|
Post by rmcalhoun on Jan 6, 2019 19:57:04 GMT -6
Here is one of whits Mains problems people do not care about him because he has made no effort to to try and connect with anyone. If he had any personal connection to the fan base or anyone else people might care more. He is just that guy who coaches Ball State nothing more to anyone. Personally doesn’t lend itself to that kind of activity in my opinion. He cares deeply for his players and appears that’s returned. Just doesn’t have that outgoing warmth. He does loves his players and I agree they seem to love him and thats great. The problem for him is no one else cares either way if he stays or goes. If he was loved or hated by the fans or even colleagues decisions about his future would be tougher
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Jan 6, 2019 20:23:57 GMT -6
Personally doesn’t lend itself to that kind of activity in my opinion. He cares deeply for his players and appears that’s returned. Just doesn’t have that outgoing warmth. He does loves his players and I agree they seem to love him and thats great. The problem for him is no one else cares either way if he stays or goes. If he was loved or hated by the fans or even colleagues decisions about his future would be tougher But the problem here may well be that no one else cares about basketball, period, not very much in the community. Not enough to buy tickets.
That's my question here.
Ray McCallum might draw people from Muncie, but that's it. Muncie, New Castle players might draw a few fans. That's true. Better hire Josh's dad.
But realistically in terms of winning it's whether players, future players, and parents of those potential recruits like Whitford. Some here consider that a proven matter...I don't.
So while it would be great if he was warm and fuzzy, it would help some, but it's more important Whit wins than that he wins the local fans. I don't think the market outside Muncie is going to be influenced very much by personality. Especially given the very sparse press coverage and PR we get anyway.
Remember that JAG's hire of Ronnie was in no minor part based on the great press the handsome young black guy could possibly get! It sure wasn't proven winning ability or coaching resume.
|
|
|
Post by williamtsherman on Jan 7, 2019 8:21:29 GMT -6
I don't believe that Whitford's personality or a lack of connection to the fans is a serious problem. His problem is a complete lack of real post-season excitement in six years. During March, there is a window where people who aren't hardcore fans take more interest in college basketball. You have to take advantage of that window to grow the fanbase. If Whitford would have provided some excitement during that period, it wouldn't matter if he had the personality of a mud puddle. If Whitford won an NCAA tourney game, people would say "Hey, have you checked out this Ball State coach? He has the personality of a mud puddle!" And they would find that somewhat interesting and talk about it.
Very different and extreme example, but Bill Belichick illustrates this. He is non-communicative with the media to the point of outright hostility. But he wins when people are paying attention, and so the Patriot fanbase has probably been grown to its realistic limit. And people sort of enjoy and talk about Belichick's (lack of) personality.
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Jan 7, 2019 9:30:02 GMT -6
We win in postseason, obviously it would boost program. Not sure how much we can boost attendance, but gain in revenue from TV is possible.
Main plus results are intangible gain to BSU image, a theoretical argument for having college revenue sports, modest financial gain, but biggest gain is probably that winners have much easier time recruiting and winning in the future.
I think the winning seasons we have had can be cashed in on. A tourney victory, much more.
By Whitford, and by a good coach who replaces him at some point. IF we'll pay for a good coach.
|
|
|
Post by sweep on Jan 7, 2019 9:36:34 GMT -6
We win in postseason, obviously it would boost program. Not sure how much we can boost attendance, but gain in revenue from TV is possible. Twenty-plus thousand alumni in Indianapolis would all be far more engaged if we went to the NCAA Tourney. The crowds can return, but you have to give them a reason to show-up. Whitford has one big win in six seasons. In fact the vast majority of times we play a Big Six team we get blown out. This program isn't where it needs to be to get the crowds back.
|
|
|
Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 7, 2019 10:17:16 GMT -6
We win in postseason, obviously it would boost program. Not sure how much we can boost attendance, but gain in revenue from TV is possible. Twenty-plus thousand alumni in Indianapolis would all be far more engaged if we went to the NCAA Tourney. The crowds will return, but you have to give them a reason to show-up. Whitford has one big win in six seasons. In fact the vast majority of times we play a Big Six team we get blown out. This program isn't where it needs to be to get the crowds back. I knew a girl who had grown up in Chicago, graduated from Ball State, and settled in Indy. When Butler was in the middle of their first tourney run I saw her wearing a Butler shirt and asked what that was about. She said she was just excited for a local team. It was the "in" thing at the time to root for Butler. I was rooting for them to shock the world too, but it never would have occurred to me to buy any Butler gear.
I saw a car dealership commercial over the weekend that boasted about supporting "your Indiana school." And it had IU, Purdue, ND, and Butler logos on the screen. Butler is so tiny it is actually very few people's school. But those two runs entrenched them very deeply.
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Jan 7, 2019 10:29:38 GMT -6
We win in postseason, obviously it would boost program. Not sure how much we can boost attendance, but gain in revenue from TV is possible. Twenty-plus thousand alumni in Indianapolis would all be far more engaged if we went to the NCAA Tourney. The crowds will return, but you have to give them a reason to show-up. Whitford has one big win in six seasons. In fact the vast majority of times we play a Big Six team we get blown out. This program isn't where it needs to be to get the crowds back. Winning helps, but I believe much less than you suggest.
Marketing surveys during our heyday revealed we had surprisingly little attendance from Indianapolis. That was despite it being a time our students were more interested in basketball and when they left campus were more likely to retain the interest. The 10-15 year drought we have had certainly has not improved that demographic, but college students don't get as engaged as we did in college, or retain interest as much.
We also had much more Muncie connections to the program.
Now.
With much more TV competition, and with BSU games on TV, I found it doubtful we'll get as much return as you suggest.
Plus with Butler, a bigger IUPUI program, IUFW becoming a real program, much of the market within 75 mile radius has greater competition both for our own lukewarm fans but competition for the casual college basketball fans. Coming to games is on the downswing for schools not in bigger population areas. IU or Purdue, or Butler could draw in Muncie, but big schools with fan base,they ain't coming here. IUFW, maybe. Who else?
The game day experience sells, sure. Winning makes that better. But weekday games with an hour drive are very hard for somebody working, or with family. Saturday games are an opportunity and a chance to sell cheap tickets for family to boost the revenue from each customer. But that is a big chunk out of Saturday for families, and the idea of alumni hanging together for a Saturday trip sounds better than it turns out to be.
There is some gain if we win, I am not denying that.
But big crowds come from local attendance where the BSU market is not very good. Low income, higher income generally further away, retirees and relatively low income people need a very low ticket price.
Evansville, maybe even ISU, certainly IUFW, IUPUI, and some other MAC schools (Toledo, Akron, Northern, probably Ohio, for example), have urban or suburban population with higher income to draw from, and more business activity than Muncie which produces higher income, more leisure spending, more population, but also from having more people including the occasional walk in customer or the visitor on business, or just someone who wants to sample and loves good college basketball.
I do not see us ever coming close in attendance to those days.
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Jan 7, 2019 10:31:38 GMT -6
We win in postseason, obviously it would boost program. Not sure how much we can boost attendance, but gain in revenue from TV is possible. Twenty-plus thousand alumni in Indianapolis would all be far more engaged if we went to the NCAA Tourney. The crowds can return, but you have to give them a reason to show-up. Whitford has one big win in six seasons. In fact the vast majority of times we play a Big Six team we get blown out. This program isn't where it needs to be to get the crowds back. For reasons above crowds are unlikely to come back. BUT. Winning can help.
The gain in crowds will be there with cheap tickets, but not all that much revenue. More from creating value from TV. Best news this year is the MAC being a higher rated conference, enhancing the value of that contract if it can be sustained. BSU back in the game helps there, brings Indy TV market into play.
|
|
|
Post by cardfan on Jan 7, 2019 10:34:51 GMT -6
It’s all about dollar weenies.
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Jan 7, 2019 10:40:16 GMT -6
It’s all about dollar weenies. That's not just a good running joke. A lot of our fans are low budget.
|
|
|
Post by rmcalhoun on Jan 7, 2019 11:17:23 GMT -6
Twenty-plus thousand alumni in Indianapolis would all be far more engaged if we went to the NCAA Tourney. The crowds can return, but you have to give them a reason to show-up. Whitford has one big win in six seasons. In fact the vast majority of times we play a Big Six team we get blown out. This program isn't where it needs to be to get the crowds back. For reasons above crowds are unlikely to come back. BUT. Winning can help.
The gain in crowds will be there with cheap tickets, but not all that much revenue. More from creating value from TV. Best news this year is the MAC being a higher rated conference, enhancing the value of that contract if it can be sustained. BSU back in the game helps there, brings Indy TV market into play.
The TV problem is we are really not on TV. We have had one game on national TV which people were excited about. Most common fans are not going to know/pay/cast or take the time to stream a game from espn3/espn+ etc
|
|
|
Post by rmcalhoun on Jan 7, 2019 11:23:51 GMT -6
It’s all about dollar weenies. That's not just a good running joke. A lot of our fans are low budget. Thats true, On games where there is a take a kid promotion or community day (which is often dollar weenie day) you see a lot of different faces. Other than that its really the same people game to game. Tomorrow night will be interesting.. Students will be back and there has been a little buzz. The marketing dept should be blowing up twitter all day to try and get a giant student crowd. So far that has not been the case just a couple random tweets
|
|
|
Post by cardfan on Jan 7, 2019 11:27:08 GMT -6
Until this year we haven’t exactly been inspiring by how we play. Sleepy is what I’d call too many of our performances. That just doesn’t get fans excited. Add to that our habit of crapping the bed when we do draw a decent crowd or have a shot at earning a high seed, etc., and it doesn’t bring fans in/back.
This year we’re much more exciting to watch and generally seem to care about playing. We still lost to the best teams on our schedule so far but seem to be playing really well now, especially on offense. Hopefully we’ll actually get on a good roll in the MAC and generate a buzz with fans. I think/hope the students will get on board at least. The lack of a real marketing effort and lame local coverage hasn’t helped.
But we can’t pee down our leg again.
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Jan 7, 2019 11:39:23 GMT -6
For reasons above crowds are unlikely to come back. BUT. Winning can help.
The gain in crowds will be there with cheap tickets, but not all that much revenue. More from creating value from TV. Best news this year is the MAC being a higher rated conference, enhancing the value of that contract if it can be sustained. BSU back in the game helps there, brings Indy TV market into play.
The TV problem is we are really not on TV. We have had one game on national TV which people were excited about. Most common fans are not going to know/pay/cast or take the time to stream a game from espn3/espn+ etc Winning, getting into postseason would help there. A good first season tournament would help too. We're at least on the radar there, now.
Our alumni base isn't enough to generate a lot of TV, but rise of the MAC, while bad news for our NCAA chances does help. Rising tide lifting all the boats in terms of TV.
|
|
|
Post by Lurkin McGurkin on Jan 7, 2019 12:00:14 GMT -6
Winning fixes everything.
People want to see their team win on TV/stream. After a time of that, people want to watch their team win in person.
One caveat: Winning over a low-quality opponent doesn't draw fans. Winning over high-quality opponents, over time, will increase attendance.
Nobody says, "Hey, remember that time we beat Florida A&M? That was a great win!" Except that game against Cardinal Stritch. That was pretty wild.
|
|