What will it take to drive game attendance up?

[champion110]

Both something assured and a chance to win could be implemented. They could have it that students could hit levels. You get a point for being at the beginning and end of a match. Different levels of points get different rewards. It could be something simple like first level is free Tech school supplies such as folders and binders, second level could be Tech t-shirts, third level could be money on food card, fourth level could be better Tech clothes like coats or jerseys, fifth level could be Amazon gift cards. Finally at the end of each quarter, there could be a raffle for all participants from level 2 and up for example. Winner gets two VIP tickets to a game. The winner and a friend get to be in the presidential suite with the president for a football or baseball game or they get to travel with a team to an away game free of charge. They could do this for every quarter.

I REALLY like this idea!

[techman05]

Both something assured and a chance to win could be implemented. They could have it that students could hit levels. You get a point for being at the beginning and end of a match. Different levels of points get different rewards. It could be something simple like first level is free Tech school supplies such as folders and binders, second level could be Tech t-shirts, third level could be money on food card, fourth level could be better Tech clothes like coats or jerseys, fifth level could be Amazon gift cards. Finally at the end of each quarter, there could be a raffle for all participants from level 2 and up for example. Winner gets two VIP tickets to a game. The winner and a friend get to be in the presidential suite with the president for a football or baseball game or they get to travel with a team to an away game free of charge. They could do this for every quarter.

You just took the place of 3 people in our admin. How long did you think about this? 2-3 months? Surely it took a lot of effort.

[Bulldog Tom]

I lectured at a Harding photography class last week which included a load of Tech action photos. One was a old, fuzzy pic of a pig-tailed girl dribbing a basketball.
"Anybody know who this girl would be?"
None of the 45 answered to my non-surprise.
"How many of you have heard of Kim Mulkey?"
One lone head nodded.
"Oh," the student said as she nodded.
The pix of Bradshaw drew a little more interest. But not much.
So today's students . . . .

I am not surprised that kids taking a photography class at a small college in Arkansas would recognize pictures of two college athletes taken decades before the students in the class were even born. Not really surprised that they didn't really care much either. Which is okay, they just have different interests then I do.

[thewyldman]

I am not surprised that kids taking a photography class at a small college in Arkansas would recognize pictures of two college athletes taken decades before the students in the class were even born. Not really surprised that they didn't really care much either. Which is okay, they just have different interests then I do.

Yeah they also probably wouldn't recognize a photo of Larry Bird or Magic Johnson (especially in their college uniforms). I'd also assume that most college students might not be able to recognize a photo of Johnny Carson, Mike Ditka, Richard Pryor, Leslie Nielsen, LBJ, Gorbachev and many other prominent figures of yesteryear.

[HogDawg]

Maybe we shouldn't judge students based on how they voted on an additional fee being charged to them...

....or, maybe we should.

[HogDawg]

My kids were born in 86 and 89. They both attended Texas A&M. I seem to remember something that the athletic dept did at A&M which was highly successful. While I may not get all of the details exactly correct (going from memory), hopefully you will get the gist. Each student was given some sort of athletic card at the start of the semester. There were places for each athletic team and as you attended a sporting event, (basketball (men and women), football, soccer, swimming and diving, etc.) you would get the card punched. At the end of the semester, kids turned in their cards with all holes punched and they were entered into contest drawings (I believe) for some awesome prizes, etc. I believe they would get the punches at different times in the games (to try and keep kids in the stands for some of the lesser known sports), and the overall goal was achieved more that just once. My kids found that they loved the atmosphere at the women's soccer games and started going to the games just for the fun of it. Interesting idea, but maybe something like that "could" make a difference. Just an idea.

That's actually a great idea, which will work even better these days with modern cell phone technology. Instead of punching holes in a school issued plastic card (which is what we used to do with our cafeteria cards at LA Tech back in the stone age), simply have a bar code reader --or some facial recognition readers (Iphone 13's have this)-- doing swipes at the front gate for entrants and exists.

For example, the school could award an attending student 2 "attendance" pts for attending a football game in the 1st quarter, and DOUBLE those points (4) for those students who come out of the Joe Aillet Stadium gate with 5 minutes or less left at the end of the game. So, theoretically, one Tech football game could be worth 6 points to an attending Tech student. The trick is, LA Tech's athletic department will have to make the program points "worthwhile" and valuable with good prizes, etc.... But that ain't brain surgery. It's also a good means to distribute your own brand to your students via giveaways of LA Tech jersey's, jackets, sweaters, other apparel, etc....

BTW, today's technology can help drive the EXACT behavior an athletic department seeks to achieve. For instance, if the school has a big game coming up in women's basketball, the school can easily award 10 BONUS points to students attending and staying for an entire game, etc.... This is so easy, we should be spanked for not already doing something like this. And no, LA Tech has never done anything even close to this. We just now have to technology to do all this.

[HogDawg]

Tech has done this before but it fizzled out over time. I don't know how well it was administered but I suspect over time students weren't made aware of the program or encouraged to participate.

The athletic department --or LTAC-- will have to administer a program like what I wrote about above. It will be a near full time job for someone in or near the athletic department. And if the prizes are good, a program like this will work. Some of the prizes could be as simple as a two "sideline passes" to one of the upcoming football games. Or ten (1) 50-yd line tickets in one of the big suites in the west side press box. Prizes like that will cost the school NOTHING. And I guarantee you some Tech students would love being down on the sideline like that for a football game, or having 9 friends join them in an upscale press box for a party.

Most of this will cost LA Tech nothing.

[Blue Dawg]

For 1000 points, you may call a football play.

[Bulldog Tom]

For 1000 points, you may call a football play.

But only when it is 3rd and 93.

Or fourth and long inside our own 30 in the first quarter. (Obvious punting situation)

[Blue Dawg]

But only when it is 3rd and 93.

Or fourth and long inside our own 30 in the first quarter. (Obvious punting situation)

4th and long is easy: HB draw.

[Bulldog Tom]

4th and long is easy: HB draw.

Oh from the Skip Holtz playbook. An oldie, but a goodie. Please do not forget to delay that handoff, gives the defense at least fair chance to react.

[Dawgonit]

That's actually a great idea, which will work even better these days with modern cell phone technology. Instead of punching holes in a school issued plastic card (which is what we used to do with our cafeteria cards at LA Tech back in the stone age), simply have a bar code reader --or some facial recognition readers (Iphone 13's have this)-- doing swipes at the front gate for entrants and exists.

For example, the school could award an attending student 2 "attendance" pts for attending a football game in the 1st quarter, and DOUBLE those points (4) for those students who come out of the Joe Aillet Stadium gate with 5 minutes or less left at the end of the game. So, theoretically, one Tech football game could be worth 6 points to an attending Tech student. The trick is, LA Tech's athletic department will have to make the program points "worthwhile" and valuable with good prizes, etc.... But that ain't brain surgery. It's also a good means to distribute your own brand to your students via giveaways of LA Tech jersey's, jackets, sweaters, other apparel, etc....

BTW, today's technology can help drive the EXACT behavior an athletic department seeks to achieve. For instance, if the school has a big game coming up in women's basketball, the school can easily award 10 BONUS points to students attending and staying for an entire game, etc.... This is so easy, we should be spanked for not already doing something like this. And no, LA Tech has never done anything even close to this. We just now have to technology to do all this.

The athletic department --or LTAC-- will have to administer a program like what I wrote about above. It will be a near full time job for someone in or near the athletic department. And if the prizes are good, a program like this will work. Some of the prizes could be as simple as a two "sideline passes" to one of the upcoming football games. Or ten (1) 50-yd line tickets in one of the big suites in the west side press box. Prizes like that will cost the school NOTHING. And I guarantee you some Tech students would love being down on the sideline like that for a football game, or having 9 friends join them in an upscale press box for a party.

Most of this will cost LA Tech nothing.

We have had the same ideas. This is a practical, effective plan to implement. It just requires someone to setup the system and market it. Once it's rolling though it shouldn't be difficult. There is already a sports app, they need to incorporate this type of system into it. Students should be able to track their points, receive notifications instantly when they receive points, see prizes, see when the next opportunity for points is and how much it is worth.

Ideally they would have a system of using student ID cards to check in. I don't know how the student IDs are now but payment cards are increasingly contactless when paying. If student IDs have this feature, they could easy use this as a way for students to check in. They walk up and just tap-in making it swift and effortless. You only need one tap in spot for places like soccer or softball. For football and basketball, there should be multiple spots and there should be a map of locations on the app.

If that's not possible, there is already a Tech sports app that exists that can be reconfigured to scan QR codes and send notifications about points. With QR codes, they could make this process as simple as having small, dedicated glass-encased bulletin boards at each athletic facility and post the print-out of the QR code of that day's game for students to check in. This would probably lead to students sending the QR code to others not at the game so it's not the best system but it's better than nothing. To avoid that, they could reverse it and have a scanner installed at every facility that reads personally generated QR codes from each persons app but that's a bit more work.

Hopefully they would have a manned booth setup at as many games as possible to promote the initiative, answer questions and give out trinkets or even sell merchandise. This would be fantastic to promote student tailgating. Imagine earning points for each hour you check in at the booth while tailgating. They could even offer this to students making the trek to away games or bowl games. The fact that it's so flexible makes it a huge advantage.

[techman05]

All we have to do is wave our ID over a scanner to use the computer labs on campus. Faculty and students. I’m sure this could be used for games.

[HogDawg]

We have had the same ideas. This is a practical, effective plan to implement. It just requires someone to setup the system and market it. Once it's rolling though it shouldn't be difficult. There is already a sports app, they need to incorporate this type of system into it. Students should be able to track their points, receive notifications instantly when they receive points, see prizes, see when the next opportunity for points is and how much it is worth.

Ideally they would have a system of using student ID cards to check in. I don't know how the student IDs are now but payment cards are increasingly contactless when paying. If student IDs have this feature, they could easy use this as a way for students to check in. They walk up and just tap-in making it swift and effortless. You only need one tap in spot for places like soccer or softball. For football and basketball, there should be multiple spots and there should be a map of locations on the app.

If that's not possible, there is already a Tech sports app that exists that can be reconfigured to scan QR codes and send notifications about points. With QR codes, they could make this process as simple as having small, dedicated glass-encased bulletin boards at each athletic facility and post the print-out of the QR code of that day's game for students to check in. This would probably lead to students sending the QR code to others not at the game so it's not the best system but it's better than nothing. To avoid that, they could reverse it and have a scanner installed at every facility that reads personally generated QR codes from each persons app but that's a bit more work.

Hopefully they would have a manned booth setup at as many games as possible to promote the initiative, answer questions and give out trinkets or even sell merchandise. This would be fantastic to promote student tailgating. Imagine earning points for each hour you check in at the booth while tailgating. They could even offer this to students making the trek to away games or bowl games. The fact that it's so flexible makes it a huge advantage.

Or Tech students could simply load their student ID's into the "wallet's" of their cell phone, exactly the same way I do my LA Tech football game tickets each week. Everybody carries a cell phone now. When they get to the front gate, they scan it. Done.

[HogDawg]

THIS needs to happen guys. It's too easy, and I'm sure some other schools are already doing it. The question is, why aren't we?