Student Attendance & Marketing

[Blacksheep84]

My family is from the south, we go to Akron Zips games for Obvious reasons we are on our 2nd season.... I don't want to beat a dead horse but..........

 

1. Football is king in the south doesn't matter  D2 ,D1AA, D-1 people show up!

 

2. Where are the students????????? The Players notice the Crowd during warm ups and entering the field game time, The players need to do their part on Saturday, last two years lots of upward mobility in that respect and improving.

 

3. I am sure this has been brought up, scheduled local rivalries home and away help? Cincy, Youngstown St, Pitt,  Ohio ST @ Cleveland at Browns Stadium as one of our home games( That gate would equal 4 sellouts at Infocision every two years.

 

4. Make sure while scheduling Ohio St games and AKRON games are polar opposites time wise, Hopefully the Indians wont interfere every fall in the ALCS... Lol

 

5. Fans local should adopt a player from out of state....... I didn't even know Massillion, Hartville, Talmadge, existed until last summer. Those people have been the best supporters and come to games that would not normally show up.  Best people i ever met!!! Talking about Southern Hospitality.

 

6.I know the Mayor got involved with attendance, but here is idea..... A public service announcement from Lebron James!! I know he is involved with university heavily, But Hey its Lebron, and if Lebron says go to Zips football games, then North East Ohio listens!!!!!!!!!

 

7. Fall Concert Next year to kick off the Season....... Kid Rock, Machine Gun Kelly, Bones Thugs and Harmony........ Cleveland and Detroit local products.... Not Kidding about Kid Rock....He was @ East Carolina University for their Kick off Bash, Have it after the Game in the Stadium!!!!!!!!!

 

For those who go Thank you, for those thinking about it... GO!!!  Plenty to play for and ESPN 2 /U coming the next two home games..... Need to bring The ZIPS ''A'' GAME Coaches , Players and Fans!!!!! Last .... Akron is one of 7 D1 stadiums that serve beer..... I mean come on people what the hell are you waiting on!!!!!!!!

 

GO ZIPS!!!!!!

 

Edited October 18, 2016 by Blacksheep84
one last thought

[Balsy]

15 minutes ago, Blacksheep84 said:

My family is from the south, we go to Akron Zips games for Obvious reasons we are on our 2nd season.... I don't want to beat a dead horse but..........

....

GO ZIPS!!!!!!

 

 

 Welcome to the board!  Always great to have another poster, especially a newer (2-years or so) follower of the Zips.  We have discussed this at length somewhat, a lot of the things in your questions.  I'll try to some up the discussion the best I can:

 

1.  In NEO football is the sport most follow.  There are two NFL teams within 2 hours of each other, with overlapping media coverage.  There's 6 D-1 colleges within a 2 hour driving distance (Akron, Kent, Ohio State, Bowling Green, Pitt, Toledo), of of which is in competition for a national championship almost every year.  There's lots of Highschool football all over the place, one of the best regions for Highschool football.  The area is almost over-saturated with football.  We've all tried to wrap our heads around it for a long time ourselves.  But the Zips (for some time) were the worst out of all the teams listed there.

 

2.  UA has a bit of a cultural identity crisis.  For a long time it was viewed as a glorified community college to some in NEO.  Most in NEO are indoctrinated into following State Ohio University, and continue to do so when they are in college.  They also have a lot on their plates personally, academically and socially, that seems to exclude attending UA athletic events.

 

3.  This has been discussed at length.  There is a division that thinks Akron should stay away from scheduling games with Ohio State, as it was obviously divide the fanbase (some of which support both teams).  Discussion about teams like YSU are also usually a no.  The feeling is that there is nothing to gain by playing YSU.  If you lose, you look real bad.  If you win, well you were supposed to anyways.  We just completed a home-and-home with Pitt and they have been vocal about NOT scheduling MAC teams as much anymore.  We also played Cincinnati several years back, during the iCoach dark ages.

 

4.  The MAC is responsible for most game scheduling outside of the OCC slate, but I think most people would agree with you on this one.

 

5.  Interesting idea, love the thought!

 

6.  This has been a HUGE topic of discussion here.  Many have hated LeBron for his open support of State Ohio University, while never showing any love towards his home town D-1 university.  It does seem that his public statements about the university, and Zips athletics programs, have increased over the years since he's been back in Cleveland.  He also used to be at the Zips basketball games (if I'm not mistaken, correct me if I'm wrong old timers).  It is probably a partnership that can be worked on and grown overtime, especially if Bowden keeps focusing on grabbing a lot of local (Akron) talent.

 

These are just some footnotes that I thought would be insightful!  Thanks for going to games as well, we certainly could use more diehard supporters!  

 

Go Zips!!!

 

 

[Dr Z]

47 minutes ago, Balsy said:

Many have hated LeBron for his open support of State Ohio University, while never showing any love towards his home town D-1 university.  

LeBron will attending classes at the University of Akron, not Columbus. A university spokesman confirmed that James is "signed up" to take classes when he's able. It's not hard to imagine how something was worked out -- Akron did, after all, rename its college of education the LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education.

[kreed5120]

Yes, I've seen LeBron at several Zips games over the years. His relationship with Dambrot is why Akron is one of like 3-4 schools that supports the LBJ brand for basketball. I think over the years he's even practiced with the Zips a few times.

 

On a semi related note I remember 5-6 years ago I was going to the rec center and saw Kosta Koufos check in to meet up and practice with some of the Zips players. I'm not certain what connection he would have had to the Zips program other then his hometown being 20 minutes away, but I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever if LeBron put him in contact with Dambrot so he would have a place to train when he is back home visiting family in the offseason. 

Edited October 18, 2016 by kreed5120
spelling

[Balsy]

52 minutes ago, Dr Z said:

LeBron will attending classes at the University of Akron, not Columbus. A university spokesman confirmed that James is "signed up" to take classes when he's able. It's not hard to imagine how something was worked out -- Akron did, after all, rename its college of education the LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education.

 

I know.  I was pointing out how it was a point of contention in the past with alumni.

[morris buttermaker]

#5 .... NCAA violation

[zipsoutsider]

2 hours ago, morris buttermaker said:

#5 .... NCAA violation

It doesn't have to be a violation.

 

If the "adoption" is limited to picking a player and showing up and cheering for them, making signs, etc there is no violation. If you have ever sat near the parents section, it's fun to watch a small group go crazy when their kid makes a special play. You can always tell when Brock Boxen makes a great play - the Boxen clan goes wild. I remember watching Chuck Amato escort a kid on senior day once (might have happened more than once) and I wondered if that kid ever had anyone cheering for him and IIRC, he was a starter or a regular.

[kreed5120]

I could have sworn I heard on the radio from Dustin Fox that OSU has families sponser players and those families help fund the players scholarship by giving OSU money to offset the costs. Dustin said he would have dinner every so often at the families house and grew close to them over the years.

 

I don't think what is proposed is a violation, however, giving boosters easy access to players opens the door for potential violations to be made.

Edited October 19, 2016 by kreed5120

[skip-zip]

Having dinner at a family's house is fine.  And donating money to a University, which is later used to fund scholarships, is fine also.  

[Dr Z]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

I could have sworn I heard on the radio from Dustin Fox that OSU has families sponser players and those families help fund the players scholarship by giving OSU money to offset the costs. Dustin said he would have dinner every so often at the families house and grew close to them over the years. I don't think what is proposed is a violation, however, giving boosters easy access to players opens the door for potential violations to be made.

Violation, or Legal? 2011 PD article.

[Blacksheep84]

Cheering and coming to a game and supporting a kid from out of state, in state, or where ever is probably not a violation,  Introducing yourself outside the gate after games, and say great game ,or hello and making some feel welcome and feel not so far away from home.... probably not a violation. Having friends in the area from the military after 22 years of service and meeting people in NEO probably not a violation. Maybe Adoption was a bad word.... Sorry not wording it correctly..... cut me some slack i am from the south,how about passionate fans who genially care.

 

Edited October 19, 2016 by Blacksheep84

[infofan]

Interest ad I came across from 1970s. Zips season tix for 5 home games $15, 2 for $25.  Too bad we can't get support like that from the local media today! 

Edited October 20, 2016 by infofan

[Section210Zip]

student incentive 

[LZIp]

Maybe I'm being weirdly sensitive today, but does anyone else find this kind of classless?

 

 

[UAZippers]

49 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Maybe I'm being weirdly sensitive today, but does anyone else find this kind of classless?

 

 

I do not likeit at all, and this is not an excuse, but True Blue has been consistently trying to stir up trouble with all of the MACs student groups all season. Somebody just wanted some revenge is my guess. 

Edited November 13, 2016 by UAZippers

[Sergeant Zip]

UA was 125 out of 128 in 2016.

[kreed5120]

I'm just checking in to hear the excuses. We had great weather, we got off to a great start, we were coming off our best season in program history, and had decent expectations heading into this season. At a time when fewer and fewer people are going to live sporting events every year, we just need to accept we will never be able to consistently pack Infocision.

[K92]

Hey, didn't we just hear in another thread that Akron had a great fan base?  And I was questioned why I posted the head scratch pic. . .

 

Only Florida Atlantic, New Mexico State and Ball State had worse numbers than Akron.  Yikes.  FAU will be up next year with a Lane Kiffin bounce.  NM State will still blow.  Doug Martin is still the coach, right?  Ball State mystifies me.  There are a helluva lot more people than 7,789 tailgating in Muncie.

 

Next year will be (marginally) better.  Kent and Ohio at home.

 

Mötley Crüe wrote a song back in 1989 about Akron attendance:

 

[LZIp]

The "excuse" is that actual numbers were used mostly this season. Keener, you heard in another thread from a recruit that Akron has a "great" fan base. Does that really count? I suspect about a 20% increase next season that includes "paid for" attendance.

 

Serious question, don't you guys get tired of regurgitating the same stuff on this garbage over and over?

[kreed5120]

30 minutes ago, LZIp said:

The "excuse" is that actual numbers were used mostly this season. I suspect about a 20% increase next season that includes "paid for" attendance.

 

Serious question, don't you guys get tired of regurgitating the same stuff on this garbage over and over?

 

Nobody here was commenting on why "numbers were down from last year" as we all knew the reason why. 90% of FBS use "actual numbers".

 

What I'm tired of is hearing people regurgitate excuses. Failing to recognize the money pit the stadium has turned into will only leave us prone to making similar mistakes in the future. I've literally heard people on this forum say that Akron should spend large $$$ to build a 9k+ seat basketball arena even though only 1 MAC school averaged over 4,500 fans last season (Ohio at 6,010).

[LZIp]

7 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 90% of FBS use "actual numbers".

Source for this? I feel this is incredibly high considering college football attendance is declining annually.

[skip-zip]

17 minutes ago, K92 said:

Next year will be (marginally) better.  Kent and Ohio at home.

 

I'll bank on that to help a little bit too.  But overall, if we were going to have some kind of "bump" in interest for tickets, I would have thought that we would have seen it after a Bowl Win and a 5-win start to the following season.  

[kreed5120]

3 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Source for this? I feel this is incredibly high considering college football attendance is declining annually.

 

90% equates to 13 teams using fudged numbers per season or 26 total teams fudging numbers over a 2 year cycle. I'd say that's a fair estimate. I probably should have clarified in my previous post. 

[kreed5120]

3 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

I'll bank on that to help a little bit too.  But overall, if we were going to have some kind of "bump" in interest for tickets, I would have thought that we would have seen it after a Bowl Win and a 5-win start to the following season.  

 

The real boost we could get from Kent is by playing them early in the season when the weather is still actually nice and we might be able to get the stadium 2/3 the way full. I get traditional rivalry week is the week of Thanksgiving but that doesn't translate well for the MAC as the fans are fickle and the games are played midweek.

[skip-zip]

14 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

Failing to recognize the money pit the stadium has turned into will only leave us prone to making similar mistakes in the future.

 

Regardless of how anyone feels about building the stadium, I'm sure the current leadership is looking forward and focused on what to do about putting butts in that place, and hopefully aren't spending any of their time focusing on why it was built 10 years ago, before they were ever around.  

 

Even if you feel that way, there's nothing we can do now.  We can't go and tear it down and start over.  But you may be right that it should at least help us recognize that building an oversized basketball arena may send us down the same road.