2019 SMSU Mustangs: Let's ride!

[SMSU fan]

The free tickets for youth football in area and high school players is to build fan base, start making it a "yearly routine" to attend SMSU football games on saturdays. You MAKE an extra 6000 a year by the parents and adults bringing them. Then you create families of fans and kids that attend games and keep attending for life. I think some of the recriuts they got comin in this year will help, they got some talent that people will want to pay to see!!!

[Clean Liver]

Tell me one parent parent who wouldn't pay $5 to see their kid play? Mrs. Liver and I travelled a kazillion miles over 5 years to watch our son. Ya, it got expensive some times, but it's your kid. Scholarship $$ is often wasted. HC needs to be aware when he's p***in' into the wind and make changes. Parents and their player need to use their heads, especially when $$ is scarce. Academics are an avenue some don't research. We don't have a ton of $$, but our player walked out with a degree and no financial burden. It can be done.

[SW_Mustang]

My counter to this argument would be that this $6000 in free tickets is being used as a perk to help take care of your current student athletes and their families for the hard work they are putting in. Many of these athletes are receiving limited scholarships and some are not receiving any at all. It's a small thing, but if you are able to tell kids and their families in recruiting that one of the small things we do for you while you are at our University is allow you free admission to see your son/daughter play that is better than making them pay. Every dollar counts, but some of them are a little more intangible than others.

I hadn't considered that side of it. Most of our roster is not local, so it would actually be a nice little incentive for the families. It's a drop in the bucket compared to plane tickets and hotels, but it would be a nice gesture.

That being said, the $6000 number I've been tossing around wasn't related to gouging parents, it was in reference to the common fan which is where my focus is. The conversation just turned to parents along the way.

[SW_Mustang]

I guess winning is best way. But u got right idea, more money for athletics usually equals more success. If u want to keep up you have to have somethin to offer the better players like scholarships and winning programs. 6000 extra a year in ticket sales could help get better athletes. You can pay for a lot of visits for athletes with 6000 grand, or a couple scholarships, or trips for coach sauter to visit talent!!! Every dollar counts

Winning would certainly help, hopefully we get there with this new crop of guys. It's a tough conference to play in though.

I've been trying to come up with ways to get the team visible to other communities in SWMN. I know we get a lot of support from places like Cottonwood and Minneota, but I also think there's a sizable audience that we aren't picking up on. Even if it's only 50-100 people, that's still a nice chunk of change. Other members have stated it previously, but SMSU competes with Marshall High School alumni on gameday. Trey Lance is probably going to be a sought after name in the NFL draft, so it's understandable that the locals want to focus their attention on him.

One thing I've seen USD do is hold practices in Sioux Falls as an outreach event. I've had the idea to do the same thing with SMSU, just on a smaller scale. Hold a practice or two a year in an area town, invite the locals out, and maybe even give them a ticket coupon or something. There'd be a lot of logistics involved, who pays for what - when do we hold it, etc etc, but I think it could reel in a few fans. It could also double as a fundraising opportunity for the local high school or something like that.

[Thunder]

I guess winning is best way. But u got right idea, more money for athletics usually equals more success. If u want to keep up you have to have somethin to offer the better players like scholarships and winning programs. 6000 extra a year in ticket sales could help get better athletes. You can pay for a lot of visits for athletes with 6000 grand, or a couple scholarships, or trips for coach sauter to visit talent!!! Every dollar counts

My counter to this argument would be that this $6000 in free tickets is being used as a perk to help take care of your current student athletes and their families for the hard work they are putting in. Many of these athletes are receiving limited scholarships and some are not receiving any at all. It's a small thing, but if you are able to tell kids and their families in recruiting that one of the small things we do for you while you are at our University is allow you free admission to see your son/daughter play that is better than making them pay. Every dollar counts, but some of them are a little more intangible than others.

[SMSU fan]

I guess winning is best way. But u got right idea, more money for athletics usually equals more success. If u want to keep up you have to have somethin to offer the better players like scholarships and winning programs. 6000 extra a year in ticket sales could help get better athletes. You can pay for a lot of visits for athletes with 6000 grand, or a couple scholarships, or trips for coach sauter to visit talent!!! Every dollar counts

[SW_Mustang]

Many, many years ago, the HC had a meetin' with active player parents about ways to improve revenue. Parents 'n their relatives get FREE passes. I mentioned chargin' the parents and relatives a discounted admission - $5? He said that "isn't the way it's done." You do the math. Every little bit helps.

Yeah that's the type of stuff. Every penny helps especially at this level.

[Clean Liver]

Many, many years ago, the HC had a meetin' with active player parents about ways to improve revenue. Parents 'n their relatives get FREE passes. I mentioned chargin' the parents and relatives a discounted admission - $5? He said that "isn't the way it's done." You do the math. Every little bit helps.

[SMSU fan]

I figured youth and high school players free to get them in seats when young, and you get the adults and girl friends to come with and pay. Brandt Goodwin, Saguaro High School ( were in top 20 in country at one point during year) transfered from Casteel High school. Before senior year was on top 150 prospects list for Arizona. Junior year highlights are crazy good, senior year had to sit(transfer) but still awesone. Team lost in Arizona state title game(open division) to no10 team in country. Went against Kelee Ringo (no1 cornerback in country) everyday in practice and coach said" no one on our team can cover him!' Check out his twitter and google him! First guy never gets him down!

[SW_Mustang]

If they start winning more fans will come. They should let all high school players within 2 hours of Marshall in games for free., and all youth teams in area should b invited to all home games. On recruiting note Brandt Goodwin wr from Arizona with pwo to Arizona state and offer from sioux falls is coming to SMSU with QB Nick Arvay!! Brandt is an explosive playmaker at wr, he also has punt returns and kickoff returns for tds! One of best from one of best programs in country. Arvay and Goodwin have ability to play right away. Im excited for season.

I'm interested in boosting paid attendance to help take some of the burden off of the school, but that could work too. Youth players free with paid adult or something.

I'll have to look into Goodwin. Sounds interesting...

[SMSU fan]

If they start winning more fans will come. They should let all high school players within 2 hours of Marshall in games for free., and all youth teams in area should b invited to all home games. On recruiting note Brandt Goodwin wr from Arizona with pwo to Arizona state and offer from sioux falls is coming to SMSU with QB Nick Arvay!! Brandt is an explosive playmaker at wr, he also has punt returns and kickoff returns for tds! One of best from one of best programs in country. Arvay and Goodwin have ability to play right away. Im excited for season.

[SW_Mustang]

I'm kicking around the idea of boosting our paid attendance numbers. Generally speaking, we do great as it stands - however I think we could be doing a little bit better. There is definitely some untapped market share out there we could pick up. If we averaged 100 fans per game more, over 5 home games a season, we'd gross an extra $6,000 in revenue in ticket sales alone. That's not a lot, but I don't think the AD would scoff at a $6,000 donation.

I haven't decided if I'm going to work on it or not yet as I'm quite busy with work and home stuff - but I just wanted to see if you guys thought this was feasible, and if it is - how might we go about doing it? I have some ideas, but I wanted to see what everyone else thought too.

[SW_Mustang]

You can get your hopes up! Arvay said somethin on twitter about winning a champioinship! These kids want to win. A lot of them are saying on social media that they are workin hard and training cause they want to win. I know that doesnt equal wins on field but i love the attitude and confidence, players holding each other accountable and to a higher standard. Thats the making of a winning team. Im hopeful but i know how hard wins are to come by. Hope for best and prepare for worst! I kno one thing , that qb arvay looks like stud, can really sling it.

If they can hang with the program and stay healthy, I'm excited.

My guess is Nava will win the starting role this year, so Arvay may have to sit.

[SMSU fan]

You can get your hopes up! Arvay said somethin on twitter about winning a champioinship! These kids want to win. A lot of them are saying on social media that they are workin hard and training cause they want to win. I know that doesnt equal wins on field but i love the attitude and confidence, players holding each other accountable and to a higher standard. Thats the making of a winning team. Im hopeful but i know how hard wins are to come by. Hope for best and prepare for worst! I kno one thing , that qb arvay looks like stud, can really sling it.

[SW_Mustang]

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Love it.

A lot of kids would scoff at a D2 offer, and these guys seem to be hungry for it. I'm impressed by the work ethic.

I've been a Mustang fan for long enough now to know never to get my hopes up too early before the season starts - but this is a positive if I've ever seen one.