheering, haha its a joke).
I vote for making Huntington on St. Patty's Day to being THE place to be...I'm talking shutting down the main street, having bars and vendors all over with food and beer...of course, stick to the laws, but students will want to be a part of it, and will find a way to be drunk regardless, and people, inherently, just like being a part of something like that.
Plus, what MU fan wouldn't want to see 4th Ave COMPLETELY GREEN?
Personally,
I think one thing is to be open to the fact that younger generations are simply not going to have experienced what you all have. It annoys the crap out of me when the age card is played. Well no sh*t I haven't seen as much as you, I'm not old enough. That's like telling a 10 year old who doesn't like home, that they can "move out, get a job, and live on their own" knowing full well they really can't do that (unless they're in Asia or Africa). It's not like younger generations won't learn, they just need to see it themselves and understand it on their own. You can't force people to see your point of view on the first try. Give the younger generation the same amount of time you had to live and I'm sure they'll have a wealth of experiences like you did.
I could continue to go on and on and I will likely add to this in the future.
(End Part 2)
Whew! All4TheHerd that is a lot to digest at one reading. At least you are offering reasonable suggestions to be considered.
Have “It’s All About Me” promotion night. Endless possibilities with this one.
“Get out of Your Parents Basement” night. Bring a parent you are still depending on for $$ and get a free beer or discounted game ticket.
“It Should Be Free” promotion night. Everything at the stadium 100% off
“Protest” or “I am Offended”
night. Bring your favorite protest sign and receive a “You Are Special” Trophy.
“Worthless Degree” promotion. Bring your Culture Studies Degree and receive Starbucks Coffee barista gear.
“Fund ME” season ticket purchase campaign
“Get out of Your Parents Basement” night. Bring a parent you are still depending on for $$ and get a free beer or discounted game ticket.
“It Should Be Free” promotion night. Everything at the stadium 100% off
“Protest” or “I am Offended”
night. Bring your favorite protest sign and receive a “You Are Special” Trophy.
“Worthless Degree” promotion. Bring your Culture Studies Degree and receive Starbucks Coffee barista gear.
“Fund ME” season ticket purchase campaign
All4TheHerd - most excellent post, grasshopper! He is spot on. The game day experience is missing from the J
Back in my day, game day experience was waking up early Saturday morning before dawn with a massive hangover, meeting up with the same guys you just saw three hours earlier at the club, stopping at the Little General to fill up the coolers with several 12 packs, as well as picking up a few bags of Andy's hot fries. Biggest decision at that point was figuring out whose vehicle was in good enough shape to make the three hour trip to the game and back. Park, drink, walk to stadium, and once there, watch football for the next three hours. Nobody was concerned about the 'experience'. It was all about watching the football game. Afterwards, walk back to the parking lot, and quickly unlock the trunk to grab more beers and hot fries, and lie about women we had sex with on the previous night.
the next
.....This part of the "experience" will never change! But, fellow Herd addicts have to realize that Millenials are a HUGE amount of people, and will be receiving trillions of dollars in the next 20 years as the wealth of us Baby Boomers is transferred to them. The marketing/fund raising/endowment arm of a University that doesn't adjust for this will suffer. The millennial's have grown up in affluence compared to their predecessors, and being the gamers/social media/text addicts that they are, it takes something more than a t-shirt to pull them away from virtual reality to a live event. It will take a LOT of forward-thinking effort from MU to pull this off!
.....This part of the "experience" will never change! But, fellow Herd addicts have to realize that Millenials are a HUGE amount of people, and will be receiving trillions of dollars in the next 20 years as the wealth of us Baby Boomers is transferred to them. The marketing/fund raising/endowment arm of a University that doesn't adjust for this will suffer. The millennial's have grown up in affluence compared to their predecessors, and being the gamers/social media/text addicts that they are, it takes something more than a t-shirt to pull them away from virtual reality to a live event. It will take a LOT of forward-thinking effort from MU to pull this off!
Well, one could not be condescending and do what Chad Pennington has done (amoung the billions of other things he already does) and team up with MU Business School (I think it was that, one of the academic departments) and host a Shark Tank themed contest for up and coming innovators of MU judging alongside the likes of Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit and award sinning groups with some real good training in Silicon Valley.
It would be a good way for the Athletics Dept to branch out to the school.
Was that supposed to be one sentence?
Lighten up Ruth. No one was attempting to slam your other two part monologue or completely mock all millennials. Just having a little fun.
By the way. I know Brad. No finer ambassador for Marshall University. A tremendous person with an amazing success story.
I like to hit the pause button on older people complaining about Millenials. Some of the complaints about the younger generation are well deserved. But people need to realize the parents that raised the Millenials are the root of the issue. Parents are quick to put a TV/electronic device to shut their kids up, instead of actually parenting them. We have stopped instilling work eithic in our children, instead we pamper and cater to them. Give them chores, make them help with everything! You will find they actually enjoy doing these things. It empowers them, teaches them the value of work and to value what they have. Don't immediately replace their things that are broken,etc...
Millenials aren't the problem, society as a whole "generated" them.
Millenials aren't the problem, society as a whole "generated" them.
I'm on the upper end of this. I'm 32 and have kids. Have any of you walked in to our bathrooms and thought about what it must be like to change a diaper in that place? DISGUSTING! Add a family restroom or actually provide a clean changing station area to use. This is a big determining factor for us in terms of places to eat or attend entertainment money such as sporting events.
As for actually being at the game. Stop with the commercials that are constantly screaming at us throughout the game. The whole game day setting is kind of bush league with the PA announcer talking, ads playing, music playing, and the band playing, its just a big cluster that ruins a lot of things for me.
Marshall definitely does a POOR job of advertising through social media. I have never had a sponsored ad pop up on my facebook from Marshall Athletics. This tells me they are not even using this form of advertising as I fit the exact demographic they would select to target. Not advertising through social media just means they are out of sight and out of mind with millennials.
As someone else pointed out, they need to lower ticket prices. Sorry, but we have around another 6 years before our student loans are paid off. Until then, we are on a budget, and my wife and I both have good jobs. When you are paying around $1,200-$1,500/month in student loans (between both of us) its hard even when making decent money. On top of starting a family, want to purchase a house, car, etc.
I know you all like to poke fun at millennials, but you honestly have no idea what it is like to graduate with the debt that we have.
As for actually being at the game. Stop with the commercials that are constantly screaming at us throughout the game. The whole game day setting is kind of bush league with the PA announcer talking, ads playing, music playing, and the band playing, its just a big cluster that ruins a lot of things for me.
Marshall definitely does a POOR job of advertising through social media. I have never had a sponsored ad pop up on my facebook from Marshall Athletics. This tells me they are not even using this form of advertising as I fit the exact demographic they would select to target. Not advertising through social media just means they are out of sight and out of mind with millennials.
As someone else pointed out, they need to lower ticket prices. Sorry, but we have around another 6 years before our student loans are paid off. Until then, we are on a budget, and my wife and I both have good jobs. When you are paying around $1,200-$1,500/month in student loans (between both of us) its hard even when making decent money. On top of starting a family, want to purchase a house, car, etc.
I know you all like to poke fun at millennials, but you honestly have no idea what it is like to graduate with the debt that we have.
How is building a party deck catering to millennials? Who doesn’t think that would be great. All the nfl stadiums in Florida went that way a while back. Hell the jaguars stadium has freakin glass wall pools in the suites. It is just about making games fun instead of just sitting in one place eating peanuts and hot dogs the whole time.
I think prices are about as low as they can go. For a family of 4, you pay $100.00 and get a $20.00 concession voucher.
There are also several promotions on social media that give discounts using codes for tickets.
I'm not saying MU couldn't improve, but they do advertise.
The PA and advertisements, well, if we reduced those, you will be paying an increased ticket fee.
Do you think MU just advertises for free? Every single ad costs money.
When Texas introduced Godzillatron and the new sound system, it blared endless advertisements. So much that students would chant "We won't buy that!"
Not sure if they still did it, but its Texas, they can afford not to if they want.
We can't. Until we get a major sponsor who can offset the costs of reduced advertising at the trade of slapping their name on the stadium, we are strapped for cash.
I agree 100% on the band, PA, and music though. Its a cluster.
Would anyone object to moving the band back to their spot in the endzone? Just curious.
I have observed several discussions on what could be done to improve atmosphere.
Someone suggested a leader of the Thunderclap on the jumbo tron and a countdown. That may actually make it sound in sync.
We should also feature some current MU football players on the jumbo tron to encourage the fans to get loud.
Also, MU should simply ASK the fans and students in a formal survey about what they want to improve attendance and atmosphere.
Finally...
If Hamrick proposes anything, are the older generations who dislike him, going to embrace it as something positive moving forward? Or will they be condescending and pricks because of their personal dislike of the guy?
It seems that Hamrick could have a great long term idea to help improve things and some people would do their best to discredit it because of their personal disagreements.
Hell, the whole "boycott MU" crap was actually the dumbest idea ever. So you're going to cripple the program because you don't like the AD? We aren't Texas or a big money school, we can't afford financial hits...because that'll cut into every other sport, and those who dislike Doc, well, he doesn't coach softball or swimming...and they'll be affected because you don't like a coordinator on an unrelated sport.
You think $100 for 4 tickets is a good deal? Sorry man, but I've already described some of the inconveniences about being a parent at a Marshall game. No way am I going to spend top dollar for a disgusting bathroom to change my kids diaper. Also, for $100, I could take them to a movie, Gattiland, and pizza and make an entire day out of it. Yeah I get it, I would personally rather go to the Marshall game too, but asking a family to drop $100 every weekend is CRAZY talk. Especially for a boring brand of football vs no name teams.
As it currently stands, there are lots of young families like mine who choose to stay home and keep all of our money. If Marshall had reasonable ticket prices for the nose bleeds, like $10/ticket, we would go to at least 1-2 games per year. Once there, no doubt we would be getting pop corn, hot dogs, lemonade, etc. It's much easier to dollar people to death than it is to ask for an expensive ticket price up front. My kids don't really know whats going on right now. I'm not going to pay $25 for my 2 year old to get a ticket only to waller me to death, wine about how hot/cold it is, hungry, needs to go potty (I cringe thinking about it) only to end up most likely leaving before the game is even over and probably arguing with my wife over something neither of us did, just out of aggravation from the whole situation haha
Once again, we pay anywhere from $1,200-1,500/month in student loans. We have to sit down and budget our entertainment money. For us, Marshall football is to expensive for the boring product and inconveniences associated with it.
As it currently stands, there are lots of young families like mine who choose to stay home and keep all of our money. If Marshall had reasonable ticket prices for the nose bleeds, like $10/ticket, we would go to at least 1-2 games per year. Once there, no doubt we would be getting pop corn, hot dogs, lemonade, etc. It's much easier to dollar people to death than it is to ask for an expensive ticket price up front. My kids don't really know whats going on right now. I'm not going to pay $25 for my 2 year old to get a ticket only to waller me to death, wine about how hot/cold it is, hungry, needs to go potty (I cringe thinking about it) only to end up most likely leaving before the game is even over and probably arguing with my wife over something neither of us did, just out of aggravation from the whole situation haha
Once again, we pay anywhere from $1,200-1,500/month in student loans. We have to sit down and budget our entertainment money. For us, Marshall football is to expensive for the boring product and inconveniences associated with it.
I also am on the upper end of the category at 30. One thing I used to do which I though was a smart move by the AD was the young alumni season ticket package. Basically, you get discounted season tickets, I think they were less than $100, if you have graduated within the previous five years.
A potential idea the AD could do would be to copy Snowshoe’s “ridiculous pass” where you get a big discount for buying a season pass way ahead of time. Do a discounted rate for season tickets during the winter prior to the following season.
In no way should kids under 10 be charged more than $5-$10 for a ticket. As mentioned above, most families with young kids aren’t going to pay $50 for tickets for their two kids who are completely oblivious to the game or sit there on their phones for the whole game... and I don’t blame them.
A potential idea the AD could do would be to copy Snowshoe’s “ridiculous pass” where you get a big discount for buying a season pass way ahead of time. Do a discounted rate for season tickets during the winter prior to the following season.
In no way should kids under 10 be charged more than $5-$10 for a ticket. As mentioned above, most families with young kids aren’t going to pay $50 for tickets for their two kids who are completely oblivious to the game or sit there on their phones for the whole game... and I don’t blame them.
No. You give them a smart phone and an interactive game to play along with the game. Iamherdman
One minute we don’t have $$ to fund a REAL headcoach’s salary....the next, let’s do $$ million dollar renovations for pools and party decks?? All the while, complaining that the price of tickets is too high???
Which is it? Is Marshall broke or not?
Which is it? Is Marshall broke or not?
Reducing ticket prices AND making renovations to meet evolving fan interest = more revenue. Ex. There are 10,000 unsold seats in general admission that sell for $35. $350,000 in unused inventory with little probability that it will be sold. And by the way has been idle for years. (Forget the chairbacks, that’s a different story altogether). Zero income. Unused inventory. It costs nothing. It earns nothing. Now lower the ticket prices to $15 per ticket. The lower prices induces fans who could not otherwise afford to go to the game, an affordable opportunity. Now suddenly there is an influx of $150,000. Not $350,000 but not zero either. And suppose this new fan spends a mere $10 on concessions. That generates another $100,000. So in total reducing the ticket price brings in $250,000. Not $350,000 but $250,000 more than 0. Add to that the game experience of 10,000 more fans cheering for the Herd! Good idea? Absolutely!
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