You can't argue with the results that Fred Glass, Pat Kraft and company came up with last year in terms of Indiana football attendance. In one season, the average attendance grew from 31,000 fans in 2008 to 42,000 fans last year. That was the third highest percentage increase of any program in the country.
But if you expected Glass and his staff to rest on their laurels, you were mistaken. This season, Glass has several more new things planned to get people in the seats for the six IU football home games and he outlined those in a meet-and-greet with the IU media Tuesday morning prior to IU football media day.
Here's the highlights:
1. KID PRICES ARE NOW $5: It used to be $17 for kids aged 7-12 but that is now a $5 seat for all of them. With that price, kids will receive admission to the Knot Hole Club which will give them a membership card and a T-shirt. On the back of the membership card will be a list of the six home games. There will be a place where kids can get stickers showing they were at the games. If they get all six stickers they will get what Glass called "a fabulous grand prize" at the end of the season.
2. "NEW ALUMNI" TICKETS ARE $5: IU graduates from the last three years can purchase tickets for $5 as well as a way to keep that group of people coming to IU football games. Last year, total tickets in that grouping were 50 per game. Glass said that number is up 1,400 percent. Since I'm not a math major, I'll let you figure that one out. But people are just learning about it, too. That number could go up.
3. NEW SCOREBOARD WITH ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES: The new IU scoreboard is the second largest in the Big Ten and one of the top 10 largest in the country. It includes a new sound system, and what Glass called "a lot of whizz and bang stuff." One of the things fans will like is that instead of just scores from around the country, they will now be able to see updates, scores and highlights from other games.
4. STUDENT SECTION WILL NOW BE CALLED "THE QUARRY": Another tie-in to Coach Hep's 'The Rock', the Quarry will have some interesting features. For one there will be a run out of freshman students with one carrying a flag with "The Quarry" on it and running it up to a perch somewhere above the student section. Glass's favorite feature though is what he's calling a "quarry derrick or rig" which he said looks like a crane that would pull rocks out of a quarry. A replica of that will be in front of the student section and go about 20 feet high. At the top of it will be a horn that will be blown when IU makes a big play, scores a touchdown, has a big defensive stop, etc... The players will be encouraged to make the gesture to blow the horn as well and then a student in charge of that will have the decision to blow it or not. Glass said he plans to put a Fred Flintstone video on the scoreboard with Fred blowing a horn in the quarry as well.
5. THE WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE AT MEMORIAL STADIUM: Glass has said he wants to incorporate some of the Assembly Hall traditions to football. And so, at the end of the third quarter, they will play the William Tell Overture and the cheerleaders and a few fans will do the flag thing like they do at IU basketball games but Glass said the football version will be "bigger, louder, and wilder" because of the size of the venue.
6. GREENING THE CREAM & CRIMSON: With an eye toward being Green, IU will have volunteers patrolling the tailgate areas trying to get people to recycle. In addition, IU will serve only Indiana grown popcorn in the stadium. But here's Glass's favorite here: Anyone riding their bicycle to Memorial Stadium can ride to the front gate where they will get free valet service. Someone will give them a token and then park their bike close by so they have easy access to the game. Glass said the utensils handed out in the stadium will be corn-based instead of plastic so they will be bio-degradable.
There will also be drum lines in the parking lot before the games, the Bloomington Fireman Bagpipe and Drum Corps will perform and cheerleaders will be leading different activities.
And all of the things that went well last year will be brought back:
*** The $5 student tickets for IU kids and any college student with the exception of those from the team IU is playing that week.
*** Kicks for keeps where fans are asked to throw back the opposing teams' kicks.
*** Red Light specials
So Glass is definitely trying. At this point, he said overall ticket sales are up 18 percent over this time last year, and they have already surpassed last year's season ticket sales for the general public for the entire year. That number is only up 70 to a total of 17,348 but it's a start said Glass.
And here's how Glass responds to those who say you can only do so much with gimmicks:
"I'll acknowledge the fact that I get the being good is the best way to get people in the stands,'' Glass said. "I'm not a goof about that. I understand that winning is the best marketing strategy you can have. But I reject and have always rejected the approach that some people sometime take where they shrug their shoulders and say 'there's not much that we can do. We'll just wait until the team wins.' I think that's wrong-headed thinking. That's why last year and continuing this year we're trying to do everything we can to prime the pump if you will to get people excited. So as the team comes along, and I'm very confident that it will, we're going to be in great shape in terms of attendance.''
