I think y'all have had some good suggestions on building an atmosphere. Let me just put on my consultant hat though and come up with a strategy on getting out the awareness of that atmosphere.
Locally(within 25 miles):
Free admittance to HS athletes. Our HS used to give us a sports pass for all HS games, for Nac area schools that should work for SFA games too. Sure, we'd lose a little bit of revenue but we'd probably gain it in parents/coaches attending with them.
Church attendance: A curious thing I've noticed is how many pastors mention the Texas game, or A&M game depending on region. We should find a way to send out a few free tickets to different pastors every week. The shout-out from the pulpit as the "did you see that SFA game" instead of "Gig Em" would really help build awareness in this church town.
Billboards: This works locally & regionally but we need 4 digital billboards. One at the busiest intersection in Nac, Lufkin, Tyler, and one smaller one in the student center. The three in the community would be general SFA advertising most days, upcoming events,etc. But 24 hours before football games, switch them to a countdown clock. We want to drive awareness through the roof.
Facebook events: All SFA sports need to be Facebook event invites too. I am constantly alerted to what my friends are doing bc they RSVP for Facebook invites.
Regionally(within 100 miles):
High School Shoutouts: When we used to watch Westlake football, they'd announce which of their former students were playing college football the next day & where. For all our East Texas student athletes, we need to make this happen by reaching out to the school districts.
Weekend packages: Partner with hotels & local attractions to get folks to come down for the weekend. If you buy a certain football package it comes with tickets to the Planetarium, brewery packages, etc. Make it a weekend destination.
SFA athletics tour: Schedule a joint practice at Tyler Rose Stadium with TJC, host a basketball fans day in Longview, etc. It'll be partially to get local SFA fans involved, but also to build good relationships with the broader East Texas media.
We should be able to get a few headlines across every paper in the region each season. Local news outlets always need article ideas, so we should pitch them continuously for athlete interviews in their hometown etc.
Gameday:
It's been a year since I've been to a football game, so we may already have it, but we need an instagram spot and a prize for posting your family photo from there. Similar to the Axe Em sign at basketball. Give out a prize in the 3rd quarter drawn from folks who used the hashtag. When you attend an SFa game, we need your social network to know.
This is a lot of little things, but I think they'll add up quickly to build awareness of SFA sporting events and lay claim to East Texas as our region.
