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Post by coastking10 on Jan 19, 2013 17:13:08 GMT -6
Has student attendance improved at all this year with the move back to campus? Is the student section loud and active?
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Jan 20, 2013 8:27:25 GMT -6
There had to be a total of 10 students for the CSU & YSU this past weekend.
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Post by PantherU on Jan 20, 2013 10:32:09 GMT -6
There had to be a total of 10 students for the CSU & YSU this past weekend. Remember they're on break. Before the break they had a significant amount more than they did downtown in the same kinds of games, so I'd say it's one of the few pluses of the KC. But my mind was changed in mid-November, we need to be back at the Cell and we need to own it.
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Jan 20, 2013 12:01:37 GMT -6
I've also noticed that the Panthers seem to cater to the students instead of paying customers more than ever now. Free t-shirts and free pizza to go along with the free front row seat (essentially) for many of these games... in my opinion, if at least one side of the student section isn't full each game that classes are in session, the one potential positive of moving back to campus failed miserably.
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Post by tyrunner0097 on Jan 20, 2013 12:11:35 GMT -6
Also doesn't help that this team, after the Davidson game, didn't really have a good team worth watching. No student is going to spend their evening watching a team play pitful and be big underachievers...
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Jan 20, 2013 15:46:00 GMT -6
Yes, I know the students are on break. Many come from the Milwaukee area. There still needs to be 5 students at these games.
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Post by GoPanthersGo23 on Jan 20, 2013 21:32:35 GMT -6
Again, we can't force students to come to games...but we will be trying our best for the GB game on Friday that is on ESPNU. Also, doesn't help that half the time Athletics doesn't even promote the game or has the wrong time for the game on flyers that are put on Facebook and Twitter (See: Valpo game having 7pm time on flyer when game was actually at 1pm.)
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Lutzow10
Freshman
MILWAUKEE PROUD - PANTHER STRONG
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Post by Lutzow10 on Jan 21, 2013 17:09:07 GMT -6
My pet peeve is when they leave their easels out in Sandburg lobby a week after the game was. People get used to seeing it and think nothing of the easel when they actually update it.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Jan 21, 2013 18:50:54 GMT -6
For the GB game, Voucher distribution begins Tuesday at 9 a.m., with pickup locations at the Sandburg, Riverview and Cambridge Residence Halls, the Student Success Center and the Panther Ticket Office in the Pavilion.
UWM students must have valid student ID to pick up a voucher and then must bring their ID and voucher to the game to receive a free game ticket.
If all vouchers are not distributed in advance, the remaining vouchers will be available at the doors to the Klotsche Center on game night.
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Post by Spirit of Bruce on Jan 27, 2013 20:18:58 GMT -6
I've also noticed that the Panthers seem to cater to the students instead of paying customers more than ever now. Free t-shirts and free pizza to go along with the free front row seat (essentially) for many of these games... in my opinion, if at least one side of the student section isn't full each game that classes are in session, the one potential positive of moving back to campus failed miserably. Free front-row seat? Really? The segregated fees I pay each semester would beg to differ...
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Jan 27, 2013 21:32:35 GMT -6
Valid point... I guess my point is that it doesn't cost any extra to go to the game as opposed to skipping the game. You're paying the segregated fees either way, so the marginal cost of going to the game (and sitting in the front few rows) is $0.
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Post by PantherU on Feb 23, 2013 12:59:14 GMT -6
Valid point... I guess my point is that it doesn't cost any extra to go to the game as opposed to skipping the game. You're paying the segregated fees either way, so the marginal cost of going to the game (and sitting in the front few rows) is $0. This is something I never understood. Student segregated fees largely pay for this athletics program, yet because the money is automatically paid with full-time tuition as opposed to being voluntary, they are somehow less worthy of the program's attention than the season-ticket holders who consciously decided to buy season tickets. I finished at UWM in 2010, and I can tell you that I paid significantly more for tuition than I did in fall of 2005. My brother-in-law is a junior now, and he's paying much more than I did. All in all, if you're a student at UWM taking at least 8 credits, you're paying $547.80 this semester in segregated fees. $106.55 of that goes to athletics. The fewer the credits, the lower the seg fees. A student taking one credit pays only $329 in seg fees this semester. How much of that is athletics? $106.55. No matter how many credits you're taking, you're paying $106.55 to athletics. I think that more than covers a front row baseline bleacher seat. They're first-come, first served. So they're not guaranteed that spot (well, you know what I mean). So let's not act as if the students aren't shouldering their part of the load.
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Feb 23, 2013 14:12:31 GMT -6
Without a doubt the students are paying more than their fair share for the athletic department. Still, however, it doesn't look like the promotions that were supposed to bring them in worked much this year. I have no problem with the free tickets and everything, but it's still the entire student body, both those who like sports and those who don't, who involuntarily pay the extra segregated fees and only those who enjoy sports really get any benefit from it. By using our promotion dollars to get more paying customers in to try to at least slow the growth of the debt in our athletic department so we can work to lower the fees would seem like a good idea.
Free t-shirts didn't bring students in; maybe change those promotions to things that would bring in more outside customers with kids. I know it's been frowned upon in the past when UIC had crowds with a huge percentage of kids in the stands, but if they show up more often for a t-shirt or a foam claw or whatever than students would, why not change student give-aways to child give-aways? Every dollar spent to bring in outside customers should, in theory, lower segregated fees for all students (I'm sure it's not as simple as that, but I would imagine having a higher outside-crowd in the arena would help to lower segregated fees).
Obviously, the only thing that will make both students and paying customers to come to games consistently is winning. At this point, winning looks like more of a goal that's a few years down the road, so we need to get fans into the arena any way we can. Marketing mostly to students didn't work well at all so marketing more to others is likely needed.
Those segregated fees will keep on going up; we are going to have to get outside customers into the arena (or the soccer field or wherever else) to make it so the entire student body doesn't have to pay more than they really have to for the athletic department.
Don't get me wrong though, I know students pay more than their fair share for the athletic department while only a few really reap any benefits whatsoever from it.
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Lutzow10
Freshman
MILWAUKEE PROUD - PANTHER STRONG
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Post by Lutzow10 on Feb 23, 2013 18:38:36 GMT -6
Without a doubt the students are paying more than their fair share for the athletic department. Still, however, it doesn't look like the promotions that were supposed to bring them in worked much this year. I have no problem with the free tickets and everything, but it's still the entire student body, both those who like sports and those who don't, who involuntarily pay the extra segregated fees and only those who enjoy sports really get any benefit from it. By using our promotion dollars to get more paying customers in to try to at least slow the growth of the debt in our athletic department so we can work to lower the fees would seem like a good idea. Free t-shirts didn't bring students in; maybe change those promotions to things that would bring in more outside customers with kids. I know it's been frowned upon in the past when UIC had crowds with a huge percentage of kids in the stands, but if they show up more often for a t-shirt or a foam claw or whatever than students would, why not change student give-aways to child give-aways? Every dollar spent to bring in outside customers should, in theory, lower segregated fees for all students (I'm sure it's not as simple as that, but I would imagine having a higher outside-crowd in the arena would help to lower segregated fees). Obviously, the only thing that will make both students and paying customers to come to games consistently is winning. At this point, winning looks like more of a goal that's a few years down the road, so we need to get fans into the arena any way we can. Marketing mostly to students didn't work well at all so marketing more to others is likely needed. Those segregated fees will keep on going up; we are going to have to get outside customers into the arena (or the soccer field or wherever else) to make it so the entire student body doesn't have to pay more than they really have to for the athletic department. Don't get me wrong though, I know students pay more than their fair share for the athletic department while only a few really reap any benefits whatsoever from it. Here is the thing. I am a student currently. You are talking about marketing to get students to games. Thats the problem. There is no marketing to get them to games. Yeah they have these promotions. But you have a huge chunk of the student body that isn't even aware of these give aways and promotions. Even more of the time students are't made aware of the fact that there are games. When the two places students spend the most time in cant advertise these things becasue of red tape it doesnt matter if you were giving away beer to students. Haha. Well that actually makes a point. The only reason promotions are currently doing anything at all is because the very few things this school does to inform students about promos are informing a small amout of students. And those few students are spreading that via word of mouth. So the bigger the promo the more those few people talk about it. So beer would probably still do well. Haha. But you get my point. Word of mouth shouldnt be your primary source of advertisement. I guarantee that if the red tape was gone and they actually took advantage of it, student attendance would be far less of an issue. But thats leads to another problem. The longer i am here,. The more i realize that the promoting is lazy. They dont take advantage of obvious forms of promoting games. Flyers in mailboxes are an example. I get junk from everyone but the athletic department. Emails. There should be a simple visual email the day before every single game. Take advantage of the fact that email is correspondence is free. One thing that i think should be invested in is LED signs around campus (union, library, sandburg) that show ads of campus events. It would be a little costly but it would eventually make up for it. Leas printed signs and flyers are needed and the flashy signs can show multiple ads as well and are much more eye catching. I mean when all of a sudden a picture of one of the basketball players flashes on the screen with the date of the next game it gets peoples attention. Take advantage of places people are standing and waiting at. Aka bus and shuttle stops. When you are waiting for the bus you are bored. You notice things much more than when you are walking to class or through bolton hall. You are in the same place for up to 15 minutes you are going to notice how many cracks are in the sidewalk. Take advantage of that. There are so many things. I just hope that our new AD realizes this stuff.
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Feb 23, 2013 18:59:59 GMT -6
Fair enough, I'm no longer a student at UWM, so I don't really get UWM emails, I don't really walk around the campus much anymore, I don't walk down the hallways on campus anymore, etc. so I don't really see how it's marketed to students. I knew our athletic department has become a bit of a joke in recent years, but I didn't realize it was this lazy. We really do need new blood in that department who really wants to see our athletics department succeed. We have a very good business school at UWM; why can't the marketing and financial sense carry over to the athletic department?
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