PSAC WEST

[Scrub]

The IUP women do this once a year. They call it Education Day. The game starts at 11 a.m.

The players love it because they get to play in front of a packed house (rare).

IUP typically schedules a local D3 opponent for this game. They haven't had luck trying to get a regular D2 opponent to agree to it.

WLU's women's coach invites a different local high school team or AAU team up to each game (and, I assume, comps them).

[IUPbigINDIANS]

People have been floating this idea or something vaguely similar for the entirety of my time reading this site (slightly more than a decade now). Has anyone tried pitching it directly to their AD? If so, have they ever got an explanation of why this is or isn’t do-able? I don’t mean to rain on your post specifically because I like the idea but it’s not exactly breaking new ground.

The IUP women do this once a year. They call it Education Day. The game starts at 11 a.m.

The players love it because they get to play in front of a packed house (rare).

IUP typically schedules a local D3 opponent for this game. They haven't had luck trying to get a regular D2 opponent to agree to it.

[TheBigCat2192]

I've actually seen the daytime tipoff during winter break work well. Move it up to a noon or 1pm tipoff and bring in local schools. Give the kids some cheap swag to start planting seeds and make them listen to some sort of admissions pitch while they eat lunch on campus. Fill the stands with local kids. Let them go wild. Have the pep band there playing songs the kids will recognize. Get pictures with the mascot and cheerleaders. Autographs after from players and the coach. Sure it costs you thousands but that's long game marketing in an area that not only has fewer kids coming but also a growing disparity in kids choosing college after high school.

You could do something like this for football games. Confirm the away team isn't bringing their band. Invite a local high school, especially one where the band director went to your school. Agree to let them perform a little in the stands and at halftime. Give free tickets to that school's football team. Parents will come and pay. HUGE crowd on the away side that never would have been there. Game atmosphere greatly improved. Sometimes I think athletic staff think that a mythical extra 1,500 people are going to spontaneously decide to check out PSAC football.

People have been floating this idea or something vaguely similar for the entirety of my time reading this site (slightly more than a decade now). Has anyone tried pitching it directly to their AD? If so, have they ever got an explanation of why this is or isn’t do-able? I don’t mean to rain on your post specifically because I like the idea but it’s not exactly breaking new ground.

[Ship69]

I've actually seen the daytime tipoff during winter break work well. Move it up to a noon or 1pm tipoff and bring in local schools. Give the kids some cheap swag to start planting seeds and make them listen to some sort of admissions pitch while they eat lunch on campus. Fill the stands with local kids. Let them go wild. Have the pep band there playing songs the kids will recognize. Get pictures with the mascot and cheerleaders. Autographs after from players and the coach. Sure it costs you thousands but that's long game marketing in an area that not only has fewer kids coming but also a growing disparity in kids choosing college after high school.

You could do something like this for football games. Confirm the away team isn't bringing their band. Invite a local high school, especially one where the band director went to your school. Agree to let them perform a little in the stands and at halftime. Give free tickets to that school's football team. Parents will come and pay. HUGE crowd on the away side that never would have been there. Game atmosphere greatly improved. Sometimes I think athletic staff think that a mythical extra 1,500 people are going to spontaneously decide to check out PSAC football.

Penn State used to do a huge band day years ago, inviting high school bands from all over the state. I can remember my high school band going up there in the '60s. And that was when their stadium was about half the size it is now. Then, of course, TV exposure and money because king, and it'll be a cold day in hell before they ever do anything like that again.

[Fightingscot82]

You're telling me they had to schedule the crossover openers at 3pm and 5pm on a work day? Lol.

Worried about student athletes? Oh, btw, take the day off from classes to play in an empty gym.

League run by idiots. Yet they all complain they don't have any money.

Empty gyms and no revenue. Win win.

I've actually seen the daytime tipoff during winter break work well. Move it up to a noon or 1pm tipoff and bring in local schools. Give the kids some cheap swag to start planting seeds and make them listen to some sort of admissions pitch while they eat lunch on campus. Fill the stands with local kids. Let them go wild. Have the pep band there playing songs the kids will recognize. Get pictures with the mascot and cheerleaders. Autographs after from players and the coach. Sure it costs you thousands but that's long game marketing in an area that not only has fewer kids coming but also a growing disparity in kids choosing college after high school.

You could do something like this for football games. Confirm the away team isn't bringing their band. Invite a local high school, especially one where the band director went to your school. Agree to let them perform a little in the stands and at halftime. Give free tickets to that school's football team. Parents will come and pay. HUGE crowd on the away side that never would have been there. Game atmosphere greatly improved. Sometimes I think athletic staff think that a mythical extra 1,500 people are going to spontaneously decide to check out PSAC football.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

No one has said that players don't want to play in front of fans. ADs schedule games when they can and take many things into consideration, but obviously your feelings aren't among them.

You're telling me they had to schedule the crossover openers at 3pm and 5pm on a work day? Lol.

Worried about student athletes? Oh, btw, take the day off from classes to play in an empty gym.

League run by idiots. Yet they all complain they don't have any money.

Empty gyms and no revenue. Win win.

[IUPalum]

No one has said that players don't want to play in front of fans. ADs schedule games when they can and take many things into consideration, but obviously your feelings aren't among them.

Obviously you enjoy empty arenas and no revenue!

[WarriorVoice]

No one has said that players don't want to play in front of fans. ADs schedule games when they can and take many things into consideration, but obviously your feelings aren't among them.

[bballfan03]

If you believe that, then you are as dumb as the moron that runs this conference!

If IUP decided they weren't going to allow anyone aside from game personnel into the gym for basketball any more.. you really think top recruits are going to keep coming? Rather than go somewhere they can win and play in front of people?

[IUPalum]

If you believe that, then you are as dumb as the moron that runs this conference!

[bballfan03]

Hmm It started as "IUP should play games in front of fans". How did Duke get involved? You guys sure like to move goalposts instead of admitting you might be wrong...

i've not said anything about any specific school (until Duke). I used Duke to make the point.. if a school or conference made games played just "for the student-athletes" (and no fans/parents/others outside of personnel allowed) that school's or conference's teams would lose players quickly.

So, yes, at the root it - competitions are for the athletes. The athletes, however, don't want to play the majority of their games in front of 100 people if they can go elsewhere and play in front of 3,000 regularly.

[Ship69]

I’m not normally one to defend PSU but they’re far from the only school dissatisfied with the B1G’s new TV deal. A lot of what I’ve read online says that the former commissioner, Kevin Warren, negotiated the new NBC portions of the deal without talking to his ADs about important details like the Friday Peacock games and then conveniently ran away to become president of the Chicago Bears before that dissatisfaction came out. PSU actually did a lot to try and keep things together by agreeing to play on Black Friday last year and AFAIK them and Oregon are the only marquee B1G (lol) programs to play on Friday night so far. Well I guess USC did too but they haven’t won squat in over a decade so I don’t really consider them marquee anymore.

Penn State has been complaining about one thing or another since they joined the league more than 30 years ago. The situation is what they and their fellow football factories have created. If you want the network money, you take the terms of the deal with the network. If it's a problem, find a better deal — maybe even one that doesn't require your fans to pay a small fortune to watch a college football game. They've been sending out surveys to some season ticket holders recently, and some of the price points they're discussing for different ticket options are astounding.

[WarriorVoice]

This logic is why our athletic departments are all broke.

Ask an AD to explain it to you.

[WarriorVoice]

No one is arguing your eye level statement. What were saying is if Duke decided to no longer let any fans in the arena and not televise games.. and their teams have to play in front of just game day staff... Duke would lose a lot of good recruits.

Hmm It started as "IUP should play games in front of fans". How did Duke get involved? You guys sure like to move goalposts instead of admitting you might be wrong...

[TheBigCat2192]

Soooo much whining from Penn State followers about the noon kickoff with Ohio State and then having their precious whiteout game moved to Peacock. All these football factories want the millions of dollars they can get from the gigantic TV deals so they can lord it over the common football folk, but they don't want to live with the consequences, which are that the people spending all that money want to call the shots. The Big 10 wouldn't have been able to add Oregon and Washington without extra bucks thrown in by Fox Sports. Can you imagine the revolution if would make in any of our PSAC athletic departments if we got the gate receipts from even one Penn State game?

My brother, a long-time PSU season ticket holder, has about had it with the constant requests for more money on top of the thousands he has already paid them. When you're paying that much to be involved in a football program, the "but the other school has more" argument will only go so far.

I’m not normally one to defend PSU but they’re far from the only school dissatisfied with the B1G’s new TV deal. A lot of what I’ve read online says that the former commissioner, Kevin Warren, negotiated the new NBC portions of the deal without talking to his ADs about important details like the Friday Peacock games and then conveniently ran away to become president of the Chicago Bears before that dissatisfaction came out. PSU actually did a lot to try and keep things together by agreeing to play on Black Friday last year and AFAIK them and Oregon are the only marquee B1G (lol) programs to play on Friday night so far. Well I guess USC did too but they haven’t won squat in over a decade so I don’t really consider them marquee anymore.