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Post by Pantherholic on Mar 14, 2024 18:12:28 GMT -6
This is what happens when there's something to actually be excited about. Even local media coverage has increased BUT the team has to be relevant. There can't be another 6-year stretch of Lavall Jordan & PBS.
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Post by PantherU on Mar 14, 2024 20:12:36 GMT -6
This is what happens when there's something to actually be excited about. Even local media coverage has increased BUT the team has to be relevant. There can't be another 6-year stretch of Lavall Jordan & PBS. The style of play is incredibly fun to watch and the winning is central to everything. People don't know what they're missing.
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Post by digmke on Mar 14, 2024 20:27:53 GMT -6
We must work as a fanbase to grow our season ticket base. The price is fair. The team needs more support. I am all about trying to grow this program and its support (as I have for 25 years), but at the end of the day, athletics and the university in general (Mone, Braun, athletics staff) need to have the same desire and passion to grow and progress as an athletic department as much as the fans want to see athletics progress. It seems like at times that athletics does the bare minimum. Ticket sales, marketing and fundraising are all just a few of the many areas that need to improve. But year after year, those are some of the areas that haven't progressed. Combine these two. There's only so much we can do when we have full-time jobs. A lot of the diehards have families and kids and it's very difficult to find the balance. It's hard to add the work required on top of working 40-50 hours a week in a mentally stressful, demanding job. I know I have never been a "car guy" but my entire professional career has been built around cars, and I'd probably be a lot better at my job if I were that "car guy." I know how rough it is to commit to life and family and being a fan, adding in the work of getting people to join is severely limited for any of us - and there aren't many of us who are committed like the denizens of this forum. We need someone who lives, eats, breathes Panther Athletics inside the department. Does not have to be AD. Does not have to remove anyone from their job. But we need someone who will do the needed work 24/7/365 to once and for all KILL THE APATHY in this university towards its athletics program. Someone who can go to old fans and donors and bring them back into the fold. Someone who can get people not just through the door but excited to be at the games. Someone who can fire up students the moment they step on campus in the fall and never stop. Someone who has wild ideas and the drive to make them into reality. Someone who can walk into Chapman Hall and sell Mark Mone on the idea that this program is the best tool he's got to solve many of the problems the university has - lower application numbers, enrollment, student engagement, student retention, alumni and community involvement. Then, after that, can walk into anyone's office, anyone's classroom, anyone's kitchen and sell them on joining the cause. Make the position something of a hybrid between development and ticket sales. Joe has his work cut out for him running the ticket office, maybe the other person in there needs to be someone who is just doing the work of talking to fans and building the fan base. Amanda has so much on her plate, she can't be the "u-rah-rah" force and also run the entire program. Chris Roche's job is tough as it is, he can't be spread too thin and he's definitely not the type to be shouting in the cafeteria like Bruce Pearl. Coach Lundy is a great guy and he's a fantastic coach but he's not Pearl either, he's definitely more the 1-on-1 cool that Jeter was in person. And better yet if this work isn't done by the coach or his staff - yes they need to be involved in the work but they have primary roles that exist away from the job description of " Destroyer of Apathy." You want a guy like Pearl whose ONLY job is to put butts in seats and build up donations but really build up the university as a whole and bring everyone together. The university doesn't have a lot of money but they cannot afford NOT fill this theoretical position. The more time goes by and we're not capitalizing on the success of the team and the opening of the OHOW Center, the harder it's going to be to be ready when massive mountains of change come to college athletics. This job needs to be filled 10 years ago. Recognizing and rectifying that is the best way for us to move forward. Maybe the solution is to pay a lower base salary and have that person make a percentage of the ticket sales and donations they bring in, further incentivizing their need to succeed in the job. Of course, that person shouldn't be someone who needs incentivizing. It should be someone who already bleeds black and gold. THAT is what's required of this monumental task. I swear to god that person exists. There are a number of people I believe could do that job - several of them are on this message board. I believe everyone was born to do something, and there's someone who is meant to drive us upward by sheer force of will.
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Post by FTA1982 on Mar 14, 2024 20:30:29 GMT -6
These are my thoughts.
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Post by digmke on Mar 14, 2024 20:31:56 GMT -6
Absolutely concur with this post! Add to what I have mentioned in other posts on this Board.....Have Athletics report directly into the Chancellors office and not Student Affairs! This isn't Steve Antrim/DIII days.
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Post by milwsport on Mar 14, 2024 21:46:02 GMT -6
I agree. The AD should have a position dedicated to boosting attendance, and not just for Men's BB (although that should be the primary emphasis). Getting people to any UWM game gets them invested in the program as a whole. That means looking at Women's BB and at our Soccer and Baseball teams as well.
I noticed that attendance grew as the season went on and people began to realize this team was special. I drive for Uber and I can't tell you how many times I mentioned "my Panthers" to riders who commented that they heard UWM was good this year.
Word is getting out. Now it's up to the University and to all of us to keep spreading that word so it translates into ticket sales.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Mar 15, 2024 5:25:15 GMT -6
I really enjoy the baseball games as long as we're competitive and it's 65 or warmer.
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Post by nickpanther on Mar 15, 2024 6:48:47 GMT -6
"Hire a proven head coach from a lower level." Short name. Starts with a B. Bo. Bruce. Bart ... If/when Lundy leaves, that's a good place to start! The first two are Hall of Famers who made a impact here but built their legends elsewhere, Bo with Bucky, Bruce with Auburn and Tennessee
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Post by ghostofdylan on Mar 15, 2024 8:44:40 GMT -6
"Hire a proven head coach from a lower level." Short name. Starts with a B. Bo. Bruce. Bart ... If/when Lundy leaves, that's a good place to start! The first two are Hall of Famers who made a impact here but built their legends elsewhere, Bo with Bucky, Bruce with Auburn and Tennessee I'll take any coach with their profile for three to five years, build the program around him and hand it over to the next guy. Of course, you must have the person/ people in place to make the right hire after he leaves.
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Post by tyrunner0097 on Mar 15, 2024 10:01:00 GMT -6
I agree. The AD should have a position dedicated to boosting attendance, and not just for Men's BB (although that should be the primary emphasis). Getting people to any UWM game gets them invested in the program as a whole. That means looking at Women's BB and at our Soccer and Baseball teams as well. I noticed that attendance grew as the season went on and people began to realize this team was special. I drive for Uber and I can't tell you how many times I mentioned "my Panthers" to riders who commented that they heard UWM was good this year. Word is getting out. Now it's up to the University and to all of us to keep spreading that word so it translates into ticket sales. We have very good and marketable soccer programs, plus the only D1 baseball program in WI. I don't see how we can't really market at least our basketball, soccer, and baseball programs.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Mar 15, 2024 10:50:00 GMT -6
I agree. The AD should have a position dedicated to boosting attendance, and not just for Men's BB (although that should be the primary emphasis). Getting people to any UWM game gets them invested in the program as a whole. That means looking at Women's BB and at our Soccer and Baseball teams as well. I noticed that attendance grew as the season went on and people began to realize this team was special. I drive for Uber and I can't tell you how many times I mentioned "my Panthers" to riders who commented that they heard UWM was good this year. Word is getting out. Now it's up to the University and to all of us to keep spreading that word so it translates into ticket sales. We have very good and marketable soccer programs, plus the only D1 baseball program in WI. I don't see how we can't really market at least our basketball, soccer, and baseball programs. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone that we're 1-14 with an RPI of 253! Yeesh!!!
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Post by TBone on Mar 15, 2024 12:31:36 GMT -6
Speaking of ideas... I seem to recall reading that some free tickets were offered or given away to faculty and perhaps others for the Green Bay game, (one of our best attended games in recent memory) is that correct? Is there any way to determine how many of those tickets were redeemed and attended the game? If not, is there a way to track that kind of thing if future giveaways might occur? Second, we're in no immediate danger of selling out the building, or even the lower section. Would it be possible to give away tickets to faculty for some of the games moving forward, or perhaps limit to different departments on different nights? If we tracked the giveaways above and know that a decent percentage took advantage of the freebies were used, this might play into better attended games, but more importantly an overall better atmosphere. You could limit these "freebie games" to rivalry games or games against conference leaders. Those of us who've been around for a while know what good crowds in good games at the arena can generate as far as atmosphere. The more good atmospheres that can be provided, the more likely those seldom or first-time attenders and students will be to come back. And the fact that many of the newer fans of the program have never experienced these kind of atmospheres leads me to believe we're in dire need of showing what's possible. So Jimmy, I think this should go on your list of potential ideas when you take the job.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Mar 15, 2024 13:19:31 GMT -6
Sure there is a way to track the tickets that were purchased by a donor, that were free for faculty and/or staff for the Green Bay game.
Giving out free tickets to faculty is a poor business model. There is a 15% discount for season tickets for faculty and staff. Should there be a bonus discount night for UWM faculty and staff, sounds good.
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Post by Cactus Panther on Mar 15, 2024 13:29:22 GMT -6
This thread has gone way off topic. I admit I got hooked into it myself. Maybe we are at the point of no return, but I respectfully ask to comment in an existing thread that is more on-point or start a new one. It makes it much easier to revert back to a topic when we want to pick up where it was left off later. Thanks.
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Post by PantherU on Mar 18, 2024 0:27:20 GMT -6
This thread has gone way off topic. I admit I got hooked into it myself. Maybe we are at the point of no return, but I respectfully ask to comment in an existing thread that is more on-point or start a new one. It makes it much easier to revert back to a topic when we want to pick up where it was left off later. Thanks. Man there's one idea in this thread that makes you really uncomfortable for some reason, I wonder what it is. Relax, it's warm in Arizona! Anyway, I agree on the thread. Back on topic: Any extension for Coach Lundy should come with a clause that requires, should he take another job at an NCAA Division I school, for either a larger buyout fee or a 2-for-2 basketball series, with a smaller buyout with games played in the 2-for-2. Don't want to play us at all? That will be $1 million. Want to play one game? That'll be $750k and that game will be here. Two games? $500k and home-and-home. Three games? 2-for-1 with two games in Milwaukee and a $250k check. All four games? Two-for-two and the original buyout number, whether it comes from Lundy or the hiring school is not our concern. Negotiate the number of the buyout, certainly, but getting two home games with a high-major is something we can work into the coach's contract. These schools have oodles of money, they'll either pay up and we'll be more flush with funds, or they'll play us and we'll get a couple great games at the gate. VCU did this with several coaching contracts. Oklahoma chose the buyout when they hired Jason Capel. Alabama played the home-and-home when they hired Anthony Grant. So did Texas when they hired Shaka Smart. LSU chose to play one game at VCU when they hired Will Wade. I don't know if Penn State took the deal when they hired Mike Rhoades, but I wouldn't be surprised if they elected not to since VCU pantsed them last fall. Is it the most important thing you can do to build a program? No. Does it help? Sure does. Say we had those coaches. What would home games against Texas, LSU or Alabama do for the Milwaukee Panthers? It doesn't hurt that generally coaches moving up are taking over teams that fired previous coaches and the coach was hired for doing well, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that we could find ourselves in a winnable home game if Bart Lundy "moves up" in the future to a school like Kansas State or NC State and visits the Panther Arena as a foe the following year. Anyway, that's just my take. Also I definitely would prefer to work a job I'm passionate about than tell people how much it's going to cost the insurance company to fix their car, and if you don't think I could act with "complete class" it's probably because you moved away when I was barely an adult. Also I absolutely surround myself with people who disagree with me, Cactus, I talk to you! I did not think about that as a spot for me but now I just wish they had the budget and daring to take a chance.
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