CSNbbs

Before I post this, I'll preface it by saying that if I could do something more than I do, I would. I searched UT careers and came up with no opportunities.

Anyway, trying to put my MBA to use, I came up with a couple thoughts about increasing interest in the program.

1.) The Rockets win a lot of games. UT grads and local residents say that the reason they root for OSU or UM over UT is because they can play for national championships. Though I don't see UT playing for national championships in the near future, a big time bowl would go a long way in increasing interest among perspective fans. That means winning tough OOC road games. Winning MAC championships only goes so far with the casual football fan. Obviously, in order to get these people, you need to play bigger. This means to keep up with the 1 for 1 scheduling with BCS teams. It is no secret that BCS teams draw a bigger crowd to the Glass Bowl and a win over them consistently will provide a better chance at playing in a bigger bowl.

2.) Awareness of the team around the city. The commercials are great and clearly draw attention to the team. In all honesty, the athletic department appears to be doing a great job in advertising. With that said, I think they could still do more in differentiating themselves between the other programs in the area. People apparently like reality tv shows and I think that the Rockets could do something with this. I don't know what it would cost but I would guess that they could put together some sort of reality show once a week during football or basketball season or maybe in the offseason which would bring the players into the homes of the local viewing audience. Since the student athletes' schedules are busy during the season, maybe they could be filmed in their offseasons. UTrockets.com has a link to a page which shows the athletes volunteering around the city. This would make for great content in a show. As far as the cost is concerned, maybe UT could get some local companies to donate money towards the effort in return for product placement, etc. Pepsi and Coke NEED to spend a lot of money on advertising so maybe UT could get a deal with them, or Meijer, or Fifth Third, etc. Since the athletes wouldn't be making money on the effort, it shouldn't be an NCAA violation. I think that finding some way to get the Rockets in the homes is key though. It may also help in recruiting. The constraints that I see would be the cost, the students' time, willingness of the local networks to devote time, and NCAA requirements. If it would be feasible, I think that it would go a long way in bridging a connection between the team and the viewing audience.

3.) If #2 wouldn't work because of constraints on the athletes, maybe something similar could be done from the perspective of the fan. Maybe some hard core fans could be chosen and a show could be devoted to them and their gameday experience. It could show the tailgating, the Jambulance, that guy's Hummer and the Rocket that he pulls, etc. It could also show the fans in their hyped up state while the game is going on.

Any thoughts on any of these ideas? Anything appear to be feasible or not feasible?

I really think that the Rockets are in a much better position than many other schools in the MAC in terms of promotion abilities. For instance, here in Oxford, the team is located 45 minutes from the nearest decent sized city. That city already has a BCS football team in the Bearcats. The Rockets have BG and UM somewhat close but neither are in Toledo. I don't know how far Athens is from Columbus but I know it is much further than UT from Toledo. Also, as much as I used to complain about it, the local media is much better about covering the Rockets than the other MAC teams get and that attention is even getting better for UT. I really like the thought of Brad Fanning doing the sideline reporting for 1370 this year. Hell, maybe Fox 36 would be more willing to do some sort of local reality show like I mentioned above.

FWIW, (this is barely related to this thread but...) I had two free tickets to the Miami - UC game the other night and they were much tougher to give away than I had anticipated.

I like #1. I do not think we can get 1 for 1 with most BCS schools, but who cares!! What is wrong with 2 for 1. I would not suggest we play 3 or 4 BCS teams in our OCC games every year, but I think 2 is perfect.
I also want to point out that we have been playing some good OCC games.
1997: Purdue, Nevada, Central Florida (3 solid games, this is a perfect type of OCC schedule)
1998: Temple, Ohio State, Central Florida (2 solid games, and Temple at the time was BCS)
1999: Syacuse, UMass, LaTeach (2 solid games, not a fan of playing UMass)
2000: Penn State, Navy, Weber State, Eastern Illinois (1 solid game, but a big one, Navy is also a respected game)
2001: Minnesota, Temple, Navy
2002: Cal Poly, Minnesota, UNLV, Pittsburgh (I love this one also)
2003: UNLV, Liberty, Pittsburgh, Syacuse (Another good schedule)
2004: Minnesota, Kansas, ?

1997, 2002, and 2003 I feel are the best. The flip side to playing a good OCC schedule is if you do not get it done you lose respect. So you have to weigh the fact of playing some teams and losing 63-21 (2004) and losing alot of national respect, or playing 1 or 2 of those game each year along with UMass, and Cal Ploy.

Personally I would like to see assuming we have 4 OCC games:
1 Big Ten Team Every Year
2 CUSA/WAC/Sun Belt type team (DI non BCS)
1 IAA or Temple type team

I feel this gives us the balance and the respect if we get the job done on the field.

Dave Notke met with a few of us last year and we discussed ideas we had to promote UT. Conflicting schedules make this difficult , but it was informative and productive to brainstorm. One idea I had which may be more doable now is to have a bookmobile-type vehicle to sell UT merchandise/season tickets, etc. Now that our merchandiser has a Jambulance, Pat, what do you think of doing some vending at the many festivals Toledo Has? I think that kind of visibility would lead to greater community awareness of UT athletics.

RocketJeff Wrote:Pat, what do you think of doing some vending at the many festivals Toledo Has? I think that kind of visibility would lead to greater community awareness of UT athletics.

We were actually going to do just that at the German-American Festival but they had strict rules against handouts, like those mini-schedules. With all the prep work needed for the season, we canned the idea instead of going through the hassles. Every one of these festivals will have their own rules and idiosyncrasies.

Maybe next year.

-Dan

Photodan Wrote:

RocketJeff Wrote:Pat, what do you think of doing some vending at the many festivals Toledo Has?  I think that kind of visibility would lead to greater community awareness of UT athletics.

We were actually going to do just that at the German-American Festival but they had strict rules against handouts, like those mini-schedules. With all the prep work needed for the season, we canned the idea instead of going through the hassles. Every one of these festivals will have their own rules and idiosyncrasies.

Maybe next year.

-Dan

are you guys going to be setting up at community day this wednesday??

Roudebush Rocket Wrote:Before I post this, I'll preface it by saying that if I could do something more than I do, I would. I searched UT careers and came up with no opportunities.

We are looking for a new Bursar!