(12-30-2022 05:14 PM)82hawk Wrote:  

(12-30-2022 04:52 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(12-30-2022 04:33 PM)82hawk Wrote:  

(12-30-2022 04:28 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(12-30-2022 04:24 PM)82hawk Wrote:  I'd rather we focus on how to became a brand that attracts casual fans to our programs.

Putting your games on a service no one has heard of or buys is a surefire way to kill that dead

How is Charleston doing it on the exact same platform?

1 year a brand does not make.

Uncw and Charleston have never struggled with attendance when the programs are winning

You have to think more than attendance. Selling out a 5K seat arena when you are successful and the top dog in town shouldn't be that hard. Both UNCW and Charleston have proven they can do that. This is especially true when you have a strong season ticket base and exceptional student turnout.

There is more to a brand than selling tickets 9 to 15 times a year

Agree 100%. Tell me how being on ESPN changes that. I literally just read a retweet from Pat Kelsey that had the following:

Fan: "I brought 8 new fans who live in Kiawah. None had been to a game before. They are now raving fans. They were blown away with the GAME DAY EXPERIENCE. Congrats."

Kelsey: This fires me up. Hearing this more and more. Sold out SIX last night. As John Adams said regarding Revolutionary War and why the movement was successful. "It was in the minds and hearts of the people"....Shared common cause. The City. Our City. The Six. Charleston Basketball.

THAT is how you do it.

We don't even have the people in the city of Wilmington engaged in UNCW athletics, why would casual viewers on ESPN become engaged?

The city of Wilmington is not engaged as much anymore because it's very hard to follow the program. Our backbone used to be local media. That is dead as WECT, WWAY, and Star News are shells of what they once were on terms of sports output. The CAA used to have the best TV coverage a mid major league could ask for. That is also dead and gone due to a variety of circumstances.

Instead of trying to make up that gap and making it easier to follow the team, it's now harder than ever. Unless you know about the special CAA link or put @uncw.edu as your email you see an absolutely ridiculous price point pitched to you from a service that sounds sketchy as hell no casual or potential viewer has never heard of.

BUT MA PAYOUT is better with Flo. Ok fine that is a fact. But if you're going to bury 95% of your content on a service no one has ever heard of you gotta take advantage of the local TV benefit.

BUT MA TICKET SALES. If you're product is good both on the court and atmosphere wise, people will see your 2 hour commercial on the local TV station your radio partner owns and want to come join in.

The two options we have are ESPN+ and Flo. ESPN+ has around 24.3 million subscribers. Flo has between 500,000 and 1M. Which is the average Wilmingtonian more likely to have? ESPN+, either standalone or via the under $20/month Disney Bundle, or the advertised $30/month Flo Sports?

Long story short. If we are going to stick with Flo we need to at minimum put 2 or 3 games in Jan and Feb on local TV via our radio partner's independent TV station. If not we have no one to blame but ourselves and our market monopoly attitude when people stop caring again.