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The older fans here will recall the good old days when students didn't need a marketing program to tell them what to do with their lives. We figured it out for ourselves.

We figured it out ourselves, and truly WANTED to go to a Zips Basketball game.

What exactly makes students want to come?

So here we are decades later, and students don't want to come. Why? Good, we can figure out how to offer them money in exchange for their attendance. But that doesn't solve the problem, as I've pointed out before.

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Wouldn't this be nice!!! I was at the Wisconsin game, I got chills it was so loud and fun!!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=934591643218130

Fun at Terps basketball games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1qoZxWAsk8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Heonx4F9k

Wouldn't be the first time UA used an idea from Maryland ... Fear the Roo....I mean turtle

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So here we are decades later, and students don't want to come. Why? Good, we can figure out how to offer them money in exchange for their attendance. But that doesn't solve the problem, as I've pointed out before.

Don't take this as an attack at you Skip, more just the concept :thumb:

But this is the attitude that leads to students not caring about Zips athletics. The marketing/promotions acts like and assumes it should be like the "good old days", and throws up it's hands saying "I don't know why they're not coming!?". This type of attitude is deaf to reality. We've got to adjust to the times, not get the students to adjust to old times. Student attendance averages as well as average attendance are dropping every year, across all sports, including the big programs.

I'm not saying that I have the answers on how to change it, but I don't get paid $$$ to come up with those answers. I'd hope that a marketing/promotions department who gets paid to do it would be, but they're failing to do so across the country. It's my observation, that student attendance is best at programs that have longstanding traditions (which we don't have) have prime seating for students (which we don't have), and treat their students like they belong there...not as if they're children.

Hindsight is 20/20. I'm not sure how far back student attendance records go, but record student attendance happened just TWO years ago this year? There are plenty of students who WANT to be there, and are there (I was one of them) but they're shoved all over the place you'd never know they are there.

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Though I agree students should show up to games in higher numbers...this thought process is part of the problem. Why should students be expected to show up? Student's should be catered towards not have expectations made of them. Because it's the 22,000 student's $800 a year that make our athletic department, not our donations or ticket buying.

I don't know what would bring them out either, that's why I'm saying go and engage them. From a recent student's perspective: what is promotions/marketing doing to make students want to sit in uncomfortable wooden bleacher seats, in a high-school-esque stadium, where you change where the student section is ever couple a years, where a guy shouts at you through a microphone that you're in the wrong section and you need to move to the "new" section (embarrassing, making UA feel like a community-college, and did happen a couple of years ago), to watch your team beat up on 80% of the opponents who visit. What exactly makes students want to come? Has anyone in marketing/promotions actually asked the students?

Baloney! You should not be catered to.

Now I realize that 98% of the UA faculty supports OSU, 98% of the UA staff supports OSU, 98% of the UA student body supports OSU, 98% of the UA alumni base supports OSU and about 99% of the Akron community supports OSU.

But it shouldn't matter. Take some pride in what you are doing and stop treating your school only as a place to get a degee and start treating it as the University of Akron.

Hell, I would increase that $800 fee to athletics to $2,400. Once you swipe in and out and attend all home football and basketball games, you can earn the $1,600 back.

ZI....

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Baloney! You should not be catered to.

Now I realize that 98% of the UA faculty supports OSU, 98% of the UA staff supports OSU, 98% of the UA student body supports OSU, 98% of the UA alumni base supports OSU and about 99% of the Akron community supports OSU.

But it shouldn't matter. Take some pride in what you are doing and stop treating your school only as a place to get a degee and start treating it as the University of Akron.

Hell, I would increase that $800 fee to athletics to $2,400. Once you swipe in and out and attend all home football and basketball games, you can earn the $1,600 back.

ZI....

You do realize I'm an alum right? I don't need to defend myself; I wouldn't be wasting my time trying to make this point if I didn't care about The (you forgot to capitalize the T btw)...THE University of Akron, or have some ridiculous level of pride in the institution I attended.

I'm not saying students should be catered too (even though they kinda should be because there would be no athletics without the students paying $800 a year against their will to support it), I'm saying they should be sought after and included on the discussion on how to increase attendance at games. Sitting in the ivory tower asking questions towards the sky of "why...oh why won't the students come?" isn't productive.

The same ol' marketing that's been done for decades isn't productive.

Making the students out as if they're the bad guys for not attending, isn't productive.

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Remember the football game where they gave away free tuition to a student? That was a great promotion that was hampered by terrible weather and a football team on a losing streak. Even with those factors, students outnumbered the rest of the fans.

Now here's an idea for next season: spread it out over the entire basketball season. Every game gets you an entry. You have to swipe out of the game when you leave (no leaving at half time) for it to count. One semester of tuition costs less than most of the promotions they've been running.

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Remember the football game where they gave away free tuition to a student? That was a great promotion that was hampered by terrible weather and a football team on a losing streak. Even with those factors, students outnumbered the rest of the fans.

Now here's an idea for next season: spread it out over the entire basketball season. Every game gets you an entry. You have to swipe out of the game when you leave (no leaving at half time) for it to count. One semester of tuition costs less than most of the promotions they've been running.

Football games, have it earlier in the season...first game of the year perhaps? Zips should pull out all the stops for the first home game of the year...promotions, specials, whatever. Get that place as packed as we can, make a fun and engaging atmosphere that some might actually want to come back for.

Work with Relay for Life students on campus, to have a "Relay Week" where the teams can gain points towards Relay For Life competitions for how many members attend the game...points for attending double points for staying the whole game.

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Wait 'til September rolls around and we see how Ohio State's 2014 National Championship negatively impacts Akron football attendance because everyone will be staying at home to watch the Bucks defend their title.

It's all good, though. #TeamOhio

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Wait 'til September rolls around and we see how Ohio State's 2014 National Championship negatively impacts Akron football attendance because everyone will be staying at home to watch the Bucks defend their title.

It's all good, though. #TeamOhio

If they weren't sitting home watching #teamohio already, you have me a little terrified.

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If they weren't sitting home watching #teamohio already, you have me a little terrified.

Oh, Joe Akron watched the shit out of some OSU last year but don't kid yourself. . . There are people who attended last year that have a renewed sense of not only OSU pride resulting from the NC, but also B1G pride since the conference represented so well in the bowl games. State pride coupled with Midwest pride. The playoff proved what so many knew all along. The B1G is great, it just wasn't being given its propers because the SEC is in bed with ESPN. Also, they are just salivating to see Mark May eat crow.

Any latent OSU fans are completely back out of the closet and basking in the Buckeyes glory.

It's going to hurt, I'm afraid. :(

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While student attendance is nice-- at this point it does very little little to help an athletic dept swimming in debt. A huge problem is the paying base of fans remains small and somewhat unchanged over the years. The $5 student attend a game promotion... and the free tuition etc...."Good news we had 801 students... bad news it cost us $4005 more than the game last week". -- I am being a little sarcastic, but I see Zip athletics as being attractive to a very small group of fans in the area.

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skip or anyone else who wants to talk about the good old days in an attempt to attack the current generation of students, please take a look at who has broken the student attendance record multiple times the past few seasons.

newsflash- you guys didn't have better student attendance back when you had to walk up the hill 5 miles both ways to class.

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While student attendance is nice-- at this point it does very little little to help an athletic dept swimming in debt. A huge problem is the paying base of fans remains small and somewhat unchanged over the years. The $5 student attend a game promotion... and the free tuition etc...."Good news we had 801 students... bad news it cost us $4005 more than the game last week". -- I am being a little sarcastic, but I see Zip athletics as being attractive to a very small group of fans in the area.

Good point morris. The general consensus for this board when discussing university issues is that the problem is everybody else who doesn't make a living associated with the U. Football is holding the basketball team back. They have no money. They can fly in soccer players from all over the world, pay students ~15000 (assuming 800/game for 3 games) to come to games, refuse to play at any high profile team's place and take a pay day(and a chance to get a big win and generate excitement for the fanbase/state/country), but money is a problem. So much of a problem that is cost us a game at Penn St due to crappy travel plans.

Lets set priorities straight and have accountability.

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