(05-07-2013 09:44 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:34 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  How many of them will still go to the games in November? Besides NIU already gets 10K+ pretty much every game. And, Kane County is basically the suburbs, instead of being 30 minutes from the suburbs.

Maybe it has to do with Kane County advertising/marketing.

Those 10k have 0 ties to the team.

We get about 14k without reaching out to anyone because of Alums, family of Alums/Players and Students.

Imagine what a modest advertising campaign like Kane County could likely get us to 24k for all Saturday games.

No doubt. I'd be curious to know what advertising we do, if any. I haven't seen any. I do see Kane County Cougars schedules in a lot of places.

(05-07-2013 09:50 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:44 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:34 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  How many of them will still go to the games in November? Besides NIU already gets 10K+ pretty much every game. And, Kane County is basically the suburbs, instead of being 30 minutes from the suburbs.

Maybe it has to do with Kane County advertising/marketing.

Those 10k have 0 ties to the team.

We get about 14k without reaching out to anyone because of Alums, family of Alums/Players and Students.

Imagine what a modest advertising campaign like Kane County could likely get us to 24k for all Saturday games.

No doubt. I'd be curious to know what advertising we do, if any. I haven't seen any. I do see Kane County Cougars schedules in a lot of places.

Well we did just make 250K+ off the Orange Bowl. How about we spend a little of that on advertising this summer and a second game on CSN-Chicago???

(05-07-2013 09:44 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:34 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  How many of them will still go to the games in November? Besides NIU already gets 10K+ pretty much every game. And, Kane County is basically the suburbs, instead of being 30 minutes from the suburbs.

Maybe it has to do with Kane County advertising/marketing.

Those 10k have 0 ties to the team.

We get about 14k without reaching out to anyone because of Alums, family of Alums/Players and Students.

Imagine what a modest advertising campaign like Kane County could likely get us to 24k for all Saturday games.

EXACTLY!

While our record going into the home opener will have an affect.
That aside, that game needs to be 20K+ and I really have great hopes the Game Day atmosphere will be greatly improved by the New Scoreboard and a lot of those folks come back for more.

(05-06-2013 10:27 PM)7 Wrote:  Our stadium has never been 1/3rd full for a Toledo game.

I really don't care what Toledo's attendance is either.

As long as we are in the MAC we do need to care about the fact that all of the schools in the conference seem to suffer from the same attendance problems.

Television broadcasts in small stadiums that are half or more empty are not compelling content for ESPN, CBS or any other network.

All of the MAC schools need to work on this individually and collectively if we want a brighter future for our football programs.

(05-07-2013 10:19 AM)bikechuck Wrote:  

(05-06-2013 10:27 PM)7 Wrote:  Our stadium has never been 1/3rd full for a Toledo game.

I really don't care what Toledo's attendance is either.

As long as we are in the MAC we do need to care about the fact that all of the schools in the conference seem to suffer from the same attendance problems.

Television broadcasts in small stadiums that are half or more empty are not compelling content for ESPN, CBS or any other network.

All of the MAC schools need to work on this individually and collectively if we want a brighter future for our football programs.

MAC games are apparently not compelling for E$PN, even if the stadium is full.

(05-07-2013 09:50 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:44 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:34 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  How many of them will still go to the games in November? Besides NIU already gets 10K+ pretty much every game. And, Kane County is basically the suburbs, instead of being 30 minutes from the suburbs.

Maybe it has to do with Kane County advertising/marketing.

Those 10k have 0 ties to the team.

We get about 14k without reaching out to anyone because of Alums, family of Alums/Players and Students.

Imagine what a modest advertising campaign like Kane County could likely get us to 24k for all Saturday games.

No doubt. I'd be curious to know what advertising we do, if any. I haven't seen any. I do see Kane County Cougars schedules in a lot of places.

I would be glad to hand out schedules to local places around here, if they would provide them. Huskiejohn and a few others did the same I believe in 2011. There is a new BWW's in Bloomingdale, as well as other surrounding pools in Glendale Heights, Bloomingdale and Lombard. A lot of families go in and out of those places and could be interested in a sporting event that wouldn't break the bank.

All of this talk about ESPN - you can keep ESPN and their national coverage if it will put more butts in the seats.

That and the fact that just this last weekend, I actually got to see the clip of the end of the MAC Championship game from 2012 and I was disgusted by the call. It was all about the "dream dies" for KSU - no chance at a BCS Bowl. They forgot NIU - 2 straight titles and now they have the BCS in their sights. A dramatic 2OT win ending with a 4th down interception in the end zone and all ESPN can come up with is the KSU dream is dead. It made me sick to my stomach.

(05-07-2013 11:58 AM)sportsfan Wrote:  All of this talk about ESPN - you can keep ESPN and their national coverage if it will put more butts in the seats.

That and the fact that just this last weekend, I actually got to see the clip of the end of the MAC Championship game from 2012 and I was disgusted by the call. It was all about the "dream dies" for KSU - no chance at a BCS Bowl. They forgot NIU - 2 straight titles and now they have the BCS in their sights. A dramatic 2OT win ending with a 4th down interception in the end zone and all ESPN can come up with is the KSU dream is dead. It made me sick to my stomach.

Imagine how the refs felt.....

(05-07-2013 11:45 AM)HuskiePride12 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:50 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:44 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 09:34 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  How many of them will still go to the games in November? Besides NIU already gets 10K+ pretty much every game. And, Kane County is basically the suburbs, instead of being 30 minutes from the suburbs.

Maybe it has to do with Kane County advertising/marketing.

Those 10k have 0 ties to the team.

We get about 14k without reaching out to anyone because of Alums, family of Alums/Players and Students.

Imagine what a modest advertising campaign like Kane County could likely get us to 24k for all Saturday games.

No doubt. I'd be curious to know what advertising we do, if any. I haven't seen any. I do see Kane County Cougars schedules in a lot of places.

I would be glad to hand out schedules to local places around here, if they would provide them. Huskiejohn and a few others did the same I believe in 2011. There is a new BWW's in Bloomingdale, as well as other surrounding pools in Glendale Heights, Bloomingdale and Lombard. A lot of families go in and out of those places and could be interested in a sporting event that wouldn't break the bank.

Ya I would be open to that again. I am living in Yorkville now and actually see a bit more NIU stuff out here. Since it's only 35min away the locals may be more open to checking a game out.

(05-07-2013 11:58 AM)sportsfan Wrote:  All of this talk about ESPN - you can keep ESPN and their national coverage if it will put more butts in the seats.

That and the fact that just this last weekend, I actually got to see the clip of the end of the MAC Championship game from 2012 and I was disgusted by the call. It was all about the "dream dies" for KSU - no chance at a BCS Bowl. They forgot NIU - 2 straight titles and now they have the BCS in their sights. A dramatic 2OT win ending with a 4th down interception in the end zone and all ESPN can come up with is the KSU dream is dead. It made me sick to my stomach.

That was possibly one of the worst broadcasts I have ever seen in my life. Talk about not capturing the moment and gravity of an event. Even after the game when SportsCenter started, when they have the intro with brief audio/video snipets, they showed KSU's game tying TD with "KSU...the potential BCS Buster!!!". In other words, they were already campaigning 10 seconds after the game saying, "Ok mid majors you are done". It was sickening. I used to have respect for Rod Gilmore and enjoy his broadcasts, but no more. The play by play guy was a real idiot though, forget his name. It wasnt completely their fault because you could tell they were instructed to present the game in a certain way.

(05-07-2013 12:22 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 11:58 AM)sportsfan Wrote:  All of this talk about ESPN - you can keep ESPN and their national coverage if it will put more butts in the seats.

That and the fact that just this last weekend, I actually got to see the clip of the end of the MAC Championship game from 2012 and I was disgusted by the call. It was all about the "dream dies" for KSU - no chance at a BCS Bowl. They forgot NIU - 2 straight titles and now they have the BCS in their sights. A dramatic 2OT win ending with a 4th down interception in the end zone and all ESPN can come up with is the KSU dream is dead. It made me sick to my stomach.

That was possibly one of the worst broadcasts I have ever seen in my life. Talk about not capturing the moment and gravity of an event. Even after the game when SportsCenter started, when they have the intro with brief audio/video snipets, they showed KSU's game tying TD with "KSU...the potential BCS Buster!!!". In other words, they were already campaigning 10 seconds after the game saying, "Ok mid majors you are done". It was sickening. I used to have respect for Rod Gilmore and enjoy his broadcasts, but no more. The play by play guy was a real idiot though, forget his name. It wasnt completely their fault because you could tell they were instructed to present the game in a certain way.

You should have been at the game with us 3500 faithful.

(05-07-2013 12:34 PM)DoubleHuskie84 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 12:22 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 11:58 AM)sportsfan Wrote:  All of this talk about ESPN - you can keep ESPN and their national coverage if it will put more butts in the seats.

That and the fact that just this last weekend, I actually got to see the clip of the end of the MAC Championship game from 2012 and I was disgusted by the call. It was all about the "dream dies" for KSU - no chance at a BCS Bowl. They forgot NIU - 2 straight titles and now they have the BCS in their sights. A dramatic 2OT win ending with a 4th down interception in the end zone and all ESPN can come up with is the KSU dream is dead. It made me sick to my stomach.

That was possibly one of the worst broadcasts I have ever seen in my life. Talk about not capturing the moment and gravity of an event. Even after the game when SportsCenter started, when they have the intro with brief audio/video snipets, they showed KSU's game tying TD with "KSU...the potential BCS Buster!!!". In other words, they were already campaigning 10 seconds after the game saying, "Ok mid majors you are done". It was sickening. I used to have respect for Rod Gilmore and enjoy his broadcasts, but no more. The play by play guy was a real idiot though, forget his name. It wasnt completely their fault because you could tell they were instructed to present the game in a certain way.

You should have been at the game with us 3500 faithful.

Yeah, and watch the refs try to toss the game to KSU.

I watched a replay of the game - I agree with the comments above. E$PN doesn't care about MAC games when they announce them. It's like someone is holding a gun to their head to make them talk about the MAC. I remember guys like Waddle, or Rob Otto doing a Ball State game (Comcast I think?), and they seemed to enjoy doing the broadcast and were complimentary of the teams. Totally different.

(05-07-2013 12:43 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I watched a replay of the game - I agree with the comments above. E$PN doesn't care about MAC games when they announce them. It's like someone is holding a gun to their head to make them talk about the MAC. I remember guys like Waddle, or Rob Otto doing a Ball State game (Comcast I think?), and they seemed to enjoy doing the broadcast and were complimentary of the teams. Totally different.

For games on CSN, NIU athletics was/is signing their check so they better speak highly of NIU!

(05-06-2013 07:15 PM)nbcards Wrote:  one of the problems is NIU is known as a suitcase school not many stay for the weekends. NIU starting in 2015 is forcing sophomores to live in the dorms which might get more students to a saturday game since more people would be in dekalb

Doesn’t this rule only apply to students not living with their parents, meaning, aren’t all the commuters from Naperville, etc excluded? If that’s the case, I think it could result in LESS students around for the weekend, because it was my experience that the dorm students go home in greater numbers for the weekend while the apartment students start to stick around more often.

(05-07-2013 01:30 PM)NiuCoils Wrote:  Doesn’t this rule only apply to students not living with their parents, meaning, aren’t all the commuters from Naperville, etc excluded? If that’s the case, I think it could result in LESS students around for the weekend, because it was my experience that the dorm students go home in greater numbers for the weekend while the apartment students start to stick around more often.

This is from the BOT minutes when this was approves last year...

"Part of our recommendation for a second-year residential policy is that all full-time students in their first two years following graduation from high school are required to live in university housing. Now, all of the exemptions from the first-year students will apply. Some of the exemptions would include: you are living with parents or legal guardians, reside with a legal spouse or domestic partner, reside with a legal dependent, and are 21 years of age as of September 1 of the term you are enrolling. Two other exemptions specifically for sophomores would be participation in a full semester distance education, study abroad or internship; and moving into the Greek community."

http://www.niu.edu/board/meetings/2012/b...%20min.pdf

This will likely increase Greeks numbers also who also typically have a stronger connection to NIU and are more likely to not transfer out.

(05-07-2013 12:34 PM)DoubleHuskie84 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 12:22 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 11:58 AM)sportsfan Wrote:  All of this talk about ESPN - you can keep ESPN and their national coverage if it will put more butts in the seats.

That and the fact that just this last weekend, I actually got to see the clip of the end of the MAC Championship game from 2012 and I was disgusted by the call. It was all about the "dream dies" for KSU - no chance at a BCS Bowl. They forgot NIU - 2 straight titles and now they have the BCS in their sights. A dramatic 2OT win ending with a 4th down interception in the end zone and all ESPN can come up with is the KSU dream is dead. It made me sick to my stomach.

That was possibly one of the worst broadcasts I have ever seen in my life. Talk about not capturing the moment and gravity of an event. Even after the game when SportsCenter started, when they have the intro with brief audio/video snipets, they showed KSU's game tying TD with "KSU...the potential BCS Buster!!!". In other words, they were already campaigning 10 seconds after the game saying, "Ok mid majors you are done". It was sickening. I used to have respect for Rod Gilmore and enjoy his broadcasts, but no more. The play by play guy was a real idiot though, forget his name. It wasnt completely their fault because you could tell they were instructed to present the game in a certain way.

You should have been at the game with us 3500 faithful.

DoubleHuskie I was at the game, there is a little new creation called a DVR :)

(05-07-2013 12:43 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I watched a replay of the game - I agree with the comments above. E$PN doesn't care about MAC games when they announce them. It's like someone is holding a gun to their head to make them talk about the MAC. I remember guys like Waddle, or Rob Otto doing a Ball State game (Comcast I think?), and they seemed to enjoy doing the broadcast and were complimentary of the teams. Totally different.

There are few broadcasters I have respect for at ESPN, they are limited to the crew that did the iowa/niu game at SF last season and Tessatore.

Moving into the Greek community is an exemption? That seems pretty ridiculous. How is that fair to kids have no interest in the Greek Community but want to move out on their own? I can't say I think this is a good policy.

To me this just sounds they built more dorm rooms than they needed and had to try to make up a way to fill the over priced rooms. Dorms are much more expensive than living in an apartment, I think this could be a pretty big deterrant to a lot of kids.

(05-07-2013 03:29 PM)HuskieFan84 Wrote:  Moving into the Greek community is an exemption? That seems pretty ridiculous. How is that fair to kids have no interest in the Greek Community but want to move out on their own? I can't say I think this is a good policy.

To me this just sounds they built more dorm rooms than they needed and had to try to make up a way to fill the over priced rooms. Dorms are much more expensive than living in an apartment, I think this could be a pretty big deterrant to a lot of kids.

Lincoln and Douglas are on the board to be demoed. Lincoln was going to be demoed this fall if it were basically not for the football teams Orange Bowl bid. Right now they dont know if it will be or not.

The Grant North renovation reduced capacity by 32% (320 beds) due to increasing the room size.