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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Ask The AD -- June 13, 2007
June 13, 2007 | General
June 13, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Each week, Bowling Green State University Assistant Vice President/Director of Athletics Greg Christopher answers questions that have been submitted to BGSUFalcons.com. Here is the latest installment ...
Q: One of my son's favorite parts of attending BG football games is going onto the field after the game to mingle with the players and the players' families. Will the installation of FieldTurf put an end to that? Will fans still be allowed on the field after the games?
Karl in Philadelphia
FieldTurf won't change this tradition. Once the field is cleared for officials and the visiting team, fans will be allowed down to the field after games.
Q: Any chance the BG/Toledo game could be moved to earlier in the season? This year we play again after Thanksgiving, which makes it tough to get a good student showing.
Leslie in Bowling Green
The tradition of playing UT in the final game of the season is a recent one. Before the late 1990's, the game was generally in the middle of the year. There has been some talk about moving the game to the beginning or middle of the schedule, but there's nothing substantive being pushed right now. The Thanksgiving holiday does create a challenge with our students, but several other football rivalry series play out over the Thanksgiving weekend. Given how the MAC schedule flows, we'll need to play sometime Thanksgiving week - thus you could make the argument that the UT series is the best to play during that window because it has the greatest built-in fan interest.
This week, one of the questions I selected focused on student attendance at games - a great topic. To answer, I asked Brian Delehoy, our Director of Marketing and Promotions, to type his thoughts. In the future, I may ask coaches and staff for their input on answers since they're on the front lines with many of the subjects discussed here.
Q: What are your plans to increase student attendance at our games? It seems like student attendance at our games has dropped across the board -- football, basketball and hockey.
Devon in Michigan
As is true at universities across the country, the BGSU Students are undoubtedly a crucial part of our home athletic events. In my brief time here at BGSU, this has been most evident for both the Clash in Cleveland and the BG-Miami "Mud Bowl" football game to close out the 2006 regular season. As a result of collaboration across campus with the Offices of Student Life, Campus Involvement, Residence Life and many student organizations, BGSU Students were the driving force in helping us achieve success in each case. Given such, our Athletic Marketing staff has numerous student-specific programs either already in motion or primed and ready to launch for the upcoming 2007-08 seasons:
- NEW Student T-Shirt Design Contest ... in association with the BG News and University Bookstore, towards the end of the Spring 2007 semester, we held a campus-wide contest open to all BGSU Students enrolled through at least Fall 2007 to design the official BGSU Athletics T-shirt for the 2007-08 seasons, both for students and the general public. This is a new tradition that was inspired by similar contests taking place at many universities across the nation, and one that will now continue on an annual basis. I'm pleased to announce that Mark Lohrum, a Junior Computer Science Major from Wilmington, OH submitted the winning design. We are currently producing the shirts (which continue the "BG Warriors" theme established for the BG-Miami football game in November 2006 that ties in with the lyrics of Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba), and they will be sold through University Bookstore beginning next Monday, June 18th at all sessions of new and transfer student orientation. The shirts will also be available for sale from that point on through the University Bookstore in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, and will also be for sale at all Football, Hockey and Men's & Women's Basketball home games in 2007-08.
- NEW Student Promotion Management Team ... yet another new program inspired by one of similar structure at other universities, we've hired on a team of 26 BGSU Students to form our inaugural BGSU Student Promotion Management Team. Working directly with our staff, these students will be directly involved in the day-to-day marketing of all BGSU Athletic teams throughout the entire year, with a specific focus on engaging the BGSU Student population across the board. It's both an exciting opportunity for these students to get valuable first-hand experience in the goings on of a Division I-A intercollegiate athletics program, and at the same time, provides us with 26 fresh new perspectives of individuals that on a daily basis, have their collective finger on the pulse of campus life. What better way to improve student involvement in and attendance at BGSU athletic events than to directly involve them in the process of doing so!
- NEW Refreshed Focus on Coach/Player Attendance of Student Org. Meetings ... I am a big believer in getting our coaches and student-athletes out in front of folks to get them excited about their respective seasons. After all, if they're not excited about it themselves and don't convey that to our fans, how can they expect the fans themselves to be excited? Given such and specifically with regard to BGSU Students, we'll be making a renewed effort to have coaches and student-athletes visit with various student groups both leading up to and during their seasons as much as possible to keep them engaged the entire year round. Right off the bat, we plan on being actively involved with Fall Semester move-in in mid-August. This will provide students the opportunity to identify on a personal level with their fellow Falcons that represent them with pride in the realm of intercollegiate athletic competition.
- NEW Vehicles of Advertising & Promotion ... we're always looking for the best ways to keep the student population informed and excited about upcoming BGSU Athletic events. In addition, with the ever-changing world of technology and mediums of doing such, it's important to try and stay fresh and cutting edge in an effort to best stand out. In particular for the upcoming season, in addition to continued traditional advertising (i.e., BG News ads), we will be implementing new ways of getting to BGSU Students on a regular basis. To list a couple:
1) Numerous athletic-specific sandwich boards will be strategically placed around campus and updated daily.
2) BGSU Athletics MySpace and Facebook profiles are in the development stages and will be updated daily.
- NEW Athletic Traditions ... in an effort to better unify our beloved Falcon fan base and enhance the overall game atmosphere, we will be implementing some new traditions across the board at BGSU Football, Hockey and Men's & Women's Basketball in the upcoming 2007-08 seasons. We've been working with our friends in the Falcon Marching & Pep Bands and the BGSU Spirit Groups (i.e., cheerleaders, dance team, mascots) to develop some event-specific enhancements, and will be educating fans as we approach the 2007-08 academic year, and on a game-by-game basis. I strongly believe that traditions are a key factor in making intercollegiate athletic events unique and timeless, and once in place, will work to unify and engage our fans.
