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DougSutton

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Sometimes wisdom can be drawn from movies to identify best practices in real life application. In the case of ISU basketball attendance, perhaps there are some ideas we can draw from Will Ferrel's leadership and creativity in the movie Semi Pro in how he attracted and engaged with fans.
 

BirdGrad2011

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Sometimes wisdom can be drawn from movies to identify best practices in real life application. In the case of ISU basketball attendance, perhaps there are some ideas we can draw from Will Ferrel's leadership and creativity in the movie Semi Pro in how he attracted and engaged with fans.
I nominate crazzy to fight a bear at halftime.
 

Phantom

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ISU needs to go back to the future. Want a DJ and piped in music, go to a professional sports team. Want a true honest college experience, fire up the band and bring back the tubas. Not going to see that at the bulls game. Fill halftime with student and possibly alumni introductions. People will show just to see their friends family etc. Go watch a 1980s game and bring it all back. Not just a retro night but a retro season. Definitely be something the students have not experienced before. Have a game “reserved for every college and or departments on campus. Invite students and alumni to go to the game. Try a few games with just the band and no piped in DJ music, advertise that and see how it draws. Try something!!!
This sums it up pretty well. Combine this with winning and you have, voila, the atmosphere we all remember, love, and yearn for again.

This also is part of the uphill battle I mentioned in my post earlier in this thread. The admin is too conservative/restrictive. The band/dance team/cheerleaders don't get to do half of what they did in years' past. They're constantly told "no" to most things, even things that every other school does/wears/says, etc. As long as those roadblocks are there, it's hard to get those groups fully engaged. That's why halftime shows seem so robotic, there's a DJ instead of letting the band play a full game, and there's little pep on the sidelines compared to the days of not so long ago.
 

SgtHulka

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Freebies! Tee shirts, pizza, back in the '80s, when we kicked ass, there were competitions like arm wrestling, tug of wars, etc. Get the student body to enjoy the experience, get them to invest into the experience. And yes, let the band play and play and play.
They've had several student freebies this year. T shirts more than once, and pizza. The pizza game pre announced with a limited number of slices available but at the end of the game they were giving away whole pies so it's not yet really drawing the students out. But early on it was a full court press on the students.
 

gobirds85

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They've had several student freebies this year. T shirts more than once, and pizza. The pizza game pre announced with a limited number of slices available but at the end of the game they were giving away whole pies so it's not yet really drawing the students out. But early on it was a full court press on the students.

Free beer?
 

Redbird60451

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I think they should have Anti T-Shirt night. Trade in a cheap T Shirt and you get to sit behind the visitors bench and scorer's table and be on TV. It should be on one of the games being carried on TV, not on ESPN3. If you paint or shave a letter on your chest bonus to move front and center. Maybe throughout the game kids dropping food on themselves, asking the visiting team for towels to wipe off the grease or mustard.

Maybe sumo basketball at half, you know where you get those sumo suits and have the students just knock the crap out of each other during half trying to play basketball.
 

Redbird82

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We retired to Tennessee 7 years ago. When we were back in town, went to 3 men’s games and a women’s game. If we still lived there would probably go to all the guy’s games and most of the women’s. But I was a casual ISU fan even growing up and became addicted during my college years, hardly missed a game in 4 years. That’s when you need to get people, as students, the casual town fans will come when you win consistently. But you need to replenish the fan bas3 with young fans, easier said than done nowadays I know…
 

Humdinger

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I think they should have Anti T-Shirt night. Trade in a cheap T Shirt and you get to sit behind the visitors bench and scorer's table and be on TV. It should be on one of the games being carried on TV, not on ESPN3. If you paint or shave a letter on your chest bonus to move front and center. Maybe throughout the game kids dropping food on themselves, asking the visiting team for towels to wipe off the grease or mustard.

Maybe sumo basketball at half, you know where you get those sumo suits and have the students just knock the crap out of each other during half trying to play basketball.
Well ya got me. I like it! Half of the fun when I was a student was being quite close to the visitor's bench. Of course, we boys and girls were always, ummmm, polite...and heartily sent them greetings of 'goodwill.' 😇
 

isuquinndog

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And if you saw what happened at the end of the SIU game a few weeks ago, you know why students aren't allowed near visiting players.
 

Redbird60451

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And if you saw what happened at the end of the SIU game a few weeks ago, you know why students aren't allowed near visiting players.
Our Students are much better citizens then the people they accept into SIU-C. Our university has higher standards and we would never take it that far. I'm also sure it was the Wife of Murray State's Coach provoking them. Hear she's a big 'Karen'.
 

Rdbirds93

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How about a section for non-student fans who like to stand up and cheer during the game? I may be old but I still like to stand and cheer during games. Wouldn’t mind if they called it the AARP section as long as I can stand and be close to the game.
 

Adunk33

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How about a section for non-student fans who like to stand up and cheer during the game? I may be old but I still like to stand and cheer during games. Wouldn’t mind if they called it the AARP section as long as I can stand and be close to the game.
I've had that thought. I think we could probably easily fill a section in the lower bowl that when fans purchase the ticket, they know this section stands, cheers and gets into the game. If you don't want to do that, opt to sit elsewhere.
 

isuquinndog

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As long as you let season ticket holders pick their seats, probably not going to happen without pissing someone off.
 

Phantom

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I've had that thought. I think we could probably easily fill a section in the lower bowl that when fans purchase the ticket, they know this section stands, cheers and gets into the game. If you don't want to do that, opt to sit elsewhere.
That came up recently with the Student for A Day tix during Christmas break. I think for next season, they should have one section behind the basket for those who want to stand & bring the noise and the opposite section for those who don't. It'd be awesome if there were enough alums to pull that off & show the current students how it's done :):cool:
 

Adunk33

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That came up recently with the Student for A Day tix during Christmas break. I think for next season, they should have one section behind the basket for those who want to stand & bring the noise and the opposite section for those who don't. It'd be awesome if there were enough alums to pull that off & show the current students how it's done :):cool:
That was less of a "student for the day" promo as much as it was "here's cheap lower bowl seats while the students are gone." From what I could tell, other than sitting in those seats, there were no other "student perks," like a t-shirt giveaway or pizza or whatever. I think the concept is good, but the execution fell flat.

That said...I do think they need to go back to one endzone being for students and over flow going to the upperbowl of that side until they can prove to consistently fill it. Make the opposite GA or season tix with no donation required or something. It'd also increase demand and those that want to be there would get there early and bring excitement to the game. That would also mean ditching the DJ as his equipment takes up 2 rows.
 

Phantom

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That was less of a "student for the day" promo as much as it was "here's cheap lower bowl seats while the students are gone." From what I could tell, other than sitting in those seats, there were no other "student perks," like a t-shirt giveaway or pizza or whatever. I think the concept is good, but the execution fell flat.

That said...I do think they need to go back to one endzone being for students and over flow going to the upperbowl of that side until they can prove to consistently fill it. Make the opposite GA or season tix with no donation required or something. It'd also increase demand and those that want to be there would get there early and bring excitement to the game. That would also mean ditching the DJ as his equipment takes up 2 rows.
Yeah it was just a gimmicky name. It was fun to be front row again but not like the old days lol. But that's what I was getting at...if they REALLY wanted to do a Student for a Game promo, then the idea should be to make a student section full of alums who want to actually get involved & bring some energy. It could happen and be a lot of fun with the right run-up and promotion. I also know a lot of former cheerleaders and band members would love to perform at such a game.
 
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