(02-25-2013 09:15 PM)7 Wrote:  NIU's attendance problem has 0 to do with students. They carry attendance. The locals and alum are the problem.

this

(02-25-2013 09:14 PM)niu2222 Wrote:  There are enough people from Naperville-Rockford, to fill Huskie Stadium. NIU FTBALL just isn't the thing to do on campus or otherwise.

There are people.. yes.. but they have options people in Jackson and Boise simply don't have. Many, many more options.

(02-25-2013 09:28 PM)prairiedawg Wrote:  7 is correct but I blame the alumni more. I loved the digital billboard on 88. They should do it more. It needs to be simpler tho...and easier to read. Do one for season tix NOW and then before each home game...this isn't rocket science.

Don't we have a department within our COB that teaches this?

And that folks, is about as good of an example of "irony" as you will find.

There are always options, the question is are they better options? Our job and athletics job is to convince them no.

(02-25-2013 11:52 PM)niu2222 Wrote:  There are always options, the question is are they better options? Our job and athletics job is to convince them no.

There aren't always options in other places though... that's the difference. Yes, you could go hiking I guess in Boise, but really compared to what Chicago has to offer, it's just not the same at all. There is more teams and more non-sports things to do in Chicago than what other comparable teams have to deal with.

(02-25-2013 10:08 PM)EddieMoney Wrote:  

(02-25-2013 09:15 PM)7 Wrote:  NIU's attendance problem has 0 to do with students. They carry attendance. The locals and alum are the problem.

this

Maybe the AD is the problem.
If you treat fans with disrespect most will not return.

it seems, perhaps, many of you have never spend any quality time in Boise......comparing DeKalb to Boise is really kinda silly. Boise is nearly 200,000 population (600,000+ in the metro area) . The median age is 32 and these are active, outdoorsy folks. They ski (Nordic and Alpine) , mountain bike, kayak, windsurf, fish, hunt and run with militias. They have professional hockey, baseball (a cubs affiliate) and basketball (NBA D league), a professional golf tournament, rodeo and big time drag racing. Boise has an awesome zoo, botanical gardens, museums, a Philharmonic Orchestra, live theater including touring Broadway shows and a Shakepearean Festival. The idea that there is nothing to compete with football is a non starter.

I am sure much the same could be said about Jackson as it, too, nearly 200,000 in population (600,000 metro population) and like Boise, the state capitol.

(02-25-2013 09:15 PM)7 Wrote:  NIU's attendance problem has 0 to do with students. They carry attendance. The locals and alum are the problem.

You know better than that. The attendance problem is with BOTH students and west-siders.

Don't talk about students "carrying" attendance when a large number of them are only in Huskie Stadium for 1/4 of the game.

(02-26-2013 10:18 AM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(02-25-2013 09:15 PM)7 Wrote:  NIU's attendance problem has 0 to do with students. They carry attendance. The locals and alum are the problem.

You know better than that. The attendance problem is with BOTH students and west-siders.

Don't talk about students "carrying" attendance when a large number of them are only in Huskie Stadium for 1/4 of the game.

Yea, and despite the East side holding 10K and the West side holding 15K, there's always large, completely empty sections on the East side on both ends. And like Bob said, that's before halftime.

(02-25-2013 09:05 PM)bigdhuskie Wrote:  

(02-25-2013 07:49 PM)OldTtimeNIU Wrote:  

(02-25-2013 06:57 PM)7 Wrote:  So having a city with millions of people less than 65 miles away now hurts attendance?

Too many schools tends to water down the available fan base..Wisc; Illinois; Northwestern for football
For basketball those three plus DePaul, Loyola, UIC, Ill State (large chicago area alumni)

Than throw in the pro teams Bears, Bulls, Black hawks...

Nebraska has one FB D1 the Huskers
Iowa as 2 Iowa Iowa State for FB

This does not excuse the attendance issue with NIU but it does make it more difficult to engage fans when they have so many choices

I'm sorry, you have a solid program, a winning program. NIU plays some exciting football. And you only average 15K?
Granted we don't get big name opponents in DeKalb, but couldn't we at least draw 18-19,000. I'm sure the "suitcase college" syndrome has some impact, but I gotta believe there's a significant number of alums living in the western burbs......where are they? are they marketing to this fan base?

Bingo. Apathy is a killer at NIU, always has been. We are very atypical of NIU students and alums. That said, they will crank it up if they are motivated to. We've seen examples of this over the years.

For most alums who are willing but not necessarily motivated to go to games, they need to be reminded. Most do not know when games are played, and even if they start to get jacked up about NIU football during a good season, it takes until Halloween for them to figure it out. By then, we're into the Tuesday night games, which those same casual fans just aren't going to make the special effort to go in the middle of the week. That situation is what it is.

My question is, why don't my parents get the same emails that I get about what's going on on campus? They aren't season ticket holders or HASF members, but they sure as hell have bought tickets through NIU before, many times.

I don't need the emails, I'll have my life scheduled around Huskie football by this summer. All of my friends that I went to school with.... the ones that had huge watch parties for the MAC Championship games and the Orange Bowl and keep saying they want to come to a game but haven't been to one in years.... they should be the ones getting them.

Those of us agonizing over this ad nausaeum are not the problem, nor can we do anything more than we already do, which is try to spread the Huskie gospel a few friends at a time. However, there are so many untapped sources for attendance that we can shoot arrows in any direction and improve things.

I'm not going to make excuses for our fanbase, which by-and-large has pissed away three of the most exciting football seasons you'll ever see no matter where you went to school.

That's not anybody here, and it's not the people that we get to come to games with us, which in my case is usually a U of I alum and a Washington University alum. Those guys make it to one game every damn year because they recognize it's a fun way to hang out with buddies and tailgate. Yet, the people that I lived with in Dekalb for years, know I'm a season ticket holder, and always say on the 4th of July that they really want to get to a game this year.... never do. They're the same ones that when we were students were perfectly willing to come out and tailgate, as long as I got up early and put the car in the lot and they could leave at halftime.

Can we get them out? Don't know. But I know it'll take more effort than just me saying "You should really come to a game with us this year."

Good for you. Most fans do not schedule their life around NIU FB.
Apathy amongst the AD is the problem.
Treat the fan as a nuisance that comes with the job. If they get offended and never return tough luck.
As long as NIU has a winning record they will keep their job.
Forget about improving fan relations with NIU, "because if you win they will keep attending".
Clearly not happening NIU AD.
Change your culture of stagnation and the way you treat fans or continue with your low attendance.

Ask not what the NIU AD can do for you(the fan)?
Ask what you(the fan) can do, to not anger the NIU AD?
(Usually means for most fans, watch the game on TV or listen on the radio, and do not bother the AD they obviously know how to fill Huskie stadium).
and do not want or need our input).

What about restructuring the NIU AD.
Outsource the advertising.
Making the executive AD and assistants serve drinks to the fans
and tell them how much they appreciate them attending Huskie stadium and what can they do to make it a better experience?

(02-26-2013 11:02 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  What about restructuring the NIU AD.
Outsource the advertising.
Making the executive AD and assistants serve drinks to the fans
and tell them how much they appreciate them attending Huskie stadium and what can they do to make it a better experience?

I think IMG is part of our problem there.

(02-26-2013 11:13 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2013 11:02 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  What about restructuring the NIU AD.
Outsource the advertising.
Making the executive AD and assistants serve drinks to the fans
and tell them how much they appreciate them attending Huskie stadium and what can they do to make it a better experience?

I think IMG is part of our problem there.

Between NIU and the MAC, some short-sighted media decisions have been made that contribute to this problem.

Maybe the upside is greater, you can certainly make that argument. But the IMG and ESPN deals make NIU football less accessible for the fans.

(02-25-2013 03:04 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  Don't fail to acknowledge that it's Jackson Mississippi, which means there's NOTHING to do there....Dekalb is a mere hour from Chicago, a global city which essentially provides you endless activities....let alone 10-12 other sporting event options

One thing I've notice since moving to the burbs from Dekalb last year.....Dekalb seems a lot further away from here than here seemed from Dekalb.

(02-26-2013 12:16 PM)NSwanson89 Wrote:  

(02-25-2013 03:04 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  Don't fail to acknowledge that it's Jackson Mississippi, which means there's NOTHING to do there....Dekalb is a mere hour from Chicago, a global city which essentially provides you endless activities....let alone 10-12 other sporting event options

One thing I've notice since moving to the burbs from Dekalb last year.....Dekalb seems a lot further away from here than here seemed from Dekalb.

It's part of the migratory instinct pattern of Chicagoans. Most of those whose families originally hailed from Chicago at one time or another crawled out west from the city. Because of that, people generally regard heading east toward the city as no big deal, because it's heading "home" so to speak. But, wherever they've chosen to live is the furthest west they would ever go willingly.

I get it all the time. My buddies that live in Batavia think nothing of going into the city for a get-together, but to invite them 20 miles west to my house in Plano..... "F*^K THAT! You think I want to be driving home from f*^king Iowa all night?"

Not saying it makes sense.... just saying that's how it is.

(02-26-2013 12:57 PM)HuskieBowWow Wrote:  

Fair enough.

(02-26-2013 01:39 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(02-26-2013 12:57 PM)HuskieBowWow Wrote:  

Fair enough.

how does a simple post about a school that draws about 10,000 and says they are going to build a 50,000 seat domed stadium, turn in to this post.

(02-26-2013 01:53 PM)GCD70 Wrote:  

(02-26-2013 01:39 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(02-26-2013 12:57 PM)HuskieBowWow Wrote:  

Fair enough.

how does a simple post about a school that draws about 10,000 and says they are going to build a 50,000 seat domed stadium, turn in to this post.

90% of posts on this board always brings up attendance and marketing somehow