SECU/Basketball Game Day Improvements

[Tgr4life 170]

On 3/29/2018 at 12:52 PM, Tigerone94 said:

Chris beat me to it referencing Grand Canyon.  I remembered reading the attached article a year ago on what makes GCU so special and thought god I wish it was like that back in the 90s and still today at a Towson game.  It's worth the 5 minute read and viewing the videos.  I'll continue to dream that one day before I die that it comes true.  I agree that we should hire TuTigers2012.  Waddell might have run the department in the red, but he sure knew how to market and  he had the support staff to make it happen.  TL on the other hand seems to have trimmed his staff to bare bones while still giving the coaches the resources to coach/recruit and the players the support to be successful on and off the court.  His #1 deputy had no athletics experience prior to Towson.  He's a military vet thus the reason for all the cannons, US Army promotions, etc.  Not a single person on his executive staff has any significant background in marketing/promotions.  Appears to me that sponsorship dollars have dried up since TL came on board (notice blank ads in the stadium and blacked out ads on the back of the baseball scoreboard).  How in the world can we bring in ticket revenue when every game involves a community partner (teachers, first responders, military) and they're offered 4 free tickets a game.  GCU focused on getting students to the game first and then the community.  Makes sense...I'd be more interested (and my kid would be too) in watching Towson play in front of 2500 students instead of 200 students no matter if we were playing U Made a Bad Choice or an A-10 school.  Gotta think the community would feel the same way too.  My 2 cents.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/02/grand-canyon-university-antelopes-basketball-best-student-section-havocs-dan-majerle

This is the most insightful post of this thread. You mention running the department in the red by Waddell. That truly is a problem. The posters here can minimize that, but that is only because they are not the ones that have to pay the exorbitant and ever increasing athletic fee. There does need to be a balance betweeen the fees, expenditures and expected athletic results. Given that thought, Waddell still was the most significant person in Towson Athletics over the past 15 years in terms of getting students involved. Your notes regarding the drying up of sponsorship dollars is critical. Those dollars must reappear for Towson to have any hope of progressing. That is in the hands of the fundraising office. I do not know how much has been raised, but I do know that UNCW has raised as much as 4 million in a single year and we have not come close to that. If you have to give away 2500 tickets, I think that is better than selling 500 and having 2000 empty seats. It takes a new, out of the box mindset. The question is would President Schatzel be willing to take a major risk and allow the athletic department to go down an entirely new and untried path. We seem to be in a cookie cutter mindset. We wind up being just another mid major. We need to do something that makes us stand out. Big risk......Big Reward. 

[sr16 161]

need to copy vcu / mason from their caa days