The weather doesn't get any better than what we had for the Temple game, yet we had a disappointing attendance figure of 14,000 due in large part to a pathetic showing by the students. I have to give kudos, however, to those who did show up as they were unbelievably loud for their size and actually caused TU to get flustered on a couple of plays in the 2nd half.
With that in mind, I think the marketing dept should play up on our strength and reputation as the loudest stadium in the conference and maybe even take it a step further and label ourselves as the loudest in the country. (We may not actually be, but marketing is all about selling half-truths.) I think this approach could build a sense of pride in the student body and create something that everyone of them would like to be a part of. At some point I think the media would notice this and the whole thing could mushroom, creating a desire for students to want to attend each game just to be involved in the experience. Of course, we need to have competitive teams year in and year out or there will be no enthusiasm to continue.

We've only had 1 bad year in recent experience, the rest we've at least been decent. But it has been a while since we've had a good team. Coach Kill has mentioned multiple times how important it is to have a loud crowd, and the small number of students at the last game did make a lot of noise for how many there were.

(10-11-2010 10:57 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(10-11-2010 10:53 AM)HuskieFan84 Wrote:  007.. I would hope they wouldn't wonder. Football is king in college sports, I find it hard to believe the track team or tennis team doesn't know that.

It's a valid question though, as to how much should be spent on football vs. the other sports.

10% on WBB, 20% on MBB, 70% on football. However, don't try to reason with the marketing dept when it comes to that. "THE RED RIOT HAS TO SUPPORT CROSS COUNTRY TOO!!!!!!1111!!!11!!!" I'm sorry people, cross country doesn't need a student support group.

007.. I'd spend nearly all of it on football.. and maybe if the basketball team shows some improvement give them some of the money. The other teams.. I see no real reason to waste money on marketing for them unless they are ranked.

People aren't going to come to DeKalb to watch the wrestling team or tennis team unless they are directly involved some how. Related, played themselves, etc..

Just won't get any return on your marketing dollar if you spend it on those other sports.

I emailed the Athletic Dept about using they Huskie Mobile to hand out tickets for Saturday, and they are going to.

Trav is absolutely correct. People on here who think a pair of thunderstix are going to get the average NIU student out to the game on Saturday are kidding themselves.

People between the ages of 18 and 22 tend to be very selfish. The game has to be THE thing to do. Nobody sets an alarm on Saturday at 8am for an 11am game and says "damnit, I go to this school so I'm gonna go support it." That pride has to come from somewhere. At Iowa, it comes from 80,000 fans tailgating and going nuts at the game. Same with other Big Ten schools. It's tradition, and its something that has been established for a very long time. Since that ISN'T the case at NIU, we have to win, a lot. Like Boise State a lot. Otherwise our attendance is going to linger right where it is.

(10-11-2010 11:12 AM)HuskieBowWow Wrote:  The weather doesn't get any better than what we had for the Temple game, yet we had a disappointing attendance figure of 14,000 due in large part to a pathetic showing by the students. I have to give kudos, however, to those who did show up as they were unbelievably loud for their size and actually caused TU to get flustered on a couple of plays in the 2nd half.

With that in mind, I think the marketing dept should play up on our strength and reputation as the loudest stadium in the conference and maybe even take it a step further and label ourselves as the loudest in the country. (We may not actually be, but marketing is all about selling half-truths.) I think this approach could build a sense of pride in the student body and create something that everyone of them would like to be a part of. At some point I think the media would notice this and the whole thing could mushroom, creating a desire for students to want to attend each game just to be involved in the experience. Of course, we need to have competitive teams year in and year out or there will be no enthusiasm to continue.

I like this idea. If it works, it could become contagious for the West side, too. They could even have a "loudness meter" on the video screen in an attempt to get the fans to ramp it up even more.

(10-11-2010 11:51 AM)HuskiemobileMan Wrote:  I emailed the Athletic Dept about using they Huskie Mobile to hand out tickets for Saturday, and they are going to.

Nicely played, fill those seats!!!

GO HUSKIES!!!

(10-11-2010 11:07 AM)Max Power Wrote:  Why spend money to market non-revenue sports? Football revenue drives the rest of the athletic department, for better or worse.

Revenue, or profit?

(10-11-2010 10:55 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  ...And the team's pretty good. When Turner and Wolfe were playing it was worth the price of admission just to watch them.

I think this is more of an issue that people know. We don't have a marquee player anymore. I'm not saying it couldn't be Spann or Harnish, but Wolfe & Turner were a level above anyone on the current roster (I'm not saying that cant change). From a marketing standpoint its much harder to deal with a balanced team than guys who are breaking records every year.

And people here will hate this idea but we need more pop music during the games and less band. We need to mix more pop songs into the PA system during the game and breaks. (I'm not saying we need to eliminate the band entirely and not do the Huskie First Down! chant or the storm trooper march on 3rd downs) But you gotta keep things relevant. If you're goal is keeping students I'd start there. I'm 26 and I can say that the halftime show isn't exciting at all to someone my age.

I'm usually bored by the halftime show. I'd want to hear rock&roll, not pop music (and certainly not "Ice castles") at halftime. But I don't go to the game for that.

We've posted so many things over the years about marketing that hopefully NIU has crowd-sourced this board for ideas.

One side thought I had was that somehow Marketing needs to tap into this board. Generally(!) we are well behaved, well mannered, seemingly mostly interested all things NIU, and proud of attending NIU.

Marketing needs to get more people like us talking, and this board seems as good of a place as any. So how about a couple signs on campus, at the dorms, maybe in the stadium saying something like "Want to talk unofficial Huskie sports? Log onto ncaabbs/niu)

Seems like a simple idea mired in way to many issues, but it's free.

(10-11-2010 10:44 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  As I sat at the Temple game in the flaming sunshine (yes, my brain got a bit fried along with the rest of me), I thought to myself: "This is as good as it gets. Decent college football in a very intimate setting, where you can park almost next to the stadium." I have learned to appreciate what we have after attending our games at Michigan, The Ohio State, and Wisconsin. Sheer bedlam trying to navigate through throngs of drunken beasts. To park close to the stadium, you need to donate your annual salary plus your firstborn child. To pay to attend the games, you need to budget and do without something. I am thankful for what we are and what we have. As long as we have a quality program - academically AND athletically - I will enjoy the ride.

I wholeheartedly agree! After walking about 2 miles from where we had to park in Chambana for that game........I LOVE being in Huskie Stadium. We have the same group of season ticket holders all around us each year and it's like a "family" almost. There is nothing better than a nice day and football in DeKalb!

(10-11-2010 03:57 PM)projectmayhem011 Wrote:  

(10-11-2010 10:55 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  ...And the team's pretty good. When Turner and Wolfe were playing it was worth the price of admission just to watch them.

I think this is more of an issue that people know. We don't have a marquee player anymore. I'm not saying it couldn't be Spann or Harnish, but Wolfe & Turner were a level above anyone on the current roster (I'm not saying that cant change). From a marketing standpoint its much harder to deal with a balanced team than guys who are breaking records every year.

And people here will hate this idea but we need more pop music during the games and less band. We need to mix more pop songs into the PA system during the game and breaks. (I'm not saying we need to eliminate the band entirely and not do the Huskie First Down! chant or the storm trooper march on 3rd downs) But you gotta keep things relevant. If you're goal is keeping students I'd start there. I'm 26 and I can say that the halftime show isn't exciting at all to someone my age.

I'm a lot older than 26 - double your age actually - and I agree that more pop/dance music interspersed with the band stuff is a very good idea. I wish they'd play "Sandstorm" thru the PA and get everybody hyped up. Who can sit still to Sandstorm?! Plus, I LOVE pop/dance music! I love the Huskie Band too - but there could be a nice balance of the 2.

At least the alumni band is going to be bigger than at any time I was there, we're looking at 135 people, including everyone's favorite sousaphone player

(10-10-2010 10:42 AM)rabidawg900 Wrote:  

(10-10-2010 10:01 AM)Big_Man Wrote:  So what do you guys think the turn out will be next Sabado? I predict 23,000. If weather permits perhaps higher.

Big win yesterday! Go Huskies!

I would be happy if we got 23K

HC Attendance #'s the past few years:

2009: 17,608
2008: 22,092
2007: 23,057
2006: 27,039
2005: 27,641
2004: 27,385
2003: 28,221
2002: 20,186

And here is our record the last few years going into homecoming.

2007 (1-5)
2008 (2-3?)
2009 (2-2)

With the excitement surrounding this year's team, the fact that we're 4-2, and the weather will be sunny and upper 60s, we should get a big crowd. With three Saturday games in a row, a lot of people probably passed on last week's game for this week's game. I think the West Side will be near capacity. Hopefully the buzz around this year's team will get student interest to start to pick up.

And people here will hate this idea but we need more pop music during the games and less band. We need to mix more pop songs into the PA system during the game and breaks. (I'm not saying we need to eliminate the band entirely and not do the Huskie First Down! chant or the storm trooper march on 3rd downs) But you gotta keep things relevant. If you're goal is keeping students I'd start there. I'm 26 and I can say that the halftime show isn't exciting at all to someone my age.
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That's a good example of the ultimate question. Does this university care more about filling the east side seats with free students or keep the seniors happy with a mostly full west side like last week?? Ideally both could be met but the reality imo is all about catering to the long timers. I love the band, but some relevant music and noise meters etc could help keep students there who show up with a more aggressive marketing focus on selling the game day experience to the students. We have a long way to go and there's no easy answer. Just keep winning.

One of the best thing college football has going for it is the bamd. I pity the fool who doesn't appreciate the band. The college band IS relevant. Real schools have real bands and real fans who love them. If you dont like them go cheer on your high school.

We will do 20,000+ for HC. If last week was a 1:30 game, we would have had 16,500. Also, greek row had a major event that kept many from the game, 19,000 was not far from being a reality. HC will be solid!

GO HUSKIES!!!

(10-11-2010 10:50 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I wonder if the Marketing department has an issue with spending too much on football specificallly. After all, there are a lot of other sports programs that probably get very little marketing. Some of the other sports probably would wonder with good reason why football should get all the dollars.

Football is the front porch of NIU.