Suggestion Box on how to boost Student Attendance & Enthusiasm at Games

[Billy Co]

Interesting article about how Loyola's student section grew this season. It wasn't just success on the court that drew student turnout.

https://twitter.com/LUPhoenixSports/status/968908661887258624

Students Take Notice of Ramblers Success
By Kyle Brown
Published February 28, 2018 12:30 p.m. CT

As the final buzzer sounded in Loyola's 68-61 victory over Illinois State, Gentile Arena fans gave the Ramblers a standing ovation. The game further separated Loyola from the rest of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) and marked the first time Gentile Arena has sold out since 2003.

The 4,963 people who showed up for the last home game of the year was a dramatic increase from the previous high of 3,592 earlier in the season against Missouri State University.

Loyola having its best season in 33 years played a large part in increased attendance, but another key factor is the growth of The Pack, Loyola's official student section. The Pack is led by Marty Breslin, a junior double-majoring in finance and sport management, who also interns in the athletics department.

"We thought this year The Pack's main objective would be to get people to the game," Breslin said. "But, we realized like half way through the year that people were going to come [and] we were going to get all of these students there and now it was about keeping them engaged and making them as loud as possible."

With steady growing attendance, Breslin said The Pack was able to shift its focus from drawing fans into the stadium to making more noise and energy during the game. One of the ways it went about this was the creation of the "Rambler Rules," which are five "rules" for students to follow to keep them engaged all game while also creating a rowdy environment for the visiting team. The rules include being as loud as possible, not sitting down during the game and yelling "You let the whole team down," whenever an opponent misses a free throw.

The combination of the Ramblers' success and the increased energy at the games has created a buzz around campus; this year has been special and students are taking notice.

Marisa Dickens, a sophomore dance and film major, said she's attended a few games this season.

"There has been a lot more participation in the game," Dickens said. "I performed a dance piece at halftime of one of the games and there were a lot of fans which was cool."

One way Loyola and The Pack have been able to build up student attendance and involvement is by creating unique opportunities for student participation within the game such as launching fake burritos for a Chipotle gift card, displaying unique talents such as the dance Dickens performed and shooting baskets in hopes of winning free books for a semester.

Students are aware of the impact this season is having on Loyola as a whole.

"It says that we have a lot of diverse different groups that can perform well and are a good representation of Loyola, not just in academics but athletics as well," sophomore accounting major Paul Zougras said.

Breslin said he's excited about the future of The Pack. He's set for early graduation next fall, so he won't be as involved next season. However, he remains optimistic The Pack is in good hands and will continue to grow.

"Considering where we are setting the bar, I am so excited for where we can go from here," Breslin said. "We didn't know what we were going to end up with. We knew we were going to have a good team, people were going to show up, but we didn't know that they're going to show up in this many numbers and with this passion."

[M]

Huh....a student, or small group of students, can organize a successful student section....what a concept.

[VU2014]

Wait, what? I thought Student Section "leaders" only had the ability to tweet from a phone and sit in their corner without leading cheers or asking their peers to stand... Weird.

[Billy Co]

How many student section leaders heap as much praise on a rival coach as these guys?  They love Moser but publicly bash their own coach on twitter. 
https://twitter.com/happeninghoops/status/969281645919522816

[VULB#62]

Simple question. Have the Valpo student leaders reached out to Matt to get him and the team involved with them?  Granted, these are kids and they have a long way to go to develop the experience they need to navigate an adult world. And, I might add, the Athletic Department should be mentoring these guys. But still........

[a3uge]

Interesting article about how Loyola's student section grew this season. It wasn't just success on the court that drew student turnout.

Decades of indifference correlated with mediocrity at that school proves otherwise.

[VULB#62]

There ya go. Here is another perspective that might influence recruits and increase attendance:  The crowd energy at every home game. Forget about the seat comfort, concessions or suites, players want to play before a rabid home crowd no matter how big or small every night. And even casual fans get off on the energy experience — that was fun!  And it is proven that crazy students make the enviroonment. THAT should drive MLB and his staff in terms of investment. 

[Valpo Joe]

Valpo has a great basketball program which is followed by many alumni friends and family. Fun to watch in the comfort of your home. Most would love to go to the ARC if they didn't live hundreds or thousands of miles away. Thanks to ESPN3 and others I was able to watch all but two games this year.  Back in the Bartow years the old Hill Top Gym was packed with students because it was a major part of the college experience. The dorms emptied out, the fraternities and sororities attended, the pep band or whatever we called it made lots of noise. Students didn't have to be bribed with free pizza, tee shirts or gimmicks. Just tell today's students that the privilege of having student tickets will be taken away if they don't go to x% of the games. Three consecutive misses your tickets are given to some local high school student for the remainder of the season. 

[valpospartan]

Michigan State also has student seating along the sidelines, as well as the ends. 

[crusader05]

Random thought in regards to half times shows etc. We weren't eligible for any of the NCAA money from Wichita State's tourney runs, correct?
I wonder if there has been a budget crunch as money from Butler dried up in the HL and then not being eligible for the MVC this year? I'm not quite sure how it all worked but thought that might be a factor.

[valpopal]

Random thought in regards to half times shows etc. We weren't eligible for any of the NCAA money from Wichita State's tourney runs, correct?
I wonder if there has been a budget crunch as money from Butler dried up in the HL and then not being eligible for the MVC this year? I'm not quite sure how it all worked but thought that might be a factor.

Why can't some halftime shows be supplied by internal talent? The university has a terrific jazz band that performs regularly in town at Duffy's. There are other groups of musicians in different genres. The campus dance ensemble could be contacted for a possible performance. The different cultural organizations on campus often have various forms of entertainment, such as a great step-dancing exhibition by members of the Black Student Organization I remember attending. In fact, a brief halftime performance would be a good way for these groups to generate interest for their full-scale shows on campus. How about fraternity and sorority participation with something similar to Songfest performances? In addition, I wonder about seeking talent from the Valparaiso community that would be willing to perform for publicity and promotion.


While we're taking about internal talent: I wonder why the university is able to put on a number of music concerts that have excellent volume and balanced sound, yet for years the pa system can't be tweaked to create better sound.

[VU2014]

Random thought in regards to half times shows etc. We weren't eligible for any of the NCAA money from Wichita State's tourney runs, correct?
I wonder if there has been a budget crunch as money from Butler dried up in the HL and then not being eligible for the MVC this year? I'm not quite sure how it all worked but thought that might be a factor.

That may be the case but someone on the board mentioned that Mark LaBarbera is not big on spending for halftime shows and is of the thinking that the game is the real entertainment value. To be completely honest I share that view. I could careless about 10-15 minutes of a subpar halftime show. All I care about is winning. If I leave the ARC with Valpo getting a win against a QUALITY opponent, I'm a happy man. Emphasis on the QUALITY. Please bring quality opponents into the ARC and not Non-D1s... if we have to play 1 for strategic reason, so be it but I likely won't show up to that game. Maybe that's just me. I know others feel differently about the need for halftime shows.

Maybe funds were redirected to give coaches raises when when made the switch to the MVC. It's extremely important to pay coaches/assistants competitive salaries to their peers in the same conference. I have no clue what Coach Lottich's salary is but I'd guess it's less then the salary Bryce made on his extensions (new buyout insurance).

I heard from a pretty good source that Porter Moser is making a little over $400,000 at Loyola and is likely going to be getting a raise after this season because of how well they performed and they know they're likely to lose him in the near future. Is Lottich making anything close to that?? I thought Bryce's contract extension paid him in the $200k range. Wright State is paying Scott Nagy $500,000 in the Horizon League! I hope the Athletics Department has a plan to stay competitive with coaches salaries at this level. Coaching and recruiting is literally the life blood of a program.

[Valpo Joe]

VU14 - You're right on target. Dump the non D1 games. Forget about the 1/2 Time gigs and focus on QUALITY Valpo basketball. That's what fans want.

[a3uge]

Random thought in regards to half times shows etc. We weren't eligible for any of the NCAA money from Wichita State's tourney runs, correct?
I wonder if there has been a budget crunch as money from Butler dried up in the HL and then not being eligible for the MVC this year? I'm not quite sure how it all worked but thought that might be a factor.

That may be the case but someone on the board mentioned that Mark LaBarbera is not big on spending for halftime shows and is of the thinking that the game is the real entertainment value. To be completely honest I share that view. I could careless about 10-15 minutes of a subpar halftime show. All I care about is winning. If I leave the ARC with Valpo getting a win against a QUALITY opponent, I'm a happy man. Emphasis on the QUALITY. Please bring quality opponents into the ARC and not Non-D1s... if we have to play 1 for strategic reason, so be it but I likely won't show up to that game. Maybe that's just me. I know others feel differently about the need for halftime shows.

Maybe funds were redirected to give coaches raises when when made the switch to the MVC. It's extremely important to pay coaches/assistants competitive salaries to their peers in the same conference. I have no clue what Coach Lottich's salary is but I'd guess it's less then the salary Bryce made on his extensions (new buyout insurance).

I heard from a pretty good source that Porter Moser is making a little over $400,000 at Loyola and is likely going to be getting a raise after this season because of how well they performed and they know they're likely to lose him in the near future. Is Lottich making anything close to that?? I thought Bryce's contract extension paid him in the $200k range. Wright State is paying Scott Nagy $500,000 in the Horizon League! I hope the Athletics Department has a plan to stay competitive with coaches salaries at this level. Coaching and recruiting is literally the life blood of a program.

Drew's contract was $377,464 in 2016. That was top few in the Horizon at the time. I think only Jeter was making more.

[VU2014]

Drew's contract was $377,464 in 2016. That was top few in the Horizon at the time. I think only Jeter was making more.

Maybe the $200k was his initial contract was around that amount. Everything is a blur. It feels like such a long time ago since Bryce was the HC. So much has happened the last 2 years.

[VULB#62]

Random thought in regards to half times shows etc. We weren't eligible for any of the NCAA money from Wichita State's tourney runs, correct?
I wonder if there has been a budget crunch as money from Butler dried up in the HL and then not being eligible for the MVC this year? I'm not quite sure how it all worked but thought that might be a factor.

That may be the case but someone on the board mentioned that Mark LaBarbera is not big on spending for halftime shows and is of the thinking that the game is the real entertainment value. To be completely honest I share that view. I could careless about 10-15 minutes of a subpar halftime show. All I care about is winning. If I leave the ARC with Valpo getting a win against a QUALITY opponent, I'm a happy man. Emphasis on the QUALITY. Please bring quality opponents into the ARC and not Non-D1s... if we have to play 1 for strategic reason, so be it but I likely won't show up to that game. Maybe that's just me. I know others feel differently about the need for halftime shows.
(new buyout insurance).

2014, you are contradicting yourself in agreeing that it is all about the game on the court. If you look back at your previous posts you have continually championed the TOTAL game experience over and over again. Valpopal has hit on a great concept — use the halftime period to expose fans to all the great dynamics of the university. It wil add variety and, ...........PROVIDED it is framed properly (i.e., within the spirit of an intense athletic event, i.e., no string ensamble unless they kick butt) it would add greatly to the game experience.

In that light, I work at Lambeau Field, and one of the greatest spirit generators there is something called the Tundra Line. It's a drum line that is incredibly good and it jazzes people up like crazy. If we could expand the Pep Band to include, say, ten more percussionists this could work wonders for getting people jacked and adding to the game experince. Here is a YouTube of a "drumoff" between them and the UW Badger drumline at the LSU/UW FB game.  I believe no one else in the MVC has a drum line. That would make us unique.  And it gets people absolutely jacked!

Check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVsd9RMJcxg

[FieldGoodie05]

Random thought in regards to half times shows etc. We weren't eligible for any of the NCAA money from Wichita State's tourney runs, correct?
I wonder if there has been a budget crunch as money from Butler dried up in the HL and then not being eligible for the MVC this year? I'm not quite sure how it all worked but thought that might be a factor.

That may be the case but someone on the board mentioned that Mark LaBarbera is not big on spending for halftime shows and is of the thinking that the game is the real entertainment value. To be completely honest I share that view. I could careless about 10-15 minutes of a subpar halftime show. All I care about is winning. If I leave the ARC with Valpo getting a win against a QUALITY opponent, I'm a happy man. Emphasis on the QUALITY. Please bring quality opponents into the ARC and not Non-D1s... if we have to play 1 for strategic reason, so be it but I likely won't show up to that game. Maybe that's just me. I know others feel differently about the need for halftime shows.
(new buyout insurance).

2014, you are contradicting yourself in agreeing that it is all about the game on the court. If you look back at your previous posts you have continually championed the TOTAL game experience over and over again. Valpopal has hit on a great concept — use the halftime period to expose fans to all the great dynamics of the university. It wil add variety and, ...........PROVIDED it is framed properly (i.e., within the spirit of an intense athletic event, i.e., no string ensamble unless they kick butt) it would add greatly to the game experience.

In that light, I work at Lambeau Field, and one of the greatest spirit generators there is something called the Tundra Line. It's a drum line that is incredibly good and it jazzes people up like crazy. If we could expand the Pep Band to include, say, ten more percussionists this could work wonders for getting people jacked and adding to the game experince. Here is a YouTube of a "drumoff" between them and the UW Badger drumline at the LSU/UW FB game.  I believe no one else in the MVC has a drum line. That would make us unique.  And it gets people absolutely jacked!

Check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVsd9RMJcxg

Opinions change

[VU2014]

VULB#62, I may have been for halftime shows at one point, I don't know. To be clear, I'm not against them. I just think when we have a finite budget, it's not the most important thing. I've always been for improving the gameday experience but I'm not sure a costly 10-15 minute half time show makes a world of difference, unless we're bringing in a cultural sensation like 'Red Panda' that is likely out of our budget for a halftime performance.

Everything is on table, imo. If great halftime shows are a deal breaker for most people then I'm all for it. Whatever it takes to improve the gameday experience and improve the attendance. But I do agree the kids playing at halftime is beyond getting old now. Maybe cut that down to a once per season and make it against a non-d1, when you're not going to draw much attendance anyways. I think there are obvious things that need to be fixed like the parking, helping the pep band, improving student attendance/enthusiasm and teaching the cheers, fixing the speaker system, improving the music choice, & improving the concessions. I think we could also pull from OU on their new cheerleading/spirit squad during the games. I'm not sure if anyone has been to an Oakland game but they really make the cheerleading/spirit squad a key feature of the entertainment during timeouts to hold the fans attention. They did really well performed dance routines and acrobatic flips and stuff. I just think a lot of the little things could be improved to enhance the gameday experience that would add up. Obviously a ARC renovation is needed and would significantly at enhance the gameday experience but we all know where that stands.

Ultimately winning and bringing in quality opponents are the most important thing and always will be.

[crusader05]

I love the idea of gettng student groups in to do that halftime shows. It's a great way to connect Athletics to other parts of student life and to maybe get students who haven't experienced a game in the student section.

I think as much as we demand the students come and support their team there is something about the teams moving through other parts of campus AND them inviting others to their game experience.

[M]

I'm not a fan of spending for halftime entertainment. If groups want to perform for free great. I don't mind the youth basketball either, just make sure you don't get teams who have the same colors are our opponents. I like the relative quiet at halftime and the opportunity to visit with the people who are at the game with me.

[VU2014]

I'm okay with the Athletics Department filling most games with cheap halftime entertainment. They should just get more creative and also start addressing more pressing issues with the gameday experience.

Ideas:
-dedicate a halftime show to introducing the incoming signed recruiting classes for all sports and honor them at halftime. Introduce them to the fan-base and play their highlights on the jumbrotron. It would also bring their friends and family to game and would fill extra seats.
-Jazz Band (free)
-Songfest is in the Spring but it would be awesome if the could get the Top 2 songfest winners to perform at halftime because those were always fun. Not to mention you'd get all of Greek Life to attend. Maybe they could move up Songfest to February?
-invest in creating a drum line? That would be pretty cool. Only mandate they perform during Men's Basketball games and football games.
-Play new games during the halftime
-A crowd-pleaser is always getting the football players to do a silly dance routine with the cheerleaders
-Start taking the cheerleading and crusaderettes more seriously. I don't want to be critical but our school doesn't even come close to other schools in terms of competitive cheerleading/dance squads. If you go to other schools games it's more of a big part of the games and it's actually pretty entertaining.
Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHEBJLJqPxQ

[humbleopinion]

Speaking of football players..

I remember a halftime back in the 60's: Coach Reiner put members of the football team on the court to play basketball while wearing 16 oz boxing gloves.  As I recall, they were only allowed to punch the person with the ball. 
I certainly enjoyed watching it. 
I don't think it was ever repeated.
Cheap entertainment.

[VU2014]

Speaking of football players..

I remember a halftime back in the 60's: Coach Reiner put members of the football team on the court to play basketball while wearing 16 oz boxing gloves.  As I recall, they were only allowed to punch the person with the ball. 
I certainly enjoyed watching it. 
I don't think it was ever repeated.
Cheap entertainment.

Hahaha really? I'm not going to lie that would entertaining to watch. Couldn't do that these days.

[Valpo89]

The people in charge of halftime entertainment need to contact Merrillville High School.
During the game against Valpo High this year, Merrillville's drum line performed an awesome routine.
Need to get them in here while Mileek is still on the team.

[VU2014]

Illinois State has a drum line but they also have a Marching Band that they bring out for the football games. Having a marching band at a school as small as Valparaiso might not make financial sense, because I'm guessing it requires scholarships. If they could figure out a way to bring back the marching band here without having to give out many scholarships, would be cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0irxrHJ89M