IHateBengals
Active member
I sent the page a Facebook message and said the following:
"What is being done to get students to the men's basketball games? School is back in session and the student section on Thursday was the smallest I've seen at a conference game in years. This team could really use the support."
Here's the response I got:
"Speaking for SAA specifically, we send a weekly email and monthly newsletter to our 387 members detailing each of the upcoming games. 102 of those people are WSUSA leaders and 26 of them are Ambassadors.
With that kind of crossover, all of our organizations have meeting together this year--with the Athletic Director, Senior Women's Administrator, Marketing Director, the SAAC President, and the Vice President for University Advancement--so we can reach a broader student audience with our collective marketing for games.
There are now new, large pull up banners and lawn signs with an orange basketball on them all over campus indicating the game schedules. Students are now allowed 4 complimentary admissions for friends at each home game, in addition to their own, with a valid Wildcard. Athletics sponsors giveaways in the student section--ice cream, pizza, etc, at every game.
The old text messaging system is no longer being used because it was violating privacy protection laws and they are having a hard time getting people to "opt" into the new one, but it is being used for those who do subscribe.
WSUSA is still sponsoring Weber Wear Fridays and was supposed to start advertising games this new semester in each of the bathroom stalls.
There have been consistent efforts to provide free t-shirts, food prior to games by each of our groups separately and it doesn't result in students standing in the assigned section.
In fact, entrance workers are supposed to be scanning cards as people enter so they can track how many students are attending. It is clear that a few entrances are not enforcing this, they are just looking at cards, but there still is a large number of students attending whose cards have been scanned, but they are scattered across the arena. It would help if ushers would enforce seating assignments, but they can't control this as much as they'd like with so many empty regular ticketed seats.
Attracting students to the designated section is the problem and is something we would like to change. There has even been preliminary consideration of moving the student section behind the basket closest to the visitor bench. Our enrollment is also at an all-time high for our non-traditional student population (68%) and this presents a set of challenges as well.
These are some of the things being done as well as some existing concerns. We'd welcome any suggestions you may have, and I'm confident that it would certainly make a difference if the majority possessed the same passion that you do! As you are brainstorming, keep in mind the old adage "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." How can we make the watering hole aka student section more attractive, inviting, and exciting? We look forward to hearing any ideas you have. Thank you!"
Either that is quite the eloquent writer or a copy and paste response. E-mails and signs clearly aren't cutting it. I feel as though a presence on campus at the end of game weeks would help out a lot. What do you guys think about the answer? Trying my best to freshen this topic up and not slam on anybody or beat the :dead:.
"What is being done to get students to the men's basketball games? School is back in session and the student section on Thursday was the smallest I've seen at a conference game in years. This team could really use the support."
Here's the response I got:
"Speaking for SAA specifically, we send a weekly email and monthly newsletter to our 387 members detailing each of the upcoming games. 102 of those people are WSUSA leaders and 26 of them are Ambassadors.
With that kind of crossover, all of our organizations have meeting together this year--with the Athletic Director, Senior Women's Administrator, Marketing Director, the SAAC President, and the Vice President for University Advancement--so we can reach a broader student audience with our collective marketing for games.
There are now new, large pull up banners and lawn signs with an orange basketball on them all over campus indicating the game schedules. Students are now allowed 4 complimentary admissions for friends at each home game, in addition to their own, with a valid Wildcard. Athletics sponsors giveaways in the student section--ice cream, pizza, etc, at every game.
The old text messaging system is no longer being used because it was violating privacy protection laws and they are having a hard time getting people to "opt" into the new one, but it is being used for those who do subscribe.
WSUSA is still sponsoring Weber Wear Fridays and was supposed to start advertising games this new semester in each of the bathroom stalls.
There have been consistent efforts to provide free t-shirts, food prior to games by each of our groups separately and it doesn't result in students standing in the assigned section.
In fact, entrance workers are supposed to be scanning cards as people enter so they can track how many students are attending. It is clear that a few entrances are not enforcing this, they are just looking at cards, but there still is a large number of students attending whose cards have been scanned, but they are scattered across the arena. It would help if ushers would enforce seating assignments, but they can't control this as much as they'd like with so many empty regular ticketed seats.
Attracting students to the designated section is the problem and is something we would like to change. There has even been preliminary consideration of moving the student section behind the basket closest to the visitor bench. Our enrollment is also at an all-time high for our non-traditional student population (68%) and this presents a set of challenges as well.
These are some of the things being done as well as some existing concerns. We'd welcome any suggestions you may have, and I'm confident that it would certainly make a difference if the majority possessed the same passion that you do! As you are brainstorming, keep in mind the old adage "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." How can we make the watering hole aka student section more attractive, inviting, and exciting? We look forward to hearing any ideas you have. Thank you!"
Either that is quite the eloquent writer or a copy and paste response. E-mails and signs clearly aren't cutting it. I feel as though a presence on campus at the end of game weeks would help out a lot. What do you guys think about the answer? Trying my best to freshen this topic up and not slam on anybody or beat the :dead:.
