[NU Sports] Saturdays at Dyche Stadium

Thu Oct 8 10:47:40 CDT 2009

The first thing you have to remember is that College sports do not fare well in towns with Pro Teams, particularly NFL football.

Yes Phoenix has good college football, but had it long before the Cardinals migrated to Phoenix, or wherever their stadium is now.

But LA is the only town that I can remember where College and Pro lived side by side and thrived.

Look at the markets: 
NY - NYU? Columbia? St. John's? all of the teams in NY are Div 1AA 2 or 3 and outside of scores on Sunday, are not seen in the daily papers (much of the time)

LA - no Pro football now, USC and UCLA are the only game in town.

Chicago - da Bares and 2 MLB teams suck up much of space in the media. NU had to fight N**** D*** for space in the "college section." Its even worse during Basketball - the Bulls, Hockey and the Hot Stove League for the Cubbies and Sox are the subject of many columns.

Atlanta - with Falcons, does have a pretty good College atmosphere, but GA Tech disappeared from the sports pages until Johnson revived the team. 

Miami - Yes the Hurricanes' draw well, but they've won how many national championships? There was a time nobody even knew about college ball in Miami.

Dallas - the Cowboys have dominated the media in DFW so well that even SMU and the Pony Express could only draw 25,000 playing in the old Cowboy field. UT-OU is a big story for the week of the game, then the Pokes take over until they're out of the Superbowl Chase.

Baltimore-Washington - overshadowed by the Ravens (or the Colts in the past), the Orioles and their machinations, and all the excitement in DC (Nationals and Congress). Maryland, with a decent team, still can't fill Byrd stadium. We know about Div IAA Towson but Georgetown, when the roundball team is winning is the only team getting decent coverage. Navy gets good articles in the Anapolis paper, but the big guys barely know they exist.

NU has to figure out how to create interest from the North side of Chicago - places where its hard to get folks excited. Skokie and other places near Evanston are now dominated by ethnic groups that don't identify with NU College Football. (Soccer, Men's Field Hockey and Crickett are more likely to be followed).

NU's alumni would be better served with later starts - 2:30 or 3 PM, it would give the alums who live out of town a chance to fly in, catch the game, and maybe fly out that night. Making that 11 AM start from the East Coast is tricky, even if you live in a Southwest Airlines city. Busses from Midway to the game would be cool too.

But that might be a good tie in for our Cats - work something out with Southwest to bring some of those DC Alums into Chi for the weekend. The same with LA. All you need to do is check the airline route maps - it works for the Texas schools.

I don’t want to discourage our guys from working this problem, but we may just have to really think out of the box.

rsl

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-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Beamsley, Jeff
Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 6:35 PM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Saturdays at Dyche Stadium

It isn't so much tiny towns (A2 is not a tiny town), as it is tradition.  There is something very special (almost tribal) about crisp saturdays, tailgating with friends/family, and going to the game.  What is cool about tiny towns is that the crowd tends to take over the town, but it doesn't have to be that way to work.

NU has, so far, failed to create that tradition.  But the reality is that it is a tradition that dates back only 30 years or so.  So it is still possible to create a set of NU fans willing to create and perpetuate this tradition.  

Going to a bowl game every year is a great start.  

After that our AD has to find creative ways to make being an NU fan desirable.  

Jeff

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From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of cherron604 at aol.com
Sent: Wed 10/7/2009 3:08 PM
To: jleonard518 at yahoo.com; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Saturdays at Dyche Stadium

I have had 4 seats in Box 230 for a long time - since 1986 or so.? I could sometimes get all 4 occupied in the Barnett years (if the opponent was 'big' enough).? Nowadays it's all I can do to fill one of them (with me).? Family and friends are routinely invited - usually, they have other Saturday morning obligations, or the weather 'could get bad'...

I always invite my Dad or my nephew, but they have both found that the living room big-screen, monitoring multiple games, big easy chairs and cheap food and beverages is an easier way to enjoy college football - no parking hassles, no traffic

When I go to the state schools, I see older couples (who probably never attended the?school), who must've been attending games since they were married.? They probably come early, hang out with nearby parkers or old friends, then maybe shop or eat dinner in the big college town.? We hadn't had that 'experience' for years.? And our fans don't really need a trip to Evanston to enjoy friendship, shopping and dining.? Maybe we need to market to fans in tiny little towns.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
To: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 6, 2009 12:17 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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