A bit of a sport crossover comment, but ... I think one of the main things that will be missed with the NCAA MBB (and maybe WBB) tournament cancellation is the first-round upsets, when some "little" takes down one of the "bigs." The P5 doesn't like it because it spoils their party, but Americans love to root for the underdog. That's the main reason for such high interest in first-round games.

That is a lesson long-ignored by the P5 in D1/FBS football. Consider how much we anticipate and then celebrate every "boneyard win," and how much we get a recharge from recalling those games. Fans/alumni of every other G5 (and maybe some FCS) program feel the same way, I suspect.

I would love to see someone with the resources draw up a comparison of the estimated number of students and alumni of G5 and FCS schools, compared to P5 programs. It might show much of the boat the P5 is missing.

That said, perhaps this is the time to impress upon athletics the need to revise marketing and activity (i.e. tailgate, promo, etc.) planning, since the day-to-day operations of the a.dept. are slowing down. Perhaps also a time to provide our advisory board with good ideas.

Why waste the time lamenting the loss of the tourneys etc.

Just sayin'. Any thoughts?

(03-15-2020 08:51 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  A bit of a sport crossover comment, but ... I think one of the main things that will be missed with the NCAA MBB (and maybe WBB) tournament cancellation is the first-round upsets, when some "little" takes down one of the "bigs." The P5 doesn't like it because it spoils their party, but Americans love to root for the underdog. That's the main reason for such high interest in first-round games.

That is a lesson long-ignored by the P5 in D1/FBS football. Consider how much we anticipate and then celebrate every "boneyard win," and how much we get a recharge from recalling those games. Fans/alumni of every other G5 (and maybe some FCS) program feel the same way, I suspect.

I would love to see someone with the resources draw up a comparison of the estimated number of students and alumni of G5 and FCS schools, compared to P5 programs. It might show much of the boat the P5 is missing.

That said, perhaps this is the time to impress upon athletics the need to revise marketing and activity (i.e. tailgate, promo, etc.) planning, since the day-to-day operations of the a.dept. are slowing down. Perhaps also a time to provide our advisory board with good ideas.

Why waste the time lamenting the loss of the tourneys etc.

Just sayin'. Any thoughts?

Great suggestions and thanks to those who post ideas and have reached out to me directly.

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.

(04-07-2020 06:12 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Now really is the time to plan and look ahead...

Regardless of what happens with fall 2020 football, imo Norhtern 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.

SseatGeek 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.

Brilliant!!! At least for a couple year experiment.

I guess the only drawback would be have a Senior Night off campus and depriving the student body that chance to watch a team clinch a division title at home. It may be difficult to get those goalposts down I-88 to the lagoon. However, a team with a good record could potentially draw fairly well.

As much as I can’t stand the thought of a Saturday game at Seat Geek, I really like this idea.

The BYU game -- if it happens -- would be the only Saturday game at SG. The whole idea is to plan for after 2020, taking whatever happens this year as whatever happens this year. There's a chance to create that "Chicago connection" and keep the full Saturday game-day experience at HS. Also, imo, I don't think Northwestern, Illinois or anybody else has tried this before, at least not on a 3-to-5-year consistent basis.

I screwed all my old gray-hair working brain cells together, and couldn't find a major flaw with this.

What I/we want, imo, is to see Northern NOT go back to the "old normal." To be innovative. With this whole Covid-19 crisis, everyone is forced into planning. I am only suggesting we look beyond recovery planning. Look at potential without exorbitant additional cost, and maybe get some new revenue.

Do you really want to see Huskie FB struggle with the same old, same old? The ESPN-MAC weekday night issue? Declining attendance? And the ever-present how-do-we-tap-all-those-Chicago-alumni?

Maybe we can get our advisory board to at least float the idea. Your thoughts?

Oh, and what's wrong with two Senior Nights? The one at HS could be a booster for the rest of the season.

(04-07-2020 06:56 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  The BYU game -- if it happens -- would be the only Saturday game at SG. The whole idea is to plan for after 2020, taking whatever happens this year as whatever happens this year. There's a chance to create that "Chicago connection" and keep the full Saturday game-day experience at HS. Also, imo, I don't think Northwestern, Illinois or anybody else has tried this before, at least not on a 3-to-5-year consistent basis.

I screwed all my old gray-hair working brain cells together, and couldn't find a major flaw with this.

What I/we want, imo, is to see Northern NOT go back to the "old normal." To be innovative. With this whole Covid-19 crisis, everyone is forced into planning. I am only suggesting we look beyond recovery planning. Look at potential without exorbitant additional cost, and maybe get some new revenue.

Do you really want to see Huskie FB struggle with the same old, same old? The ESPN-MAC weekday night issue? Declining attendance? And the ever-present how-do-we-tap-all-those-Chicago-alumni?

Maybe we can get our advisory board to at least float the idea. Your thoughts?

Oh, and what's wrong with two Senior Nights? The one at HS could be a booster for the rest of the season.

This idea regarding weekday games at Seat Geek has gotten the attention of athletics. We have an online HFAB meeting on Thursday evening. While this meeting I believe will be a chance to see how everyone is doing and get an update from Sean Frazier I will be sure there is some discussion on your ideas ASAP. Women’s basketball held their senior day earlier in the season on a Saturday which made it easier for family to join our seniors. In football it would also allow for them to be honored in front of a larger crowd.

I was going to ping STF myself, but that's why we have a HFAB. Negotiating such a deal should be right up STF's alley. Hammock has already commented on the importance of Chicago-area recruiting; what could be better for that than "regular" games right in their back yards?

Also, we know what the weekday night experience has been at HS. It's not good and seems to be getting worse, somewhat because of weaher, but also because the fan base that can reach HS after work and not be up too late after getting home is too small. Also also, think of the coronavirus crisis as "the hump" (not to minimize the seriousness of it; I'm an old guy myself). Once we get over that hump, between the "old normal" and whatever comes next, do we really want to go back to what we know is failing?

As for my comment on Northwestern and Illinois ... like NIU, they've tried the once-in-a-while thing, and it didn't work. Northwestern is now stuck with the bumper-sticker slogan "Chicago's team" ... way up there in Evanston. And can you see Illinois sending home games from Champaign to Chicago on a regular basis? And you can't just do this once in a while if you want to make the games "your games" for all those alumni.

NIU is not Northwestern or Illinois ... but they're not NIU either.

Note: For the record, I'm one of the long-time "gray hairs," and I would love to have all my Saturday games back. But the reality is that's not going to happen.

And regardless of what happens, thanks for what you do for the fans.

I'm OK with moving weeknight MACtion to Seat Geek. But, please don't commit those that have no way of attending a 6:00 PM weeknight game in Chicago by including them in my season ticket package.

NIU could easily offer three "levels" of season tickets: 4 at Huskie Stadium, all 6 games, or a "Chicago Connection" (call it "Chi-Town Showdown" if you want) of the 2 at SeatGeek. On the side, could offer a mix-and-match of any combination of the 6, plus single-game sales. Plenty of ticket options, and the options of 4 at Huskie Stadium and 2 at SeatGeek could preserve the reserved seats.

Attempting weeknight MACtion in SeatGeek is fine, and should've been the original plan instead of a marquee Saturday opponent like BYU.

The economic impact of moving weeknight MACtion from DeKalb is minimal, imo. One game this year had 1 car in the East grass parking lot. That's crazy!

(04-08-2020 10:21 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Attempting weeknight MACtion in SeatGeek is fine, and should've been the original plan instead of a marquee Saturday opponent like BYU.

The economic impact of moving weeknight MACtion from DeKalb is minimal, imo. One game this year had 1 car in the East grass parking lot. That's crazy!

That's the idea behind this ... innovate, because we know the "old normal" at HS was failing. Nobody wants to see that downward trend continue. Might even be some revenue stream(s) at SG, depending on whatever deal STF could negotiate.

(04-08-2020 10:19 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  NIU could easily offer three "levels" of season tickets: 4 at Huskie Stadium, all 6 games, or a "Chicago Connection" (call it "Chi-Town Showdown" if you want) of the 2 at SeatGeek. On the side, could offer a mix-and-match of any combination of the 6, plus single-game sales. Plenty of ticket options, and the options of 4 at Huskie Stadium and 2 at SeatGeek could preserve the reserved seats.

I am all in favor of moving the November weeknight games to SeatGeek. But, I would seriously doubt that Athletics would segregate those games and make them a separate option. Not many people would order those tickets separately. If the games are indeed moved, I would bet that the tickets for those games will be part of the season ticket package, as per usual.