Increase attendance idea

[lwjr]

94 is looking into marketing joints to other schools

Not crazy about this one, our fans are to "mellow" as it is.

[smupony94]

94 is looking into marketing joints to other schools

Not crazy about this one, our fans are to "mellow" as it is.

Hire her to get fans more vocal?


(NaturalNews) When 45-year-old Elizabeth Alisha Greta Halfmoon was finally arrested for trying to set up a methamphetamine lab inside a Tulsa, Okla., Walmart store, she told police that she did not have the money to actually buy the chemicals and mix them on her own property. But according to reports, it took roughly six hours before anyone even took notice that Halfmoon had collected the needed ingredients from products throughout the store, and begun to set up her own meth-cooking lab right on the premises.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034417_Wal-M ... z1hBWA8aXO

[Nacho]

do not show home games on tv in the dfw area. talk about killing attendance.
make june do tv spots to promote attendance.

[lwjr]

94 is looking into marketing joints to other schools

Not crazy about this one, our fans are to "mellow" as it is.

Hire her to get fans more vocal?


(NaturalNews) When 45-year-old Elizabeth Alisha Greta Halfmoon was finally arrested for trying to set up a methamphetamine lab inside a Tulsa, Okla., Walmart store, she told police that she did not have the money to actually buy the chemicals and mix them on her own property. But according to reports, it took roughly six hours before anyone even took notice that Halfmoon had collected the needed ingredients from products throughout the store, and begun to set up her own meth-cooking lab right on the premises.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034417_Wal-M ... z1hBWA8aXO

Once again the goverment is "handcuffing" an entrepreneur trying to start a new business.

[peruna11]

Here's what I feel are the most important changes we need to make:

1a) Better product on the field. We have to win to increase numbers.
1b) Bring in higher profile regional opponents.
1c) Marketing. Right now if you're not an alum, on this board, or a student, you'd never know there was a game unless you drove down Mockingbird.

2) Have ticket agents hand out an information flyer, or better yet also give an explanation, of parking options and the Boulevard. Outsiders don't understand the layout or the available areas. Construction has made this worse, but closing roads and redirected traffic make it difficult on those not familiar with SMU. Let's face it, parking sucks & we need to find a better solution to guide first-timers.

3) The Boulevard - We really need to better incorporate the public into our pre-game. It is tops in the country and very unique. However, unless you are meeting someone with a spot, its not an inviting place. I think we should add concessions, tents, tables, etc to the flagpole area where the public can enjoy this part of the game day experience.

Side note: my boulevard thought is along these lines, but if you want better numbers, we have to drop the "SMU" stigma. The snobbery is a big turn-off to many of the people we need if we are going to become "Dallas' Team".

I like all the ideas for raffles, giveaways, contests, etc. I think all these roll into marketing, but enhancing the experience will only help bring new folks in. And while we're at it, if you don't like kids on the hill, then invest in some t-shirt cannons - any timeout have some idiots run up & down the sidelines with them. That will entice half those rugrats back to their seats, guaranteed.

Also, I love the ideas of bringing in HS bands to play along & battle. Reaching out to UTD, DBU, TWU, UTA is a great idea.

Bottom line, we are too small to do this on our own. We have to create an atmosphere the public wants to be a part of. I'm sick of people bashing the students; they have been bigger & louder the last 2 years than the student section has been since at least 1997 when I started coming to games, and I would guess much longer than that.

I realize we all think parking is easy, tickets are cheap, and SMU is awesome. If you want to know why more DFW locals don't come to games, ask them. What I've mentioned above are why they aren't coming on Saturdays.

[Dutch]

It might seem counterintuitive, but allowing reentry would help attendance.

There is a gate on the west side of the stadium that allows reentry......

Even I didn't know about that

it's true. gate 3 always lets me back in.

[OR-See-Nee]

Lots of good ideas here.

IMHO, parking is not an issue. Parking ON CAMPUS may be difficult, but my goodness, park for free at Mockingbird Station, take a free shuttle to campus, and take a free shuttle back to Mockingbird Station after the game.

The shuttle bus has been a great idea and I appreciate SMU for funding it. SMU was smart to find alternatives to the traditional "tough-to-park-on-a-college-campus" mentality.

Often times, there are more visitors on the buses than SMU fans (that's been my experience). Somehow our visitors know about this, but our own fans don't?

The one suggestion I might make about parking is having shuttle buses run from local restaurants to the stadium--pick ups at 1st & 10, Ozona's, etc. Maybe these restaurants would pony up some $$$ to be on the route and get some pre-game and post-game food and beverage sales.

[OR-See-Nee]

This ought to be a policy at every gate.

[peruna11]

Maybe there is a reason for the No Reentry signs, but if we're letting people out/in, take them down, or at least change them to read "Must get ticket stamped for Reentry".

Our tricks of the trade are unknown to the public, not to mention many loyal fans. All goes back to getting outsiders on board.

[peruna11]

The one suggestion I might make about parking is having shuttle buses run from local restaurants to the stadium--pick ups at 1st & 10, Ozona's, etc. Maybe these restaurants would pony up some $$$ to be on the route and get some pre-game and post-game food and beverage sales.

This is an awesome idea

[huskerpony]

The one suggestion I might make about parking is having shuttle buses run from local restaurants to the stadium--pick ups at 1st & 10, Ozona's, etc. Maybe these restaurants would pony up some $$$ to be on the route and get some pre-game and post-game food and beverage sales.

This is an awesome idea

And one that has worked many many other places.

[huskerpony]

There used to be a bus that went down to the Stars/Mavericks games at Reunion. From Hoffbrau, if I remember correctly.

[Dutch]

The one suggestion I might make about parking is having shuttle buses run from local restaurants to the stadium--pick ups at 1st & 10, Ozona's, etc. Maybe these restaurants would pony up some $$$ to be on the route and get some pre-game and post-game food and beverage sales.

This is an awesome idea

as a party that might be interested in this idea, i've actually looked at it in the past. there's insurance costs associated with having us provide a driver to patrons. bigger corporations can absorb these types of things, but it's very difficult for the smaller proprietors. plus it turns into a logistics nightmare. people want to leave the game the instant they decide to. we can't run w/o a full van/bus. then when people come outside, if the bus has already left to make a 'run' back to 1&10, they have to wait half an hour (round trip it takes about that long w/ mockingbird traffic, and unload times)

it sounds good in theory, and we've actually looked into it, but for us, it didn't make sense to have people upset about waiting, blaming that on us, etc..

[BrianTinBigD]

I say we work a deal with the North Texas Ford Dealers. We get them to buy the endzones and slap in the following logo:

Then we give away a customized Ford SMU Mustang at every home game. You must be in attendance at the time of the giveaway and we give it away at the start of the 4th quarter. Cost should be about $120K a year and we can easily cover that with the marketing deal. Heck, we can probably have them add that in as part of the marketing deal. That might help some.

Also, invite HS bands. That is something I have pushed for a long time. Schools like Allen would easily bring 1200 extra fans if you invited their band to play at halftime. Heck, just pick the 6 largest bands in the Metroplex and give them one game a year and teach them Peruna and we would triple the noise in the stadium.

[OR-See-Nee]

Good points, Dutch. I know you are a huge supporter of SMU and your business and I appreciate you.

I wasn't necessarily thinking that the individual businesses hire the driver and van, but use the existing shuttle buses that are already in place and have them make your place, and any others that are willing to pay a sponsorship fee or whatever it ought to be called, part of the current route. Essentially, the bus drivers add 2 or 3 restaurants/retail facilities to the route they already make between Mockingbird Station and the stadium.

The insurance risk is on the bus company, not you. And I know SMU has used some of the smaller buses from Mockingbird to the Stadium (the red 768 bus comes to mind). They could just make a loop between businesses and the stadium so that the bus is at every location every 30 minutes or so--whatever the route turns out to be.

And it could be with the new development at Park Lane, and lots of parking there, some of those businesses might be happy to pitch in. I'd be willing to bet a place like [deleted]'s Sporting Goods could be a spot--get some game day attire there and then hop on the bus to the stadium.

Unfortunately, someone will complain about anything that is done, but I feel like we need to look at what other universities do and try to emulate that--even improve on it. When I went to a game at Ann Arbor, there was a similar route offered. And the shops in Arlington used to provide a similar service for games--don't know if they still do or not.