[NU Sports] Congrats Mr. Phillips!

Mon Nov 15 10:30:56 CST 2010

Jonathan,

Thanks for the post.

Fitz is a man of his word.  He said that his goal this year was to
improve attendance.  He did his part by reloading in what otherwise
would have been a rebuilding year.  Phillips has done his part too in
marketing NU to Chicago.

Regardless of how the rest of the season goes, there is already a
wonderful narrative brewing for next year with the return of Persa.

As others have posted, if we are able to follow a good football season
with a trip to the dance this winter for the bball team; we will create
the sort of buzz what will sell a lot of football tickets next fall to
Chicago college football fans.

Jeff  

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
On Behalf Of Jonathan Hodges
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 11:09 AM
To: Mike Nolan
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com; Beamsley, Jeff
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Congrats Mr. Phillips!

On GameDay: they are reportedly scouting locations for the GameDay set
today, and I'm sure they'll let everyone know shortly so that we can be
there bright and early (show starts at 8AM CT on ESPNU, continues at 9AM
CT
On ESPN).  Also note that the 1995 game vs. Iowa was the one where
GameDay
came to NU and was forced inside due to the snowstorm.

On the Wrigley game: It is undoubtedly a success.  The goal was to give
ticket sales (and, therefore, revenue) a short term boost and that has
been
more than a success, resulting in the LARGEST single season jump in
average
attendance in Northwestern history (51% year over year increase, details
here: http://hailtopurple.com/cats10j31a.html).  Those revenues are a
big
boost and you HAVE to give credit to Phillips for making this happen
(and
also bringing in Polisky to lead a marketing turnaround).  Yes, I still
hope
for more purple in the stands and for a long term sustaining of the
numbers,
but given what he had to start with I'd say he deserves the
congratulations
many here have expressed.  I was excited about the Wrigley game before
now
and am even moreso with GameDay showing up (and NU's big win this past
week,
too).

Go 'Cats!!!
Jonathan

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 9:28 AM, Mike Nolan <nolan at romaine.tssi.com>
wrote:

> > Also, regardless of the tactics, it's easy to measure success.  Did
you
> > sell all the tickets you had?  Until you do that regularly, you
can't
> > complain about how they are sold or who purchased them.
> >
> > We used to only see a sellout when we had a home game with OSU or
UoM.
> > Two sellouts in a row is unprecedented success.  When was the last
time
> > that NU football could point to something like that?
>
> I think we can plan on their being another sellout every other year
> when Nebraska plays at Northwestern.
>
> The AD is in charge of marketing, but only indirectly responsible for
> winning the games.  Nobody could have predicted last summer that the
> Cats would be missing the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player by the time
> this game rolled around.
>
> Having the GameDay crew is also a bit of a coup, though it may not
> generate the type of crowd that they get with on-campus visits.
> (Missouri had something like 18,000 in the crowd for their recent
> GameDay appearance, breaking a record set in Lincoln several years
> ago.)  But they may get the Wrigleyville faithful, which could
> make for a different kind of crowd.  The Chuck Barris rule still
> applies.
>
> The last time GameDay did a Northwestern visit was a Penn State game.
> It was cold and snowy and they did the broadcast from inside, with
> little or no crowd, as I recall.
>
> I wonder where the GameDay set will be, on one of the rooftops?
> --
> Mike Nolan
>
> >
> > In this sort of event marketing, success breeds success.  Sold-out
shows
> > virtually guarantee increased ticket sales to subsequent shows
because
> > people like being part of something special and the prospect of not
> > being able to get a ticket forces people to make a decision earlier
than
> > they otherwise would.  The publicity that comes with a sold out show
is
> > priceless.  The people who thought they might want to attend know
they
> > waited too long.  The people who didn't think about attending start
> > getting curious about what's going on.  People who were smart enough
to
> > buy tickets early feel good about their purchase and tell their
friends.
> >
> >
> > We've been putting a good product on the field for years.
> >
> > >From what I hear, we are improving the experience at the Stadium.
> >
> > We appear to have some momentum in the market.
> >
> > Let's make sure we keep our eye on the prize (sold out games) before
we
> > try to micromanage the process.
> >
> > Jeff
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee
only. It
> contains information that may be confidential. Unless you are the
named
> addressee or an authorized designee, you may not copy or use it, or
disclose
> it to anyone else. If you received it in error please notify us
immediately
> and then destroy it.
> >
> > From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
[mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
> > On Behalf Of Jim Leonard
> > Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 10:07 PM
> > To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> > Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Congrats Mr. Phillips!
> >
> > I don't think the success of the Wrigley game is dependent on
getting a
> > win.
> > Clearly that's what we all want but the idea is to promote NU
football
> > within
> > Chicago and that seems to be working. I'd feel much better if we had
> > Persa but
> > I'm still not intimidated by Illinois.
> >
> > As a side note, I don't care for the College Game Day show. I
understand
> > why the
> > masses love it, but it just seems tacky hundreds of people show up
hours
> > and
> > hours before the game hoping for 5 seconds on TV. I shall not lead a
> > protest
> > against it, it's well within the boundaries of harmless fun but I
think
> > it
> > jumped the shark about 5 seasons ago.
> >
> > Go Cats!
> > Jim
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: "cherron604 at aol.com" <cherron604 at aol.com>
> > To: sjtruog at yahoo.com; nwu-sports at tssi.com
> > Sent: Sun, November 14, 2010 1:48:44 PM
> > Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Congrats Mr. Phillips!
> >
> >
> > Having a Lee Corso in attendance is hardly evidence of success.
Mostly,
> > it is
> > evidence of how low the success bar has been set.
> >
> > The sellout success won't be known until Saturday.  Yesterday was a
> > sell-out,
> > but half of the fans were wearing black and yellow.
> >
> > Finally, the wisdom of giving up a home conference game won't be
known
> > until the
> > W or L is in the books.
> >
> > Chuck Herron  Tech '85
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
> > To: nwu-sports at tssi.com <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
> > Sent: Sun, Nov 14, 2010 11:54 am
> > Subject: [NU Sports] Congrats Mr. Phillips!
> >
> >
> > A sellout and College Gameday coming to Wrigley!
> >
> >
> >
> > Should be a nice showcase for Northwestern football, coming off of
the
> > big win
> >
> > over Iowa.
> >
> >
> >
> > I am delighted to eat crow on this one - I didn't think giving up a
home
> > game
> >
> > for Wrigley without the Illini also doing so was a good idea, but it
> > already has
> >
> >
> > become the "event" our AD was hoping for to help NU football take
over
> > the
> >
> > Chicago media market - and now going national!
> >
> >
> >
> > Well done, Mr. Phillips!
> >
> > GO CATS!!!
> >
> > -SjT
> >
> >
> >
> > PS - Now let's hope we give 'em a good show!
> >
> >
> >
> > * * * * * * * * *
> >
> > STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> >
> > sjtruog at yahoo.com
> >
> > GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
> >
> > Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
> >
> > ==========================
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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