Leave any ideas you have for moving NIU Athletics forward here and I can bring them up at next meeting.

Many of us purchase tickets (individual and season) yet aren't able to attend. Could NIU set up a program to give away these tickets to schools in the surrounding area. This could also be a program for any fan to donate tickets to schools. Would also help build our fan base in local schools.

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At one of the early season good weather games give free tickets to anyone from DeKalb County. Need to get more people from the community out. Maybe tie it to a food drive or something. They get a free ticket if they donate food or clothing.

*Move all tailgating to the fields surrounding Huskie Stadium.

*Make I-88 the "Huskie Corridor" with marking supporting NIU Athletics with billboards, signs, sponsorships etc.

*Film top notch NIU commercials. Because right now they are not good.... do you see this awesome commercial from Utah State? Do more like this.





*The university should explore an Athletics-focused entrance at Annie Glidden and Lincoln Hwy or on Annie Glidden just north of IHOP. This is not for the students as much as it would be to impress visitors to DeKalb.

*Give out NIU Huskie Athletics stickers for free with every ticket purchased. Like one of these:


These stickers make their way onto cars, computers, lockers, work desks and all sorts of places. Put a bucket of them for free at every HS within 60 miles. Make sure every local business has as many stickers and flags and posters and whatever they want merchandise wise (within reason, of course) to promote NIU.

(11-26-2018 10:35 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  *Move all tailgating to the fields surrounding Huskie Stadium.

*Make I-88 the "Huskie Corridor" with marking supporting NIU Athletics with billboards, signs, sponsorships etc.

*Film top notch NIU commercials. Because right now they are not good.... do you see this awesome commercial from Utah State? Do more like this.





*The university should explore an Athletics-focused entrance at Annie Glidden and Lincoln Hwy or on Annie Glidden just north of IHOP. This is not for the students as much as it would be to impress visitors to DeKalb.

*Give out NIU Huskie Athletics stickers for free with every ticket purchased. Like one of these:


These stickers make their way onto cars, computers, lockers, work desks and all sorts of places. Put a bucket of them for free at every HS within 60 miles. Make sure every local business has as many stickers and flags and posters and whatever they want merchandise wise (within reason, of course) to promote NIU.

So true. Every student should receive 2. One for them and 1 for parents.

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Single-game tickets for the west side should probably be a little cheaper.

NIU needs to re-establish the red riot. We need student leaders that set the tone at huskie athletic games. They should bring the spirit and start the chants and get the student section pumped up. Its a lot harder for groups of 1-10 students to start a chant or start to yell on a big 3rd down for the opponent vs 50-100.

They should re-establish the red-black chant also, led by the cheerleaders like they used to do it - at least at the earlier games when the East side has a bunch of people. And it should be done in the first half.

These are great ideas except the fire Carey also how much are single game west side tickets? I feel we do pretty good with walk up tickets when the weather is good. I believe I heard we only have 3 thousand some season ticket holders so walk up tickets must be decent.

(11-26-2018 04:54 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  NIU needs to re-establish the red riot. We need student leaders that set the tone at huskie athletic games. They should bring the spirit and start the chants and get the student section pumped up. Its a lot harder for groups of 1-10 students to start a chant or start to yell on a big 3rd down for the opponent vs 50-100.

Perhaps connecting with a fraternity that could lead for a season or maybe a different fraternity or sorority gets to lead each game.

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(11-26-2018 05:14 PM)dekalb222 Wrote:  These are great ideas except the fire Carey also how much are single game west side tickets? I feel we do pretty good with walk up tickets when the weather is good. I believe I heard we only have 3 thousand some season ticket holders so walk up tickets must be decent.

I suspect most season ticket holders have multiple seats though, at least 2 and maybe 4 or more. So maybe not that much for walkup. The west side only holds 14,000 now. I guess the ticket prices varied around $25 to $40 so not that much - I think $40 is a little steep though that might have been the Utah game. Just a thought. I remember thought that they had jacked up the West side tickets to $42 for at least one game early in the year and that was when we still had a crummy home schedule. So they might have lost some people there.

(11-26-2018 05:18 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(11-26-2018 04:54 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  NIU needs to re-establish the red riot. We need student leaders that set the tone at huskie athletic games. They should bring the spirit and start the chants and get the student section pumped up. Its a lot harder for groups of 1-10 students to start a chant or start to yell on a big 3rd down for the opponent vs 50-100.

Perhaps connecting with a fraternity that could lead for a season or maybe a different fraternity or sorority gets to lead each game.

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^^This. Fraternities and sororities constantly tailgate but never go into the game. There’s hundreds of students that could attend. Getting them involved someway would help. Do they sell beer on that side of the stadium? They should because it’s an incentive for those of age to go into the game instead of going to Molly’s or back to the frat house when the game starts.

NIU started selling beer on that side of the stadium this season

(11-26-2018 05:44 PM)JoeNovak Wrote:  

(11-26-2018 05:18 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(11-26-2018 04:54 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  NIU needs to re-establish the red riot. We need student leaders that set the tone at huskie athletic games. They should bring the spirit and start the chants and get the student section pumped up. Its a lot harder for groups of 1-10 students to start a chant or start to yell on a big 3rd down for the opponent vs 50-100.

Perhaps connecting with a fraternity that could lead for a season or maybe a different fraternity or sorority gets to lead each game.

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^^This. Fraternities and sororities constantly tailgate but never go into the game. There’s hundreds of students that could attend. Getting them involved someway would help. Do they sell beer on that side of the stadium? They should because it’s an incentive for those of age to go into the game instead of going to Molly’s or back to the frat house when the game starts.

To my knowledge it's Phi Sigs that currently "run"(aka do nothing with) the red riot. They might bring a group of their guys to games but completely fail to reach out to other houses or to even reach out to people not in fraternities (90% of the student population). As a student, I'd love to join the red riot but they're not a real student organization. They don't hold planning meetings, don't have a diverse student exec board, have elections (they just hand it down to another psk bro for a resume builder every year) or do anything a real student org would do. Even their twitter account is just a front for the athletic department, let the student leaders run it (if there are any).

The red riot needs to be completely separated from athletics and greek life and be run by the Student association like every other student organization on campus. They need to have weekly meetings open to all students (and make sure people know of it) where they can plan events, promotions, cheers and operate like a club. The leadership needs a variety of outgoing students who are involved in more than just greek life, such as sports clubs, academic clubs, res hall association, book clubs and whatever else exists. The club should operate with all sorts of committees that are in charge of different tasks, Game-day experience, marketing, transportation, music selection, apparel and opponent research team just to name a few. Red Riot should be a student organization that works with athletics, not just a name for a group of students who happened to show up to a game.

(11-26-2018 07:31 PM)dogdangit Wrote:  

(11-26-2018 05:44 PM)JoeNovak Wrote:  

(11-26-2018 05:18 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(11-26-2018 04:54 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  NIU needs to re-establish the red riot. We need student leaders that set the tone at huskie athletic games. They should bring the spirit and start the chants and get the student section pumped up. Its a lot harder for groups of 1-10 students to start a chant or start to yell on a big 3rd down for the opponent vs 50-100.

Perhaps connecting with a fraternity that could lead for a season or maybe a different fraternity or sorority gets to lead each game.

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^^This. Fraternities and sororities constantly tailgate but never go into the game. There’s hundreds of students that could attend. Getting them involved someway would help. Do they sell beer on that side of the stadium? They should because it’s an incentive for those of age to go into the game instead of going to Molly’s or back to the frat house when the game starts.

To my knowledge it's Phi Sigs that currently "run"(aka do nothing with) the red riot. They might bring a group of their guys to games but completely fail to reach out to other houses or to even reach out to people not in fraternities (90% of the student population). As a student, I'd love to join the red riot but they're not a real student organization. They don't hold planning meetings, don't have a diverse student exec board, have elections (they just hand it down to another psk bro for a resume builder every year) or do anything a real student org would do. Even their twitter account is just a front for the athletic department, let the student leaders run it (if there are any).

The red riot needs to be completely separated from athletics and greek life and be run by the Student association like every other student organization on campus. They need to have weekly meetings open to all students (and make sure people know of it) where they can plan events, promotions, cheers and operate like a club. The leadership needs a variety of outgoing students who are involved in more than just greek life, such as sports clubs, academic clubs, res hall association, book clubs and whatever else exists. The club should operate with all sorts of committees that are in charge of different tasks, Game-day experience, marketing, transportation, music selection, apparel and opponent research team just to name a few. Red Riot should be a student organization that works with athletics, not just a name for a group of students who happened to show up to a game.

Failure on SF here...

(11-26-2018 03:13 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(11-26-2018 10:35 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  *Move all tailgating to the fields surrounding Huskie Stadium.

*Make I-88 the "Huskie Corridor" with marking supporting NIU Athletics with billboards, signs, sponsorships etc.

*Film top notch NIU commercials. Because right now they are not good.... do you see this awesome commercial from Utah State? Do more like this.





*The university should explore an Athletics-focused entrance at Annie Glidden and Lincoln Hwy or on Annie Glidden just north of IHOP. This is not for the students as much as it would be to impress visitors to DeKalb.

*Give out NIU Huskie Athletics stickers for free with every ticket purchased. Like one of these:


These stickers make their way onto cars, computers, lockers, work desks and all sorts of places. Put a bucket of them for free at every HS within 60 miles. Make sure every local business has as many stickers and flags and posters and whatever they want merchandise wise (within reason, of course) to promote NIU.

So true. Every student should receive 2. One for them and 1 for parents.

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Best damn logo in college sports!

Love this thread 222. thanks for representing the Dog Pound and sharing our ideas at the meeting.

Here are a few more ideas. Some might be kind of goofy. I'm a big believer in "throw it against the wall and see if it sticks." Never know.

1) Bring back the cannon. I want my cannon back!
2) I like all of the ideas surrounding fraternities and sororities. How about the same for dorm floors or dorm buildings? Organize competitions between them--most students from a house or floor, best posters and signage, best outfits, best chants, etc. Winners get pizza dinner on their floor or something. Encourage "appropriate craziness!"
3) For students, how about a flag football tournament the morning before each weekend home game? A bags tournament? Prizes? Winners awarded at halftime?
4) For one Saturday away game during nonconference, would any students and locals come if they had a watch party in the stadium? Show the game on the scoreboard, let people hang out on the field, have a bags tournament or something on one end, serve game day food, etc. Crazy, I know. But if you get a few hundred people in the stadium, they might decide to come back. See if a local establishment would sponsor it.
5) Have athletes (not just football) meet with the freshman early their first year on their dorm floors, have pizza with them, get them fired up about attending sporting events/being Huskies. (Food = happy college students.)
6) For students attending the cold games of November, provide free hand/foot warmers, maybe have Huskies blankets available to borrow, provide other ways to make sitting there in the cold less miserable. Have warming stations under the stands. Told you some of these ideas might be kind of goofy...
7) For the November night games, set up a tent (like the alumni tent) on the East side and work with local restaurants to bring in food for the students. Have a separate tent with beer for students of age.
8) On the flip side, if we just can't students in the stands in November, is there a way to "close up" the East Side stands and move everyone to the West Side? Improve the West Side experience for all fans, have a student section, move the band over (putting them someplace where they won't blow people's ears out would be a challenge--maybe stick them behind the visitors section!), etc. Move some of the TV cameras to show the West Side--it always seems like the student sections are shown during MACtion and there's no one there! Finally, on the East Side, cover the entire stands, or the middle 3-4 sections, in a gigantic Huskies logo like they have on the truck. Include the school's website and phone number at the bottom for the benefit of people watching on TV. Sitting where I do on the West Side, I wouldn't mind looking at that during time outs. Beats all the empty metal bleachers!
Thanks for letting me ramble. And dream.

(11-27-2018 05:06 PM)HW58 Wrote:  Love this thread 222. thanks for representing the Dog Pound and sharing our ideas at the meeting.

Here are a few more ideas. Some might be kind of goofy. I'm a big believer in "throw it against the wall and see if it sticks." Never know.

1) Bring back the cannon. I want my cannon back!
2) I like all of the ideas surrounding fraternities and sororities. How about the same for dorm floors or dorm buildings? Organize competitions between them--most students from a house or floor, best posters and signage, best outfits, best chants, etc. Winners get pizza dinner on their floor or something. Encourage "appropriate craziness!"
3) For students, how about a flag football tournament the morning before each weekend home game? A bags tournament? Prizes? Winners awarded at halftime?
4) For one Saturday away game during nonconference, would any students and locals come if they had a watch party in the stadium? Show the game on the scoreboard, let people hang out on the field, have a bags tournament or something on one end, serve game day food, etc. Crazy, I know. But if you get a few hundred people in the stadium, they might decide to come back. See if a local establishment would sponsor it.
5) Have athletes (not just football) meet with the freshman early their first year on their dorm floors, have pizza with them, get them fired up about attending sporting events/being Huskies. (Food = happy college students.)
6) For students attending the cold games of November, provide free hand/foot warmers, maybe have Huskies blankets available to borrow, provide other ways to make sitting there in the cold less miserable. Have warming stations under the stands. Told you some of these ideas might be kind of goofy...
7) For the November night games, set up a tent (like the alumni tent) on the East side and work with local restaurants to bring in food for the students. Have a separate tent with beer for students of age.
8) On the flip side, if we just can't students in the stands in November, is there a way to "close up" the East Side stands and move everyone to the West Side? Improve the West Side experience for all fans, have a student section, move the band over (putting them someplace where they won't blow people's ears out would be a challenge--maybe stick them behind the visitors section!), etc. Move some of the TV cameras to show the West Side--it always seems like the student sections are shown during MACtion and there's no one there! Finally, on the East Side, cover the entire stands, or the middle 3-4 sections, in a gigantic Huskies logo like they have on the truck. Include the school's website and phone number at the bottom for the benefit of people watching on TV. Sitting where I do on the West Side, I wouldn't mind looking at that during time outs. Beats all the empty metal bleachers!
Thanks for letting me ramble. And dream.

Warming stations are a great idea. The brutal weather is a huge deterrent to MACtion attendance.

Bring back the old huskie logo! I wish I could attach it but don’t know how. I’m talking about the huskie running with the football. Someone help me out and post it lol. Put this logo on an alternate helmet. And bring back the old 2000s helmets with the huskie. A friend of mine watched Niu for the first time the other day and said it was so stupid to have numbers on their away helmets. We need that identity back. The retro huskie would work wonders. Look at North Carolina State for example....bringing back that old wolf logo was huge.
Also the city of Dekalb needs to be on board. Tear down that terrible old motel that used to be the travel lodge. Turn that into another bar, restaurant, or brewery. Same goes for what Illini tire was. There needs to be more for fans outside the game. A brewery would attract many before and after games.

I mentioned to Sean Frazier how about a throw back game at Chick Evans. He seemed receptive to the idea but somebody later told me it no longer has seats in it.