Open letter to athletic department re: marketing this team

by **2ndandlong** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 6:37 am

Dutch wrote:He thought this was the futbol forum

by **Dutch** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 6:40 am

Dutch wrote:
Otter wrote:Trust me that Orsini is a true blue Chartered Accountant. If you find me ONE other CA who currently serves as a D-1 Athletics Director, I will personally donate 1,000 hours of my time to marketing the football program.

I would like someone to convince to me that Orsini is not just another CEO cost-cutter who pats himself on the back as he saves $$ by firing hard-working employees making $35k - and takes his bows in front of empty stadiums that he doesn't - or doesn't care to fill. He makes alot of $$ and got this job based upon his promise to fill stadiums and generate revenue. Those of you on this board who were around when he was hired remember this!

The notion that he doesn't have the $$ is just nonsense. He is paying his fb and bb coaches big $ - and disproportionate $ for mid-level conference, but ignoring the fact that you need to be proactive and aggressive when it comes to marketing.

Nobody can show me that we even seem to be trying

ok Otter. "If you find me ONE other CA who currently serves as a D-1 Athletics Director, I will personally donate 1,000 hours of my time to marketing the football program."

Davidson College competes in Division 1 athletics. here's the bio of their AD.

http://www.davidsonwildcats.com/staff.aspx?staff=2
and here's the kicker....
A licensed Certified Public Accountant and 1978 graduate of Davidson with a degree in economics, he earned a Master of Science degree in management from Georgia Tech in 1979. He worked from 1979-85 as an audit manager with the international public accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick in Atlanta with responsibility for financial statement audits of public and private companies with up to $1 billion in assets.

you need some help contacting the appropriate person in the Athletic Department, i'm sure we can help.

i'm sure there are more, i found that one w/n 3 minutes

by **Otter** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:48 am

Davidson College was the best you could do? Well ... okay. Look - Davidson is a great school with very high academic standards, but it is tiny (less than 2,000 students) in a very small market - and almost nobody attends their events. Actually, there has been talk of them going D-II in all sports except basketball. I've posted a student review regarding their athletics program. I hope we are aiming higher than that.

But - a bet is a bet, and I promised to donate 1,000 hours to SMU Athletics. So at 8:15 am this morning, I went to the SMU Athletic Department and asked for some team posters and schedule cards so I could hand them out around the Park Cities area. Here's the bad news -- they handed me collateral materials from LAST SEASON. :lol:

Don't believe me? Go to Roly Poly on Mockingbird or stores in Snider Plaza and you'll see posters from last season for SMU sports still on the wall. Heck - even Highland Park does a better job and at least keeps their stuff updated.

That is just lazy. And nobody can tell me we can't afford posters and schedule cards every year.

Davidson Student Reviews

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Davidson1865
Davidson '13

Economics

1.5 D+Generally Overhyped

The athletics scene was one of the biggest disappointmens I had my freshman year while coming to Davidson. While traditionally football has remained relatively popular among students here, the games are pretty poorly attended despite the schools effort to provide a tailgate. After the Basketball Teams '08 Tournament run, the team has been mediocre the past few seasons, and although the games are generally fun to go to, their is not as much spirit and hype around the program as there has been in the past. Asides from those two, baseball games and tennis matches are fun to go to, as at both there are pretty good showings by rowdy fans. However, our athletics

Read more: http://collegeprowler.com/davidson

by **PonyKai** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 9:05 am

Gee, I swear if someone actually knew what they were doing, and actually gave two sh*ts, they might bring their concerns somewhere that it mattered, not detail in great length their grievances on a non-affiliated fan message board.

by **Otter** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:05 pm

I have received nothing but excuses when I approached the SMU Athletics staff directly with my concerns/suggestions. I choose to speak to the most loyal Pony fans because I think many feel the same way I do.

by **Treadway21** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:17 pm

Otter wrote:I have received nothing but excuses when I approached the SMU Athletics staff directly with my concerns/suggestions. I choose to speak to the most loyal Pony fans because I think many feel the same way I do.

There is reason not to speak out here sometimes public pressure us the best route some private pressure is the way to go. My two cents is public pressure may be the way to bring marketing to the forefront. We now have something to sell and have our house in order on the field. Let's move to the next rung to marketing and branding before we get left behind.

The ticket package and operation sell out are good starts.

by **Otter** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:53 pm

Treadway -

I agree that sometimes public pressure works, but the people in Athletics think they are doing a great job and in their opinion, anyone who disagrees is misinformed. Heck, even some people on this board think they are doing a good job.

If these people understood anything about marketing, they would realize that SMU may be the most poorly marketed athletics program in the country. The AD - with no reservation - has made it clear that it is not a priority of his and that he is not interested in investing in this area at all. Unfortunately, we see the results every football and basketball game.

I understand that it bothers me more than some, but believe me when I tell you that empty seats adversely affects our recruiting, damages our image,and undermines our ability to garner corporate sponsors.

A revenue generation mindset (not an exclusively donor driven one), is what is needed here. There plenty of examples of best practices in other schools. It is just a shame that our program isn't taking better advantage of the opportunities.

by **Stallion** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:06 pm

No I think everyone realizes that Marketing is a major problem but when 1/2 of the Athletic Department support staff including the marketing department has been fired and you got an SID wearing about 3 hats then that is more of a university funding issue. Put the blame where it belongs

by **2ndandlong** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:28 pm

Otter wrote:Treadway -

I agree that sometimes public pressure works, but the people in Athletics think they are doing a great job and in their opinion, anyone who disagrees is misinformed. Heck, even some people on this board think they are doing a good job.

If these people understood anything about marketing, they would realize that SMU may be the most poorly marketed athletics program in the country. The AD - with no reservation - has made it clear that it is not a priority of his and that he is not interested in investing in this area at all. Unfortunately, we see the results every football and basketball game.

I understand that it bothers me more than some, but believe me when I tell you that empty seats adversely affects our recruiting, damages our image,and undermines our ability to garner corporate sponsors.

A revenue generation mindset (not an exclusively donor driven one), is what is needed here. There plenty of examples of best practices in other schools. It is just a shame that our program isn't taking better advantage of the opportunities.

You are severely misinformed. It is not a matter of want; it is a matter of finances preventing us from achieving.

And your comments suggesting we fire Jones or Dough to free up cash in order to hire some [deleted] ant marketing team is so utterly stupid I can't stand it.

by **White Helmet** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:30 pm

Were we packing the stadium before Orsini got here?

by **Mestengo** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:32 pm

June is omnipotent lol

by **Otter** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:52 pm

Here is the problem - Orsini got the job based on the promise of better marketing, sponsorship and ticket sales. Five years in - still waiting.

by **2ndandlong** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:14 pm

Ticket sales have increased every year for the last 5 years I believe. I posted that recently and will have to find it.

He would not be the first person hired to do something by an administration that gets in to find out the resources aren't there.

by **2ndandlong** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:18 pm

SMU 2010 Season Total 164,602 Game Average 23,515
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2010.pdf

SMU 2009 Season Total 128,085 Game Average 21,348
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2009.pdf

SMU 2008 Season Total 118,681 Game Average 19,780
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2010.pdf

by **2ndandlong** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:19 pm

Also, sponsorships are way up. As I mentioned to you in a pm, we had exceeded last year's actuals by August.