(01-04-2013 12:53 PM)timxlydon Wrote:  I recommend we stop wasting our time with this guy. He clearly doesn't get it. He isn't a real fan of Huskie football, but merely someone who once went to NIU and likes to celebrate when they win.

Isn't that what draws most casual fans, winning? I mean look at how many recruits cite winning as one of their main reasons for picking a school. Let's be honest, we do not have a fan base comprised of diehards who will keep attending when the ship starts to sink. The fan base is invigorated and we need to capatilize on the recent success to convert some of these more fair weather types into long term backers of our program. The casual fan that jumped on the train this season as we kept winning is there for a the taking right now. We need to convert them and these are opinions of what are fans want to see. Its like 2003 all over again. Our attendance shot up the following years and then eventually came back down. Time to makes those levels the norm.

Our plan should be to market the heck out all the fans and to educate them on how they collectively can help get our program to the next level..

(01-03-2013 04:56 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  Some of you have been doing a little too much :drinky2: . Thinking you (or anyone from the MAC, for that reason) will be going to a new conference.

Yeah, well if you look, Dogpick has only double digit posts (A number of those just in this thread) and clearly doesn't know much about the conference(didn't even know that the NIU/Toledo game is a "rivalry"). He looks to be a bandwagon fan(which is fine since we need all the fans we can get, just need to make him a die hard fan). I am in favor of leaving the MAC if a good opportunity comes along-like the Big 12(used to include BE in my thinking on them has changed). I don't expect it to happen though. I would think Toledo would go to the Big 12 if they got the opportunity.

same chAnce in my lifetime as forming a snowball in hell.... or making one in this chgo 2012/13 winter..???

As HuskieJohn pointed out the highest attended games were when? All after building a fan base that was interested and invested after playing MD and Iowa St etc at home, that is not a coincidence. That gets butts in the seats. Tenn Martin does not. Nor will it ever. As I have seen posted before any type of AQ game at home and other 'local' schools would do wonders for our attendance and fan base in general.

We are never going to fix attendance issues overnight/over 1 season. Sure it can get better, ie 2003/2004 etc, but one slip and we are back to 15k.

(01-04-2013 02:21 PM)Turner4Heisman Wrote:  As HuskieJohn pointed out the highest attended games were when? All after building a fan base that was interested and invested after playing MD and Iowa St etc at home, that is not a coincidence. That gets butts in the seats. Tenn Martin does not. Nor will it ever. As I have seen posted before any type of AQ game at home and other 'local' schools would do wonders for our attendance and fan base in general.

We are never going to fix attendance issues overnight/over 1 season. Sure it can get better, ie 2003/2004 etc, but one slip and we are back to 15k.

Winning vs Kansas didn't do wonders.

We needed the media coverage. We didn't get it until after all of our home games.

Realistically the team needs to defeat Iowa. If that happens then we should have a great year. If not then we will likely only see a minor bump in attendance.

(01-04-2013 12:53 PM)timxlydon Wrote:  I recommend we stop wasting our time with this guy. He clearly doesn't get it. He isn't a real fan of Huskie football, but merely someone who once went to NIU and likes to celebrate when they win.

Yep. I am the type of fan NIU needs to take this thing to the next level. You guys are hopelessly dedicated and willing to put up with whatever garbage they spew out. Any program would be glad to have you. Unfortunately, there isn't enough of you hanging around Chicago Metro, DeKalb, or Rockford...and there never will be.

(01-04-2013 02:24 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-04-2013 02:21 PM)Turner4Heisman Wrote:  As HuskieJohn pointed out the highest attended games were when? All after building a fan base that was interested and invested after playing MD and Iowa St etc at home, that is not a coincidence. That gets butts in the seats. Tenn Martin does not. Nor will it ever. As I have seen posted before any type of AQ game at home and other 'local' schools would do wonders for our attendance and fan base in general.

We are never going to fix attendance issues overnight/over 1 season. Sure it can get better, ie 2003/2004 etc, but one slip and we are back to 15k.

Winning vs Kansas didn't do wonders.

We needed the media coverage. We didn't get it until after all of our home games.

Realistically the team needs to defeat Iowa. If that happens then we should have a great year. If not then we will likely only see a minor bump in attendance.

Yes you are correct. What I honestly just fear though is it just being a one off attendance boost. I think if we beat Iowa, and coming off the OB and beat Purdue the MAC games should see solid crowds.

But we need to build long term as well, and I dont know the answer to that. I think there have been good ideas on it, a lot on this board, but they need to be acted upon.

(01-04-2013 02:30 PM)dogpick Wrote:  

(01-04-2013 12:53 PM)timxlydon Wrote:  I recommend we stop wasting our time with this guy. He clearly doesn't get it. He isn't a real fan of Huskie football, but merely someone who once went to NIU and likes to celebrate when they win.

Yep. I am the type of fan NIU needs to take this thing to the next level. You guys are hopelessly dedicated and willing to put up with whatever garbage they spew out. Any program would be glad to have you. Unfortunately, there isn't enough of you hanging around Chicago Metro, DeKalb, or Rockford...and there never will be.

How exactly do you think that we the fans can take this to the next level?
Everyone did a great job at the Orange Bowl but that is really not going to do anything unless we follow it up.

The only way that I know is by donating money and buying season tickets.

If you know some other way please let us know. Most of us don't want to play EMU, Akron, Kent St or Buffalo that much. Again I don't even want us to play FCS teams any more, but we still need the 5th home game per NCAA requirements.

(01-04-2013 02:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-04-2013 02:30 PM)dogpick Wrote:  [quote='timxlydon' pid='8787821' dateline='1357322014']

How exactly do you think that we the fans can take this to the next level?
Everyone did a great job at the Orange Bowl but that is really not going to do anything unless we follow it up.

The only way that I know is by donating money and buying season tickets.

If you know some other way please let us know. Most of us don't want to play EMU, Akron, Kent St or Buffalo that much. Again I don't even want us to play FCS teams any more, but we still need the 5th home game per NCAA requirements.

I think that's the immediate solution right there. Let's say we brought 20K to the Orange Bowl and we can convert even 5K of those to new season ticket holders that suddenly puts us near Toledo. Say $120 per ticket which puts us at $600K in new revenue and each of those people buy two new tickets thats $1.2 million in new revenue. Got to get the word out. We don't all need to be Chessicks or Barsema to make a difference. Collectively a small contribution from a group can also go a long way to increasing our funding for the program.

Jesus, this thread is full of stupidity and I'm no longer going to read it.

(01-04-2013 02:30 PM)dogpick Wrote:  

(01-04-2013 12:53 PM)timxlydon Wrote:  I recommend we stop wasting our time with this guy. He clearly doesn't get it. He isn't a real fan of Huskie football, but merely someone who once went to NIU and likes to celebrate when they win.

Yep. I am the type of fan NIU needs to take this thing to the next level. You guys are hopelessly dedicated and willing to put up with whatever garbage they spew out. Any program would be glad to have you. Unfortunately, there isn't enough of you hanging around Chicago Metro, DeKalb, or Rockford...and there never will be.

You are a fool...EVERYONE here would LOVE to get 'more marketable opponents'....but we all have a general understanding of why it is not really feasible right now. We UNDERSTAND that the overall schedule is a reason why attendance gets suppressed, but also believe that there are other things that still can be done in the meanwhile with the cards we are dealt.

apparently you only want the end result while still maintaining a blind eye on how to how to get there. good day, sir.

Someone needs to add a feature where you can hide a thread from your view

If we just start thinking happy thoughts it will happen. Dogpick says so.

(01-04-2013 03:11 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(01-04-2013 02:30 PM)dogpick Wrote:  

(01-04-2013 12:53 PM)timxlydon Wrote:  I recommend we stop wasting our time with this guy. He clearly doesn't get it. He isn't a real fan of Huskie football, but merely someone who once went to NIU and likes to celebrate when they win.

Yep. I am the type of fan NIU needs to take this thing to the next level. You guys are hopelessly dedicated and willing to put up with whatever garbage they spew out. Any program would be glad to have you. Unfortunately, there isn't enough of you hanging around Chicago Metro, DeKalb, or Rockford...and there never will be.

You are a fool...EVERYONE here would LOVE to get 'more marketable opponents'....but we all have a general understanding of why it is not really feasible right now. We UNDERSTAND that the overall schedule is a reason why attendance gets suppressed, but also believe that there are other things that still can be done in the meanwhile with the cards we are dealt.

apparently you only want the end result while still maintaining a blind eye on how to how to get there. good day, sir.

He used Marshall as an example of a team who have moved up...

In 2014 Marshall will be in a division that will be weaker than the MAC East and in 2015 the division will be even weaker.

If no one else replies, (s)he has nothing more to reply to.....

Your friendly local UB fan dropping in..

The changes to the system pretty much flatten the earth, right now making a move for the sake of making a move is senseless.

Example: If the nBe offered Buffalo I would not want to go... But.... If they offered Buffalo and UMass I would because a division with Buffalo, UMass, UConn, and Temple centers around UB's alumni footprint. It's not substantially, if at all, better on the field than the MAC. The money at the end of the day should be pretty close, and the opportunities for the go5 is about the same.

For NIU I would Imagine the Mountain West would be a non starter... But... If you added in a brige school or two it might suddenly start to look more appealing or if the Big East brought in Toledo, NIU, and UB or something like that well then its sensible..

All this "I want to play in a better conference" is prattle unless you're talking about the B1G, B12, SEC, ACC, or PAC12

Dogpick – the following is a compilation taken directly from your posts with answers in bold.

-- If I am going to get off my buttocks to attend a college football game more than once a year it just won't be against a school that I could not locate on a map. I guess I was just saying--hey, could we ever get into a conference to play schools that appeal to most other non-hardcore fans?
No, because you have no understanding of what it takes beyond "your" desire to be in any other conference. Do you move just for football, what happens to travel costs, other sports, etc.? "Hard-core fans by your definition – better known in the real world as Herbstreits – are only enamroed by Top 25 BCS match-ups -- although you obviously don't care about those teams when they play schools you're not impressed by (as in Florida vs. Bowling Green, Alabama vs. Florida Atlantic, LSU vs. Idaho, Oregon vs. Arkansas State, Texas vs. Wyoming, Kansas State vs. North Texas.)

-- I'm not really concerned with the investment or cost. I just want more exciting opponents. I guess I am selfish, but I want more excitement. The Orange Bowl was fun. 2003 was fun. (Sorry us die-hards on this board define Huskie games and victories as fun.)
-- Well, I doubt I will spend much time here after today. (Clearly that wouldn't bother some us simpleton die-hards.) Seems most aren't real excited about seeing NIU play against better teams and just want to make excuses why we can't instead of thinking about how we can. Again, I wasn't suggesting USC or Ohio State or Alabama. I was just hoping for some exciting opponents that make me get off my rear end and go to the game. I don't mind missing a MAC opponent. I can catch the score on my cell phone and smile if NIU won. I guess I am a September fan and a bowl game fan. (Once again, see previous reference to Herbstreits.)
-- I bet I go to maybe one Huskie home game next year at the most because I just don't care about beating Ball State or Toledo or UW-Whitewater or whoever we have on the home schedule. (For the record, NIU has not played UW-W since 1965.)
-- I would definitely get season tickets and head to DeKalb for every game if the competition was better. I'm not sure why this gets some of you so upset. Why wouldn't you want more out of life? For goodness sake it is just a question. If the answer is no then fine.
(The answer was no, but you keep wanting everyone to simply agree with you when we know it's not as simple as scheduling every home game gainst some school that would excite you. Why in heaven Tulane coming to DeKalb would excite you is impossible to understand. If you honestly think Tulane is better than the top MAC teams, your level of football knowledge is a LOL.)
-- Why don't you want all the games to be against exciting opponents except maybe one scrub warm up per year against a team like Eastern Michigan? (Because it's not feasible or possible in the real world.)
-- Screw the BCS. If you can get the Canes in DeKalb I would have no problem paying at least $400 for four seats to that game. Heck, I would probably go $600 or more. (Are you a donor at any level at any school? Because it takes donors and die-hard fans to eleveate a program and sustain it; anyone else is just a band-wagon jumper. Note the massive drop in attendance at Illini games.)
-- Please schedule exciting teams so that me and a whole bunch of others will want to rock that stadium. (Some of us die-hards don't care if you and others like you get your rocks off somewhere else, I would rather sit next to real Huskie fans even for UT-Martin.)
-- The reason is because people like me just prefer more exciting teams that are more well known nationally and just don't care about Toledo or any other MAC school.
You seem to believe NIU can just call up anyone and schedule them. You clearly do no understand that those BCS schools you're so excited to see are either possibly afraid to face the Huskies in DeKalb or they just don't schedule home-and-away. Hell, some of them won't even schedule 3-for-1; sometimes they prefer to buy one or two 'home wins' to complete their out-of-conference schedules.

Post after post sounds the same…If I am going to get off my buttocks…I just want more exciting opponents…I am selfish…I was just hoping for more exciting opponents that make me get off my rear. Aside from the me, me, me, one of the best answers came from Armour248 who summed it up “Unfortunately (you have) a lot to learn regarding conference alignment/scheduling and the financial impact of those decisions.”

While you didn’t like (really read) the replies, some of the knowledgeable and reasonable folks on this board (again, us simpleton die-hards), are offended by your lack of knowledge and reality. Why so many people, myself included, had to reply to you was because your naïveté and selfishness became infuriating.