RE: Time to study, plan ... what to do next
Now really is the time to plan and look ahead ... (i.e., an excuse to rewrite and re-post one of mine from a long-lost thread).
Regardless of what happens with fall 2020 football, imo Northern needs to plan for a time beyond that and deal with issues like declining attendance, the ESPN-MAC contract, weekday night games, lack of student interest, etc. etc.
I would look in 2021 to start a two-game deal with SeatGeek/Bridgeview that moves the two November weekday night games there every year. Do it with a 3-to-5-year deal to see what happens, and change the marketing strategy to match it. NIU should not return to the "old normal" and the problems it already has.
That would give the Huskies four Saturday games earlier in the season on campus, which could be promoted for all the tailgaters, big halftime show, bring the cannon back, all kinds of stuff to enhance "the game-day experience."
At the same time, the two weekday games at SeatGeek could be promoted to 160,000 Chicago-area alumni as "your games." Do that steadily for a number of years and you might catch hold of that elusive "Chicago connection." That could also attract high school attention for recruiting, with no conflict with high school games.
SeatGeek is almost perfect for weekday night games ... have a 6 p.m. kickoff so people can get off work, go to SeatGeek, get something to eat at its wide range of concession vendors, watch the game and go home. That's the definition of attendance on weekday nights, and there would be no football competition on those days. Midway Airport is two miles away, and the Hampton Inn is right there for overnights as needed.
Imo, SeatGeek/Bridgeview would love it, since they'd have it year after year, and don't have anything else going at that time anyway. There's nothing like stability to build your marketing and promotions.
Note: ticket packages could be 4 at HS, 2 at SG, or any combination of the two locales. Home opener and Homecoming at HS preserved, as they should be.
(This post was last modified: 04-07-2020 06:16 PM by pvk75.)
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