Kickoff Party is a hit!

WANTED: Passionate Sycamore Fanatics. That You?

Register NOW to join our community of die-hard Sycamore fans.

Register Log in

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Sycamore Proud said:
It seems yesterday's Kickoff Party was a success..

This paired with the coaches caravan in Plainfield have added excitement for the Sycamores! I like the direction I see ISU taking. Have you Indy area fans noticed the Indiana State promos when watching the Olympics? Let your marketing dollars work when you can get a large audience!


http://www.tribstar.com/sports/loca...cle_3f669a3a-648a-5d32-b08b-8eb098a1c078.html
Click to expand...

The marketing in Indy has taken a few steps up with lots of tv ads, I would like to see something in the Reach advertising magazine that goes out in the Indy and surrounding area every month to every household advertising the football team with the ticket information included.
 
Reach could be a good idea! I hadn't thought of it. I'm sure the tv has a larger audience but the cost should be less for Reach.
 
Sounds like a great event (for the teams .......) but the article mentioned nothing about how many students and fans were there ............. how they felt about the event .............. did not see any pics of the turnout. Also nothing on Gosycamores about the how the event went ? ? ?
 
Saw pictures of twitter (or maybe it was facebook) but it looked like it was a success with almost all coaches/teams/players represented there! Looked like a good time for the the little kiddos too, hanging out with the athletes
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
And again .............how many ISU students were there ? ? ?

How many ISU adult fans were there ? ? ?

Heard nothing about that !

Hell -- we have a couple hundred football players and staff at Memorial Stadium on Saturdays in September ---- but how many fans are there in the stands ? ? ?
 
Westbadenboy said:
And again .............how many ISU students were there ? ? ?

How many ISU adult fans were there ? ? ?

Heard nothing about that !

Hell -- we have a couple hundred football players and staff at Memorial Stadium on Saturdays in September ---- but how many fans are there in the stands ? ? ?
Click to expand...

My guess is the reason you're getting no answers is because the response/attendance was minimal. I recently talked to a group of current Sycamores and none of them had any interest in attending athletic events.

I actually believe our attendance problems are going to continue to get worse because more and more students seem to have little interest in athletics and that is going to have a compounding effect as the years go by. This is doubled when you realize that many of the students that have gone over the past several years didn't keep interest in the school's programs after graduation and have reverted back to their childhood rooting interests, if at all.

I was listening to sports talk (I think it may have been Bomani jones or Russillo/Kannel) and they were talking about how fandom is shrinking at record numbers at SEC and P5 schools. So if schools that have these luxury experiences and prime time competition can't pull in fans, what are we looking at over the next 5 to 10 years?
 
Westbadenboy said:
And again .............how many ISU students were there ? ? ?

How many ISU adult fans were there ? ? ?

Heard nothing about that !

Hell -- we have a couple hundred football players and staff at Memorial Stadium on Saturdays in September ---- but how many fans are there in the stands ? ? ?
Click to expand...


Well ya know if I had a number I would gladly pass it on. I don't. I can only pass on info and opinions that were given me by a couple of people that were there. Attendance may have been better if the weather was better. I was at the Plainfield event and know that the stormy weather hurt the attendance thate.
and I know the weather hurt attendance there.
 
Look, my point is simple --- and I'm not trying to be negative. But if you're holding an event to rally fan/student interest in an upcoming season, simply reporting that the team members, coaches, and staff were there and seemed to have a great time seems a little irrelevant.
I saw some pics from the Plainfield event and seemed to be a pretty sparse turnout. Not sure how to change all that, but once again the comments about the "hosts" being there were nice -- but did any "guests" arrive ? ? ?
 
I don't disagree with you. My friends simply said they had no idea as to the attendance. I'm guessing that if 1000 people had attended we would have seen the numbers in several places. I hope that the athletic department sill do a similiar event next year. I hope that fans and students in attendance this year return with several friends next year. Time will tell.
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Sycamore Proud said:
I don't disagree with you. My friends simply said they had no idea as to the attendance. I'm guessing that if 1000 people had attended we would have seen the numbers in several places. I hope that the athletic department sill do a similiar event next year. I hope that fans and students in attendance this year return with several friends next year. Time will tell.
Click to expand...

It is a good event and one they need to keep having in the future. The unfortunate reality is there were very few Non Athlete/Coach/Athletic Personnel in attendance. There were several reasons for this and the weather didn't help. This type of event and the one in Plainfield are great steps to get fan support going. Realistically, ISU athletic support has suffered for a while now, and you are not going to turn that around in one/two years. Events like these, no matter how sparsely attended are needed first steps.

They should create a committee to enhance the planning and promotion of the event. I think they could do a better job on the games and activities offered. There should also be some sort of tie in with Freshman move-in. Offer incentives for freshmen and all students to attend. They could have promoted it better as well. The only promotion I saw was at GO SYCAMORES. Not sure how many that reaches.

Bottom line is; great event just needs to be improved and taken to the next level. This is where you will see if the new AD can influence a better outcome.
 
We went last year and my girls had a blast. i committed to a golf outing on the date this year like a bonehead and we couldnt go. wife and girls were disappointed when i told them that.
 
Last year's event had an admission charge. This year it was free. Small step in the right direction. Did Dr. & Mrs. B attend? I'm not complaining if they didn't. They are busy, especially at this time of year. But it would be a nice touch. Were civic leaders in Terre Haute personally invited? Was it promoted to the Greeks? Why not invite the cheerleaders, Sparkettes and the band--ask them to perform at a predetermined time. The more people involved, the more interest generated. Hopefully all these suggestions were in place--but I doubt it.
 
The event in Plainfield would have been better if it had not be a "question and answer" type event and each coach just went up and talked about their team, the off season, etc. They tried to do it like a panel discussion but basically just went down the row and asked each coach a question or two. I would have rather had each coach talk about their team, the recruits, the state of the program and then maybe have questions submitted beforehand and read to the coach and answered.

Not a big deal, and was still a nice event, but if they do it in the future, drop the MC and just let the coaches talk.
 
Bluethunder said:
The event in Plainfield would have been better if it had not be a "question and answer" type event and each coach just went up and talked about their team, the off season, etc. They tried to do it like a panel discussion but basically just went down the row and asked each coach a question or two. I would have rather had each coach talk about their team, the recruits, the state of the program and then maybe have questions submitted beforehand and read to the coach and answered.

Not a big deal, and was still a nice event, but if they do it in the future, drop the MC and just let the coaches talk.
Click to expand...


I understand you position but I question if it would be wise in this case. I imagine that IS got it's name out to the public by JMV without cost. I think we got a good deall.
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
This is a far greater problem than just athletics. It goes to the core of alumni affinity and engagement. Athletics is a rallying point of pride in University and heritage. Having lived in TH and attended all the Larry Bird era home games there was a passionate sense of pride. The last "event" we attended which was motivational and inspriational was the pre game pep rally in Cleveland for the NCAA game against Syracuse. Granted we lost, but what was as important as the game was the pride exibited by the fans. Much of this is generational. It's been said before that in the 60's & early 70's Memoral Stadium would be filled with students. Different day and time. How do we engage our alumni for a lifetme? I know the alumni office from John Newton on have wrestled with this question. Friendraising is as important as fundraising. Can't have one without the other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top