Attendance and Conference Affiliation

by **harry callahan** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:56 am

Here are some suggestions to improve attendance at basketball games for 2011-2012. I know we have worn out this subject in the past but here are some ideas. Lefty Drisell did this at James Madison and he had the place rocking several years ago. Let a marketing class get credit for promoting attendance at sporting events at SMU. Lefty started the Zoo Cage. Every student had their ticket scanned at the game and was given credit for attendance. In today's climate, you can text every student, faculty member, and supporters to remind them of tonight's game.

You also need to have a committee put together that has a master plan to "sell seats" starting from September 1, 2011 until the October 1, 2011 (example). You should have a master seating chart and "see" who is assigned to each seat. Hey, set a record for season ticket holders. The band is great, cheerleaders are wonderful, and product on the floor this year was special. Bring in the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders for a game and sell the place out. Bring in the Budlight Dare Devil group. SMU has got some great looking ladies to "spot" on the floor seats - hey, that doesn't hurt. Sell, sell, and then sell out. Ok - blast away

P.S. Like the kiss cam, special groups, and love coach Doh making his entrance shaking hands

by **harry callahan** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:05 am

What are we doing in a conference with Marshall, UTEP, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, and Houston? I know this is not likely because several schools don't have football but we need to be in a league that has Tulsa, Richmond, Tulane, Rice, Oral Roberts, William and Mary, Baylor, Butler, and Northwestern. It will never happen. Any body have any other ideas? Blast away

by **RGV Pony** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:14 am

harry callahan wrote:Any body have any other ideas?

use the 'search' function above and enter keywords "attendance" and/or "marketing" and you'll find all the blasting away you want.

by **Water Pony** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:17 am

harry callahan wrote:What are we doing in a conference with Marshall, UTEP, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, and Houston? I know this is not likely because several schools don't have football but we need to be in a league that has Tulsa, Richmond, Tulane, Rice, Oral Roberts, William and Mary, Baylor, Butler, and Northwestern. It will never happen. Any body have any other ideas? Blast away

Apples, oranges and automobiles? What you are saying is a Big East BB dominated conference is where we should be. As a Non-revenue sports guy, we are defined by our FB affiliation that hopefully has many bids to NCAA BB Tournament. Granted that is not necessarily Conference USA, but our goal continues to be getting elevated to a BCS conference or consolidating CUSA into a stronger league for both FB and BB.

by **hoopmanx** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:24 am

don't spend a cent advertising, just schedule some legit squads and win. SMU, minus the brave souls here and choice others, is chock full of front-running, collar-popping, [deleted]. Win and they show, lose and they cheer for UT.

by **abezontar** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:41 am

hoopmanx wrote:don't spend a cent advertising, just schedule some legit squads and win. DALLAS, minus the brave souls here and choice others, is chock full of front-running, collar-popping, [deleted]. Win and they show, lose and they cheer for UT.

FTFY

by **CA Mustang** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:54 am

hoopmanx wrote:...just schedule some legit squads and win.

We'll see if the next year's schedule follows that or if we'll have more games with Dallas Christian, Paul Quinn, etc.

by **RE Tycoon** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:07 pm

harry callahan wrote:cheerleaders are wonderful

P.S. Like the kiss cam

You lost all credibility with those two thoughts.

by **PonyKai** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:09 pm

harry callahan wrote:What are we doing in a conference with Marshall, UTEP, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, and Houston? I know this is not likely because several schools don't have football but we need to be in a league that has Tulsa, Richmond, Tulane, Rice, Oral Roberts, William and Mary, Baylor, Butler, and Northwestern. It will never happen. Any body have any other ideas? Blast away

I want nothing to do with any of those schools save Northwestern, Tulsa, and maybe Baylor. Get us the hell away from dead weight like Rice and Tulane. Schedule Rice once a year in both sports for an OOC win, and be done with it.

by **Charleston Pony** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:09 pm

CA Mustang wrote:
hoopmanx wrote:...just schedule some legit squads and win.

We'll see if the next year's schedule follows that or if we'll have more games with Dallas Christian, Paul Quinn, etc.

we are always going to have some "cupcake" games. I'd like to see more home/home (one for one in return) series with teams, but unless we solve the attendance problem, those games can be tough to schedule (economically). No reason not to be scheduling UNT and UTA every year. Not high profile games, but at least there would be some local interest. I'd rather we do home/home series with La Tech and Missou State than playing the Paul Quinns of the world. I think we are always going to see someone from the Southland Conference, like it or not...but even those guys are now looking for home games in return from us.

by **Bergermeister** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:49 pm

harry callahan wrote:Here are some suggestions to improve attendance at basketball games for 2011-2012. I know we have worn out this subject in the past but here are some ideas. Lefty Drisell did this at James Madison and he had the place rocking several years ago. Let a marketing class get credit for promoting attendance at sporting events at SMU. Lefty started the Zoo Cage. Every student had their ticket scanned at the game and was given credit for attendance. In today's climate, you can text every student, faculty member, and supporters to remind them of tonight's game.

You also need to have a committee put together that has a master plan to "sell seats" starting from September 1, 2011 until the October 1, 2011 (example). You should have a master seating chart and "see" who is assigned to each seat. Hey, set a record for season ticket holders. The band is great, cheerleaders are wonderful, and product on the floor this year was special. Bring in the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders for a game and sell the place out. Bring in the Budlight Dare Devil group. SMU has got some great looking ladies to "spot" on the floor seats - hey, that doesn't hurt. Sell, sell, and then sell out. Ok - blast away

P.S. Like the kiss cam, special groups, and love coach Doh making his entrance shaking hands

All of your suggestions are positive/constructive... and you didn't just complain; you offered a solution. We've tried every one of those things (in some form) at one time or another. If you don't put a winning product on the court, they ain't coming back. And they didn't.

by **2ndandlong** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:54 pm

RE Tycoon wrote:
harry callahan wrote:cheerleaders are wonderful

P.S. Like the kiss cam

You lost all credibility with those two thoughts.

He lost all credibility well before that.

by **harry callahan** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:01 pm

RGV Pony wrote:
harry callahan wrote:Any body have any other ideas?

use the 'search' function above and enter keywords "attendance" and/or "marketing" and you'll find all the blasting away you want.

That is what I admire about you RGV. Great positive attitude yet bring nothing insightful to the conversation. Bet your fun to be around.

by **harry callahan** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:02 pm

Water Pony wrote:
harry callahan wrote:What are we doing in a conference with Marshall, UTEP, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, and Houston? I know this is not likely because several schools don't have football but we need to be in a league that has Tulsa, Richmond, Tulane, Rice, Oral Roberts, William and Mary, Baylor, Butler, and Northwestern. It will never happen. Any body have any other ideas? Blast away

Apples, oranges and automobiles? What you are saying is a Big East BB dominated conference is where we should be. As a Non-revenue sports guy, we are defined by our FB affiliation that hopefully has many bids to NCAA BB Tournament. Granted that is not necessarily Conference USA, but our goal continues to be getting elevated to a BCS conference or consolidating CUSA into a stronger league for both FB and BB.

Water Pony - Thank you for the input! Agree

by **harry callahan** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:05 pm

hoopmanx wrote:don't spend a cent advertising, just schedule some legit squads and win. SMU, minus the brave souls here and choice others, is chock full of front-running, collar-popping, [deleted]. Win and they show, lose and they cheer for UT.

Hoopmax - Isn't that Dallas? The best call -in radio shows are after the Cowboys lose. Front runners - not like other cities with hard-core fans who love their teams. Example: Look at how bad Indiana University was this seasson in they were still 11th in the nation in attendance. Heck, Northern Iowa beat them and we beat Northern Iowa.