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PoorManProfit
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Zach Bono should know something about home court morgues. He worked for the Bullets for years.
Gameday Experience
- Thread starter GSII
- Start date
Got it Mr. Norm! Yours as well, MKaufman1! Thanks for your handsome donations.
Tell you all what... one more tenspot or sawbuck and the opportunity for donations is closed!!
That's $10. Sacrifice one beer + tax & tip. That's all I need. You all are my brothers! Welcome to my family!PayPal = Jack.Strop@oldtowntoastmasters.org
I always believe one shoud live a "solution based life".
Everyone hates that students are not as engaged as they should be and/or not loud enough. Jack Strop decided to try to do something about it and print up flyers to help get everyone on the same page and cooridnate cheering to increase the noise level. It may not work right away but eventually people will get on board even if they think its stupid initially.
So what problems do we as Mason Fans have:
Example:
Sleeper Rick
Problem: Your hate the fans in your section. They ruin your experience at each game.
Possible Solution: Get together with fellow rowdy fans either here on the boards or elswhere and next year, let's all get our season tickets in that section. They can't kick us all out right? In fact many of the shitty fans in your section this year may not be season ticket holders so we can all purchase single game tickets and sit in your section. Your section could lead to rowdy, loud behavior being the expected norm at Mason games.
I don't have all the answers but a seemingly small step can make a huge difference.
The hiring and firing of coaches we will always have little influence on unless one of us hits the big time (I'm working on it) and speak with our cash. But the gameday experience we want is within our reach of influence.
Change usually nevers comes from the Athletic Department. Most who work in the AD rely on that income to support their families so they are not inclined to stir the boat too much and be too "creative". It has to come from us. The seemingly small step of printing out flyers impressed people in the AD and hopefully that leads to us fanatics having a real seat at the table influencing and guiding policy. It's called politics.
Losing that game killed me. But I honestly see Jack's efforts with this weekend possibly being the turning point of truly improving the expereince of attending a George Mason University Men's Basketball game. It's up to us to let that effort snowball into bigger things.
Everyone hates that students are not as engaged as they should be and/or not loud enough. Jack Strop decided to try to do something about it and print up flyers to help get everyone on the same page and cooridnate cheering to increase the noise level. It may not work right away but eventually people will get on board even if they think its stupid initially.
So what problems do we as Mason Fans have:
Example:
Sleeper Rick
Problem: Your hate the fans in your section. They ruin your experience at each game.
Possible Solution: Get together with fellow rowdy fans either here on the boards or elswhere and next year, let's all get our season tickets in that section. They can't kick us all out right? In fact many of the shitty fans in your section this year may not be season ticket holders so we can all purchase single game tickets and sit in your section. Your section could lead to rowdy, loud behavior being the expected norm at Mason games.
I don't have all the answers but a seemingly small step can make a huge difference.
The hiring and firing of coaches we will always have little influence on unless one of us hits the big time (I'm working on it
) and speak with our cash. But the gameday experience we want is within our reach of influence.Change usually nevers comes from the Athletic Department. Most who work in the AD rely on that income to support their families so they are not inclined to stir the boat too much and be too "creative". It has to come from us. The seemingly small step of printing out flyers impressed people in the AD and hopefully that leads to us fanatics having a real seat at the table influencing and guiding policy. It's called politics.
Losing that game killed me. But I honestly see Jack's efforts with this weekend possibly being the turning point of truly improving the expereince of attending a George Mason University Men's Basketball game. It's up to us to let that effort snowball into bigger things.
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I always believe one shoud live a "solution based life".
Everyone hates that students are not as engaged as they should be and/or not loud enough. Jack Strop decided to try to do something about it and print up flyers to help get everyone on the same page and cooridnate cheering to increase the noise level. It may not work right away but eventually people will get on board even if they think its stupid initially.
So what problems do we as Mason Fans have:
Example:
Sleeper Rick
Problem: Your hate the fans in your section. They ruin your experience at each game.
Possible Solution: Get together with fellow rowdy fans either here on the boards or elswhere and next year, let's all get our season tickets in that section. They can't kick us all out right? In fact many of the shitty fans in your section this year may not be season ticket holders so we can all purchase single game tickets and sit in your section. Your section could lead to rowdy, loud behavior being the expected norm at Mason games.
I don't have all the answers but a seemingly small step can make a huge difference.
The hiring and firing of coaches we will always have little influence on unless one of us hits the big time (I'm working on it
Change usually nevers comes from the Athletic Department. Most who work in the AD rely on that income to support their families so they are not inclined to stir the boat too much and be too "creative". It has to come from us. The seemingly small step of printing out flyers impressed people in the AD and hopefully us fanatics have a real seat at the table influencing and guiding policy. It's called politics.
Losing that game killed me. But I honestly see Jack's efforts with this weekend possibly being the turning point of truly improving the expereince of attending a George Mason University Men's Basketball game. It's up to us to let that effort snowball into bigger things.
Great post as always. I always say to those who have good ideas on here to go and have a conversation with someone within the AD. Sometimes the idea might be outrageous but they may be open to a compromise or find the way to work. 115 has some rowdy fans and some not so rowdy fans. That is probably the norm all over. All we can hope for as the product improves the mood changes in the stands as well and not just for the expected games like homecoming or rivalry games.
My request to the committee- write the PA announcer's script. He's been doing men's games for 25+ years so I dont think the administration is going to remove him. I know he has declined to take any suggestions under the TOC regime but now its time to make some adjustments. At the very least, I would like to have him say "stand and greet!" or something similar during player intros. This is such a minor thing, but if he would actually instruct the fans to stand, it will happen. I've seen this at other schools and it works. Our fans won't stand on their own; they need to be prompted to do so. And its not just during player intros, but other key moments in the game, like coming out of a time out and we need a defensive stop. tell the crowd to get on their feet. this isnt rocket science. Hopefully the committee can make this happen
Jack, Thank you for doing this. I support you 100% in spirit. In the days gone by, I would have been glad to have funded a whole year of this, but, your project is a victim of my ban on giving any money to anything that even remotely supports Mason.Got it Mr. Norm! Yours as well, MKaufman1! Thanks for your handsome donations.
Tell you all what... one more tenspot or sawbuck and the opportunity for donations is closed!!
PayPal = Jack.Strop@oldtowntoastmasters.org
Keep up the good work, though.
I agree we could do more but I don’t think we’re exactly lagging behind other A10 programs when it comes to game day entertainment. The few other places I’ve been have stale atmospheres. We’re actually a bit ahead of most because of the band (probably everyone except Dayton, vcu, SBU, and Davidson on a big game.) Not saying we shouldn’t aspire to more, but winning will fix a lot that random halftime entertainment never will.
If you want to claw your eyes out, go to a GW game. They do very little aside from putting the cheerleaders in banana costumes. I shit you not.
I don't think this is the type of thing where comparing us to other A10 programs is the right yardstick (yes for things like recruiting, program funding, etc.). But for this, the yardstick would be competing against other attractions in the area for the spectator's dollar. Wining would probably do more, but exciting half time entertainment would not hurt.
Absolutely, that’s a good point. However, I’m skeptical there’s really anything we can do gameday-wise that will make some eschew going to the Wizards/Caps/anything else. It’s worth a try, but I wouldn’t expect to see a bump in numbers for a 15 minute show of some D list talent. To me it’s more of something that’s good for the people who will be there anyways, but might not bring extra people in. I do like @DJ3’s idea of linking upcoming performances at EBA if possible, although not sure how practical that would be.
Unfortunately, there are two basketball programs at the higher level that are fairly cheap to see in the area (Georgetown/Wizards). Someone tell the Wizards to stop sucking and maybe we can peel some people off.
that's why I think Mason needs to be unique. I think the band is a great start. I really think they could negotiate a deal with performers coming to EBA to do a brief 10-15 half time show.
Correct me if I am wrong, but GW does not host concerts and shows right? If Mason can’t land a professional performance, they should get the performance art students to do something. I am sure they would love the exposure.
Marvel Universe is coming to EBA. That has a wide audience. Advertise that you will get a sneak peak of the Marvel Universe at the next Basketball game, and I am sure you will see a slight uptick in ticket sales.
Agreed, I was, mostly, commenting on the comparisons. One thing I will point out is that the halftime entertainment might help with getting newcomers to repeat. Most of those people don't have anything to do during halftime (like going to one of the clubs) other than buy overpriced food. Anyone who has brought young children will understand the pain it can be if you have a kid with attention deficits. Making the outing non-stop entertainment to those with kids (and adults two), especially, those that only come occasionally or for the first time, might go a long way to turning them into repeat customers. I would think that demographic might be less sensitive to whether we win or lose, too.
Yeah I actually think you’re right in that the benefit might be to the show being previewed as opposed to the next basketball game, but revenue is revenue.
GW uses their place for other stuff but yeah, they don’t do concerts on the scale of Mason. I think they have a pro tennis team that plays in the smith center and some other small stuff.
Intere
Question: have you ever been to a sporting event because you heard the halftime show was really good? I mean, this is a money outlay hiring a good halftime show, is that the best use of our money?
Question: have you ever been to a sporting event because you heard the halftime show was really good? I mean, this is a money outlay hiring a good halftime show, is that the best use of our money?
No, I can't imagine ever going to a game for the halftime show. But, you are completely missing my point.
Take my kid example. Say you and your wife take the kids to a game because you are interested in Mason Basketball. Everything goes well until halftime when the kids get extremely bored. It becomes painful to remain there and/or you decide to leave early. The next time you think about going to a game, you might be like, that was too painful to endure again, you find another family activity, and we have lost an opportunity to get a repeat customer.
I can relate, I have a 3 year old and a 8 mo old and it's impossible for our family to sit through an entire game. Not sure if many have noticed but Mason has brought in a lot of kid friendly actives... i.e. an updated shooting hoop, giant connect four, face painting, some sort of Price is Right style game. These sort of activities have been life savers for us. I wouldn't be surprised to see even more kids activities in the concourse next year.
Not that they don't deserve a break at halftime, but maybe have the band play MORE during halftime.
I know a couple of my neighbors, with no particular Mason ties, who attend a few games a season and actually STAY IN THEIR SEATS after the game is over to listen to the band play more songs. They don't leave until the band is done.
I think what Mason needs to do is expand more on inviting local groups to perform at halftime. We've always loved the jump rope groups, cheer squads, dance troops, unicycle group etc. It's a win-win... free entertainment for Mason but we also sell tons of tickets from their parents coming to watch.
Bear with me. If you don't feel like reading the whole post just skip down to the last paragraph.
I have been frustrated by our lack of attendance for years. Our best average was around 6,800 per game. In a 10,000 seat arena even that looked bad. I would love to know how many season ticket holders there are. Anyone have inside info into this? I would then like to know what percentage of season ticket holders actually attend games. Again, anyone with knowledge of this? I can tell you that in the prime sections 115, 116, 117, etc. there are tons of empty seats game in and game out. I go to the upgrade session every year and there are not that many seats in the prime sections up for grabs so people must pay for them and then just not go. Or, they sell them to rival fans in an effort to make a few bucks. Buy at a discounted rate, sell them for face value or inflated rate. Econ 101.
Our current average is 4,283 which seems to be slightly exaggerated, no doubt the number of tickets sold. I don't think it's an accurate count of bodies in the stands.
In the short term I see gimmicks being necessary to put butts in the seats but that is not a long term solution. I worked my entire career with kids. I love kids. But they do not add anything to a game atmosphere. They eat and chase parachutes from the ceiling. Old people who sit on their hands also add nothing to the experience. 20 somethings with their hands and eyes on their phones don't make EBA an intimidating/difficult place to play. Is there anyone else I can offend?
Wow, now I'm even more frustrated. The sky is falling and there is no hope!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll tell you what will work. Win games at home. I mean win every game at home. This 7 losses a year at home crap has to stop. Homecoming was a perfect example. Good crowd on hand and we blow it. If I'm a student at Mason and I attend a game only to see a loss my thought process at 20 something would be........Hey, there's lots of other stuff to do rather than waste my time watching a team lose.
Sermon over. Thanks for reading.
We have 43 losses at home over the past 6 years. 2 more home games this year could add to that total.
I have been frustrated by our lack of attendance for years. Our best average was around 6,800 per game. In a 10,000 seat arena even that looked bad. I would love to know how many season ticket holders there are. Anyone have inside info into this? I would then like to know what percentage of season ticket holders actually attend games. Again, anyone with knowledge of this? I can tell you that in the prime sections 115, 116, 117, etc. there are tons of empty seats game in and game out. I go to the upgrade session every year and there are not that many seats in the prime sections up for grabs so people must pay for them and then just not go. Or, they sell them to rival fans in an effort to make a few bucks. Buy at a discounted rate, sell them for face value or inflated rate. Econ 101.
Our current average is 4,283 which seems to be slightly exaggerated, no doubt the number of tickets sold. I don't think it's an accurate count of bodies in the stands.
In the short term I see gimmicks being necessary to put butts in the seats but that is not a long term solution. I worked my entire career with kids. I love kids. But they do not add anything to a game atmosphere. They eat and chase parachutes from the ceiling. Old people who sit on their hands also add nothing to the experience. 20 somethings with their hands and eyes on their phones don't make EBA an intimidating/difficult place to play. Is there anyone else I can offend?
Wow, now I'm even more frustrated. The sky is falling and there is no hope!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll tell you what will work. Win games at home. I mean win every game at home. This 7 losses a year at home crap has to stop. Homecoming was a perfect example. Good crowd on hand and we blow it. If I'm a student at Mason and I attend a game only to see a loss my thought process at 20 something would be........Hey, there's lots of other stuff to do rather than waste my time watching a team lose.
Sermon over. Thanks for reading.
We have 43 losses at home over the past 6 years. 2 more home games this year could add to that total.
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This. Debate it all you want, but winning cures all. I remember my freshman year watching our last tournament team play and I don’t think I saw them lose at home once. You showed up and expected to have a good time and see a win. Short of selling booze I don’t think there are any short term fixes to get students and rowdy young alum I’m there other than winning.Bear with me. If you don't feel like reading the whole post just skip down to the last paragraph.
I have been frustrated by our lack of attendance for years. Our best average was around 6,800 per game. In a 10,000 seat arena even that looked bad. I would love to know how many season ticket holders there are. Anyone have inside info into this? I would then like to know what percentage of season ticket holders actually attend games. Again, anyone with knowledge of this? I can tell you that in the prime sections 115, 116, 117, etc. there are tons of empty seats game in and game out. I go to the upgrade session every year and there are not that many seats in the prime sections up for grabs so people must pay for them and then just not go. Or, they sell them to rival fans in an effort to make a few bucks. Buy at a discounted rate, sell them for face value or inflated rate. Econ 101.
Our current average is 4,283 which seems to be slightly exaggerated, no doubt the number of tickets sold. I don't think it's an accurate count of bodies in the stands.
In the short term I see gimmicks being necessary to put butts in the seats but that is not a long term solution. I worked my entire career with kids. I love kids. But they do not add anything to a game atmosphere. They eat and chase parachutes from the ceiling. Old people who sit on their hands also add nothing to the experience. 20 somethings with their hands and eyes on their phones don't make EBA an intimidating/difficult place to play. Is there anyone else I can offend?
Wow, now I'm even more frustrated. The sky is falling and there is no hope!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll tell you what will work. Win games at home. I mean win every game at home. This 7 losses a year at home crap has to stop. Homecoming was a perfect example. Good crowd on hand and we blow it. If I'm a student at Mason and I attend a game only to see a loss my thought process at 20 something would be........Hey, there's lots of other stuff to do than waste my time watching a team lose.
Sermon over. Thanks for reading.
If anyone wants to debate the facts above. We have 43 losses at home over the past 6 years. 2 more home games this year could add to that total.
I have a 2 and 6 year old, so I know what you are talking about. I think if you are a sports fan, you kind of know what to expect during halftime?
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Fourth Estate
Doc Nix and the Green Machine
Bill Bride - DMV Sports Shots
Patriot Brew Blog/Newsletter