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(09-15-2013 04:59 PM)csims98 Wrote:  I also think the sounds system is worse this year. All videos, intros, attempts to excite the crowd are lost since we can't hear anything.
Outside of food trucks it feels like they are just going with what we have for now. I do hope we put on somewhat of a better show when we host CUSA teams.

I took my 4 yr old through the lawn hoping to find stuff for her to do but outside of an inflatable climbing wall that she was too young for, I found nothing. She was able to enjoy the band/cheerleaders of course. I guess there aren't enough kids on a regular basis to take attention/funds away from lawn tailgaters and alumni parties.

Having gone to the lawn for the most part of the last 4 years. Yesterday was the pits for celebration of the first home game of the season.

I think game atsmosphere is the worse this year. Its uninpsired and just plain boring. The stadium should have been rocking yesterday. Bottom line...if you take fans out of your house by not rocking it..the visiting team becomes dangerous. But odu gives up their house fanwise often in basketball.

I understand yesterday was a boring game and the wave was rude. That means the fans are bored with the game. But still we should have been so loud that the other team had to switch to hand signals.

I can never be bored watching that offense work.

It seems, after a win where we scored 70+ points, that we'd have more, I don't know, positive things to say...

Don't get me wrong I love watching this team play and I don't necessarily go for all the extras but it would be nice to be able to put on a better show (especially with recruits in the house), be able to actually hear announcements and player's names and create a home field advantage. I am not expecting UMD's pyrotechnics or ECU traditions, but a step forward at least. Atmosphere is a huge part of college football.

I will say the white out was impressive.

I thought the intro video was really weak. It didnt get me pumped at all.

I cant hear the band. Were they there?

(09-15-2013 08:14 PM)TedHead Wrote:  I cant hear the band. Were they there?

Yup. We didn't play much in the 2nd Quarter though. I have no idea why, but we didn't.

(09-15-2013 08:21 PM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 08:14 PM)TedHead Wrote:  I cant hear the band. Were they there?

Yup. We didn't play much in the 2nd Quarter though. I have no idea why, but we didn't.

Kept playing the 3rd down song during 1st or 2nd down also

Hope football doesn't go the way of basketball. They worked for years to get that place filled in and rocking, once the arena was full most games, the university quit doing anything special.

No more good promotions, halftime entertainment gone, same songs every game, same dances, same pep band tunes for 8 years. No more giveaways before the games....everything stopped once they thought they had done well.

And then what happened? The fans quit coming..... (I know the crappy team was not helpful....but our homecourt disappeared befpre we started to suck nuts)

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Yesterday should have had a fly over, the Howitzer, and we need to start a tradition of raising a flag....Lets raise an ODU Lion Flag. Also, As I have said NUMEROUS times, ODU does not have a Football promotional video..that has music to pump you up, highlights of big plays, and the other thing we REALLY need to do is show huge hits on the replay. Caleb Taylor destroyed the kick off wedge a couple of 3 or 4 times and it was NEVER shown on replay. Our replay crew is horrible. The director for game atmosphere better get on the ball or it is time to find a new one that has FBS experience in creating an exciting pregame and in game atmosphere. The AD better get of the dime and fund things as well. It would have been so easy to give the entire student section THUNDER Sticks !! ODU sucks at creating a home field advantage with the 12the Monarchs. Plus.....we have at least 3 to 4 more years at Foreman Field...fix the sound system for havens sake. It can't be that hard or cost that much. Finally...I love the M O N A R C H S cheer but we need to start a tradition when we make a first down of the fans yelling "First Down Monarchs". We have nothing that brings the fan base together on cheers like ECU has !! Beside winning on the field...this brings tradition, pride, and unity to the Alum and Students. AIM High AD and Director of Game Atmosphere !!!

I agree with you. Students start leaving after the first quarter. But can't blame them. The ad needs to be on this. I know we switched last year for game atmosphere bu the hire was not for the better. Signature songs with dances need to already happening. And no ice cream and cake isn't going anywhere. That is for the little ones.

One thing I would like to see the players singing the alma matter with the band and the student section after the games. Like at basketball games. Its an interaction with the students thatss needed. Especially after a loss.

I agree...signing the Alma Mater after the game would be a huge improvement.

(09-16-2013 07:55 AM)Mr.BigBlue Wrote:  I agree...signing the Alma Mater after the game would be a huge improvement.

I figured that was tradition that Wendy started a few years back. I guess it didn't translate over to football.

I did like the giant USA flag during the national anthem.

(09-15-2013 09:15 PM)MonarchManiac Wrote:  Hope football doesn't go the way of basketball. They worked for years to get that place filled in and rocking, once the arena was full most games, the university quit doing anything special.

No more good promotions, halftime entertainment gone, same songs every game, same dances, same pep band tunes for 8 years. No more giveaways before the games....everything stopped once they thought they had done well.

And then what happened? The fans quit coming..... (I know the crappy team was not helpful....but our homecourt disappeared befpre we started to suck nuts)

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Bingo.

When your athletic department starts taking fanship (i know its not a word) for granted, that's when it all falls apart with the casual fans.

The die hards like most everyone here will be there no matter what.

(09-16-2013 12:28 PM)Razor Ramon Monarch Wrote:  Bingo.

When your athletic department starts taking fanship (i know its not a word) for granted, that's when it all falls apart with the casual fans.

The die hards like most everyone here will be there no matter what.

Maybe more than just the casual fan.
As an example of the above, I think the reseating and parking processes contributed to what may become long term loyalty problems.
Sure; reseating (and seat licenses) is a necessary source of revenue. I understand that.

However, I believe that all season ticket holders should have been given the opportunity to retain their previous seats, and all tailgaters should have had the opportunity to retain their lots (if those lots still existed).

The "blind" auction caught many off guard as to what total contribution was sufficient.
In fact it may have actually hurt total revenues for ODAF, perhaps substantially.

Many alums I have spoken with would gladly have contributed much more (including myself) to guarantee their previous seats. Heck, there were WAY too many seats already marked unavailable even before the first appointment. I can tell you with complete certainty that THAT pissed alot of alums off, as it affected their ODAF rank calculation vs perceived available seats.

The same goes with the tailgate lots. As someone mentioned previously, they thought they had given enough to stay Blue, and likely would have given the requisite amount had they known.

In my position I talk to a lot of alums, and I think the disappointment of seating and tailgating was very evident Saturday night in the lower key of the crowd.

I can see people are retaining tickets for next year only. Meaning they may go to a game here and there this year but if they didn't purchase tixs this year they would have been shut out for big games next year.

Its a captive audience until the new stadium is opened and I think the athletic depart is acting like that. I believe in the team. But the game envirnoment is bad. While we are still small we can do things to establish fan involvement not oh let's wait til next year or til the new stadium. Its how it feels.

The reseating and tailgate assignments are consistent with all other programs. That is how it is done and it was communicated to everyone. If you want your seats and tailgating spot contribute more each and every time it is done. If ODU athletics are important pay for it. If not....you get what you pay for. Yes many seats were taken before the actual reseating process began. Those were mostly hold backs for Band, Student, parents, Athletic department, visiting teams, and perhaps some HUGE corporate level donations. I have no problem with that. My only issue is that when you pay higher level prices, you should be given higher quality entertainment both on and off the field.
- The stadium sound system needs to be fixed NOW !! Not acceptable for any section to hear clearly what is being said. The only excuse should be the crowd is to loud to hear the announcements not the sound system performance.
- The Game Atmosphere including replays, videos, and intros are horrible
- There is NO fan involvement / engagement.
- There are no traditions being established. Other than the M O N A R C H S song.
- Really...the only small tradition was the Howitzer and someone made the stupid decision to can that !!
- Can't we afford Blue and White Smoke
- Isn't there a Flag pole where we could raise a Monarch / ODU Flag to some exciting music
- What is our student section referred too ? Maybe the University should hold a contest to name the student section !! get students and fans involved.
- Pregame should be all about building up excitement towards kick off
- Big Blue entrance should be one of the last things done before the Team takes the field
- We are moving to bigger better things....time to do bigger and better things.

(09-16-2013 01:12 PM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-16-2013 12:28 PM)Razor Ramon Monarch Wrote:  Bingo.

When your athletic department starts taking fanship (i know its not a word) for granted, that's when it all falls apart with the casual fans.

The die hards like most everyone here will be there no matter what.

Maybe more than just the casual fan.
As an example of the above, I think the reseating and parking processes contributed to what may become long term loyalty problems.
Sure; reseating (and seat licenses) is a necessary source of revenue. I understand that.

However, I believe that all season ticket holders should have been given the opportunity to retain their previous seats, and all tailgaters should have had the opportunity to retain their lots (if those lots still existed).

The "blind" auction caught many off guard as to what total contribution was sufficient.
In fact it may have actually hurt total revenues for ODAF, perhaps substantially.

Many alums I have spoken with would gladly have contributed much more (including myself) to guarantee their previous seats. Heck, there were WAY too many seats already marked unavailable even before the first appointment. I can tell you with complete certainty that THAT pissed alot of alums off, as it affected their ODAF rank calculation vs perceived available seats.

The same goes with the tailgate lots. As someone mentioned previously, they thought they had given enough to stay Blue, and likely would have given the requisite amount had they known.

In my position I talk to a lot of alums, and I think the disappointment of seating and tailgating was very evident Saturday night in the lower key of the crowd.

CORRECT

(09-16-2013 01:54 PM)Mr.BigBlue Wrote:  The reseating and tailgate assignments are consistent with all other programs. That is how it is done and it was communicated to everyone. If you want your seats and tailgating spot contribute more each and every time it is done. If ODU athletics are important pay for it. If not....you get what you pay for. Yes many seats were taken before the actual reseating process began. Those were mostly hold backs for Band, Student, parents, Athletic department, visiting teams, and perhaps some HUGE corporate level donations. I have no problem with that. My only issue is that when you pay higher level prices, you should be given higher quality entertainment both on and off the field.
- The stadium sound system needs to be fixed NOW !! Not acceptable for any section to hear clearly what is being said. The only excuse should be the crowd is to loud to hear the announcements not the sound system performance.
- The Game Atmosphere including replays, videos, and intros are horrible
- There is NO fan involvement / engagement.
- There are no traditions being established. Other than the M O N A R C H S song.
- Really...the only small tradition was the Howitzer and someone made the stupid decision to can that !!
- Can't we afford Blue and White Smoke
- Isn't there a Flag pole where we could raise a Monarch / ODU Flag to some exciting music
- What is our student section referred too ? Maybe the University should hold a contest to name the student section !! get students and fans involved.
- Pregame should be all about building up excitement towards kick off
- Big Blue entrance should be one of the last things done before the Team takes the field
- We are moving to bigger better things....time to do bigger and better things.

Just because others do it that way does not mean we should.

However, you are not factually correct.
Not all programs do it this way. Many use a seat equity program that allows for a graduated scale of donations applied to seats, thus guaranteeing that you can maintain your seats.
This eliminates the need for re-seating.
Clemson is an example of the equity model.

Others use a PSL (Personal Seat License) program that precludes the need for re-seating.
Ohio State (and UNCC) uses this model. The pros have used this for decades.

Penn State doesn't apply a seat location value at all.

We probably cannot afford the revenue loss of the Penn State model, but I think the Clemson model would have worked just fine here.