kreed5120

Anything basketball and definitely soccer related isn't going to generate the same buzz as football. The football program has been one of the worst in all of FBS over the last 10 years and it still averaged around 3x the attendance of MBB. It's probably too late for season ticket sale promotion for soccer given I think the season starts next week. We'll have to wait and see what they have brewing for single match events. I did see the Crew is hosting an UA alumni night. For basketball even if they found a way to sell another 500 season tickets and attract an additional 100-200 students/game it would improve the game day atmosphere tremendously. They really don't need a national viral promotional gimmick to achieve it. Just need to get a bit more community buy-in. Perhaps convince some of those football season ticket holders to get basketball as well. Edit: We see 5k+ Zips fan show up every year in Cleveland. We just need to convince some of them to go to games in January and February instead of only going to 3 games in March.

I hate to be that guy, but I feel Goodrich and some others might be on borrowed time at Akron. If I'm an AAC school or a bottom tier P4 and I see all this publicity I would at least consider a marketing job for them due to their ingenuity. Even if I didn't plan to implement the same promotion. It's not just this promotion either. I feel the athletic department has done a lot of great things over the last year or two. This is just one of those things where you can point to and say my promotion sold x-thousand more season tickets, sold out suites, and brought in x-number in new sponsorship dollars.

I would be interested to hear how many season tickets got sold last week. I wonder if they will ever release those figures. All I've seen is we now how season ticket holders in 38 states and 2 foreign countries.

Wisconsin

Woolfork is returning to Miami. That's a significant addition for them. https://x.com/i/status/2086482973264658596

If Robert Morris was smart they would have countered with a promotion allowing a season ticket holder to serve as honorary defensive coordinator for the first drive. Benefit would include travel and hotel stay with team.

A coach that has never made the tournament in his 24 years as a D1 coach who coaches at a program that hasn't went dancing in 46 years. Loser mentality by a losing coach at a losing program.

Jon Gruden is entering the sweepstakes. https://x.com/i/status/2086203296415428906

It's only a 3 day event. A group of 3 round robin would take 3 days to do as one of the teams would have a bye each day. Add in the final where you face the winner of the other group and it would require 4 day tournament to complete. We might have to just wait and see what they decided on.

I would guess St. Bonnie would be one of them. It's anyone's guess on the other.

I don't think it should be rigged. I also don't think they should make one of them a co-coordinator as that takes away from the real winner. They should do what they can to get them to campus. Whether that be having the press conference live on one of their podcasts or whatever. One would think interviewing the winner before or after the game to talk about the experience would be decent content for them.

I would guess $300K-$500K/yr based off what other G5 programs have signed. New Mexico State, which is kind of comparable to Akron in regards to having a fairly high level basketball program, but historically not great football signed a 3 year $1.05 million. Time will tell.

You mentioned before that you're a former Akron football player. How would you feel about this as an Akron player? Would you think you're being treated unseriously or would you appreciate the extra attention this would generate?

This landing a jersey patch deal would be insane. I think that would make us the first in the MAC.

Yes, unless they got carried away and bought like a 1,000 tickets, the odds of them winning are going to be insanely low. I actually think someone from Barstool winning is more likely as they're degenerates and have a much larger staff. Big Cat bought 8 and said he was thinking of buying more. Someone like Dave Portney I could easily see buying a chunk. I wouldn't be surprised if the company employees as a whole bought 200 or so.

With Pat doing College GameDay one would have to think it would be a scheduling conflict for him to actually do. With OSU/Texas playing there is no way College GameDay won't pick that game. Maybe they would let Pat off that week or have him join remotely.

Doing some napkin math. It was said that Akron sold out it's suites for the first time in program history. The stadium only has 16 suites available for public sale and one has to assume a number of those were already sold. Let's assume this promotion sold 4, which would be conservative. Let's also assume it sold 50 or so Club Seats. Very possible it could have been more as this promotion brought attention to the program. It's obvious the biggest jump is the GA tickets as people are treating this as a closed $75 lottery. I don't think it's unrealistic if 2,000 "entries" were sold. Suites 4 X $15,000 = $60,000 Club Seats 50 X $515 = $25,750 GA 2,000 X 75 = $150,000 All totaled that would be ~$236K in direct additional revenue. That's about half of the $500K the school said they wanted the athletic department to erase from the deficit. That's not even factoring in any increases in merchandise, sponsorships, or donations from alumni who now feel more positive about the school and/or program. Not to mention a chunk of those 2,000 are actually alumni or locals. Some amount of them could be persuaded to renew. Not to mention all the free advertising for the school at a time where seniors are deciding where to send their applications. Not saying anyone would pick Akron based off a promotion, but it might lead a few to give the Akron website a look whereas they didn't consider it before. Then a few of those stumble on a program or something they like.

Joe said he hasn't really seen any reactions from players regarding this. It said its been business as usual. Whether that's true or not who knows.

Last year the adventure bracket was 8 teams and consisted of 3 games. Not sure how the format will he this year with 6. Perhaps they're still 2 TBD.

I don't think anyone bought a suite to specifically enter the raffle. The stadium as a whole has 17 suites and I imagine the University keeps one of those to themselves to whine and dine. That means really only 16 are available. Some amount of those were already filled. I don't think it's unlikely that 3-4 high networth alumni or area businesses got caught up in the excitement surrounding the program and decided to buy a suite. $15K to a Cleveland-Cliffs, Goodyear, Timken, etc. is immaterial on company financials.

I shared a more in detail article that I copied and pasted. It was behind a paywall, but I worked some magic to get around it. I shared it for those that might not know how. Something worth calling out apparently Akron staff plans to be on The Pat McAfee Show and ESPN Radio today. Also, Big Cat plans to attend an Akron game. Barstool will probably try to make a spectacle out of a random mid-week matchup if it happens.

https://frontofficesports.com/viral-akron-football-promo-attracts-celebrity-season-ticket-buyers/ At Akron’s football home opener against Robert Morris, one Zips season-ticker holder will get to draw up the team’s opening drive. That’s due to an unconventional promotion by the school: Purchase season tickets to enter a random drawing to script the first offensive play on Sept. 12. The stunt has gone viral, with the initial X/Twitter post of the Zips’ offer garnering more than 16 million views in the first 24 hours. But beyond its social media splash, the promotion has become a major ticket-sale success story for Akron football. Since the announcement on Aug 4, the school has sold out suite inventory for the first time in program history, and surged past annual ticket sales goals with weeks to go before kickoff, according to Akron’s senior deputy AD and COO Matt Pottorff. “We’ve had an awesome, awesome 24 hours, but we’re just getting started,” he told Front Office Sports. “It’s going to be like a tsunami.” The promotion was the brainchild of Pottorff and Akron AD Dr. Andrew T. Goodrich, who thought it up “at 10 p.m. and 30,000 feet in the air” while on a flight home from the school’s appearance in the 2026 men’s NCAA basketball tournament. (No. 12 Akron lost in the first round to 5-seed Texas Tech.) “We were just going through the craziest ideas we could think of to sell football tickets,” Pottorff said. “This was the one where we thought, ‘If we do this right, it could really move the needle and be a huge hit.’” The announcement, which also elicited nearly 2,000 quote-tweets, was the most-viewed X post by any college football team this summer, according to digital analytics firm Zoomph. It also immediately caught the attention of popular sports personalities. Barstool Sports’s Dan “Big Cat” Katz told FOS in an email that he purchased eight Zips season tickets for $600. Radio host Bobby Bones and basketball analyst Dan Dakich have bought in as well, according to the school. Katz said he hopes to actually attend at least one game if his schedule permits, adding that there is “nothing better than weekday MACtion at the end of the season.” (Asked whether he’d reveal his offensive strategy if chosen, Katz declined. “No chance I give you the secrets to my playbook,” he said. “Nice try.”) Akron has leaned into the high-roller attention, sharing notable season-ticket purchasers across its football social media channels to attract even more eyeballs—and potential buyers. Athletic department leaders are scheduled to appear on The Pat McAfee Show and ESPN Radio on Thursday as momentum builds. Pottorff emphasized to FOS that the winner will be selected at random despite the slew of well-known contestants, but entries are weighted by the number of season tickets purchased. This means, he said, “if somebody wants to buy 10,000 season tickets, they’ve got an incredibly good chance of winning.” Akron’s InfoCision Stadium seats 30,000. General admission packages start at $75, while premium inventory goes for as high as $15,000 for (the now sold-out) suites. Club and loge level seats are “almost gone” as of Wednesday night, too. A winner will be chosen on Aug. 19. Whoever it ends up being will enjoy lots of perks beyond playcalling. “First, we’re going to call that person NFL Draft–style and let them know that they got selected. Then we’ll find a time for them to come to campus, where they’ll meet with [head football] coach Joe Moorhead,” Pottorff said. “He’ll run them through what plays we would normally call in the opening drive, and then figure out what they want to do with it.” On game day, the winner will also take part in a press conference, get mic’d up with a headset, have play sheets, and land in the coaches box. After their moment on the call, Pottorff said they’ll be escorted up to a suite with their guests for the second half to “really soak in the experience.” The program knows some people will buy a season ticket only to enter and ultimately resell them, which they’re O.K. with. Pottorff says the Zips will “work through that process” and ensure all tickets “go to good use.” Katz, meanwhile, is genuinely looking forward—and hopes to win. “It’s great for College Football,” the host of Pardon My Take said, “and who knows, Akron might accidentally find the next great offensive mind (hopefully me).”

Good stuff, thanks for sharing. It's nice to see the premium tickets are moving as well and it's not just simply people buying 1 $75 lotto ticket. Those premium seats add up quickly financially and those are the people who will actually likely attend. Not to mention if you have money to buy a suite you're probably a business owner or someone high enough up in your company that you can have some influence to attract some sponsorships. Even if its just signage in the stadium.

Yeah, I gave it a peak yesterday and nothing really caught my eye. I'll probably just continue to support FTR by adding 2-3 pieces of Zips gear each year. I only have so much room in my closet anyway and I already own plenty of Zips stuff.

Even a mid-tier ACC program like Wake Forrest is spending ~$20 million on their football roster. If we sold out every ticket to every game maybe we could compete with a Toledo in roster spend. We're not touching the ACC.