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The marketing aspect is a tricky thing...

I have a parishioner who was a student at UC back in the 1970's. His recollection was that before each game, a keg of beer was hidden somewhere in Nippert and that it was "finder's keeper's" as an incentive to get students to come out to the game. (I have no idea how truthful this story is, it's just what was told to me...) His recounting of the story was that it did indeed get "students" to come out to Nippert--to find the keg, "rescue" it, and then flee the stadium to consume the contents.

When I had FB season tickets (2001, 2002, 2003) you had to purchase FB tickets to get BB season tickets. The ticket office assumed that, when my (now ex) wife said that she wanted to "buy season tickets" that she meant BB tickets and it took several times of saying "No, I want FOOTBALL season tickets..." to drive home the point. The net effect of the whole "You have to buy FB tickets to get BB tickets" was NOT to get more people to come to the games, but rather to infer that the Football tickets were an inferior product; a punishment, actually. Bob Goin said as much and he discontinued the practice, which elevated the Football ticket's value.

So, I don't think you can/should somehow devalue the football ticket. You don't actually get "more" fans by cheapening the price/value. You DO have to "elevate" the perceived value of the experience, however. You have to make it such that people feel like they are getting a "great value" for what they are spending. The "Power" conferences do this by the number of "Big Name" opponents and/or "Contenders" who come into your stadium. In the Big Ten, for example, you "endure" the "Indiana's" and "Rutgers'" of the schedule for the "Michigan's" and "Ohio State's" and "Nebraska's" of the world. But the "Power" Conferences also do this by opposing/alumni fan-bases buying whole season ticket packages just for the one game "their" school is in town and donating the other games to charities, etc... An Alabama fan/alumni living in Kentucky will buy a season-ticket package to UK for that one game that 'Bama is in town because they cannot either get tickets in Tuscaloosa or travel there.

And here's where the AAC factor comes in: the AAC simply does not have the "Name" draws in the conference to entice casual fans in Cincinnati to buy the tickets. Honestly, who in the conference is the "name brand draw"? Yeah, I get that "UC fans come to see UC play," and those people are already being served. The issue is not the "die-hard" UC fan, but extending the fan-base BEYOND the "hard-core" base. The Conference just doesn't help that. (We can't do anything about that, FWIW.) The other thing the conference just doesn't do is provide ANY substantial opposing alumni/fan-bases who either travel to, or have to, buy a ticket package in Nippert to "see their team play." They can get the single game tickets, at the moment, or can get tickets in their own stadiums, or aren't particularly close to Cincinnati. It is what it is.

What I'd like to see the UC marketing do is this:
1) Lighten up and "loosen up" with the trademark just a little. I've said it before...it's amazing to see how many other "small schools" give licensing for things like grills, fire-pits, socks, etc... but not see the "C-Paw" in the options. The more people see the Cincinnati logo out there, the better.
2) I never understood how, while I lived in the Cincinnati area, there was such a low visibility of the University and the Athletic Department. I'm talking about things like billboards, (public) busses, etc... Living in Morgantown, I can't help but see "Old Gold and Blue" emblazoned on pretty much everything. The University of Cincinnati is a great asset to the City as a whole, but I often got the sense that the City...especially some of the neighborhoods around the University (Correyville, etc...)...resented the University's presence.
3) The media, and here I mean especially the RADIO, situation is untenable. How is it that UC doesn't have a dedicated sport's call-in show beyond the obligatory "Coach's shows" in the season? How is that UC has tolerated their presence to be so ignored over the years that the Reds' "Hot Stove League" and horse-racing has been covered more by the local media than UC sports? Why isn't the marketing arm working more to get a local sports talk segment where UC fans can talk UC sports at least once-a-week? Why isn't the marketing arm working to raise the profile of UC athletics instead of relying on Lance, and "P-Doc" and Mo to create and shape the narrative? I get that you can't necessarily "force" WLW to "say" what you want them to say, but you could purchase time for "The UC hour" on them or some other station if WLW isn't willing to be hospitable.
...And...
4) Play up the Nippert experience. Run with the "Wrigley Field of College Football" (as Brian Kelly said) angle. Play UP the "3rd Oldest Stadium in College Football" angle. For God's sake, play UP the Band and the experience of "Old Time College Football." The Nippert experience, for all it's challenges and quirks, is AMAZING. And it's only gotten better over the years. Play it up!

All of these things require a very active marketing team and campaign. But I haven't seen that over the years. UC marketing has largely been reactive. They threatened lawsuits over the use of the UC brand on the "Keep BK" towels (as one example). They appear to sit back and "let things happen" rather than getting out in front of things. I just wish they'd show the pride of UC that so many of us have. (Even a non-alumni like me...)