For next year, how would you market Gopher Football?

[Bob_Loblaw]

This thread is depressing. It's a reminder of just how incompetant our Athletic Department and entire university have been at marketing the football program. Winning goes a long way, but the U has been completely lost when it comes to football.

 

[BleedGopher]

The problem is that Maturi tried to get the benefits of the new stadium on the cheap. When the Twins opened Target Field and sold out nearly all of the first season they still blasted the airwaves with commercials about how beautiful it was to have outdoor baseball and offer fans the chance to put a deposit down to get season tickets and be in on the fun in future years. The University didn't spend a dime on advertising the new stadium because they felt that with a sold out first season, they maximized their revenue so why bother. Well in year 2 and 3 when they started having some single game tickets they thought "Well, we only have 1,000 seats so it's not worth it to advertise, so let's just email the existing customers" and the result is empty seats.

So...
1. Advertise - The Vikings have had commercials on for the past 3-4 months despite only having a few thousand tickets available each game. I must admit that their commercials have been well done (IMHO). They show images of past Vikings greats and how much this state lives/dies with the team. They also acknowledge the heart breaking defeats. The Gophers can do the same. Show some images of Memorial Stadium, some iconic glory figures, acknowledge what everyone knows in that the teams have broken hearts, and then showcase the stadium and how we want people to be part of a new beginning in TCF Bank Stadium. It can work.

2. Guarantee your price - It's probably a safe bet that the athletic department won't increase their price based on the difficulty of filling the stadium, so why not offer existing and new customers a chance to lock in their price/donations for the next 3 years if they purchase by a certain time? Everyone knows it's going to take a few years to build this thing back up so acknowledge it and market it to your advantage.

3. Get the alcohol issue resolved. I don't care what you do just get it done. If it's really costing over a million in revenue a year then Kaler should be pounding on doors at the capital to drum up support. Do something and build the demand back up for the premium seats.

4. Continue working on the students. 5500 is just way too small. Continue to make it a party atmosphere for the students and work on getting the number up. For those that do come, have some sort of giveaway promotion where when students show up by kickoff they get 1/2 of the promotional item and as they leave after the game is done they get the other 1/2...give them incentive to stay for 4 quarters is the gist of it.

Great post with great ideas Darren. Very astute thought on the Twins advertising strategy vs. the Gophers in year one of each new stadium.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Killjoy]

Pure babble

Or: you let the stadium sink into the crapper of "no shows...", "...no season ticket buyers..." and "...No student sections..." by sitting put until b(s)jm feels his retirement package is maxed out...

No maximus: this prexy k has GOT to bring in a football man to bring in some HOPE for the future of this program who also has the ability to fill the stadium and BUILD the Gopher Football Culture that Coach Kill wants to instill in you, me and hundreds of thousands of citizens across the state of Minnesota.

Mark Dienhard was doing a hell of a good job here until the haskin's scandal (of which he had NO part) scuttled everything.

wisky had a new chancellor in Donna S. She hired a human resources type exec from Oscar Mayer who also happened to have been an All-American Football Player at wisky and she gave him a green light to "go..."

This all rests on prexy k's shoulders right now. He's the new kid in town and he has GOT to own this problem and he has GOT to FIX this problem. It IS a real problem and prexy k can not run away from it. He HAS to "shalayla" the heck out of this problem. He has to "Richter"
his way out from under this problem by bringing in a FOOTBALL MAN to fix this "macturian-sized disaster he has looming ahead of him for the 2012 Football Season.

; 0 )

I just can't read wren's babble anymore. It gives me an Excedrin headache. It is unbelievable that somebody who writes babble would have the nerve to complain about letting in “unqualified” athletes into the University of Minnesota.

We used to have people who would translate into English what wren was saying here but I think they all quit or left.

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

I disagree with the bold part.

I don't. The U needs to market to people who are on the fence about Gopher football, the diehards will come anyway. Targeting the biggest and closest population base is the most efficient use of the U's money in marketing, people from outstate are less likely to make the drive down to check out the game then someone from Eden Prairie (for example) because of the higher cost (in dollars and in time). The U needs to target the people who are most likely to use the product and that is largely the metro population. People from the metro are also more likely to be repeat customers than someone from outstate because of the same reasons.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

Anyone think there's at least 10 of us on this board that could kick some serious @$$ at the UMN athletic department when it comes to marketing? As fans we recognize what makes an event fun, what also appeals to other demographics (the young kids if you're old, the old people if you're young like me), and what's reasonable from a cost/time perspective? Too bad they'll hire some Iowa grad who's looking for a cushy job for the football marketing/gameday ops job they have posted.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

I don't. The U needs to market to people who are on the fence about Gopher football, the diehards will come anyway. Targeting the biggest and closest population base is the most efficient use of the U's money in marketing, people from outstate are less likely to make the drive down to check out the game then someone from Eden Prairie (for example) because of the higher cost (in dollars and in time). The U needs to target the people who are most likely to use the product and that is largely the metro population. People from the metro are also more likely to be repeat customers than someone from outstate because of the same reasons.

One way to efficiently market to outstate or the Dakotas where you know those people will be making return trips is to offer "parent" tickets for a game per year. Particularly one of the weaker drawing teams (Miami OH, etc). Make it a weekend where 2 parents per kid (freshman?) can come in to town and stay, visit their kid, see a game, have some food. Package with some local restaurants and/or hotels for priority lodging and cheap eats. Parents get to see their kid and a game, and its 2 per kid you get. Great way to build a fanbase with people who have an automatic connection to the university.

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

To get more students, do a football clinic for international students (like Rice did). The U has a lot of international students looking for american experiences, but their lack of football knowledge might intimidate them. It looks like both the student-athletes and the international students has a great time.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iSWj2rI_tbk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[NewBerlinBucky]

Legalizing drugs and alcohol for the games would provide a dual benefit: improved revenue for the University, and reduced anxiety from watching the games.