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Post by calidelphia on Jan 15, 2016 13:00:48 GMT -5
I know we have an away game tomorrow, but the next game is a Temple game at the palestra followed by st. Josephs (pa) at Gola. With LasalleLunatic pointing out the 24 hour lapse in ANY post here I thought it was relevant to bring up involvement in a down year. What would you do to keep students/ alum coming out to game all year? What are some of your favorite events in the past? I'm talking about anything from media coverage, streamers, honoring past teams, pre game events, chants, TO entertainment, dunkin donuts races, Blackouts and spotlights for the team intro, The flying explorer backflip dunking off a ladder... I think we tend to depend on wins for draw, where there are other ways to make going to games an exciting thing even if we are getting blown out. I can think of the Bonnies, New Mexico, SDSU (before they were actually good, still selling out every game though), Siena, Bucknell... They all draw really well even in terrible years. Here is the NCAA attendance report from 2015 to see who's doing it right: 2015 NCAA MBB Attendance ReportBasically, if you had your say (and sorry, you don't get an arena)what would you do to keep people involved when there isn't a good chance of seeing a win? Once again let's just assume a new arena would only create more empty seats and keep this away from Arena talk. Please.
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MisterD
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Post by MisterD on Jan 15, 2016 13:19:46 GMT -5
Sadly (or not sadly?), the disallowed answer is the answer.
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Post by calidelphia on Jan 15, 2016 13:24:58 GMT -5
Don't do it MisterD.
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MisterD
The Baptist Himself
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Post by MisterD on Jan 15, 2016 13:36:30 GMT -5
No, I'm just saying that if we could get funding from [punches self in neck] ...
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Post by SICguy84 on Jan 15, 2016 14:20:06 GMT -5
I know we have an away game tomorrow, but the next game is a Temple game at the palestra followed by st. Josephs (pa) at Gola. I'm talking about anything from media coverage... Beating those cockroaches from SJU (of Penna.) can partially salvage any bad season. Possibility of LAS giving them two bad-bad losses is delicious. Looks like we'll go without any City 6 wins though. Media coverage ? Channel 6, Comcast, and the papers seem to provide consistent coverage. What pisses me off is the sports radio updates that neglect to even mention that LAS played and the result. From my nonscientific survey this season, its hit or miss if we get a score or final included. This is not only limited to 94 WIP, but 97.5 Phanatic as well. Ignorance, bias, lazy journalism, no complaints, who knows the reasons but if I'm in the sports information department I'd keep an ear out any maybe gently contact some folks at the end of the season.
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Post by calidelphia on Jan 15, 2016 14:54:18 GMT -5
I know that there is a great La Salle connection in media through the com dept. I mean he may hate us and we may hate him but Cataldi taught here. There is also a list of the people that may provide the right media contacts here: www.lasalle.edu/lasalle56/alumni.htm
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Post by gymrat67 on Jan 15, 2016 15:07:24 GMT -5
I know we have an away game tomorrow, but the next game is a Temple game at the palestra followed by st. Josephs (pa) at Gola. With LasalleLunatic pointing out the 24 hour lapse in ANY post here I thought it was relevant to bring up involvement in a down year. What would you do to keep students/ alum coming out to game all year? What are some of your favorite events in the past? I'm talking about anything from media coverage, streamers, honoring past teams, pre game events, chants, TO entertainment, dunkin donuts races, Blackouts and spotlights for the team intro, The flying explorer backflip dunking off a ladder... I think we tend to depend on wins for draw, where there are other ways to make going to games an exciting thing even if we are getting blown out. I can think of the Bonnies, New Mexico, SDSU (before they were actually good, still selling out every game though), Siena, Bucknell... They all draw really well even in terrible years. Here is the NCAA attendance report from 2015 to see who's doing it right: 2015 NCAA MBB Attendance ReportBasically, if you had your say (and sorry, you don't get an arena)what would you do to keep people involved when there isn't a good chance of seeing a win? Once again let's just assume a new arena would only create more empty seats and keep this away from Arena talk. Please. Apropos of this season's dismal outlook : Attachment Deleted For those of you young whipper-snappers who may not be familiar with the " kiteman " reference : articles.philly.com/2007-04-17/sports/25243041_1_ramp-kiteman-phillies
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Post by manayunk53 on Jan 15, 2016 15:30:38 GMT -5
Nothing could top the South Jersey K-9 Solutions halftime show.
I think they should do a promotion where for one special evening, fans will be allowed to keep the caps on their Dasani bottled water. I saw a poor guy last week who was walking up the bleachers to his family with three bottles of water and several slices of pizza. He tripped and all of his water spilled everywhere. The pizza appeared to be ruined also. Not the best $30 he's ever spent, I'm sure.
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Post by aswjr on Jan 15, 2016 15:50:44 GMT -5
At this point they should be handing out tickets and $10 concession credit just to get students to come in the door. I don't know how you get interest in alums to be honest. Unless you have alumni nights. But the problems are evident, location and parking are terrible. For the first time this past home game they actually had someone directing traffic. In the parking lot. Unless the students aren't there you have to park down the road and it's not even marked well for some one that isn't used to going. Without corporate sponsors you are unable to do giveaways and theme nights.
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Post by las71 on Jan 15, 2016 16:05:50 GMT -5
I think winning is the only solution to our attendance woes. After the sweet 16 run there was a buzz around the program that was quickly lost when the following year was disappointing. Most of us have suffered through too many years of mediocrity to be won over by promotions. Bonnie and Siena are basically the only game in town but we have many other options. I had season tickets for many years but frankly in most seasons we are a hard team to watch. I think we may need an exorcism.
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Post by durenduren on Jan 15, 2016 16:07:44 GMT -5
No, I'm just saying that if we could get funding from [punches self in neck] ... Ha-ha... We're pathetic.
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Post by a10champion15 on Jan 15, 2016 22:05:16 GMT -5
Let's avoid the arena talk.
Our president is aware of what the fans are looking for in terms an arena. If she is interested in getting more insight she could easily ask people she trusts and even this board.
The important concept that I think some of us can actually bring to the table is thinking of a way to interest the students some more. Getting coverage is great and with the involvement of ASN now many more games will be broadcasted on CSN and regional networks as opposed to what's been broadcasted in the past.
If you can show the students that you aren't just going through the motions in means a lot more. Obviously things that go on with pro sports and big basketball programs like Kentucky are way out of reach. We need to find a way to interest our students. One thing that is to make a splash by opening the door to our past stars. Trying to engage them through any means whether social media or coming to games. That's some more simple ideas. However, a more unique idea would be bringing in Tim Legler or Doug Overton in for a players speech or special practice session. Taping some of the session and having it available to view at halftime or on the youtube channel.
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Post by a10champion15 on Jan 15, 2016 22:10:30 GMT -5
and where the hell the Ed Marynowitz thread go..
ATTN: President Hanchyz
Ed Marynowitz is someone I would look into. At the very least give the guy a call and pick his brain. I would bet he would not mind offering some ideas and feedback.
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Post by reluctantposter on Jan 15, 2016 22:15:04 GMT -5
Perspective of a 2012 grad here...After working from 8-6 in the suburbs, the last thing I want to do is drive 30+ minutes to Olney when I can watch the game online or on tv. And this is coming from someone who's attended about 100 games since 2008...
In my eyes, the three biggest issues are 1) team performance, 2) game-day experience, 3) level of competition. The 2nd won't change anytime soon so let's just put to bed any pipe dreams about getting a new arena. The team's performance may significantly change next year, but I doubt a 20+ loss team (and they will lose 20 games, guaranteed) is making the jump to a borderline 20 win team in one year. The easiest thing to do is schedule more desirable match-ups. I don't care if Giannini has to promise away-home-away schedules to get these teams to come to the Gola. We need to stop scheduling Lafeyette, Rider, and Towson and start scheduling Rutgers, St. John's, Penn State, Pittsburgh and area schools from power conferences.
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Post by calidelphia on Jan 15, 2016 22:26:26 GMT -5
Perspective of a 2012 grad here...After working from 8-6 in the suburbs, the last thing I want to do is drive 30+ minutes to Olney when I can watch the game online or on tv. And this is coming from someone who's attended about 100 games since 2008... In my eyes, the three biggest issues are 1) team performance, 2) game-day experience, 3) level of competition. The 2nd won't change anytime soon so let's just put to bed any pipe dreams about getting a new arena. The team's performance may significantly change next year, but I doubt a 20+ loss team (and they will lose 20 games, guaranteed) is making the jump to a borderline 20 win team in one year. The easiest thing to do is schedule more desirable match-ups. I don't care if Giannini has to promise away-home-away schedules to get these teams to come to the Gola. We need to stop scheduling Lafeyette, Rider, and Towson and start scheduling Rutgers, St. John's, Penn State, Pittsburgh and area schools from power conferences. Welcome reluctant poster and cheers on the insights. Have to agree with everything here, my one addition is that scheduling these big conference schools is going to cost the school $$$ in most cases and those games would be away home away like you said. Most of them would only play us of the palaestra was involved ie Miami. That leaves getting better or embracing our suckiness during these down years.
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Post by rp01 on Jan 15, 2016 22:42:17 GMT -5
Out of all of the Philly teams, Temple and Nova tie at the top for best marketing, followed by Joes, Drexel, and Penn, and finally La Salle.
La Salle needs to put billboards along Ogontz Avenue especially, and the turnpike, 76, 95, etc. I know this isn't allowed as an answer but not having an arena nor a consistently winning team doesn't help either.
As far as scheduling is concerned, La Salle usually has tough schedules but nobody cares about any of the teams they schedule (rider, lafayette, towson, hofstra, drexel). It's risky to invite big name teams to the Gola because of the fact that there might be more fans for the opposing team than La Salle unless La Salle can somehow sell out the game to students and fans ahead of time. Miami obviously forced La Salle to play that game at the Palestra because they won't ever play at the Gola. That being said, I'd prefer to schedule teams from past years for rematches such as Butler, Ole Miss, Wichita State, Boise State, Kansas State, along with local teams to Pennsylvania and New Jersey such as Rutgers, Seton Hall, Penn State, Pitt.
Just to add, teams such as Syracuse, Villanova, Kentucky, Duke, etc. would sell out the Palestra let alone the Gola, even if La Salle had 0 fans show up. That is the risk of scheduling big name teams, it attracts bandwagon fans to the game. There were an unbelievable amount of Miami fans at the Palestra and Miami is 1,206 miles away from La Salle's campus.
Playing home games during Winter Break doesn't help at all, and other than conference games, Giannini should avoid playing any games from mid-December to mid-January at home... The team needs to go to a holiday tournament or play a few road games at that point in the season. If a big name Power 5 team wants to come play at La Salle, it better be during Homecoming.
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Post by calidelphia on Jan 16, 2016 0:11:49 GMT -5
I got it. We could just fight Richmond.
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Post by jellybean on Jan 16, 2016 8:56:23 GMT -5
Nothing could top the South Jersey K-9 Solutions halftime show. I think they should do a promotion where for one special evening, fans will be allowed to keep the caps on their Dasani bottled water. I saw a poor guy last week who was walking up the bleachers to his family with three bottles of water and several slices of pizza. He tripped and all of his water spilled everywhere. The pizza appeared to be ruined also. Not the best $30 he's ever spent, I'm sure. Two interesting thoughts. The K-9 halftime was tongue-in-cheek I assume. To me it was awful and from the looks of those sitting behind the La Salle team bench ( family and friends of the players) they weren't pleased to see that show. Birmingham AL in 1960's. The taking of the caps is to avoid throwing a bottle of water at the officials I was told by the person at the concession stand. Really? Equating La Salle basketball fans to European Soccer fans struck me. The thought of this thread is well intended but for some of us a trip back in frustration. A couple of Summers ago, there was a thread with a tremendous amount of ideas to help attendance. I don't think any of them were implemented. As someone who has been around a long time, I hope the Prez takes a look at our current marketing of MBB. Like maybe having the HC speak to alumni groups around the area during the Summer to raise interest in the program and selling some season tickets. Maybe have more interaction with the fans. We have no radio show anymore. We had no pre-season video on the team with the coach prior to this team. We have no podcasts like in the past. We have no post game press conference videos from the school. Who is responsible for promoting MBB? Selling tickets. Group sales? One statement that makes my blood boil with regard to La Salle MBB is " attendance will increase when we start winning." Yes and what do we do in the meantime? Imagine telling the owner of your business that? Attitude needs to change Madam President if you are reading this.
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joe
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Post by joe on Jan 16, 2016 10:07:21 GMT -5
I have two good ideas. There should be a tv by the concession stand. People will not be so mad while they wait in line for a cold hot dog. the school should organize a blue and gold game. One side wears gold. The other side wears blue. Not many Lasalle fans wear their colors. IDayton fans invaded and you could tell where they were from.
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Jan 16, 2016 10:08:26 GMT -5
In my opinion, the stop at Olney has to not just be a 2-hr event to be enticing. I've pushed the idea of a local bar and grille as a "hangout spot", something with a La Salle flare that isn't cookie cutter. Or, at the very least, offer a tent where fans can pop in, pay 20$ and grab a beer and a burger. I know this will involve planning and people, something that the department doesn't do very well with (FREE PRETZELS!), but the game can't be the only reason for attendance when the team stinks. And when the team doesn't stink, you have to keep doing / expand upon these ideas.
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Post by gymrat67 on Jan 16, 2016 10:11:45 GMT -5
Even Gwynned Mercy University's men's and women's basketball games are broadcast on the radio at WNPV1440 AM and online at www.WNPV1440.com.
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Post by lasallescreamer on Jan 16, 2016 10:23:02 GMT -5
Parking is a problem and disabled parking is not plentiful enough. As the fan base ages this is more important.
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joe
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Post by joe on Jan 16, 2016 10:26:54 GMT -5
Parking is not a problems. I have always parked on campus. if you have a problem walking, call and let them know. They will help
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Post by belfieldhappyhour on Jan 16, 2016 10:56:06 GMT -5
Some nice ideas here, but getting some of those 'bigger' name teams might not happen unless the game is moved to the Palestra, a la Miami, and is the cost/benefit worth moving it? The real question surrounding game like that would be - what time slot would we be stuck in? Say we get Penn State or Pitt on a Saturday at the Palestra. What is a desired time for that game? I know it was done for TV, and any of these games would be positioned for some channel to broadcast, the point to remember is that people complained about the 5pm start for Miami. (Other factors there too, I know, like too close to Christmas/students were on break, etc)
I like Joe's idea with a tent. Obviously would need heaters in the winter for that to work (and it probably only work with weekend games), but one of my thoughts has been indirectly reflected in a couple answers. They need more/better food choices/service. One dinky concession stand with campus food isn't very attractive. I'm not saying they need a small Dominos/Pizza Hut, but something different than what you could get in the cafeteria would be nice. Not saying that would directly get people there, but it would be a small help in the experience there.
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Post by aswjr on Jan 16, 2016 11:01:25 GMT -5
One way to get students more involved is to embrace social media a little more. Lasalle men's basketball should have their own Twitter/Instagram handles/pages. It seems as thought Lasalle is well behind in general in the social media category. It's now what drives things esp for the students so embrace and leverage it. I may lose some of the older gents here but something as simple as a Gola Arena snapchat filter will get students to go just so they can snapchat there. Esp if the tickets are free for students. Have a snapchat handle for Lasalle mbb that snapchat stories from the games. It gets ppl involved. Create a hashtag for Lasalle men's basketball that ppl can actually follow and use when at the game. #lasallegameselfies for Instagram. Encourage ppl to tweet and Instagram from the game. Every professional sports team does it and a lot of major colleges. Businesses do it. Crappy arena or not make it an event for students. I mean these are basic things that get the student population more involved that you don't even need to be a social media expert to do. You need to be more in touch with how you're students communicate to engage them. A YouTube channel of highlights the list goes on and on.
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Post by talkinbball on Jan 16, 2016 11:05:54 GMT -5
Not sure this exactly fits here, and, unfortunately, this idea somewhat has to feed off of winning but ,with nothing going to change in our facilities situation, I have thought for the last few years that, instead of crying over it we should stress the gym's uniqueness and try to twist it to our advantage.
Kale will occasionally refer to the gym as the "Attic". Given the situation I really like this. I would say put up a sign(s) at the entrance saying "Welcome to the Attic" along with a other references throughout the gym. Use the name in promotions with the idea that "The Attic" is a tough place to play and it's where (good, witness Dayton) teams come to die. Other gyms use "The Pit" as a nickname in the same vein. As far as I know we are the only ones who could use "The Attic".
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Jan 16, 2016 11:34:13 GMT -5
Kale will occasionally refer to the gym as the "Attic". Given the situation I really like this. I would say put up a sign(s) at the entrance saying "Welcome to the Attic" along with a other references throughout the gym. Use the name in promotions with the idea that "The Attic" is a tough place to play and it's where (good, witness Dayton) teams come to die. Other gyms use "The Pit" as a nickname in the same vein. As far as I know we are the only ones who could use "The Attic". This kind of stuff was pitched as I was getting out. The best they got was the "Explorer Entourage" as the show "Entourage" was on it's way out. Remember the yellow with "VICTORY!" printed on the back. Real high level thinking there. Creative concepts like this do not come out of the group currently in place. They'd have to outsource that kind of branding (not happening) and it isn't just putting a sign up. You need to build a culture and that isn't something that the school / department has shown to be adept in doing. You had your chance with the Sweet 16 squad (maybe year before). I wrote what I consider to be my best Philahoops' article when Giannini and his players described the then guards (Pettis, Galloway, Duren, Mills...I think) as "Pitbulls." I interlaced Pitbull's "1,2,3,4" song and it was really high level stuff. The defensive tenacity was at an all-time high and it was an opportunity to build something. A culture. An identity. Instead, it was lost. Just like the Sweet 16 momentum was lost. Freshmen don't know that La Salle made that tourney run. They won't know about that season. Almost as if it didn't happen for them (except for those checks coming from the NCAA for a couple more years, I guess).
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Jan 16, 2016 11:40:08 GMT -5
One way to get students more involved is to embrace social media a little more. Lasalle men's basketball should have their own Twitter/Instagram handles/pages. It seems as thought Lasalle is well behind in general in the social media category. It's now what drives things esp for the students so embrace and leverage it. I may lose some of the older gents here but something as simple as a Gola Arena snapchat filter will get students to go just so they can snapchat there. Esp if the tickets are free for students. Have a snapchat handle for Lasalle mbb that snapchat stories from the games. It gets ppl involved. Create a hashtag for Lasalle men's basketball that ppl can actually follow and use when at the game. #lasallegameselfies for Instagram. Encourage ppl to tweet and Instagram from the game. Every professional sports team does it and a lot of major colleges. Businesses do it. Crappy arena or not make it an event for students. I mean these are basic things that get the student population more involved that you don't even need to be a social media expert to do. You need to be more in touch with how you're students communicate to engage them. A YouTube channel of highlights the list goes on and on. They do some of these things already. The women's team has their own instagram (though rarely updated) and twitter (updated daily). A lot of the sports at La Salle do this and they are updated frequently. I don't know who runs them, but I'd guess assistant coaches. I'm not sure how adept the men's assistant coaches are nor do I think this should be their job. Probably a marketing person. The youtube page is updated sporadically at best. Social media is a great way to get news and create a buzz when things are going well. I don't think people are going to see a snapchat filter and just say "YAY, a snapchat filter....let's go to the game". A Facebook post is going to be glanced at when the team is 5-10.
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Post by aswjr on Jan 16, 2016 11:52:44 GMT -5
Haha You would be amazed how a 18-22 year old female mind thinks when it comes to snapchat.
But you got my point. The social media aspect could be as simple as a social media intern for each sport or at least the major sports. Possibly with the upset of Dayton last weekend you may have gotten it to trend at least for a little. That bodes well to draw attention esp if they are winning.
It draws attention on two fronts 1. For fans 2. For recruits.
I'll put it this way it doesn't hurt.
The power of social media is everything nowadays I help out with my cousins radio show and even when they were out of work and literally were not on the radio we continued a social media assault and it inevitably help them land there now morning show gig in Detroit.
But to someone's prior point and you're point even if you were do a blue and gold game or a tent hangout how would you get the word out. Probably thorough social media but they have none or what you said a lot of it is sporadic.
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Jan 16, 2016 12:12:15 GMT -5
I don't know how much social media draws, but it is expected and must be done. Without it, you lose relevance.
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