How do we build the fanbase?

This forum is for Football related topics only. Other topics will be moved to the appropriate forum.
Tetonkatest
Posts: 795
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 9:17 pm
Has thanked: 102 times
Been thanked: 88 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by Tetonkatest » December 17th, 2018, 10:22 am

The ticket office needs to hire a new manager



BobWilson
Posts: 1225
Joined: November 3rd, 2010, 6:03 pm
Has thanked: 126 times
Been thanked: 421 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by BobWilson » December 17th, 2018, 10:25 am

My plan?

Follow the BYU plan instituted in the 1960's-70's.

I suggested such a plan to a former Vice President for Athletics at USU and was told in no uncertain terms that "you don't know what you are talking about." Free speech seems in short supply on many campuses these days. Too bad that issues can't be discussed and solutions found. I suspect many contributors to these pages have good ideas for building the fan base but someone has to listen.



User avatar
IfelOfasofa
Posts: 20
Joined: October 18th, 2018, 12:24 pm
Has thanked: 15 times
Been thanked: 26 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by IfelOfasofa » December 17th, 2018, 10:30 am

When I was a little kid, they had the "USU Huddle Club" each kid got a t shirt and a neck badge for the season... Kids dig the neck badge!
It wasn't enough to go to the game... you HAD to have a neck badge to be "in". I think the cost was maybe 20 bucks or so way back then...
:utah: :state:



User avatar
IfelOfasofa
Posts: 20
Joined: October 18th, 2018, 12:24 pm
Has thanked: 15 times
Been thanked: 26 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by IfelOfasofa » December 17th, 2018, 10:31 am

We also sat in the south end zone weeds



User avatar
BigBlueDart
Pick'em Champ - '17 FB Predict the Score
Posts: 9093
Joined: November 3rd, 2010, 7:57 am
Location: Syracuse, UT
Has thanked: 252 times
Been thanked: 1029 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by BigBlueDart » December 17th, 2018, 10:53 am

IfelOfasofa wrote:
December 17th, 2018, 10:30 am
When I was a little kid, they had the "USU Huddle Club" each kid got a t shirt and a neck badge for the season... Kids dig the neck badge!
It wasn't enough to go to the game... you HAD to have a neck badge to be "in". I think the cost was maybe 20 bucks or so way back then...
:utah: :state:
It's called the Jr Aggie Club, now. The price is still the same. Includes a t-shirt and entrance to a single specific football game during the season, and entrance to one men's basketball game (I don't remember all the rules for which games are eligible). I think all other sports the kids have unlimited access to.



User avatar
IfelOfasofa
Posts: 20
Joined: October 18th, 2018, 12:24 pm
Has thanked: 15 times
Been thanked: 26 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by IfelOfasofa » December 17th, 2018, 11:00 am

Thanks for the info Dart! I guess since my kids are grown I have not paid attention... they need to give the kids unlimited access to football IMO.


...from the spot where the sagebrush grows!
:utah: :state:

User avatar
AggiesForever
Pick'em Champ - '15 Kickoff
Posts: 2331
Joined: January 1st, 1997, 12:00 am
Has thanked: 1310 times
Been thanked: 677 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by AggiesForever » December 17th, 2018, 11:50 am

Size of campus means nothing. You have 16,000 undergrads and about 3,000 grad students in Logan. It's what you do to make those on-campus students "Aggies" and, frankly, we're failing in that regard. The HURD is a token effort. More than that needs to be done.

Part of USU's problem is there is no real "party zone" in Logan where students can congregate, like they do in Pullman, Manhattan, Ames, Madison, and other university towns. Manhattan, for example, has its "Aggieville" (http://www.aggieville.org/) that Kansas State and Manhattan City has turned into both a student gathering place and shopping mall.While I'm not advocating wholesale drinking and partying, there is really no place in Logan for students to go and "cut it loose" in a fun, student way. USU is also 70 percent LDS, so you might think the local LDS institute would be a good place to start. But the faculty of the Institute are predominately BYU grads, and it sees itself as an extension of the BYU campus in Provo. So giving USU students a real "college town" experience in Logan can be a little bit difficult.

Then there is the continual mistrust of the university by the community at large. True, universities tend to skew liberal, and Cache Valley definitely skews conservative (some say reactionary), but there needs to be a major effort to build relationships between the community at large and the university so break down the barriers, real or imagined, that exist.

Tickets at USU are cheap, comparatively, but USU has to be very careful that in its desire to create more revenue for the programs it doesn't drive up the cost of the cheapest tickets too quickly. It is those tickets where new Aggies are minted. Drive up the price to us long time season ticket holders all you want to. But there still has to be an entry-level ticketing device that acknowledges the relative low wages paid to rank and file employees in Cache Valley and affords an opportunity for new Aggies to come into the fold. I know many words have been typed on that topic.

Just some random thoughts on the subject. I do not know if there is any veracity to anything I said. Just spitballing.



bwcrc
Posts: 683
Joined: November 7th, 2013, 12:24 pm
Has thanked: 73 times
Been thanked: 483 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by bwcrc » December 17th, 2018, 1:04 pm

Tetonkatest wrote:
December 17th, 2018, 10:13 am
BigBlueDart wrote:
December 17th, 2018, 8:04 am
Tetonkatest wrote:
December 17th, 2018, 6:56 am
How do we build the fanbase?

Simple. Increase enrollment. The key to a supportive fanbase is a solid base of supportive alums. The alums generate excitement in the community.

USU's smaller enrollment is a big reason why our fanbase is smaller and why we sometimes struggle to sell out the stadium or basketball.
Really? I thought out enticement numbers were always pretty good. Isn't it something like 27k undergraduate right now? Maybe that's across all campuses, but still.
As stated above, it's about 16,000 undergrads at the Logan campus right now. That's our main fanbase.
Imagine if there were more alums living near Logan.

I don't know why they don't increase enrollment or if there is a hard cap. Maybe they can't expand campus, I don't know.

But you need a large enrollment to get a large alumni base.

From the universities stats there are about 149,000 living USU alums.
https://www.usu.edu/about/at-a-glance/
If I remember correctly one of the conditions on being a land grant school is there cannot be a cap on enrollment. I also believe Utah law prohibits USU from establishing a law school or a med school. With two law schools already existing in Utah, there is no need for a third. A second medical school could be useful in Utah, but the cost for establishing one probably is around 9 figures and the money is not there for it. The vet school is expensive enough, and makes complete sense for USU to have, but is not yet complete.

Are there watch parties at the satellite campuses? That could be one way to increase interest among the satellite campuses by essentially hosting a game-long tailgate party. Any fee should be nominal to help offset the cost for a few years until they become established.



BobWilson
Posts: 1225
Joined: November 3rd, 2010, 6:03 pm
Has thanked: 126 times
Been thanked: 421 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by BobWilson » December 17th, 2018, 1:30 pm

What ever happened to the Athletics Advisory Committee? How useful was/is it? AggiesForever was a member and perhaps others from these pages?



MWCFAN12
Posts: 1304
Joined: January 1st, 2011, 2:10 am
Has thanked: 155 times
Been thanked: 500 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by MWCFAN12 » December 17th, 2018, 2:32 pm

I'm going to get attacked for this but here it is.

Hartwell wants to expand the stadium. No immediate plans. But the feeling is that we need to get above 30,000 capacity in order to draw home-and-home with some P5 schools.

30000 seems to be the number for schools being looked at as serious a D1 schools. Being up at that level could also help us when the next round of conference expansion takes off.


I understand that we are not filling the stadium that we already have. However next year I think we will have three maybe four sellouts. But at this point it is a discussion to expand the stadium within the athletic department.



donlarson8
Posts: 1666
Joined: December 7th, 2013, 6:04 pm
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Has thanked: 667 times
Been thanked: 33 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by donlarson8 » December 17th, 2018, 3:00 pm

MWCFAN12 wrote:I'm going to get attacked for this but here it is.

Hartwell wants to expand the stadium. No immediate plans. But the feeling is that we need to get above 30,000 capacity in order to draw home-and-home with some P5 schools.

30000 seems to be the number for schools being looked at as serious a D1 schools. Being up at that level could also help us when the next round of conference expansion takes off.


I understand that we are not filling the stadium that we already have. However next year I think we will have three maybe four sellouts. But at this point it is a discussion to expand the stadium within the athletic department.
He said 32-35k on 1280 after the GA press conference. But he also said we need to have a few seasons of consistent sell-outs before that is realistic.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk



garyismyhomeboy
Posts: 170
Joined: December 17th, 2018, 4:50 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 45 times

Re: How do we build the fanbase?

Post by garyismyhomeboy » December 17th, 2018, 5:03 pm

...remind me, how many sellouts have we had in the last five years?



Locked Previous topicNext topic