SFA_03 said:

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Reading through this thread and I can't believe how much the PHA has changed in just a few years since I graduated. Granted I was never a member of the PHA, but I remember they were always loud, rowdy, and made a huge impact on every game for every sport.

They can't stand because other sections get mad? It's a college basketball game. STAND UP. If you don't like it because they're in front of you then you stand too.

They're tired? That one is the worst excuse I've ever seen them make!

When I was a student we had fans that went crazy for every single point. Football games had fans jumping out of the stands for wins. There was never a dull moment. Idk why these kids are suddenly so unenthusiastic.

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It's because they are tired.

BigJack85 said:

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When I attended I thought they did a good job of creating nights that were sponsored by a group of Greek organizations (sororities) like was done on Wednesday or College of Business vs College of Education. In the 80's it "seemed like" whe had an organization challenge to get the most people to the game. For example one night was a challenge between all of the science organizations; i.e. Chemistry Club , Biology Club vs Geology etc etc. I've seen a couple but not consistently unless I'm missing something. Comments welcome. Those challenges like the dorms vs dorms are fun. I think you might get more students out to games.

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I like this idea. And it'd get profs involved too & they need to be involved as much as possible.

PurpleOut said:

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I know that goes against budget so maybe things are a little tight right now while we build the practice facility.

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About the practice facility... I think I read somewhere (or did I dream it?) that the practice facility is primarily being financed (over and above the contributions from big donors) through the sale of long term bonds. If that's the case, then why would it cause any above-normal strains on the budget?

And speaking of bonds, I'm certainly not an expert on bond markets, far from it, but can public universities sell municipal bonds in the open market?

Can someone set me straight on all of this?

There's a lot you can do with no budget & just promoting different themes and events.

One thing that'd probably make a noticeable difference is Ivey & co or Purple Haze hitting up the cafeterias before events with a sandwich board or something.

Also, do we have an SFA app? Like one where you can check your grades, SFA email & such? If not, we should create one so we can also do push notifications for campus events like basketball & speakers & such.

Heck, you could make an SFA athletics app that contains your free student pass & use that to push notifications, but it'd be less effective than a whole uni app.

No app currently, but I'm pretty sure that there was something along that lines being developed. Currently the only SFA apps are one the football staff put together for their camps and one for the STEM classes to use for help. Oh, and the pretty defunct Sawmill app.

I think Wally being in the athletic department is gonna pay huge dividends. Glad we found a way to keep him.

PurpleOut said:

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TallTexan said:

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I think Wally being in the athletic department is gonna pay huge dividends. Glad we found a way to keep him.

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100%. Everything he is doing, and a lot that we have planned is going to be amazing...but most importantly, right now we need to remember it's going to take time.

Ryan has big goals for the athletic department, and it can't be done overnight. I love though that we have a place here, and a group of fans that want everything to be bigger and better. If we didn't, then we wouldn't get guys like Ryan.

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Exactly. Ryan and Brandi Bryant. She will be an AD somewhere, some day. Combine with Dr. Gordon. Prosper.

PurpleOut said:

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A couple of us on Twitter have been talking about getting a group of older fans/alums together to recreate what a student section should be. Take over the first few rows behind the basket, bring back some former Hecklers, anyone that's not a current student that would want to have some fun to liven the place up. Basically if you think you can do better than the current students right now, come join. Not this year, would need some time to plan and reach out to people.

But thinking some type of get-together before next season to plan and share ideas. Maybe in conjunction with our other ideas of a student/movie night in the Coliseum.

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I'm not a twitter guy but I'll do just about anything to promote SFA. I know some people found it to be odd but, the student section used to have copies of the pine log in front of them until SFA scores there first bucket. If not the pine log the paper of the home town .... Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News. Austin American statesman etc.

So this is born out of the Palestine Mardi Gras Parade tonight & a current twitter discussion, but I have some ideas for more "events" to pack the coliseum.

We need events for basketball to pack the stadium, teach people how to cheer, & generally make SFA basketball games a great environment. I think we need one a month or so to bring out new & old fans & keep attendance up. So here are 5 events, along with the reasoning behind each theme.

1. First game of the season.

• Season Kickoff, double header weekday game
• Make it required attendance for SFA 101 Classes
• Have a decently large prize for largest organization there
• Have Cheer Practice with an Emcee during timeouts

Good chance to set the tone for the season, teach people some "fan etiquette" to create a rowdy environment, etc.

2. Polar Express Game

• Have Santa attend(bonus, buy a purple & white Santa suit)
• Rent one of those mall kid's trains to run around the concourse
• Hot Chocolate in the concessions
• Polar Express Theme, deck WRJ in lights, kick of Christmas Season
• 30 Time national champs can do a Polar Express themed performance
• Half time caroling

Think this could be a huge draw for families with kids. We can sell SFA ornaments, Purple Santa hats, etc. A way to get lots of families out, but not make them sit still for 4 hours.

3. Rock The Johnson(unofficial working title):

• This is the new Cram the Coliseum
• Focus on getting it loud & rowdy
• First Tailgate of the Spring(host in mid to late Jan)
• This game needs to be must attend for all frats/sororities, even if we have to send AD to invite them personally
• Great chance to reiterate traditions/cheers

The idea for this game would be more focused on creating a rowdy environment than simply packing the coliseum to the roof. Also would be a great chance to sell heavily discounted Spring mini plans for basketball.

4. Mardi Gras Game

• Lots & lots of beads
• Invite Frats/Sororities/student organizations as Krewes
• Mardi Gras Royall Court chosen from organizations
• Concessions: King Cake, Beignetts, Moon pies, etc
• Post game Jazz band concert
• Family Friendly

This is the idea I came up with tonight while at the Palestine Mardi Gras Parade. Doesn't have to be the official weekend of Mardi Gras, but close. Basically, the Sororities/Frats would team up to enter their "couple" for the Royal Court, chosen by cheers of the fans during a TV timeout. You could have a packed house with student orgs & create a raucous atmosphere for this one. Could be a cool SFA tradition too that not many other places have.

5. Senior Sendoff/Sam Game:

• Close out home games for the year
• Pack the house for our Seniors(they deserve it)
• Maybe make it a throwback night

Don't have a ton of ideas for this one, just know that every year we have great lifetime Lumberjacks that deserve the proper sendoff. This doesn't have to be a theme game as such, but we do need something to make sure the house is packed.




Thoughts?

I think if we have these 5 main event games, we could average over 5k a game for each, which would be huge. These are the promote them far & wide type events that should get covered on the regional news organizations & pushed out by everyone.

In addition, I'd like to see more nights that have little gimmicks to draw folks in but don't really cost anything, like tacky prom, Dress Like A Lumberjack Night, Dollar Beer night, whatever can get folks in the door.

TallTexan said:

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So this is born out of the Palestine Mardi Gras Parade tonight & a current twitter discussion, but I have some ideas for more "events" to pack the coliseum.

We need events for basketball to pack the stadium, teach people how to cheer, & generally make SFA basketball games a great environment. I think we need one a month or so to bring out new & old fans & keep attendance up. So here are 5 events, along with the reasoning behind each theme.

1. First game of the season.

• Season Kickoff, double header weekday game
• Make it required attendance for SFA 101 Classes
• Have a decently large prize for largest organization there
• Have Cheer Practice with an Emcee during timeouts

Good chance to set the tone for the season, teach people some "fan etiquette" to create a rowdy environment, etc.

2. Polar Express Game

• Have Santa attend(bonus, buy a purple & white Santa suit)
• Rent one of those mall kid's trains to run around the concourse
• Hot Chocolate in the concessions
• Polar Express Theme, deck WRJ in lights, kick of Christmas Season
• 30 Time national champs can do a Polar Express themed performance
• Half time caroling

Think this could be a huge draw for families with kids. We can sell SFA ornaments, Purple Santa hats, etc. A way to get lots of families out, but not make them sit still for 4 hours.

3. Rock The Johnson(unofficial working title):

• This is the new Cram the Coliseum
• Focus on getting it loud & rowdy
• First Tailgate of the Spring(host in mid to late Jan)
• This game needs to be must attend for all frats/sororities, even if we have to send AD to invite them personally
• Great chance to reiterate traditions/cheers

The idea for this game would be more focused on creating a rowdy environment than simply packing the coliseum to the roof. Also would be a great chance to sell heavily discounted Spring mini plans for basketball.

4. Mardi Gras Game

• Lots & lots of beads
• Invite Frats/Sororities/student organizations as Krewes
• Mardi Gras Royall Court chosen from organizations
• Concessions: King Cake, Beignetts, Moon pies, etc
• Post game Jazz band concert
• Family Friendly

This is the idea I came up with tonight while at the Palestine Mardi Gras Parade. Doesn't have to be the official weekend of Mardi Gras, but close. Basically, the Sororities/Frats would team up to enter their "couple" for the Royal Court, chosen by cheers of the fans during a TV timeout. You could have a packed house with student orgs & create a raucous atmosphere for this one. Could be a cool SFA tradition too that not many other places have.

5. Senior Sendoff/Sam Game:

• Close out home games for the year
• Pack the house for our Seniors(they deserve it)
• Maybe make it a throwback night

Don't have a ton of ideas for this one, just know that every year we have great lifetime Lumberjacks that deserve the proper sendoff. This doesn't have to be a theme game as such, but we do need something to make sure the house is packed.




Thoughts?

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I LOVE LOVE LOVE these ideas. Wish I had thought of them. :-)

TallTexan said:

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So this is born out of the Palestine Mardi Gras Parade tonight & a current twitter discussion, but I have some ideas for more "events" to pack the coliseum.

We need events for basketball to pack the stadium, teach people how to cheer, & generally make SFA basketball games a great environment. I think we need one a month or so to bring out new & old fans & keep attendance up. So here are 5 events, along with the reasoning behind each theme.

1. First game of the season.

• Season Kickoff, double header weekday game
• Make it required attendance for SFA 101 Classes
• Have a decently large prize for largest organization there
• Have Cheer Practice with an Emcee during timeouts

Good chance to set the tone for the season, teach people some "fan etiquette" to create a rowdy environment, etc.

2. Polar Express Game

• Have Santa attend(bonus, buy a purple & white Santa suit)
• Rent one of those mall kid's trains to run around the concourse
• Hot Chocolate in the concessions
• Polar Express Theme, deck WRJ in lights, kick of Christmas Season
• 30 Time national champs can do a Polar Express themed performance
• Half time caroling

Think this could be a huge draw for families with kids. We can sell SFA ornaments, Purple Santa hats, etc. A way to get lots of families out, but not make them sit still for 4 hours.

3. Rock The Johnson(unofficial working title):

• This is the new Cram the Coliseum
• Focus on getting it loud & rowdy
• First Tailgate of the Spring(host in mid to late Jan)
• This game needs to be must attend for all frats/sororities, even if we have to send AD to invite them personally
• Great chance to reiterate traditions/cheers

The idea for this game would be more focused on creating a rowdy environment than simply packing the coliseum to the roof. Also would be a great chance to sell heavily discounted Spring mini plans for basketball.

4. Mardi Gras Game

• Lots & lots of beads
• Invite Frats/Sororities/student organizations as Krewes
• Mardi Gras Royall Court chosen from organizations
• Concessions: King Cake, Beignetts, Moon pies, etc
• Post game Jazz band concert
• Family Friendly

This is the idea I came up with tonight while at the Palestine Mardi Gras Parade. Doesn't have to be the official weekend of Mardi Gras, but close. Basically, the Sororities/Frats would team up to enter their "couple" for the Royal Court, chosen by cheers of the fans during a TV timeout. You could have a packed house with student orgs & create a raucous atmosphere for this one. Could be a cool SFA tradition too that not many other places have.

5. Senior Sendoff/Sam Game:

• Close out home games for the year
• Pack the house for our Seniors(they deserve it)
• Maybe make it a throwback night

Don't have a ton of ideas for this one, just know that every year we have great lifetime Lumberjacks that deserve the proper sendoff. This doesn't have to be a theme game as such, but we do need something to make sure the house is packed.




Thoughts?

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I've gotten Stone Cold to like or retweet a couple of Sawmill tweets. I'll see if I can pull some strings for us to have a "Stone Cold Stunner" game with him in attendance

Lamar did a mardis gras theme game when we played them last year. Both sides enjoyed it. Parade, beads everywhere. When we play them @Lamar, they have past players that they honor there so that increases their attendance. Well thought out for them.

Get the softball team to sit right behind Purple Haze. Those girls know how to be loud, and keep it going for two hours or more.

Texan you need to show this to Ryan.. I think it is great..

The ideas are totally legit and shouldn't be expensive to execute. Promotion of each event shouldn't be more than $10k/themed event. Like someone else said, Ivey should see this. Maybe a job offer .....

PurpleOut said:

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He's seen some of the ideas on Twitter. There may be something everyone here could help me work on in the coming weeks.

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Yes he has.

They do their planning for basketball in June, so I'm gonna put this into a presentation & send it over before then.

If we know what nights are themed, we can all help raise money or find sponsors as needed to pull them off.

PurpleOut said:

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We've got students on Twitter now complaining that they shouldn't keep dorms open an extra day for the Sam games because CA's (I always thought they were called RAs) would have to stay a day late. It's alllll about them.

It's also their job.

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I think the dorms were extended recently (like the past few years) for a sporting event but can't quite remember.

I'm back, finally..
I'm curious why it requires so much work and effort to establish passion from the student body. If only 1500 students attended every home game, that's all that we need to create something special. I've not lost hope and I know this is a discussion we've all had for several years.

I think Adkins makes a great point in that a forum or summit would help. The problem is consistent interest from the greek system is tough to convince for whatever reason. I was a frat boy and there were only 10-15 of us who truly cared about SFA athletics.

We need solutions and how to reach these folks and general students and convince them otherwise. I'm convinced the spirit groups like the cheerleaders and pom squads must be more creative and invested into creating an environment, a special game day environment. One we all know this program deserves. Look at the school with unique environments and energy like Grand Canyon. The spirit squads lead the charge and are instructed on what's happening and about to happen on a script.

Clynch18 said:

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I'm back, finally..
I'm curious why it requires so much work and effort to establish passion from the student body. If only 1500 students attended every home game, that's all that we need to create something special. I've not lost hope and I know this is a discussion we've all had for several years.

I think Adkins makes a great point in that a forum or summit would help. The problem is consistent interest from the greek system is tough to convince for whatever reason. I was a frat boy and there were only 10-15 of us who truly cared about SFA athletics.

We need solutions and how to reach these folks and general students and convince them otherwise. I'm convinced the spirit groups like the cheerleaders and pom squads must be more creative and invested into creating an environment, a special game day environment. One we all know this program deserves. Look at the school with unique environments and energy like Grand Canyon. The spirit squads lead the charge and are instructed on what's happening and about to happen on a script.

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As someone who wasn't in frats/sororities, what's the deal with those folks? It seems like they'd be a natural group to target for coming to sporting events.

Heck, a random distribution of sports fans across the university ought to give you a decent number of students who care about SFA athletics, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I know greek groups can require their members to go to events. Wonder if we do the right kind of promotions if we could get the greek system to agree to come out in force for a game or two.

The athletics department is holding their end of the deal up on hiring good coaches, recruiting, and putting exciting teams out there. Now we need students & the community to do the same if we're going to have the best mid major program.

Here's my general thought on it. You need reasons to get people who wouldn't otherwise go to games out to attend a sporting event or game per year, because that's your best chance at showing them how much fun it is. It's the first step to getting someone to be a repeat fan.

Take Mardi Gras night for example. That's the perfect event to get the student orgs out if you have a reason "A Mardi Gras Royal Court/Bring your Krewe" type event.

Then, how many of those one time fans can you induce to come back. Say you get an extra 500 students out for that game. Can you convince 50 to come back regularly? Do that for 5 games per season & that's an extra 250 students, plus probably 250 community members.

Can we run social media campaigns with Purple Haze, SAA, Visit Nac, etc to boost awareness of the games? Can that drive an extra 50 fans? What about having spirit teams/ Ryan & Walley posted up in cafeterias before bigger games? An extra 50 students if you ask them directly to come?

Can the dessert department at the cafeterias bake Iced sugar cookies with the game time on them? Will that build awareness?

I think to build a good environment, you've gotta look under every rock, turn over every stone & get that extra 10 fans from every group to add up to the numbers we'd like to see.

We averaged 3500 fans per year last year. That was on par the Conference USA average. We need to plan to get incremental improvement every single game, to attract fans & show them why they need to come back. It's gonna take a 1000 small steps to build the fan base we want.

When I was a student I had a lot of friends in different fraternities and other organizations. The consensus was a combination of them thinking our teams suck even though they have no idea what the record is or how we've been playing and them not caring about who we play. They don't care about SLC opponents(except for Sam Houston) or the D2 and D3 schools we are forced to host.
Most of them seem to want us to host a team like Duke and UNC at home consistently in basketball and Alabama and UT in football. It's the idea that if you can't beat the absolute best in the sport that you are trash, and unfortunately that's an idea a lot of our fans share.

Is it reasonable? Absolutely not. But it's how they think.