(12-02-2015 11:25 PM)2015 Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 11:22 PM)zdsmith Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 10:58 PM)2015 Wrote:  Purchased mine yesterday. Students can purchase until midnight tonight.

What's it feel like on campus? Good vibes? Bad vibes? Two years alumni and I already hardly have any on-campus connections anymore lol

From what I've seen students are optimistic. I was actually kind of surprised.

Optimistic but not very interested in going unfortunately

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

(12-03-2015 12:04 AM)Stay Cool Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 11:25 PM)2015 Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 11:22 PM)zdsmith Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 10:58 PM)2015 Wrote:  Purchased mine yesterday. Students can purchase until midnight tonight.

What's it feel like on campus? Good vibes? Bad vibes? Two years alumni and I already hardly have any on-campus connections anymore lol

From what I've seen students are optimistic. I was actually kind of surprised.

Optimistic but not very interested in going unfortunately

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

Yep, there are not as many students going compared to years prior.

(12-02-2015 09:04 PM)zdsmith Wrote:  Halftime of basketball just said that there are 3 full buses. I would guess thats somewhere between 150-180 (depending on capacity)

Assistant AD also said there were only 2 buses last year.

(12-02-2015 10:58 PM)2015 Wrote:  Purchased mine yesterday. Students can purchase until midnight tonight.

What encouraged you to make a ticket purchase?

What would help many more students decide to go?

1) Frat competition
2) Some really good looking students of both genders advertising the game?
3) Classes recorded and made available online.
4) Test exemptions
5) Quality of busses
6)?? please fill in the blanks.

Will many students be watching the game live?
Any efforts to have watch parties on campus?

According to the Northern Star a record number of NIU students are homeless.
See article below:
"The rise in homelessness among students this year is an unfortunate reality. More NIU students have been identified as homeless this year than in any years prior, according to a Nov. 23 Northern Star article. While there are many resources to help students with the difficult situations that lead them to become homeless, it is still disappointing that this number is rising. It is another example of how higher education is much too expensive in the United States. Many people joke about the low-budget things college kids do on a daily basis, but there is truth in that. The average college student today is usually struggling to get by and leaves college with both a diploma and a massive amount of debt. If a rise in homelessness does not scream for more affordable education I don’t know what does."
http://northernstar.info/opinion/pass-li...2d890.html


Is there a plan to waive the $20 fee for such students?
Fortunately, while $20 is a relatively very small sum for most students, there are those who might consider it a weeks food budget.
In addition to the moral argument, students who live very frugally, are very likely to be successful one day and would be very grateful for the free outing to Detroit.
Might be a great investment for future NIU FB fans.

(12-03-2015 12:45 AM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 09:04 PM)zdsmith Wrote:  Halftime of basketball just said that there are 3 full buses. I would guess thats somewhere between 150-180 (depending on capacity)

Assistant AD also said there were only 2 buses last year.

I believe you are correct also IIRC we had 4 student buses for the 2013 12-0 MACC.

Too many people have negative set as the default right now.

(12-03-2015 09:05 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(12-03-2015 12:45 AM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 09:04 PM)zdsmith Wrote:  Halftime of basketball just said that there are 3 full buses. I would guess thats somewhere between 150-180 (depending on capacity)

Assistant AD also said there were only 2 buses last year.

I believe you are correct also IIRC we had 4 student buses for the 2013 12-0 MACC.

Too many people have negative set as the default right now.

Any plans to tackle the ,"default negative" paradigm that exists "right now" ?

(12-03-2015 08:35 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 10:58 PM)2015 Wrote:  Purchased mine yesterday. Students can purchase until midnight tonight.

What encouraged you to make a ticket purchase?

What would help many more students decide to go?

1) Frat competition
2) Some really good looking students of both genders advertising the game?
3) Classes recorded and made available online.
4) Test exemptions
5) Quality of busses
6)?? please fill in the blanks.

6) Free Beer

(12-03-2015 09:23 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  

(12-03-2015 09:05 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(12-03-2015 12:45 AM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 09:04 PM)zdsmith Wrote:  Halftime of basketball just said that there are 3 full buses. I would guess thats somewhere between 150-180 (depending on capacity)

Assistant AD also said there were only 2 buses last year.

I believe you are correct also IIRC we had 4 student buses for the 2013 12-0 MACC.

Too many people have negative set as the default right now.

Any plans to tackle the ,"default negative" paradigm that exists "right now" ?

Do something to involve the student body on gamedays. I get that tailgating and heavily drinking is a good time, but it doesn't seem like there is much gameday investment for the students.

My perception is obviously skewed, though, having been in band.

(12-03-2015 09:05 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(12-03-2015 12:45 AM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 09:04 PM)zdsmith Wrote:  Halftime of basketball just said that there are 3 full buses. I would guess thats somewhere between 150-180 (depending on capacity)

Assistant AD also said there were only 2 buses last year.

I believe you are correct also IIRC we had 4 student buses for the 2013 12-0 MACC.

Too many people have negative set as the default right now.

A progressive organization sees a "negative set" as an Opportunity.
Marketing is meant as a tool to help people change their minds.
So NIU athletic marketing has witnessed a significant drop in student interest.

The idea to offer a free term tuition to a student whom attended NIU FB games was a new and bold idea.
There is a measurable Objective regarding if the benefit(student increase at FB games) exceeded the cost.

Stadium expansions, or upgrades look great on an NIU athletic employees resume, but
measuring the cost versus benefit of such a project is very difficult.

Offering free tickets to Detroit to NIU students whom are homeless can be measured far more easily.
One can easily measure the donations received by the student after they graduate within a ten year period.
Such students are likely to have better financial management skills than a student piling up debt living in the dorms.
If they have less student loans and a lower standard of living their surplus residual cash is likely to be larger.

If one is living off $20 a week on food, a free trip to Detroit with a free meal is likely to be a life memory for such a student which would be cherished greatly.

It will also tackle the possible perception, that the NIU athletic department is out of touch with the needs of NIU students, especially the ones struggling the most financially.

The answer to dropping attendance is an easy one to me. It's the way the group of 5 is portrayed by the media. Kids today are totally media driven, they don't ever look up from their phones. ESPN, Fox sports, writers and bloggers on twitter, they all agree that the Group of 5 is a lessor level of football and basically insignificant. Even when the teams are successful, they get laughed off. That is driven home day after day after day. So yeah, why on earth would a student go to an NIU vs any MAC team game unless they really LOVE NIU football? They won't. They will go to the tailgate, party with their friends, and then leave. Why would they stay and watch an insignificant game? Sure it may have MAJOR significance for NIU, but as far as the media and the college football landscape is concerned, it might as well be the IHSA playoffs. The only G5 teams that draw well are the ones who are good that year (Houston, Temple, Memphis this year....NIU is 2013, etc). Even back in my day at NIU (04-08), the power conferences didn't feel so far away. But now, if you aren't in the Power 5 you're meaningless. Sure they throw a bone at the top ranked G5 team at the end of the year, but they will end up playing the worst P5 team that qualified for a new years bowl.

When you are told time and time again that your game is pointless...then you are going to think it is. Especially as a casual fan. That's the sad reality of today's college football. Why on earth would you go watch the game after tailgating when Alabama is playing Ole Miss at the same time? or Why would you go into the stadium on a tuesday or wednesday when you know full well that even the winner of Toledo v NIU doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things? Well the answer is...you don't go to the game. in the early 2000's we could at least convince ourselves that the games mattered, because it still felt like there was a respect level for the non power conferences then. But now, that is certainly gone.

Option 1:

6 hr bus ride, 6 hrs in Detroit, 6 hrs to come back to get back just before sunrise.

Also miss class, which may or may not mean something to the student.

Option 2:

Sit in dorm, apt or bar with friends and watch game.

Option 3:

Don't care, won't watch and will be studying, raising cultural awareness or playing xbox....or whatever those not interested would do.

Hate to break it to some, but those likely to one day donate a large sum of money to the school (likely for scholarships, research or infrastructure) due to their success at and post NIU aren't the ones whose life revolves around going to an NIU football game and the MACC. They aren't looking for a free ticket to a game but probably focusing on their studies.

(12-03-2015 10:40 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  

(12-03-2015 09:05 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(12-03-2015 12:45 AM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(12-02-2015 09:04 PM)zdsmith Wrote:  Halftime of basketball just said that there are 3 full buses. I would guess thats somewhere between 150-180 (depending on capacity)

Assistant AD also said there were only 2 buses last year.

I believe you are correct also IIRC we had 4 student buses for the 2013 12-0 MACC.

Too many people have negative set as the default right now.

A progressive organization sees a "negative set" as an Opportunity.
Marketing is meant as a tool to help people change their minds.
So NIU athletic marketing has witnessed a significant drop in student interest.

The idea to offer a free term tuition to a student whom attended NIU FB games was a new and bold idea.
There is a measurable Objective regarding if the benefit(student increase at FB games) exceeded the cost.

Stadium expansions, or upgrades look great on an NIU athletic employees resume, but
measuring the cost versus benefit of such a project is very difficult.

Offering free tickets to Detroit to NIU students whom are homeless can be measured far more easily.
One can easily measure the donations received by the student after they graduate within a ten year period.
Such students are likely to have better financial management skills than a student piling up debt living in the dorms.
If they have less student loans and a lower standard of living their surplus residual cash is likely to be larger.

If one is living off $20 a week on food, a free trip to Detroit with a free meal is likely to be a life memory for such a student which would be cherished greatly.

It will also tackle the possible perception, that the NIU athletic department is out of touch with the needs of NIU students, especially the ones struggling the most financially.

Wow, your over analyzing. Write a white paper, send it to the NIU athletic Dept. LOL

Again, this is how I see it. It's the worst team any student has seen fielded at NIU, with a large possibility of losing the game. It's finals week and it's Detroit. So is it really a surprise is a small drop off from 2013 when NIU was playing for another BCS game? Did we forget the awesome student turnout in the beginning of season (which was better the in 2014)

(12-03-2015 10:50 AM)DogPoundNorth Wrote:  The answer to dropping attendance is an easy one to me. It's the way the group of 5 is portrayed by the media. Kids today are totally media driven, they don't ever look up from their phones. ESPN, Fox sports, writers and bloggers on twitter, they all agree that the Group of 5 is a lessor level of football and basically insignificant. Even when the teams are successful, they get laughed off. That is driven home day after day after day. So yeah, why on earth would a student go to an NIU vs any MAC team game unless they really LOVE NIU football? They won't. They will go to the tailgate, party with their friends, and then leave. Why would they stay and watch an insignificant game? Sure it may have MAJOR significance for NIU, but as far as the media and the college football landscape is concerned, it might as well be the IHSA playoffs. The only G5 teams that draw well are the ones who are good that year (Houston, Temple, Memphis this year....NIU is 2013, etc). Even back in my day at NIU (04-08), the power conferences didn't feel so far away. But now, if you aren't in the Power 5 you're meaningless. Sure they throw a bone at the top ranked G5 team at the end of the year, but they will end up playing the worst P5 team that qualified for a new years bowl.

When you are told time and time again that your game is pointless...then you are going to think it is. Especially as a casual fan. That's the sad reality of today's college football. Why on earth would you go watch the game after tailgating when Alabama is playing Ole Miss at the same time? or Why would you go into the stadium on a tuesday or wednesday when you know full well that even the winner of Toledo v NIU doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things? Well the answer is...you don't go to the game. in the early 2000's we could at least convince ourselves that the games mattered, because it still felt like there was a respect level for the non power conferences then. But now, that is certainly gone.

Maybe you have a point, however the NIU media have an opportunity to influence the minds of students.

Meaningless is a relative term.
If you are a struggling NIU student financially a free trip and meal might be very meaningful at the time.
If one is not struggling financially and one's friends are going to Detroit, then the trip might be meaningful.

Football success at most schools does not necessarily sell tickets.

Students need to be sold on, why they should give up 14 hours before an exam week to ride to Detroit and pay $20 for that opportunity?

That is supposedly the task of a certain agency within NIU.
How high of a priority is getting NIU students to Detroit?
What new efforts have been made to try and stem the significant drop in NIU student attendance at FB games (in this case in Detroit.)?
When Marshall went 6 times to Detroit, did they have fewer busses of students traveling each year? Marshall is far away from Detroit.

In the 1990's many students boycotted games and vowed never to donate money to NIU because of the FB stadium expansion, followed by a tuition hike.

It is very sad when NIU students view NIU FB (and NIU sports as a whole) as a huge liability which they pay for with higher tuition.

Clearly something needs to be done to get NIU student interest as measured via attendance at games, TV ratings, news coverage in the local student paper etc to reverse its negative trend.

Direct student participation in related decisions might help.
Restructuring the NIU agency that deals with athletics to hire more student workers and less permanent staff might also help.

I have never seen this as a highest priority of that NIU agency.
While getting the State H.S. Football championships to DeKalb is a feather in the cap of that NIU agency, it should be a lower priority than maintaining and increasing NIU student support for NIU FB.

Marshall never went to Detroit. Most of the MACC games were in Huntington and one in Toledo.

(12-03-2015 10:40 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  A progressive organization sees a "negative set" as an Opportunity.
Marketing is meant as a tool to help people change their minds.
So NIU athletic marketing has witnessed a significant drop in student interest.

The idea to offer a free term tuition to a student whom attended NIU FB games was a new and bold idea.
There is a measurable Objective regarding if the benefit(student increase at FB games) exceeded the cost.

Stadium expansions, or upgrades look great on an NIU athletic employees resume, but
measuring the cost versus benefit of such a project is very difficult.

Offering free tickets to Detroit to NIU students whom are homeless can be measured far more easily.
One can easily measure the donations received by the student after they graduate within a ten year period.
Such students are likely to have better financial management skills than a student piling up debt living in the dorms.
If they have less student loans and a lower standard of living their surplus residual cash is likely to be larger.

If one is living off $20 a week on food, a free trip to Detroit with a free meal is likely to be a life memory for such a student which would be cherished greatly.

It will also tackle the possible perception, that the NIU athletic department is out of touch with the needs of NIU students, especially the ones struggling the most financially.

There you go making up things again. Why are you twisting everything possible to the negative side?

Flat out more students will be using the bus package than last year.

The SA, Alum Association and Athletics is already subsidizing the cost to the students by about $150 per person X 3 buses X ~42 people = about $18,900, yet that is not enough for you?

Now you pull this homeless student issue out as part of athletics problem for being out of touch??? I really hope you are trolling and are not truly serious.

(12-03-2015 11:35 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(12-03-2015 10:40 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  A progressive organization sees a "negative set" as an Opportunity.
Marketing is meant as a tool to help people change their minds.
So NIU athletic marketing has witnessed a significant drop in student interest.

The idea to offer a free term tuition to a student whom attended NIU FB games was a new and bold idea.
There is a measurable Objective regarding if the benefit(student increase at FB games) exceeded the cost.

Stadium expansions, or upgrades look great on an NIU athletic employees resume, but
measuring the cost versus benefit of such a project is very difficult.

Offering free tickets to Detroit to NIU students whom are homeless can be measured far more easily.
One can easily measure the donations received by the student after they graduate within a ten year period.
Such students are likely to have better financial management skills than a student piling up debt living in the dorms.
If they have less student loans and a lower standard of living their surplus residual cash is likely to be larger.

If one is living off $20 a week on food, a free trip to Detroit with a free meal is likely to be a life memory for such a student which would be cherished greatly.

It will also tackle the possible perception, that the NIU athletic department is out of touch with the needs of NIU students, especially the ones struggling the most financially.

There you go making up things again. Why are you twisting everything possible to the negative side?

Flat out more students will be using the bus package than last year.

The SA, Alum Association and Athletics is already subsidizing the cost to the students by about $150 per person X 3 buses X ~42 people = about $18,900, yet that is not enough for you?

Now you pull this homeless student issue out as part of athletics problem for being out of touch??? I really hope you are trolling and are not truly serious.

+1

I've read his post, and I'm so confused. If he's trolling why waste so many key strokes to do it.

literally every other thing he posts here, im like...