01-28-2011, 03:23 AM
I don't think I've seen this mentioned here...perhaps that's because everyone knows about it. I didn't...so I will presume you may not either. I think it's a brand new Facebook area called: ETSU Football Film Room http://www.facebook.com/pages/ETSU-Football-Film-Room/140595472668276. It's great. It will make you sad seeing all those ETSU football moments that aren't happening in the now.
The fact that this site is being assembled indicates momentum...another effort to bring football back. ETSU has five-thousand more students that were not there when football was eliminated in 2003. There is the issue that the athletic program has lost much of it's fan base...just look at current attendance woes. I think it's easily curable by changing conferences and bringing football back. I know football attendance stunk when the team went away...but basketball has held it's own, was ok. Now that football's elimination has set in, it seems to have infected basketball's attendance... it could be just the new conference with old rivals gone...especially Appalachian and Chattanooga.
I have come to realize that I'm a marching band freak. I love the sound. Needless to say this site even includes a few marching band routines. My favorite is the Tennessee Waltz played at halftime on one of those clips. It's a great sound when half the band is hidden underneath the famed dome overhang...and a large portion of the band appears in time to blast the chorus of the song...wow! For an emotional guy like me...I get chills even in the environmentally controlled dome.
I wonder how much it would cost to correct the sight lines by eliminating the overhang... steepen the pitch of however many rows it takes and bring the seating to the floor. It could never be as bad as Neyland Stadium...if you lose your balance there, you could fall a hundred feet in an instant.
I know whatever is underneath those seats would go away... something to think about. I wish the architects would look into it.
If the other aspects to the dome are sound...(no leaky roof etc), my vote is fix the sight lines and play football in the weather proof environment. I've sat through some nasty ones in the old Memorial Stadium near Cardinal Park. Watching mud baths can be entertaining but it keeps the crowd small... ETSU doesn't need anything that gives anyone excuses not to attend. You have this resource, make it a celebrity like Boise has done. Fix the dome problems and play football in there.
I have no proof of this...but with all the new ways to get the message out, I think ETSU football could become a sellout monster if properly marketed. Ten-thousand seats at a 15-thousand student University ought to be a slam dunk...no we are talking football...it ought to be a slobber-knocking bomb sell out every time the Bucs take the field. A ticket purchasing drive ought to be underway now...getting commitments for season tickets. I suspect you could sell ten thousand of those to prove the demand. Maybe that would turn the heads of the decision makers.
The fact that this site is being assembled indicates momentum...another effort to bring football back. ETSU has five-thousand more students that were not there when football was eliminated in 2003. There is the issue that the athletic program has lost much of it's fan base...just look at current attendance woes. I think it's easily curable by changing conferences and bringing football back. I know football attendance stunk when the team went away...but basketball has held it's own, was ok. Now that football's elimination has set in, it seems to have infected basketball's attendance... it could be just the new conference with old rivals gone...especially Appalachian and Chattanooga.
I have come to realize that I'm a marching band freak. I love the sound. Needless to say this site even includes a few marching band routines. My favorite is the Tennessee Waltz played at halftime on one of those clips. It's a great sound when half the band is hidden underneath the famed dome overhang...and a large portion of the band appears in time to blast the chorus of the song...wow! For an emotional guy like me...I get chills even in the environmentally controlled dome.
I wonder how much it would cost to correct the sight lines by eliminating the overhang... steepen the pitch of however many rows it takes and bring the seating to the floor. It could never be as bad as Neyland Stadium...if you lose your balance there, you could fall a hundred feet in an instant.
I know whatever is underneath those seats would go away... something to think about. I wish the architects would look into it.
If the other aspects to the dome are sound...(no leaky roof etc), my vote is fix the sight lines and play football in the weather proof environment. I've sat through some nasty ones in the old Memorial Stadium near Cardinal Park. Watching mud baths can be entertaining but it keeps the crowd small... ETSU doesn't need anything that gives anyone excuses not to attend. You have this resource, make it a celebrity like Boise has done. Fix the dome problems and play football in there.
I have no proof of this...but with all the new ways to get the message out, I think ETSU football could become a sellout monster if properly marketed. Ten-thousand seats at a 15-thousand student University ought to be a slam dunk...no we are talking football...it ought to be a slobber-knocking bomb sell out every time the Bucs take the field. A ticket purchasing drive ought to be underway now...getting commitments for season tickets. I suspect you could sell ten thousand of those to prove the demand. Maybe that would turn the heads of the decision makers.