[NU Sports] Saturdays at Dyche Stadium

[Julie McFarland]

Jim and fellow Wildcat Faithful,

I don't believe this is that low on the priority list.  In fact, Lake the Posts writes about attendance and improving the gameday experience regularly, and the view from our TV in NC is downright pitiful.  From personal experience, I really feel that our overall marketing scheme coupled with our ticket pricing strategy really hurts us.  There should be a family pack pricing available like there is at Stanford and Duke, and much lower pricing for children than there is currently (having to pay $15 for a youth ticket to Towson is silly, let alone $25 if you don't want to sit in the end zone).  I know of several families who have bought 2 tickets instead of 4 for their whole family, because the price is just too high.  There needs to be better marketing to the Chicago area, too.  I realize it's tough being in a pro-sports town, but I really don't feel like we've exhausted the opportunities the city and suburbs have to offer.

I've also heard arguments about the 11am kickoffs and alcohol policy as hurting attendance, and I tend to agree with those, too, but from my experience, pricing and marketing are the two biggest things that have kept friends from attending games.

To be fair, it is also my understanding that the athletic department is taking steps to help the NU game day experience, and we did receive some very nice kudos from The Big Ten Tour when they visited for the Minnesota game:

http://www.thebig10tour.com/northwestern.html

Purple regards,
Julie Goldmann





----- Original Message ----
From: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
To: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 1:17:25 PM
Subject: [NU Sports] Saturdays at Dyche Stadium

Fellow Wildcat Faithful,

This falls somewhere between 719 and 751 on the top 800 things that NU needs to improve, but it has been on my mind  a while. Our game day experience at Dyche Stadium just isn't good. 

Attendance is a huge part of that, and I'm not sure what can be done short of the team winning consistently. Our home crowds haven't cracked 20,000 yet this year in a city that has well over 3,000,000. I suspect that the Big Ten Network may have hurt our cause somewhat too. 

The other aspects of game day in Evanston need some attention too. Wildcat Alley doesn't seem to draw all that well. We must be one of only a handful of schools in America to literally give out free (good) beer and we still don't get big numbers. 

The part that really gets me is what goes on during the game. 

1) We "honor" way too many people between quarters. It must be embarrassing for them too, because there isn't typically enough applause to even usher them off the field. 

2) We have too many t-shirt giveaways and 'see yourself on the scoreboard' gimmicks. It really feels like a minor league baseball game. 

3) And the PA system just doesn't get it done. I rarely understand the announcements. 

I still love NU football and I don't have any issues with going to see games there. But we have a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the Big Ten. 

Victory & Honor,
Jim


      

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