But the point is that our target market is 17 year old predominately black kids that we're trying to recruit. It's not 60 year old white guys that think the "Tunnel Walk" is still the epitome of cool and that "The Wave" is the highlight of game time experiences.
I don't go to games any more. My family has good tickets and I get an invite once or twice a year to go. I simply have no desire to. The stadium sucks, the seating sucks, the gameday experience blows and it's not worth spending an entire day getting down there attending the game and then getting home. I'd rather watch the games from the comfort of my recliner than smashed into a tiny seat with some asshat with one of those seats with a back jammed into my kneecaps. And there are more and more like me who don't care about attending games. A big part of that is that the gameday experience just isn't that big of a deal. That needs to change.
I like the intent behind your idea but also think it's a little misguided. Our target market is not 17 year old black kids - the point of having 90,000+ people isn't solely to win recruits. The demographic is 18-35 year olds with an emphasis towards men.
I think having people like you're talking about come in could possibly work, but would also be a very slippery slope into total cheesefest gimmicks. There's a fine line, and you can only window dress an experience like that
so much with superfluous things to keep people interested - more than anything it's the product on the field that will elevate the gameday experience more than anything else will.
Either way, these are ideas I've had in my head for a while:
- Upgrade the sound system. Eichorst has been on record saying this will happen in the offseason. Great. Do it right, and make sure it's loud.
- Don't make the band play less, but put some pressure on the conductor to be a little bit more relevant. I don't know how many of you have been to big-time road games, but I went to the Michigan game this year and their band plays even more than ours does, but they're really damn good, and it adds to the experience. Also, and this is really important, mic the band. Unless you're across the stadium from them, it's hard (or impossible from the East expansion) to hear them.
- New Tunnel Walk. First, rehire a damn competent team to make a professional production and not the absolute trash video work we've had the last two seasons. Second, get a new song. Do a focus group or something to make a good decision, but the emphasis needs to be on energy more than on drama. Virginia Tech's Enter Sandman entrance is the best in football, because it affords jumping and screaming to the song.
- Move the student section to be the bottom most section of South stadium (all the way across), you can either get rid of the bleachers or drop the cement a foot or something soas to not obstruct the views behind them.
- Along with the above, get the Iron N group some serious allocation money and vocal/active support. They're trying their damnedest to get some fun stuff going, but our student fanbase can be a bit pretentious and insecure. I don't know if they don't get drunk enough or what, but too many past row 20-30 are 'too cool' to jump around and lose their mind for a while. Maybe some kind of A&M yell practice style thing before home games. You can come up with the best idea ever but without anybody knowing or being prepared for it it's going to fall flat.
- Along with the above, seriously a change in mindset more than a change in music/routine is needed more than anything. There are plenty of songs that get played that in a different place would get the students rocking, but don't have much of an effect in Memorial. We tried doing 'Let Me Clear My Throat' last year, and admittedly they kind of botched it by changing the BPM, but every time I was in south stadium (I think 3-4 games) I was the only one around that got excited for it.
- Less advertisements. Across the board. Less ridiculous Pepsi product races and the like especially. Why does every replay have to have a sponsor? Why do there have to be 18 different banners being digitally displayed at one time? Again, the Michigan game didn't have a single corporate advertisement, and it was f***ing awesome, and really contributed to people paying closer attention throughout the game. Also less acknowledging/celebrating people on the field. We don't need to have a welcome back or a cheer of support for every former player and every rifle team and every booster for their continued support.
Mostly the atmosphere at Memorial is just too busy. Too much going on. People are distracted and inattentive. We can change things for sure, but not only by addition.
