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NIU32 Offline
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Post: #1
Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
We've entered the 4th year of the Sean Frazier era at NIU now. What does everyone think? After talking with quite a few different people, I've been scratching my head trying to figure out why we've struggled so much with attendance after winning so many games and having such dominance the last decade in football.

The branding of NIU has been great under SF. New facilities, new equipment, new uniforms, better scheduling, etc...

So why aren't fans coming? Here are our attendance averages going back to 2002 along with AD at the time, head coach and record:

2002: 20,953 - Groth, Novak, 8-4
2003: 23,575 - Phillips, Novak, 10-2
2004: 27,052 - Phillips, Novak, 9-3
2005: 22,174 - Phillips, Novak, 7-5
2006: 20,770 - Phillips Novak, 7-6
2007: 17,863 - Phillips, Novak, 2-10
2008: 18,188 - Compher, Kill, 6-7
2009: 14,889 - Compher, Kill, 7-6
2010: 17,760 - Compher, Kill, 11-3
2011: 15,559 - Compher, Doeren, 11-3
2012: 13,170 - Compher, Doeren, 12-2
2013: 20,669 - Frazier, Carey, 12-2
2014: 13,563 - Frazier, Carey, 11-3
2015: 13,941 - Frazier, Carey, 8-6

So basically, we are down about 50% in attendance the last 2 years from where we were 03-05. The question is why? We only eclipsed the 20k mark once since Phillips left once and we can thank Jordan Lynch solely for that, yet even with Lynch and the Orange Bowl appearance we still were lagging behind from the 03-05 years.

Is it the ESPN3 deal? Now fans have an option to stay home and watch on their couch instead of going to Dekalb?

Or was Phillips just that much better when it came to garnering support from students, alumni and the community?

From the surface level, it seems like Compher and Frazier have been catering more to the select wealthy donors rather than attacking the younger alumni who just graduated. I think that's a big piece we are missing. For example, a know a lot of my buddies went to the Ohio State game. However, Frazier made it a requirement to donate a minimum of $250 just to be able to buy tickets for the game from NIU. So what did these 10 NIU fans do, and much more im sure? Bought tickets off Stubhub rather than from NIU. I was in school during the Phillips years and it seemed like the student body, community, alumni were just wayyyy more into and involved. Tickets were basically free it seemed like, they just wanted people in the stadium. Homecoming was always packed. Now with even more success of late, less people go which is just mind boggling.

I personally think Frazier should take the Phillips approach and cut tickets prices down to the bare minimum to get fans back in the stadium. They can make up for that with concession sales, etc once they are inside. Then we can raise ticket prices once we start selling out again and the demand and following is back. Very similar technique to what the Blackhawks did during their rough years

Thoughts?
04-19-2016 11:58 AM
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MaddDawgz02 Offline
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Post: #2
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
(04-19-2016 11:58 AM)NIU32 Wrote:  We've entered the 4th year of the Sean Frazier era at NIU now. What does everyone think? After talking with quite a few different people, I've been scratching my head trying to figure out why we've struggled so much with attendance after winning so many games and having such dominance the last decade in football.

The branding of NIU has been great under SF. New facilities, new equipment, new uniforms, better scheduling, etc...

So why aren't fans coming? Here are our attendance averages going back to 2002 along with AD at the time, head coach and record:

2002: 20,953 - Groth, Novak, 8-4
2003: 23,575 - Phillips, Novak, 10-2
2004: 27,052 - Phillips, Novak, 9-3
2005: 22,174 - Phillips, Novak, 7-5
2006: 20,770 - Phillips Novak, 7-6
2007: 17,863 - Phillips, Novak, 2-10
2008: 18,188 - Compher, Kill, 6-7
2009: 14,889 - Compher, Kill, 7-6
2010: 17,760 - Compher, Kill, 11-3
2011: 15,559 - Compher, Doeren, 11-3
2012: 13,170 - Compher, Doeren, 12-2
2013: 20,669 - Frazier, Carey, 12-2
2014: 13,563 - Frazier, Carey, 11-3
2015: 13,941 - Frazier, Carey, 8-6

So basically, we are down about 50% in attendance the last 2 years from where we were 03-05. The question is why? We only eclipsed the 20k mark once since Phillips left once and we can thank Jordan Lynch solely for that, yet even with Lynch and the Orange Bowl appearance we still were lagging behind from the 03-05 years.

Is it the ESPN3 deal? Now fans have an option to stay home and watch on their couch instead of going to Dekalb?

Or was Phillips just that much better when it came to garnering support from students, alumni and the community?

From the surface level, it seems like Compher and Frazier have been catering more to the select wealthy donors rather than attacking the younger alumni who just graduated. I think that's a big piece we are missing. For example, a know a lot of my buddies went to the Ohio State game. However, Frazier made it a requirement to donate a minimum of $250 just to be able to buy tickets for the game from NIU. So what did these 10 NIU fans do, and much more im sure? Bought tickets off Stubhub rather than from NIU. I was in school during the Phillips years and it seemed like the student body, community, alumni were just wayyyy more into and involved. Tickets were basically free it seemed like, they just wanted people in the stadium. Homecoming was always packed. Now with even more success of late, less people go which is just mind boggling.

I personally think Frazier should take the Phillips approach and cut tickets prices down to the bare minimum to get fans back in the stadium. They can make up for that with concession sales, etc once they are inside. Then we can raise ticket prices once we start selling out again and the demand and following is back. Very similar technique to what the Blackhawks did during their rough years

Thoughts?

ESPN weeknights and scheduling poor non conf. It's as simple as that
04-19-2016 12:01 PM
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thehappyhuskie Offline
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Post: #3
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
From someone who was a student during the Groth/Phillips era. I can specifically remember the all out blitz that was put out to get students in the stands. Flyers, rallies, competitions, RAs/Fraternities were all encouraged and there was a level of "responsibility" instilled to attend.

Talking to undergrads now, very little is done to encourage students to go. That is where the sharp fall off in attendance has occurred. And if you look at it, its understandable. A student is going in for "free" (yeah there are student fees, but those are already collected). Inside they, at most are buying a hot dog, maybe. They are going to leave at half time and thats that.

On the other side, you have have someone who is going to pay for at least one ticket. More than likely going to eat and drink plus their companion. Afterwards their buying power is going to be spent in the area, more than likely on more than a few draft beers.

My guess is that the resources are being devoted to the higher impact fan than the student. Attendance numbers are nice, but dollars are better.
04-19-2016 12:06 PM
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klake87 Offline
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Post: #4
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. NIU Alumni and Illinoisans within 1.5 hr drive have other interests.
04-19-2016 12:06 PM
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NIU32 Offline
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Post: #5
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
It's much more than that... 2 midweek games aren't pulling down the attendance averages almost 50%. If that were the case our other home Saturday games would be averaging over 20k and we've been no where close

2004 vs SIU - 28,071
2005 vs Tennessee Tech 26,123

I know SIU is an in-state school, but I can all but guarantee you there wouldn't be anywhere near 28k in attendance this year if we played them this year. TTU is no different than playing Murray St... Why did 26k people want to see them play instead of Murray St? There is something else going on here
04-19-2016 12:10 PM
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HuskieJohn Offline
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Post: #6
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
(04-19-2016 11:58 AM)NIU32 Wrote:  We've entered the 4th year of the Sean Frazier era at NIU now. What does everyone think? After talking with quite a few different people, I've been scratching my head trying to figure out why we've struggled so much with attendance after winning so many games and having such dominance the last decade in football.

The branding of NIU has been great under SF. New facilities, new equipment, new uniforms, better scheduling, etc...

So why aren't fans coming? Here are our attendance averages going back to 2002 along with AD at the time, head coach and record:

2002: 20,953 - Groth, Novak, 8-4
2003: 23,575 - Phillips, Novak, 10-2
2004: 27,052 - Phillips, Novak, 9-3
2005: 22,174 - Phillips, Novak, 7-5
2006: 20,770 - Phillips Novak, 7-6
2007: 17,863 - Phillips, Novak, 2-10
2008: 18,188 - Compher, Kill, 6-7
2009: 14,889 - Compher, Kill, 7-6
2010: 17,760 - Compher, Kill, 11-3
2011: 15,559 - Compher, Doeren, 11-3
2012: 13,170 - Compher, Doeren, 12-2
2013: 20,669 - Frazier, Carey, 12-2
2014: 13,563 - Frazier, Carey, 11-3
2015: 13,941 - Frazier, Carey, 8-6

So basically, we are down about 50% in attendance the last 2 years from where we were 03-05. The question is why? We only eclipsed the 20k mark once since Phillips left once and we can thank Jordan Lynch solely for that, yet even with Lynch and the Orange Bowl appearance we still were lagging behind from the 03-05 years.

Is it the ESPN3 deal? Now fans have an option to stay home and watch on their couch instead of going to Dekalb?

Or was Phillips just that much better when it came to garnering support from students, alumni and the community?

From the surface level, it seems like Compher and Frazier have been catering more to the select wealthy donors rather than attacking the younger alumni who just graduated. I think that's a big piece we are missing. For example, a know a lot of my buddies went to the Ohio State game. However, Frazier made it a requirement to donate a minimum of $250 just to be able to buy tickets for the game from NIU. So what did these 10 NIU fans do, and much more im sure? Bought tickets off Stubhub rather than from NIU. I was in school during the Phillips years and it seemed like the student body, community, alumni were just wayyyy more into and involved. Tickets were basically free it seemed like, they just wanted people in the stadium. Homecoming was always packed. Now with even more success of late, less people go which is just mind boggling.

I personally think Frazier should take the Phillips approach and cut tickets prices down to the bare minimum to get fans back in the stadium. They can make up for that with concession sales, etc once they are inside. Then we can raise ticket prices once we start selling out again and the demand and following is back. Very similar technique to what the Blackhawks did during their rough years

Thoughts?

That is not true at all...

http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/m-footb...15aaa.html

"Any remaining tickets in NIU's allotment will go on sale to NIU football season ticket holders beginning Monday, June 8th at 9 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. Season ticket holders (who are not Huskie Athletic Fund donors) may purchase two (2) tickets to the NIU-Ohio State game at that time (pending availability). "

So you could have been a season ticket holder with $0 donated and had a chance to buy tickets 2 for OSU thru NIU...NOW if our allotment was sold out by the time Athletics worked down to the $250 donor level there is really nothing to complain about there.
04-19-2016 12:15 PM
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NIU32 Offline
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Post: #7
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
(04-19-2016 12:06 PM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  From someone who was a student during the Groth/Phillips era. I can specifically remember the all out blitz that was put out to get students in the stands. Flyers, rallies, competitions, RAs/Fraternities were all encouraged and there was a level of "responsibility" instilled to attend.

Talking to undergrads now, very little is done to encourage students to go. That is where the sharp fall off in attendance has occurred. And if you look at it, its understandable. A student is going in for "free" (yeah there are student fees, but those are already collected). Inside they, at most are buying a hot dog, maybe. They are going to leave at half time and thats that.

On the other side, you have have someone who is going to pay for at least one ticket. More than likely going to eat and drink plus their companion. Afterwards their buying power is going to be spent in the area, more than likely on more than a few draft beers.

My guess is that the resources are being devoted to the higher impact fan than the student. Attendance numbers are nice, but dollars are better.

At the end of the day though, attendance is what is going to fuel the future Huskie fans who come back when they graduate and is also going to affect recruiting and the branding of NIU. I'm sure recruits and players love playing in front of half empty stadiums week in and week out after all of their success and hard work. Were just killing future NIU fans and loyalty to program if we can't get people into the stadium on gameday, its as simple as that. Students no longer have a connection to this team or school while they are there and especially once they leave... and its a shame.
04-19-2016 12:19 PM
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Lord Stanley Offline
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Post: #8
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
(04-19-2016 12:06 PM)klake87 Wrote:  You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. NIU Alumni and Illinoisans within 1.5 hr drive have other interests.

It's a double-edged sword.

NIU is so close to Chicago and 7 million potential fans. 02-13-banana
7 million potential fans have a lot of other choices. 03-banghead

I used to think I knew what needed to be done to bring in more fans but over the course of the last 20 years or so most of that stuff has now been done with apparently negative results...... didn't see that coming.

I'm seriously at a loss at what to do to increase attendance. This could be a lost generation of fans if the Huskies can only attract 13 - 15k a game.
04-19-2016 12:19 PM
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huskie1stdown Offline
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Post: #9
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
[
ESPN weeknights and scheduling poor non conf. It's as simple as that
[/quote]

I agree. We started to be a really good team every year and people took a look at our schedule and said maybe next time.
Those night games hurt because you can watch them on TV versus freezing.
I go but it is not the same.
Better schedule coming up, I just hope we are good enough to compete.
I really wish we could have had these non conference home games 5 years ago.
Jiff really screwed us in my mind.
04-19-2016 12:25 PM
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niuco90 Offline
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Post: #10
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
I don't think that NIU is alone in trying to figure out why attendance is dropping. There are probably several reasons.

BTW, I flipped on the NASCAR race on Sunday from Bristol and the track was at best half full. Probably 33% to 40%. 12 years ago that event was sold out and there was a lottery to get tickets. People are finding other things to do with their time. I'm sure there are economic aspects that cause people not to go. Some may go once and see what it is like, decide they didn't have as much fun as they had hoped.

I think the question Sean T. and his minions need to answer is as follows: Will the incremental revenue to the athletic department be greater than the expense required to bring people to games. This includes marketing, facilities, game day experiences, scheduling etc. If it takes $40,000,000 to get the football and basketball attendance from A to B is it really worth it, or would you be better off spending what you do know and hope to keep the current fans happy and hope that word of mouth brings more people to games. I guess like the rest of you, I don't know.
04-19-2016 12:26 PM
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klake87 Offline
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RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
Wait till Illinois' income tax rate doubles. Then people will have even less disposable income.
04-19-2016 12:34 PM
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NIU32 Offline
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Post: #12
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
(04-19-2016 12:26 PM)niuco90 Wrote:  I don't think that NIU is alone in trying to figure out why attendance is dropping. There are probably several reasons.

BTW, I flipped on the NASCAR race on Sunday from Bristol and the track was at best half full. Probably 33% to 40%. 12 years ago that event was sold out and there was a lottery to get tickets. People are finding other things to do with their time. I'm sure there are economic aspects that cause people not to go. Some may go once and see what it is like, decide they didn't have as much fun as they had hoped.

I think the question Sean T. and his minions need to answer is as follows: Will the incremental revenue to the athletic department be greater than the expense required to bring people to games. This includes marketing, facilities, game day experiences, scheduling etc. If it takes $40,000,000 to get the football and basketball attendance from A to B is it really worth it, or would you be better off spending what you do know and hope to keep the current fans happy and hope that word of mouth brings more people to games. I guess like the rest of you, I don't know.

Agreed, I think attendance is a big problem in a lot of places, especially in the MAC, but at the same time, football is still peeking in popularity, especially in the Midwest. Very hard to compare us to Ohio State and Michigan State, but they just had 100,000 and almost 50,000 at their spring games respectively. Even Illinois had over 5,000 at theirs. All this shows is that fans are still interested in attending football games in person, its just how to get them there.

What I'm curious about it how Ohio leads the MAC in attendance at 21k plus while playing a very similar schedule to us and having nowhere near the amount of recent success that we've had. What is their AD doing?
04-19-2016 12:40 PM
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Post: #13
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
It's a problem that doesn't have a clear (maybe any) solution. While it would be great to have sellouts all the time, I'm just happy to be a fan of a great football team.
04-19-2016 12:42 PM
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RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
I think a few factors are involved, with the three biggest as follows:

1) People have a lot of opportunities for entertainment. Sitting in the elements for 3+ hours does not seem to be a priority, especially when people can sit home and do a lot with their computers and phones. Everyone is connected to technology 24/7. The options they have are apparently more exciting to them than watching a football game.

2) The conference we are in. Sorry, but the MAC sucks. No one is going to get excited seeing NIU play the likes of EMU, Kent State, Miami (O), Ball State, etc. The media does not get excited and neither does the public. In the eyes of most, the MAC is a little school conference.

3) The midweek night winter games on ESPN. Nobody in their right mind would sit in DeKalb in that weather. Most people are in their right minds and stay home. Unfortunately, that has a negative impact on attendance. And, with a third (or more) of the games midweek, that does have a negative impact on season ticket sales. I am a diehard who has had season tickets for many years, and a few times I have been on the fence regarding renewal of my tickets. I do not attend midweek night games in November. When we had 5 home games and 2 were midweek, I had to really think about renewing my tickets (at the price I pay with the donation). Weeknight games in winter are not the way to build attendance.
(This post was last modified: 04-19-2016 12:46 PM by Dog Fan.)
04-19-2016 12:45 PM
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RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
(04-19-2016 12:40 PM)NIU32 Wrote:  
(04-19-2016 12:26 PM)niuco90 Wrote:  I don't think that NIU is alone in trying to figure out why attendance is dropping. There are probably several reasons.

BTW, I flipped on the NASCAR race on Sunday from Bristol and the track was at best half full. Probably 33% to 40%. 12 years ago that event was sold out and there was a lottery to get tickets. People are finding other things to do with their time. I'm sure there are economic aspects that cause people not to go. Some may go once and see what it is like, decide they didn't have as much fun as they had hoped.

I think the question Sean T. and his minions need to answer is as follows: Will the incremental revenue to the athletic department be greater than the expense required to bring people to games. This includes marketing, facilities, game day experiences, scheduling etc. If it takes $40,000,000 to get the football and basketball attendance from A to B is it really worth it, or would you be better off spending what you do know and hope to keep the current fans happy and hope that word of mouth brings more people to games. I guess like the rest of you, I don't know.

Agreed, I think attendance is a big problem in a lot of places, especially in the MAC, but at the same time, football is still peeking in popularity, especially in the Midwest. Very hard to compare us to Ohio State and Michigan State, but they just had 100,000 and almost 50,000 at their spring games respectively. Even Illinois had over 5,000 at theirs. All this shows is that fans are still interested in attending football games in person, its just how to get them there.

What I'm curious about it how Ohio leads the MAC in attendance at 21k plus while playing a very similar schedule to us and having nowhere near the amount of recent success that we've had. What is their AD doing?

you ever been to Athens, OH? Its the middle. of. nowhere. literally. Columbus is the nearest "large" city and its at least an hour away.
04-19-2016 12:46 PM
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HuskieJohn Offline
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RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
November MACtion games have hurt our season ticket base.

NIU had a poor relationship with DeKalb and its citizens...though it seems to be improving right now.

HDTVs and being able to watch our games on those TVs via WATCHESPN

Mindset of a losing B1G team is still > NIU killing it in the MAC

People not wanting to commit to setting aside 8hr minimum to travel, tailgate, watch the game and drive home...and that is if you are within 45min from the stadium! People are much more busy mainly because of kids activities.

The cost for Young Alums is prohibitive to them attending much. We need a full blown Young Alum ticket. They did offer a BOGO free for people who graduated the previous year but that needs to be extended for 4 seasons after graduation to keep any continuity to have those young grads coming back on the cheap until they are established in the their jobs.

NIU sucked for most of the 60s thru the 90s which we are now feeling with a lack of NIUs older to middle aged Alums who likely didn't even go to the games. 10-15 years ago those alums from 65 and earlier were in the stands much more.

Lack of premium options. The endzone club is a decent attempt at a temp thing but we flat out need that East side premium structure with a real club and suite option.

We have no skybox to bring in much real corporate interest which would bring in more corporate parties.

Tickets are sold the same price the day they go on sale vs the game day...this gives little to no incentive to buy individual tickets early. IMO game day ticket prices should go up $5-$10 per seat. Now they could just lower the early bird price by $5-$10 per seat just so tickets don't go too much higher.

4hr football games (RUN THE CLOCK!)

The West side of Huskie Stadium is miserable with 18k+ in attendance. It was hell with 27k back in 03/04 but back then winning was something new. Building the East side premium structure and adding 1600 club seats will help remove some pressure of the West side facilities.
(This post was last modified: 04-19-2016 12:49 PM by HuskieJohn.)
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NIU32 Offline
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Post: #17
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
Its just bizarre to think that NIU has won 55 games in the past 6 years, 6 straight MAC West Titles, a Heisman Finalist, 2 first round picks in the NFL draft, and a BCS appearance and we seem to have lost fans rather than gained them. Thats not even counting all of success prior to those years. If anything, we've had the type of run that put TCU and Boise into the next level but didn't come close to capitalizing on it like they did.

I guess I'm just annoyed and venting on here that there seem to be such few of us diehards after everything this program has accomplished. I'll just never understand...
04-19-2016 12:57 PM
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klake87 Offline
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Post: #18
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
There is not a magical way to get attendance up. NIU is doing as much as any other school. We could hire Don Draper to head marketing and still no significant change.
04-19-2016 01:08 PM
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Post: #19
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
Honestly, i think helping to fix the fractured relationship with the community should be priority number 1. Get the townies and people right around to attend the games, get the high school and businesses involved best you can, and feed into the community what you can. Support and prop each other up and you both succeed. If we can do that, i find it hard to believe we have less than 20k averages. But the community has a generally apathetic feeling towards our NIU Huskies unless it helps them push their own product (I.E. fattys, pizza pros, VCB, etc.)

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(This post was last modified: 04-19-2016 01:12 PM by Stay Cool.)
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Post: #20
RE: Thoughts on Frazier? Specifically Football Attendance
(04-19-2016 12:01 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  
(04-19-2016 11:58 AM)NIU32 Wrote:  We've entered the 4th year of the Sean Frazier era at NIU now. What does everyone think? After talking with quite a few different people, I've been scratching my head trying to figure out why we've struggled so much with attendance after winning so many games and having such dominance the last decade in football.

The branding of NIU has been great under SF. New facilities, new equipment, new uniforms, better scheduling, etc...

So why aren't fans coming? Here are our attendance averages going back to 2002 along with AD at the time, head coach and record:

2002: 20,953 - Groth, Novak, 8-4
2003: 23,575 - Phillips, Novak, 10-2
2004: 27,052 - Phillips, Novak, 9-3
2005: 22,174 - Phillips, Novak, 7-5
2006: 20,770 - Phillips Novak, 7-6
2007: 17,863 - Phillips, Novak, 2-10
2008: 18,188 - Compher, Kill, 6-7
2009: 14,889 - Compher, Kill, 7-6
2010: 17,760 - Compher, Kill, 11-3
2011: 15,559 - Compher, Doeren, 11-3
2012: 13,170 - Compher, Doeren, 12-2
2013: 20,669 - Frazier, Carey, 12-2
2014: 13,563 - Frazier, Carey, 11-3
2015: 13,941 - Frazier, Carey, 8-6

So basically, we are down about 50% in attendance the last 2 years from where we were 03-05. The question is why? We only eclipsed the 20k mark once since Phillips left once and we can thank Jordan Lynch solely for that, yet even with Lynch and the Orange Bowl appearance we still were lagging behind from the 03-05 years.

Is it the ESPN3 deal? Now fans have an option to stay home and watch on their couch instead of going to Dekalb?

Or was Phillips just that much better when it came to garnering support from students, alumni and the community?

From the surface level, it seems like Compher and Frazier have been catering more to the select wealthy donors rather than attacking the younger alumni who just graduated. I think that's a big piece we are missing. For example, a know a lot of my buddies went to the Ohio State game. However, Frazier made it a requirement to donate a minimum of $250 just to be able to buy tickets for the game from NIU. So what did these 10 NIU fans do, and much more im sure? Bought tickets off Stubhub rather than from NIU. I was in school during the Phillips years and it seemed like the student body, community, alumni were just wayyyy more into and involved. Tickets were basically free it seemed like, they just wanted people in the stadium. Homecoming was always packed. Now with even more success of late, less people go which is just mind boggling.

I personally think Frazier should take the Phillips approach and cut tickets prices down to the bare minimum to get fans back in the stadium. They can make up for that with concession sales, etc once they are inside. Then we can raise ticket prices once we start selling out again and the demand and following is back. Very similar technique to what the Blackhawks did during their rough years

Thoughts?

ESPN weeknights and scheduling poor non conf. It's as simple as that

Yep hit the nail on the head. Way to easy to stay at home for a lot of people (yes I go to all the home games) and sit back and watch their 60" high def TV and control the game with one hand. No dealing with TV timeouts as you can just change the channel.

Watching NIU vs EMU who has won basically no more than 4 or 5 games each season for as long as I can remember isn't going to draw any one casual except us diehards.
04-19-2016 01:16 PM
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