Save The Date

[akzipper]

Look the team won 1 game all year. It wouldn't matter if they had a golf outing at Firestone, with Tiger Woods himself there. People won't go unless the team is winning. Like GP said, it's the same people that go to these golf outings and they are the same people that are ticket holders going to games. Getting rid of it makes no difference sorry to say.

[GP1]

PAID UA $150+ per person to do it. The event was never a big money-maker.

Then there is no reason to do it. A golf course has 18 holes. At most, you can get 20 foursomes off in an outing. Where I had math, 20 x 4 = 80 golfers. That's $12,000 (before expenses) @ $150 per person. I'm not impressed by the golf outing.

On the other hand, 20,000 fans paying to see a Zips game at $10 per ticket is $200,000. I'm impressed by that. They need to get focused on selling tickets and not a silly golf outing. Focus, focus, focus.

The termination of the football golf outing is second only the parking situation at the Rubber Bowl (it was a grass field for crying out loud) on the list of non-issues that have been made important in Zips history.

[Hilltopper]

The HC wanted nothing to do with the idea. Even his agent who suggested the event was perplexed. Its great that they are reaching out to the former players, but they aren't going to fill the seats at the Info. Fans like Zips Win, CK and myself are the ones who are being ignored, when they should be doing everything possible to get some excitement going about Zips football. These guys are still operating under the premise of "build it and they will come". That ship sailed a few years ago.

The problem the program has is they don't attract new customers because they have been so bad the past couple of years.

My guess is Coach I is not a golfer and doesn't have many golfers on his staff. At the end of the day, I'm not certain a golf outing for 150 of the same people who go every year regardless of how the team performs is the answer. Those people would be happy with only a good game day experience if the team won.

I've been saying this for a few years and nobody listens. They need to have people in the Athletic Department (not the football office) who schedule public speaking engagements for Coach I, KD and Coach Kest that take place throughout the summer and as many as humanly possible. Targets would be Rotary (as many as possible), Chamber of Commerce (as many as possible), Akron Womens Club, etc. Use these sessions to sell tickets. If they would just ask for freaking support instead of throwing up billboards and crossing their fingers, more people might come to the games. Put a personal touch on it.

What they really need to do is get the business of those not attending at all. Spending a lot of time trying to please masochists is not the way to go. I'm one of the masochists and if I still lived around, all I would want is a decent place to park within walking distance to a bar and the stadium, food at the game that wouldn't choke a goat and a seat that didn't require physical therapy after a game. The hardest thing to do in sales is bring on a new customer. It is also the most expensive. It's easy to throw up billboards, buy ads in the ABJ, buy a bus ad, etc. Going out and asking people for their business is hard. It's why they don't do it. It costs NOTHING to be a speaker at a public forum. Most of the time you get a free dinner and all you have to do is get yourself there.

They should put up signs around the Athletic Department saying, "Get them to the game and give them something worth watching." It's so freaking simple.

My bad GP1, my post wasn't very clear. My event was not a golf outing, it was a cocktail party designed to introduce I-coach to a bunch of people in the Akron business community. The diehard fans were willing to put out a few grand to get the ball rolling, but no go. Its exactly the same thing his agent did for his other client who was hired at a new position last year; Brian Kelly. There was not going to be an open invitation to all the members of ZN.O.

[Captain Kangaroo]

PAID UA $150+ per person to do it. The event was never a big money-maker.

Then there is no reason to do it. A golf course has 18 holes. At most, you can get 20 foursomes off in an outing. Where I had math, 20 x 4 = 80 golfers. That's $12,000 (before expenses) @ $150 per person. I'm not impressed by the golf outing.

On the other hand, 20,000 fans paying to see a Zips game at $10 per ticket is $200,000. I'm impressed by that. They need to get focused on selling tickets and not a silly golf outing. Focus, focus, focus.

The termination of the football golf outing is second only the parking situation at the Rubber Bowl (it was a grass field for crying out loud) on the list of non-issues that have been made important in Zips history.

"At most you can get 20 foursomes off?" They doubled up on the holes, so there upwards of 160 people at the Outing. Beyond that, there were raffle tickets that most people spent $20 on. That's $24,000. Plus $3,200. Oh, and several tables were sold to Corporations @ $2,500 each. People PAID $30,000+ to talk Zips football in June! And most of the prizes were donated.

You make it seem physically impossible to sell 20,000 football tickets at $10 a pop while holding a 1-day fan appreciation event that nets $30k. I say somehow, some way, it could be done.

Dude - stick to what you know. Or, keep an open mind. Now I know what ZipWatcher feels like when you expound on basketball.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Look the team won 1 game all year. It wouldn't matter if they had a golf outing at Firestone, with Tiger Woods himself there. People won't go unless the team is winning.

So you think this discussion is regarding Golf Outing attendance? Ghee whiz...why do I even try...

[Captain Kangaroo]

I've been saying this for a few years and nobody listens.

Maybe you are wrong?

[GP1]

I've been saying this for a few years and nobody listens.

Maybe you are wrong?

They never try.

[GP1]

You make it seem physically impossible to sell 20,000 football tickets at $10 a pop while holding a 1-day fan appreciation event that nets $30k. I say somehow, some way, it could be done.

It hasn't worked yet. My father was a really smart country doctor and he understood people well. He always said that if a cat and a person walked into a glass door, the cat would never run into it again. At some point, the person would walk into the door again because we never learn our lessons. That's what I think about the golf outing.

I once heard that the expenses for the Athletic Department were $10,000,000+ (seems sort of high, but that's what I heard). $30,000 (if that is the real net) is 0.3% of that total. That golf outing is the least of their problems. They should be able to secure those corporate sponsorships by other means. Corporations support local causes many times out of a sense of local responsibility. The money would continue to come in with or without a golf outing. The people at InfoCision aren't going to stop supporting UofA because they can't go golfing for a day. The local hospital (can't think of the name) is going to support UofA regardless of a golf outing or not.

People want to feel like they know a sports team or have a personal connection with a team. I believe reaching out to the local population on a more personal level, not asking 150 people to tell some of their friend to tell some of their friends, is the key to expanding revenues at UofA. There are many local business owners attending Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, etc. There are many more small and midsize businesses than the Goodyears of the world. Not all of them can or want to attend a golf outing.

For example, KD is a well know/liked person around Akron. Coached at St. V, LeBron's coach and extremely successful coach at UofA. He is a person a lot of people around NE Ohio would recognize in a photo. While he is from Akron and probably knows a lot of people in the City, in the large picture, it is probably an extremely small part of the population. I think a lot of people would get a kick out of meeting the guy who coached LeBron and has been on national TV coaching in the NCAA Tournament. These people would respond well to his appeal to support the school by purchasing tickets.

Let's do some math. KD speaks at the Akron Chamber of Commerce (probably a large group). While there, 60 business owners decide to buy ten of the 10 pack packages they are selling at $100 each. That's $60,000. They can give those tickets away to customers. We haven't even added up parking, concessions and possible Z-Fund donations. A little better than the rumored $30,000 at the golf outing. That's only one day. Send Coach I and Coach Kest out to do the same thing. They wouldn't get the same personal response as KD, but people would still be interested in them and there would be some response.

Capt., you ask me to have an open mind. Getting away from Akron did open my mind and in my opinion, I have the most open mind on this board about what we could do better. I used to have a lot of the same ideas about what Akron should be doing as you do. The difference is, I've gotten away from it and have seen what other schools do well. Time has passed a lot of the opinions on this board by. Wake Forest tours their football and M&W BB coaches around on a regular speaking tour every summer. They sell 30,000 season tickets a year to what has become a bad football team..the same can be said about their MBB team as well only the word terrible/horrid would be used. Yes, they have a golf outing. They also have a ladies football day (great idea and I'm glad UofA is doing the same thing), tennis match and BBQ. They make is so lots of people can touch the program without going to a golf outing. Better yet, they get donations at all of these events.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it. I roll my eyes when I read your marketing ideas the same way Zips Watcher may roll his eyes at my basketball opinions. It amazes me a company would put you in charge of ANY sales and marketing efforts. A golf outing in the desert...please. Go out and get some new clients. I had promotions in sales/marketing roles at two Fortune 100 companies in my life. One was to manage the product line that drove 75% of all profit dollars for a Berkshire Hathaway company. During this economic downturn, I started my own business and increased sales for the companies I represent in excess of 47% in some cases. How were your sales the past 2-3 years? You stick to what you think you know, and I'll stick to what I know I know.

To you Capt. and everyone else on the board, I say have a nice weekend, remember the fallen on Memorial Day and God Bless America.

Edit:...Why aren't we doing things like this? Golf outing? Please.....

[MaxZIP]

So who is going to be in the seats. I tell hundreds of people about zips events and sports year round. You need to get a fanbase to hold corporate support. No fans no sponsorship. The golf outing addresses the most hardcore fans. The fans that will go out and sell other or at least keep pushing the university. Will all of the seats be full of scrub wearing zips fans? The sponsorships will go away in 5 years if there is not a much larger fan ass than currently exists. Summa and imfocision didn't pay millions to be on Sto 5 times a year and reinforce their brand to 800 workhorse. Fans are important. The golf outing hits the top 5% of football fans.