[NU Sports] One Idea for Attendance at Dyche

[Jim Leonard]

Ok... I promise this will be my last email today. 

I had an idea for a campaign to bring new fans to Dyche stadium. It's not perfect (and I can hear Steve Truog rolling his eyes all the way from Arizona), but good things can come from silly ideas. 

Whether you love it or hate it, there is a growing awareness around environmental/green issues. I think NU could create a campaign to have perhaps the first ever eco-friendly fan section. Clearly 'the green zone' will remind people of Bagdad, so you'd need another name. 

But seriously, we could take the south end zone (sections 116 - 121) and apply the following:

1) All tickets are general admission and $5 if you come to the stadium using mass transit. (Either show your Metra ticket or have 1-2 NU staffers stamp your hand before you exit the turnstile at the Central El stop to prove you didn't come by car.) 

2) No concession stands in that section. No using electricity to warm pretzels and hot dogs. No excess food packaging. Bring your own food and drink.

3) Just pay $5 as you walk through the gate. No paper tickets or credit card receipts. 

4) If you wanted to spend a small amount of money, you could change out the bathrooms for the low water use fixtures. You might even get a solar panel or two on the outside to power the lights. 

Hopefully this would become popular among school children who would grow up to be Cats fans. The nice thing about is that the mass transit aspect leverages something that NU has and no other Big Ten school can match. Again, it's just an idea. But it could draw some positive media attention to NU and would essentially make use of seats we can't fill anyway.

Go Cats!
Jim