Samantha has been busy.

https://tribeathletics.com/news/2018/10/...a5a88bf5c7

Huge.

Read the article. It all sounds good. But in the real world, what do we envision this doing for W&M athletics? What kind of opportunities for exposure and growing the product will this provide. I'm all about spending a buck to make a buck, but I worry about hiring a consultant here and an advisor there and all the school gets in return are talk and reports.

(10-30-2018 11:23 AM)mrjoolius Wrote:  Read the article. It all sounds good. But in the real world, what do we envision this doing for W&M athletics? What kind of opportunities for exposure and growing the product will this provide. I'm all about spending a buck to make a buck, but I worry about hiring a consultant here and an advisor there and all the school gets in return are talk and reports.

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(10-30-2018 11:54 AM)Tribeheart Wrote:  

(10-30-2018 11:23 AM)mrjoolius Wrote:  Read the article. It all sounds good. But in the real world, what do we envision this doing for W&M athletics? What kind of opportunities for exposure and growing the product will this provide. I'm all about spending a buck to make a buck, but I worry about hiring a consultant here and an advisor there and all the school gets in return are talk and reports.

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Not an overwhelming list of clients with their Collegiate Division, but apparently VWSE does event production, also. They produced this year's NFL draft event and assisted with the NCAA Final Four. Besides tapping into revenue generation through sponsorships/advertising, if it results in a greatly improved game experience at Kaplan (video boards, plus) and Zable, then great. We'll see.

It certainly is another visible signal that there is a major shift in the Athletics Dept operating as a business.

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Yeah, this means... what exactly? I'm sure there are better ways for the school to make more money off it, but as a fan I love the current set up where we get home basketball (and most away) games streamed online for free with a good quality feed that works well. Can't ask for much more than that.

This can only help us. I say give it a chance and we'll see. Samantha is one smart business manager...this association was not a decision casually made and I expect she kniows what she's doing.

At the very least she's shaking the tree.

(10-30-2018 12:26 PM)TheRealTribe Wrote:  

(10-30-2018 11:54 AM)Tribeheart Wrote:  

(10-30-2018 11:23 AM)mrjoolius Wrote:  Read the article. It all sounds good. But in the real world, what do we envision this doing for W&M athletics? What kind of opportunities for exposure and growing the product will this provide. I'm all about spending a buck to make a buck, but I worry about hiring a consultant here and an advisor there and all the school gets in return are talk and reports.

+1



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+2

I'd love to know where Huge has found this money all of a sudden. Between this group and the PICTOR Group announcement this summer, sounds like potentially some serious money on consultants. (And as I am a consultant myself, I get this isn't cheap.)

I originally took this as a consultant program, but it does say "sales agent", so, assume VWSE is simply getting a cut on what they generate. Again, if it results in corporate advertising sponsorships footing the bill for media display boards and pumping up the in-game entertainment and energy level, great.

Not sure I'd ever want to see us move to the flat out commercialism I experienced at the NC State basketball game a few years back, but a compromise, yes.

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Improving exposure, gameday product, maximizing revenue, increasing the fan base.

If this group delivers anything close to the potential, we are talking about a major shift in Tribe's current sporting profile.

This is not a consultant relationship. This is a brand awareness, revenue creation move. As long as they create at least the same amount of revenue as we have now it costs us nothing. I have a close colleague that worked for one of their other listed clients who had nothing but good stuff to say. It also proves to me that the university wants athletics to be one of the top, if not the top, vehicle used to gain a more national notoriety. This decision wasn't simply made within athletics...it is university-wide.

(10-30-2018 01:12 PM)Tribeheart Wrote:  I originally took this as a consultant program, but it does say "sales agent", so, assume VWSE is simply getting a cut on what they generate. Again, if it results in corporate advertising sponsorships footing the bill for media display boards and pumping up the in-game entertainment and energy level, great.



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Thats the way I took it. They have "exclusive rights." This is a partnership. Their corporation uses their expertise and connections to make money. That essentially means they will take all calculated risks to get revenue up. They take their cut for the next 10 years. There is nothing to lose and given our past approach, we can only go up.

This is certainly not a major factor, but like it or not, in a couple of years, we will see the Pamunkey casino and resort down 64 within striking distance of CW. This will only add to the potential game sales draw, if the Tribe athletics brand is increased. They're not leaving a casino to come to a Tribe game, though, if the energy level experience is a major drop, as it would be now (not a reflection on the team/players.) Not that they would leave the casino anyway, but beyond Tribe students/alum, we have to consider what we are competing with for the entertainment dollar, with respect to revenue sports and growing attendance. Synergy floats all boats if done right.

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Maybe we could schedule some games at the Casino? That would be a memory maker!!

(10-30-2018 01:48 PM)SoCal Frank Wrote:  Maybe we could schedule some games at the Casino? That would be a memory maker!!

Well, at least another reason to get a successful Tribe basketball tournament at Kaplan started over turkey weekend, and have CW and the casino add to the draw for participant fan bases to want to travel for it.

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So is this supposed to help us land a better tv deal? I don't really know what the partnership is as I'm bad at reading corporate speak.

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In basketball, we drew a lot more fans in the mid/late 70s than we do today and certainly more than in the 25 years prior to five years ago. To go along with that, the Williamsburg metro area is significantly more populated. What changed. Well in the earlier years we played great college programs and sold out the Hall/Kap. UNC, UVA, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Maryland, undefeated Rutgers, and West Virginia all played here. We almost beat UCLA in Pawley Pavilion, we upset UNC, we were in Sports Illustrated (John Lowenhaupt in faces in the crowd), and I can go on. We had way more national recognition as a basketball program and sports school. Did Sam Baker ever have money for marketing? Heck no, but we had an AD who was connected (Carnevale) and he got us good games and exposure. We let that fall apart with poor coaching hires (not you Charlie) and no real vision.

We need to get back to that and make our sports teams an exciting product to watch and have big name schools play us on our home court. It sounds crazy to a lot of folks on this board, but I really think it can happen if Tony keeps winning and Samantha keeps getting us into the national spotlight.

Stanford in football, women's soccer at Texas A&M, basketball at UVA, Notre Dame......those are all very intentional.

I agree, with the exception that back in the 70's viewing options and entertainment competition was not limitless, as it is today with cable and streaming. Many will no longer get off their couch, given the option, unless the venue experience matches pace.

If this year's schedule becomes standard, then Huge will be maximizing potential. Other than a one off home matchup if we open a new or renovated Kaplan, or we get into a coaching carousel and require a return game as part of a coach buyout clause, we will not see P5 teams here again. Just a fact of the changed landscape.

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(10-30-2018 10:08 AM)Tribedad18 Wrote:  Samantha has been busy.

https://tribeathletics.com/news/2018/10/...a5a88bf5c7

I'd be really interested to know how the selection process went for this.

I'm sure VMSE put together a fantastic proposal, but I really hope IMG/Learfield/Outfront and other comparables got a look or were able to respond to an RFP. I'm assuming this is similar to deals done with schools like VCU/ODU/Mason/UR/UD.

I view us more on track with the schools in the below links than the list of clients that VMSE has listed.

That said, definitely a good step in the right direction...I just hope we aren't taking too small of a step.

IMG Properties: http://www.imgcollege.com/our-properties...iversities
Learfield Properties: https://www.learfield.com/what-we-do/partners/