Attendance for New Stadium, etc.

[sunday]

Reading all the information on demographics of Spokane and our Montana neighbors, etc. I think the easiest way to get "new" bodies in the stands who will stay, is with the Youth Football Program in greater Spokane. In San Diego, we have thousands of kids starting in flag football leagues, then Pop Warner. I'm sure it's the same in Spokane. Get with the those organizational leaders and work out a deal where each kid gets in free with one paying adult. Multiple kids are $4. Throw in a hotdog. Win the game. The kids wanna come back every week. Bring the kids to the field after the game to get a picture from dad with the the players and let the youngsters roll on the red turf. BAM!

"It's the Economy, Stupid" won an election. Surely we can figure this deal out. :thumb:

 

[clawman1]

Reading all the information on demographics of Spokane and our Montana neighbors, etc. I think the easiest way to get "new" bodies in the stands who will stay, is with the Youth Football Program in greater Spokane. In San Diego, we have thousands of kids starting in flag football leagues, then Pop Warner. I'm sure it's the same in Spokane. Get with the those organizational leaders and work out a deal where each kid gets in free with one paying adult. Multiple kids are $4. Throw in a hotdog. Win the game. The kids wanna come back every week. Bring the kids to the field after the game to get a picture from dad with the the players and let the youngsters roll on the red turf. BAM!

"It's the Economy, Stupid" won an election. Surely we can figure this deal out. :thumb:

Spot on sunday. The more fans in the stands yelling and having fun, regardless of what they paid to get in, the better. It all leads to the positive game day experience.

 

[EWU98]

Yep and more future EAGLES!

 

[MLEagle]

I think that bringing in youth teams is a great idea as well, but I truly believe there will be tremendous growth from young alumni.

The biggest difference I see in the crowds at Roos now versus the past is the size and exuberance of the students' section. When I was a student in the 90's going to football games was not even a discussion on campus with the exception of an occasional article in the Easterner. I went to every game because I love football and I had buddies on the team that I supported, but there was NO student section. I am willing to bet that the majority of students that graduated from EWU at that time never attended a single game during their college career.

The last few years that has change dramatically. Roos is now the place to be for students on Saturday afternoons, and those students will come back as alumni. I 100% believe that if we continue to win, we will continue to grow our fan and donor base from the grassroots.

 

[kalm]

Good point Sunday. I was at a fall camp practice a couple of years ago and the west plains Pop Warner teams were invited out to meet the team and do some drills with them on the red turf after the practice. It of course began with a rousing pep talk by Baldwin. It was great stuff.

I know for a fact that the university used to give free tickets to District 81 PE teachers to hand out back in the 80's.

I honestly don't think we'll struggle with attendance too much. As I've mentioned before, there will be a huge marketing run up to the inaugural game that should last that entire season. The momentum from selling out the first game and which ever Montana we host that year should be sustainable.

 

[EAGLEFUZZ]

Great ideas, how about having them play a little game at halftime, or before the game. It certainly cannot cost much to give them a hotdog and a drink. On off weeks host some games might generate some revenue and definatly expose the product.

 

[sunday]

The bottom line is kids love college football players. Get the players to go to the local schools in the off season. Connect with the teachers and principals. Meet the kids. Give some freebies. Go to the Childrens Hospitals to bring kids free stuff. If Spokane still does the 'marathon race'? (sorry, I lived in BC, Canada before San Diego) set up shop to get the Football Team out there. If the "3 on 3" Basketball tourney is still going on, hit that as well. Get as many touch points in the community as possible. All the above is easy on the wallet for the University. Make Eastern the talk of the town...

 

[HannahO]

The bottom line is kids love college football players. Get the players to go to the local schools in the off season. Connect with the teachers and principals. Meet the kids. Give some freebies. Go to the Childrens Hospitals to bring kids free stuff. If Spokane still does the 'marathon race'? (sorry, I lived in BC, Canada before San Diego) set up shop to get the Football Team out there. If the "3 on 3" Basketball tourney is still going on, hit that as well. Get as many touch points in the community as possible. All the above is easy on the wallet for the University. Make Eastern the talk of the town...

All reasonable suggestions. I would point out that they (the players) already do many of these things mostly on their own with little fanfare and recognition. If the staff starts making these things into a team function type of activity does it count against team time? Not too mention, between school and football there's not a great deal of down time if you're doing both well. I guess my point is that the players already do a lot to make the game day experience great for kids including meeting with them after the game, autographs, being very accessible. There's promotions geared to kids as well. At some point the adults need to wake up and realize that much like Gonzaga basketball, they have a jewel of a football program in their back yard.

 

[LDopaPDX]

EWU, and specifically Coach Baldwin, really understand the dynamics of building a program-- especially at an FCS school. He gets out and shakes hands. I took my kids to a practice one time and he came over and let the kids run some routes with the receivers at the end of practice and gave them a signed ball. That's high class right there. It's also building fans for life... the kids won't forget that experience.