Stuff our AD should at least try to do for the 21st, but won't...

[pepband99]

1) Aforementioned park early (at the Rent) and bus back/forth to Storrs.
2) non-students holding both tickets get a big discount at the Storrs Co-op on gameday.
3) sorry for the cuse-like thing, but a T-shirt?

Any other ideas?

 

[Dooley]

Start the basketball game at 11am. We played at 11am last year and sold out XL. This would wrap up the game by 1 and give 2 hours for students and fans to get to East Hartford. Noon tipoff all but ensures many fans at Gampel to not want to bother going to the Rent if kickoff is 3:30. They will likely miss kickoff by the time they get to their seats.

 

[Dooley]

Another: just lower ticket prices on ALL seats to $15. The FRONTIER promo code seats are almost gone but when you search for seats sans promo code, it looks like the entire stadium is in the blue/available. We need to sell these seats!

 

[pepband99]

Another: just lower ticket prices on ALL seats to $15. The FRONTIER promo code seats are almost gone but when you search for seats sans promo code, it looks like the entire stadium is in the blue/available. We need to sell these seats!

Seriously. This is beyond stupid. Fill the #$%@@5^@@ing Rent!

 

[Dooley]

Seriously. This is beyond stupid. Fill the #$%@@5^@@ing Rent!

Yup. Getting $15 for a ticket is better than getting $0 for a ticket and going through the emotional letdown and embarrassment of having less than 30K in the stadium for the biggest game in years.

 

[Chin Diesel]

5 minutes before kickoff, all seats become first come first serve. Fill the lower bowl at a minimum. Arrive late? Enjoy the second row of the upper deck on the shady side.

 

[pepband99]

Start the basketball game at 11am. We played at 11am last year and sold out XL. This would wrap up the game by 1 and give 2 hours for students and fans to get to East Hartford. Noon tipoff all but ensures many fans at Gampel to not want to bother going to the Rent if kickoff is 3:30. They will likely miss kickoff by the time they get to their seats.

This is probably a TV casualty. ...not that it should be, as SNY isn't exactly must-see TV at 11.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Another: just lower ticket prices on ALL seats to $15. The FRONTIER promo code seats are almost gone but when you search for seats sans promo code, it looks like the entire stadium is in the blue/available. We need to sell these seats!

Pricing tickets at $15 is not going to move the needle. The only thing that will accomplish is pi$$ing off people who paid full price.

I like the parking at the Rent early and getting a shuttle to and from Gampel, but I worry about the LAZ cartel not being kind to that.

Realistically that only thing I think they can do that makes any sense? Let students who have tix to the hoops game board the bus and get into the Rent at no charge. Your hoops ticket is a 2-for-1 deal. One time only.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Make a spectacle out of the caravan.

Have some Go Pro's on the bus driver's as they go from Gampel to the Rent. Live stream it on the Rent scoreboard. Do something crazy like alternate video of a bus caravan and packs of dogs running through the snow attacking a cougar. Use a drone to film the caravan from above. have a doomsday countdown clock as the caravan arrives. Have a special entrance in to the stadium for all the fans who use the buses.

Do the aforementioned two games for the price of one.

Mark out a victory lap lane around the Rent before buses drop off the fans.

I don't know the psychology behind it, but people are drawn to caravans and "official" looking groups of vehicles. Whip up a frenzy.

Yes, there are legitimate logistical and security concerns. There's also already been four days to work on them and 9 more to go.

Treat these two games like a mini-bowl game, another homecoming. Make it something memorable.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Pricing tickets at $15 is not going to move the needle. The only thing that will accomplish is pi$$ing off people who paid full price.

I like the parking at the Rent early and getting a shuttle to and from Gampel, but I worry about the LAZ cartel not being kind to that.

Realistically that only thing I think they can do that makes any sense? Let students who have tix to the hoops game board the bus and get into the Rent at no charge. Your hoops ticket is a 2-for-1 deal. One time only.

I would hope that fans who are season ticket holders, got mini-packages or paid full value don't blow their mind over a one-time promotion.

The confluence of the football team playing a top-25 team with a bowl game on the line, the same day as the basketball team opening its season and getting the TV break for football to make it happen, doesn't happen that often.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I would hope that fans who are season ticket holders, got mini-packages or paid full value don't blow their mind over a one-time promotion.

The confluence of the football team playing a top-25 team with a bowl game on the line, the same day as the basketball team opening its season and getting the TV break for football to make it happen, doesn't happen that often.

You can hope that all you want, but they will be pi$$ed. How many extra tickets do you think you're going to sell at $15?

 

[pepband99]

As a season ticket holder, I can say that both my experience, and the actual value of my ticket (not necessarily 100% financial), is ENHANCED by cheaper tickets, assuming it helps attendance.

 

[sportsart]

Start the basketball game at 11am. We played at 11am last year and sold out XL. This would wrap up the game by 1 and give 2 hours for students and fans to get to East Hartford. Noon tipoff all but ensures many fans at Gampel to not want to bother going to the Rent if kickoff is 3:30. They will likely miss kickoff by the time they get to their seats.

Thanks for lobbing that softball but don't you mean an 11:11 AM start time?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I just hope this doesn't spark the "wish we had an on campus stadium" argument.

 

[sportsart]

This is probably a TV casualty. ...not that it should be, as SNY isn't exactly must-see TV at 11.

Furman isn't a must see at anytime, unless of course you visit the BB forum.

 

[Dooley]

If they gave away every unsold seat, I wouldn't care in the slightest. I would care more if there are 10K empty seats than if 50% of the stadium paid less (or nothing) for their ticket. I want the Rent to be full and loud on 11/21 and I couldn't care less how they get there.

I do like the 2 for 1 idea - hoops game gives you a free ticket to football and a bus ride to/from E Hartford. Give the student caravan a police escort and rush 'em over. When they arrive, the tailgating fans over in the blue lots can get fired up for a police escorted caravan.

 

[SubbaBub]

Ticket prices aren't the issue. It's the product. Wins and opponents; or wins opponents and stadium experience if you want to catch everything.

 

[Dooley]

Thanks for lobbing that softball but don't you mean an 11:11 AM start time?

That whole thread made me drink at 6am this morning.

 

[Dooley]

Ticket prices aren't the issue. It's the product. Wins and opponents; or wins opponents and stadium experience if you want to catch everything.

Not on 11/21. The product? A 5-win team trying to gain bowl eligibility for the first time since the Fiesta Bowl. The opponent? Top 25 ranked and undefeated Houston (highest ranked opponent to come to the Rent in years).

I'm only talking about what we need to do to get more fans to the Rent on Saturday, November 21 versus the Houston Cougars. We can discuss increasing season ticket base in the offseason. The more people in the stands = the louder the stadium = better for our players if we are going to entertain the thought of pulling off the upset.

 

[Drew]

Show the basketball game on the board inside the stadium as well as open the lots an hour early. Love the idea of a CT FastTrack bus from Rent-Gampel-Rent.


Make the busses free from campus for students. Seriously this is so freaking dumb. If Temple can make their busses free so can we. Scan student ID's at both events and select one person who attends both games to win some sort of large prize (books paid for for next semester, tuition free semester, etc). Special T-Shirts to commemorate the games, one you pick up in Gampel one you pick up at the Rent.

Most importantly, do everything in your power to make it a 7pm kickoff. The basketball start time isn't moving from 12 but the football start time is still being decided by the TV powers. For all the sack kicking ESPN has provided us the past few years the least we can do is get our game on the 7pm ESPN/NEWS time slot.

 

[PopcornHatKid]

Sure these are all great ideas without acknowledging the biggest problems and concerns. Budgets, approvals, and most of all, staffing.

• The athletic department was millions of dollars in the hole last year. These ideas will cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars without moving the needle immediately. Without the immediate payback, there is no way these things get approved.
• Making anything happen in the UConn Athletic department is like trying to run through a brick wall. With the talking heads that remain under the AD, things take forever to get approved because nothing gets run up the latter unless it is straight from a coach. Unless Bob Diaco is the one asking for it, it will never happen.
• Staffing issues - The Marketing department is made up of 3-4 full time staff. That's it. One to oversee everything, one in charge of Football, MBB, and oversight of all other sports, and one in charge of group sales / fan development. The other staff are a couple GA's who run the other revenue and olympic sports.

These ideas sound like great options on paper, but when you actually try to execute any of them, it is impossible. Even attempting to get extra T-Shirts would likely be impossible because of the process it takes to get extra line items approved into the budget.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I've never understood why UConn didn't offer student prices to students at all Connecticut universities. There are plenty of kids who go to Central & Eastern or community colleges in the area who would like to go, and why not promote UConn sports to them as well?

 

[NYUConn]

Free T-Shirt. That' good stuff, probably make everyone here happy.

 

[pepband99]

One more:

Get the whole marching band to Gampel, if it's a night game. Drum up support.

 

[Vuce]

I would hope that fans who are season ticket holders, got mini-packages or paid full value don't blow their mind over a one-time promotion.

The confluence of the football team playing a top-25 team with a bowl game on the line, the same day as the basketball team opening its season and getting the TV break for football to make it happen, doesn't happen that often.

I am a season ticket holder to both football and hoops and the main thing I want is the seats to be filled. I choose to get season tickets because I really enjoy going to the games and want to support my school as an alum. The games are more fun with fannies in the seats!