Attendance Ideas and Solutions

[rocki]

The Family Weekend and Homecoming games are usually the largest crowds of the season.

This year, we had 4,011 for Family Weekend and 4,532 for Homecoming. That leaves thousands of empty seats at Hanson Field.

Here's an idea to boost attendance: $5.00 General Admission tickets.

And kids free - at least up to a certain age, maybe grade school or junior high.

[WIU08]

I feel in general Western does not do a good job promoting anything.

I agree that prices to get into the games are high considering they aren't remotely close to selling out, I like the $5 general admission and kids free. Also, why not promote in all the local schools? Have Rocky or some of the athletes come to the schools, promote their upcoming games and do a promotion where the kids get in free. They could also work with local HS football teams too, they could do a featured team of the game and introduce them at halftime or something like that.

I also feel they need to do something to promote student attendance. I feel like other FCS games I have been to, they always do something between quarters to get the students engaged. I don't remember where is was, but they did a tug of war in the endzone between two groups of students... all you need for that is a rope (which I'm sure they could find one laying around somewhere) and someone to sponsor a prize (free pizzas, BWW gift card, etc).

There are a ton of ideas out there, I just hope they start to do something with them.

[Western_101]

I wonder if MVFC making all games accessible through ESPN3/+ has actually hurt Western's attendance.

My contention is it has hurt Western's attendance. Games on ESPN3 don't broaden the brand. One doesn't just happen upon it surfing the TV or going to a sports bar. It's there but one has to specifically look to find it. So while I like it no one else is waffling back and forth whether to watch the Necks or Notre Dame, alsohow much easier is it for alumni in Chicago to watch it on Their Big screen and not spend most of the day driving to and from Macomb.

Winning will help, and Western has been competitive most years (dear God don't remind me of 2009). However, Western has a couple of strikes against it. It's not glitsy or glamours, its not in a major Metro, and most of the alumni live hours away.

Now if we can build a Casino and Hotel like the Pzzazz with the connected FunCity for the kids and Build a brand new Stadium, well now we have more of a destination. See, I solved it for us!

I agree with everything above. I think the ESPN affiliation has other monetary benefits though. As far as Macomb, it is difficult for fans coming from 2+ hours away, as Hotel rooms are extremely scarce. One of our tailgate group had a family member pay $149 a night for the Macomb Inn last weekend, because nothing else was available. A few others had rooms in Quincy. Until that situation is addressed, the attendance increase needs to come from students, townspeople and fans within two way driving distance.

Hopefully, the Chicago arm of the Leatherneck Club is taking advantage of the ESPN broadcasts to host watch parties in Chicago. Great way to market and grow the Club there. Which means $$s.

All that being said, I still think 9,000 ave per game is very very possible.

I agree with GV Dad about the lack of hotel options. If one of the Marriott or Hilton or IHG brands built a 150 room hotel they could fill it 5 nights a year. How do you fill it the other 360. Not trying to be sarcastic that actually more or less is the problem. A Holiday Inn Express might be sustainable, thats what I opt for whenever its available, I'm a sucker for a free breakfast.

If the PAC had been built, think of all of the entertainment that could be booked to come to Macomb.

[sealhall74]

Question. Are student ID cards swiped when they enter the gate or do they just flash them to the gatekeeper?

[leatherneckcountry]

Question. Are student ID cards swiped when they enter the gate or do they just flash them to the gatekeeper?

just show them

[sealhall74]

Question. Are student ID cards swiped when they enter the gate or do they just flash them to the gatekeeper?

just show them

Well damn, if we swiped them, you could easily implement some kind of incentive/rewards program to show up.

[sealhall74]

Question. Are student ID cards swiped when they enter the gate or do they just flash them to the gatekeeper?

just show them

Well damn, if we swiped them, you could easily implement some kind of incentive/rewards program to show up. And I am not talking about just athletic events. Could apply to anything happening on campus.

[sealhall74]

Charter a bus on gamedays to run from the Quad Cities, making a couple stops there as well as in Galesburg and Monmouth to pick up people. Get to the game a couple hours early so riders can enjoy a little tailgate action. It would not be free transportation but would be convenient. Hell, I usually bunk down in Bettendorf when I am in the area. It would be ideal for me. Maybe put a keg on the bus. I will never ever forget that Lions Club charter my Dad and I took from the QC to St. Louis for a Cubs/Cards game. Keg on the bus. I won a bottle of Cold Duck on a raffle giveaway on the trip down. A couple guys were so drunk they passed out before we got to St.Louis. I think I was about 15 at the time so we had to wait until we got home to pop the cork on that bottle of Cold Duck. Yes, the cork bounced off the kitchen ceiling when I did pop it.

[ST_Lawson]

I agree that live streaming online has probably hurt attendance somewhat, although it's probably too late to do anything on that one. We could try to get the MVFC to stop streaming the games, but it's not going to happen...we'd be "swimming upstream" against the current direction that everything is moving and I don't think it'd make that many more people show up at Hanson Field.

I think we're doing ok in terms of who we're scheduling, and in general the team has been doing pretty well...a championship would help, but it's not like we can control that.

Last year they implemented some type of reward system for students attending athletic events...getting points, entering drawings, etc. although you had to use a special app to do it, and I haven't heard a word about it this season. Like you guys mentioned, having card readers at sporting events to swipe student's cards...you could do a lot with that. You wouldn't be relying on people signing up with a separate app, it'd be easier to verify actual attendance, and rewards/incentives would be easier to handle.

Imagine something like this: students get in free at all sporting events, they just have to swipe their ID cards. Each sporting event you attend counts as 1 "entry". At the end of each semester, you have a "drawing" from the entries for something pretty big. Idk what it'd be...a big TV...one of those prepaid credit card things with a fairly large amount (maybe $1000?) or a $1000 credit on your student "account"...something like that. It has to be substantial enough to interest a large number of students. So each sporting event you attend gets you one entry. If you want to promote specific events, maybe they can count for more "entries"...maybe all football games in November get you 3 entries...the last home game right before Thanksgiving Break gets you 5 entries...basketball games in November and December get you 2 entries, etc. You could also do game-specific things at every football game. Everyone who "swipes in" gets entered into a drawing to be held mid-4th quarter that you have to be present to win. Maybe that's a $100 gift card or something...idk what the budget for that kind of stuff would be.

Like Seal's game bus idea, a while back (probably 10 years or so now), we played UNI in a big home game at the end of the season, right before Thanksgiving. I forget specifically what it was, but if we won, we'd be in the playoffs, or maybe we'd win the conference...something like that. Anyway, they set up a thing with Amtrak that was like a "game train" where you could get your train ticket and football game ticket together, and they provided bus transportation to and from the train station. Did that cost a lot of money to do?...idk...but I don't think there was a discount on the tickets...it would have really only been the cost of the bus transportation, but it made it an "event"...and it showed people that it could be convenient even if you live around Chicago or wherever.

Anyway, idk what the answer is. Hopefully someone from the athletics department is reading this and can pass along any of the ideas that seem reasonable to the people in charge.

[ST_Lawson]

I agree with GV Dad about the lack of hotel options. If one of the Marriott or Hilton or IHG brands built a 150 room hotel they could fill it 5 nights a year. How do you fill it the other 360. Not trying to be sarcastic that actually more or less is the problem. A Holiday Inn Express might be sustainable, thats what I opt for whenever its available, I'm a sucker for a free breakfast.

If the PAC had been built, think of all of the entertainment that could be booked to come to Macomb.

Unfortunately, this is correct. At this point, there's not enough going on in Macomb year-round to keep hotels full enough to stay, and with enrollment down, it's less likely to happen in the future. Hotels fill up for Homecoming, Family Weekend, Graduation weekends...maybe one or two other football games...but that's it.
We had a HiEx for a while, but it closed and the Best Western owns it now. Having the Performing Arts Center and having it booked with at least one thing a week (doesn't have to be a big name...just some type of entertainment) would have been huge.