(03-29-2019 08:27 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or single game ticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

(03-29-2019 08:27 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or single game ticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

(03-29-2019 08:27 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or singleticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

(03-29-2019 11:44 AM)RamDawg Wrote:  I've missed very few home games at VCU over the past 20 or so years. Beer at basketball games is not something that it's all cracked up to be but would totally support beer at football games. The tailgate type setting of #4 could totally work for the new convo. Beer and food vendors in an outdoor, mid-way type setting, opened before, during and after games could certainly add to the social atmosphere, not to mention the money making opportunities. I believe the JMU community would totally embrace a tailgating type opportunity since we're so accustom to (and good at) tailgating. Most VCU fans wouldn't know what a tailgate party even looks like.

(03-29-2019 08:27 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or single game ticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

(03-31-2019 10:55 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

Agree and somewhat disagree. We all agree winning will bring a lot of folks in or back in. Times are very different today though and far from an apples to apples comparison to the days of the Lefthander at JMU. All games are streamed live for starters now. Back then if you wanted to see the game you almost always had to be in the Convo.

Today students (heck even older fartekers like me) want good mobile phone connectivity as another example (and one that has improved a little at the Convo but still not great in my opinion). JMU back then wasn’t viewed as a “football school”. It is much more today. JMU has lost at least 2 decades of students in terms of interest in MBB. Winning will do wonders. But it will need to be consistent over a number of years to get to selling out every game like those glory days of the past. And, the experience needs to be great, not good.

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

(03-31-2019 12:01 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:55 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

Agree and somewhat disagree. We all agree winning will bring a lot of folks in or back in. Times are very different today though and far from an apples to apples comparison to the days of the Lefthander at JMU. All games are streamed live for starters now. Back then if you wanted to see the game you almost always had to be in the Convo.

Today students (heck even older fartekers like me) want good mobile phone connectivity as another example (and one that has improved a little at the Convo but still not great in my opinion). JMU back then wasn’t viewed as a “football school”. It is much more today. JMU has lost at least 2 decades of students in terms of interest in MBB. Winning will do wonders. But it will need to be consistent over a number of years to get to selling out every game like those glory days of the past. And, the experience needs to be great, not good.

I agree. Winning is the biggest factor in generating a filled arena, but the other elements you’ve outlined play a role too. Standards have changed and it is simply a different time. In some ways sports fans have become more discriminating on how they’ll spending their time and money, but it all starts with winning. After 20 years of mostly lousy to mediocre results in MBB I’m surprised JMU has as many fans as it does. Here’s to hoping that’s about to change for the better.

(04-01-2019 09:07 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

This is your opinion. For me and many of my friends the competition very much matters. Also, competition is more than butts in seats, competition defines peer groups.

If JMU has an admin that believes nothing but winning matters, bring on DIII, bring on the weakest teams we can find that is athletic soul crushing.

FCS can be and may be a version of this belief. We can out build and out spend the fcs and win playing Incarnate Word which is better than having to compete against programs with the same resources.

I hope this belief does not make it to the classrooms.

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to UVA - any ACC/AAC/top 100 team?"
Anyone/Many - "yes, thanks"

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to JMU - Nearly any CAA/MEAC/NEC/Patriot team"
Anyone outside of HBG - "No"

Competition matters.

Thanks Lady Dukes for bring St. Johns, GW, GTown, VT and NWestern to HBG!

(04-01-2019 10:00 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 09:07 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

This is your opinion. For me and many of my friends the competition very much matters. Also, competition is more than butts in seats, competition defines peer groups.

If JMU has an admin that believes nothing but winning matters, bring on DIII, bring on the weakest teams we can find that is athletic soul crushing.

FCS can be and may be a version of this belief. We can out build and out spend the fcs and win playing Incarnate Word which is better than having to compete against programs with the same resources.

I hope this belief does not make it to the classrooms.

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to UVA - any ACC/AAC/top 100 team?"
Anyone/Many - "yes, thanks"

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to JMU - Nearly any CAA/MEAC/NEC/Patriot team"
Anyone outside of HBG - "No"

Competition matters.

Thanks Lady Dukes for bring St. Johns, GW, GTown, VT and NWestern to HBG!

And if UVA was winning at the Dave Leito and Pete Gillen level prior to Tony Bennett those UVA tickets would not be that popular either. Folks like winning and winning brings folks to the arena and makes it be a place to be. Sure the ACC > than the CAA and DUKE/UNC will always be a hot ticket. But if UVA was not a great great ride, there would not be much interest in Pitt/BC/Miami/Wake games.

(04-01-2019 11:09 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 10:00 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 09:07 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

This is your opinion. For me and many of my friends the competition very much matters. Also, competition is more than butts in seats, competition defines peer groups.

If JMU has an admin that believes nothing but winning matters, bring on DIII, bring on the weakest teams we can find that is athletic soul crushing.

FCS can be and may be a version of this belief. We can out build and out spend the fcs and win playing Incarnate Word which is better than having to compete against programs with the same resources.

I hope this belief does not make it to the classrooms.

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to UVA - any ACC/AAC/top 100 team?"
Anyone/Many - "yes, thanks"

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to JMU - Nearly any CAA/MEAC/NEC/Patriot team"
Anyone outside of HBG - "No"

Competition matters.

Thanks Lady Dukes for bring St. Johns, GW, GTown, VT and NWestern to HBG!

And if UVA was winning at the Dave Leito and Pete Gillen level prior to Tony Bennett those UVA tickets would not be that popular either. Folks like winning and winning brings folks to the arena and makes it be a place to be. Sure the ACC > than the CAA and DUKE/UNC will always be a hot ticket. But if UVA was not a great great ride, there would not be much interest in Pitt/BC/Miami/Wake games.

Agreed there is not as much interest for Pitt/BC/Wake as Duke but there is still much better interest in Pitt/BC/Wake and/or OoC opponents that have a pulse compared to teams nobody knows at all.

I know JMU has to schedule conference teams and some conference teams are interesting but in addition to the CAA games, scheduling weak so we can claim we won is pathetic. Does any team on earth besides JMU think this way?

Maybe "Brighten the Lights of Madison" to be Replaced by "Let's Schedule Weak So We Can Win"

Are JMU sports participation events or striving to be grow and be the best possible by playing and defeating the best possible?

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.