Improving our home court experience

[Beninator]

For students, fans, and alumni, the athletic department needs to IMO utilize social media much better. This would be a great class project for the marketing department!

Example

Bradley Athletics Facebook page which IMO is rather bland and does not contain any videos??????

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bradley-Braves-Athletics/139079699474878?sk=wall

Bradley Men's Basketball Facebook page- This hasn't had any updates from the person in charge of the page since August 4, 2010--in fairness it appears that BU is focusing on the Athletics page.

Contrast this with the Minnesota Gopher page which is much more interesting and utilizes video.

http://www.facebook.com/GopherAthletics

Also a poster on a thread a while ago suggested utilizing apps which if this hasn't been done, would be a great idea to reach students etc with promotions etc.

[squirrelgotdead]

On the hockey horn bit, I'm pretty sure the NCAA has strict rules about music and artificial noise makers during live ball situations.

[jrish12]

Good topic, I think a big one is free food. College students will always flock to where there is free food. Cheap beer is another one, but it wont happen because you run the risk of underage drinking more heavily, ie someone of age goes to the line and buys beer for his buddy next to him who is say 19. You would have to have extra security if you did that.

All in all, everything I would like to see done has already been mentioned, the biggest is marketing on campus. From what I hear there is next to no marketing on campus for games. I know the basketball fans will make it down, but the casual student with nothing else to do on a Tuesday night....

[BUfan14]

Like many others have said, better marketing is important. A lot of good ideas on here, I hope someone important reads them.

Team apparel is terrible. There are no adult size jerseys with the current jersey style and current player numbers. The shirts, shorts, ect. selection is rather poor in my opinion. It's like we are playing at a high school, little kids jerseys and a plain shirts with our name slapped on it are all we have. Oh and we have those player number tshirts that are wore out after a few times through the wash....high quality stuff.

I agree free food is a huge attraction.

[jrish12]

Team apparel is terrible. There are no adult size jerseys with the current jersey style and current player numbers. The shirts, shorts, ect. selection is rather poor in my opinion. It's like we are playing at a high school, little kids jerseys and a plain shirts with our name slapped on it are all we have. Oh and we have those player number tshirts that are wore out after a few times through the wash....high quality stuff.

Although I agree to an extent, we got my dad a really nice Bradley windbreaker from campustown a few years ago. It has held up nicely, but then again that is only one item. I wouldnt mind a pair of replica game shorts. I dont know how many adult sized jerseys they would sell to be honest.

[BuBraves55]

Although I agree to an extent, we got my dad a really nice Bradley windbreaker from campustown a few years ago. It has held up nicely, but then again that is only one item. I wouldnt mind a pair of replica game shorts. I dont know how many adult sized jerseys they would sell to be honest.

I'd like some shorts and I have a feeling so would some of the standee students.

Not to get too greedy but U of I has some big time replica shorts that are pretty close to authentic ones. That'd be nice.

[BUFanatic]

I'd like some shorts and I have a feeling so would some of the standee students.

Not to get too greedy but U of I has some big time replica shorts that are pretty close to authentic ones. That'd be nice.

I don't know where they get them, but the vintage "short shorts" of old seem to be very popular with East Peoria (maybe other schools?) My friends seem to love them! Similar to the red and white overalls I guess.

[SFP]

How many games do you watch that have the students ringing the court instead of behind the basket? Being there like every place else, they can stand all they want and not bother anybody. Not shouting you down, just disagreeing.

Shocked to have seen you respond to my post. LOL

In reality the whole BU basketball marketing situation needs a face lift. Maybe not ringing the court but I still believe the students should have at least one section that is not in the end-zone. The whole culture of BU basketball has changed since they moved to Carver. In the beginning there were some great teams so very little tweaking had to be done to maintain a great atmosphere but reality is that being so far off campus and the crowd becoming older the whole concept of motivating people needs to change. The game should be primarily used as a way to tie the students into the school so after they graduate they can still feel like they are a part of it. Second is raising money. It seems that the school has used it primarily for raising money and have lost the concept that the school should be for the students. Oh well just a reflection of society as a whole.

[Chico]

Shocked to have seen you respond to my post. LOL

In reality the whole BU basketball marketing situation needs a face lift. Maybe not ringing the court but I still believe the students should have at least one section that is not in the end-zone. The whole culture of BU basketball has changed since they moved to Carver. In the beginning there were some great teams so very little tweaking had to be done to maintain a great atmosphere but reality is that being so far off campus and the crowd becoming older the whole concept of motivating people needs to change. The game should be primarily used as a way to tie the students into the school so after they graduate they can still feel like they are a part of it. Second is raising money. It seems that the school has used it primarily for raising money and have lost the concept that the school should be for the students. Oh well just a reflection of society as a whole.

Why the shock? There's only one poster I never respond to. It would nice to have a section besides the end zone for the students, but with the amount of students that show up now, I think they can be more of a presence in the end zone during free throws etc.

[Rusty 54]

Copy everything Utah State does

[Chico]

I know several that do the ring (Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Penn St. I think, Duke, etc.) but I also know several that don't that have just as loyal fan sections (Oklahoma, Texas, and I don't think Florida's student Section is around the ring either) It's mostly what you make of what you got. At this point, we couldn't move the students and shift the big bucks season ticket holders away from their seats, so I believe that this is really a moot point.

Hard to compare schools of that size, who have students that actually support their team, to a school the size of Bradley.

[squirrelgotdead]

Speaking of the band, I think that they do a great job and they don't get thanked enough, but someone needs to tell Dr Vroman to lose the part at the end of the swing march where the band changes from a major cord to a minor cord. I know from a musician standpoint it is kind of cool, but from a crowd standpoint, this is really lame!

It's really more of a unison to a major chord, although I think the last year the kids have started doing the minor third thing.

It started mostly as a filler for unexpected gaps.

He's at least worked in more new stuff this year.

[Bradleyguy10]

HEY! That hurts... I loved the Fieldhouse. Saw my first Red-White scrimmage with my grandpa there.... Wanted to slap Glasser silly when I saw it go down. RIP

That was planned to be knocked down before Glasser...according to the facilities dept. at BU

[squirrelgotdead]

That was planned to be knocked down before Glasser...according to the facilities dept. at BU

Yes, that decision was made way back around 04-05, although not formally announced until 2006.

[amckillip]

Give the students better seats! The ones that do go deserve to ring the court and be able to stand up when they want without the oldies yelling at them to sit down. There are way to many stiffs at the game and I expect a few of them to shout my post down.

I agree completely with this...

Shocked to have seen you respond to my post. LOL

In reality the whole BU basketball marketing situation needs a face lift. Maybe not ringing the court but I still believe the students should have at least one section that is not in the end-zone.

However this is probably more realistic. Let the students wrap around the opposing teams bench, or put them across the court from it. It would get very frustrating watching opposite court play from the 'endzone' and not be able to tell what happened because you had no depth perception. Trying to tell what happens under the basket was next to impossible. Why not give the students a better experience.

Despite what many think, cultivating student interest should be the top priority of the basketball program. Going forward the former students (also known as alumni ) will be the foundation of the program. They will be who donates, and who fills the seats. SFP is right that they need to be lured down here because of all the other distractions and how much easier it is to meet up without 'meeting' somewhere. Students nowadays send a text and can organize easily, making the need to go to a game non-existent.

Many people will discount this saying 'those who want to go will go.' IMO, that's about as short-sided as it gets. If you only care about the next 5-10 years of BU basketball, I suppose the view is valid. But future generations of fans have to be cultivated. The younger generation doesn't just follow the local team because it's there any more. 3 years ago I started watching Butler because I liked the way they played - in Peoria, then Tucson, and now Peoria again. I could see every game easier and in better quality than I could watch Bradley. I underline this point because we, as Bradley, need to develop our experience and market it to upcoming generations to ensure we continue to have loyal, fans - rather than resting on our laurels and saying 'our fans are good now.' To compare it to a business, if your boss asks you how you're going to grow your marketshare and you respond 'What we have now is good enough' what do you think his response will be?