2016 Season: Athletic Department Logistics

[BEAR]

I know it's never simple especially at the FCS level with limited budgets, but what has your Athletic department done to kick off the football season? Or any sport for that matter?

When do they start advertising that season tickets are on sale?
When do they start selling tailgate spots or renewing those from last year?
When do they start advertising athletic booster brunches etc?
Do they personally call or write the fans to purchase those tickets/tailgate spots/fundraise or do they hope fans will make an effort to do those things?
How often do they update your athletic website with current year information and photos?
Do they ever ask for volunteers to help them with these processes?

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being poor and 10 being excellent, how do you rate what appears to be the effort put out by your Athletic Office?

I'm giving my Athletic department a 3.

As good people as serve our Athletic department are, there "appears" to be very little effort to do those things listed above. Especially to look for volunteers to assist with many aspects they appear to not have time to do.

For example, if you want to buy tickets to any athletic event at UCA you go to their website and click "tickets" then "buy tickets" and you get this:

Server Error


404 - File or directory not found.

The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.





If you want to see how much tickets cost you go to "tickets" and then "ticket prices" and you get this:

University of Central Arkansas
Athletics Ticket Department
Ticket Prices



2015 Football






Season Tickets
Game Day Tickets





Or articles about our facilities that describe them:


Luxury suites will be in place at Estes Stadium for the 2012 season, giving fans a comfortable, unique viewing experience with many amenities. And there has been much buzz about the unprecedented purple and gray artificial turf for the football field, which was installed in the summer of 2011 to much fanfare.


OUTDATED.

I have yet to receive a phone call or email or letter asking to purchase a tailgate spot or season ticket.

The website carries outdated construction photographs of excellent facilities. It's pathetic. Hence the reason I asked the question about the department NOT asking for volunteers to assist in updating those things.

What's your take on your department? While this looks like a slam on my school, I'm actually looking to see if anyone else has the same issues and if not, how they corrected them! I know we're just fans and the athletic admins don't know us from jack....but I bet many of us here wouldn't mind helping in some way to give visitors and fans a better experience. And yes, it has been offered to UCA several times by many different people but they act like they just don't know where to start. xlolx

[McNeese72]

When do they start advertising that season tickets are on sale?
When do they start selling tailgate spots or renewing those from last year?

They have been doing the first two since early spring. The renewal deadline for those is already passed and they are selling to new buyers now. Except for the tailgate spots. There is a waiting list of people wanting to buy tailgate spots.


When do they start advertising athletic booster brunches etc?

They should be starting that up any day now because the fall meetings for the main booster clubs start in August.



Do they personally call or write the fans to purchase those tickets/tailgate spots/fundraise or do they hope fans will make an effort to do those things?

Tailgate spots, no, because there is a waiting list. Not sure about season tickets because I've had season tickets for forever and they don't need to write or call me. As far as fundraising, I get mail about different fund raisers for different sports just about all year long.



How often do they update your athletic website with current year information and photos?
Do they ever ask for volunteers to help them with these processes?

They are usually updated daily during the sports seasons. Over the break in the summer not as much but articles of interest are put up every so often during the week. The football roster will be updated in August when the players report.

As far as volunteers, I'm in a group of phototographers that feed photos to the SID and his group during the seasons. And I, myself, have access to put up photo galleries on the McNeese website. Over 90% of the galleries on the website are ones I put up. Will be starting up again with the preseason football scrimmages.

[IBleedYellow]

When do they start advertising that season tickets are on sale?

NDSU is capped @ a little over 12k Season Tickets, and we've been there since 2010 or so. We "advertise" in the sense of putting on our Website that you can request them - rarely do you actually get them. In fact if you want guaranteed season tickets this year - 8 of them - it's $250,00 donation to our booster program Teammakers. Last year we had 6 people do that according to who I've talked to in the Athletic department. Rumor is the waiting list is around 5k people requesting on average 3 seats.


When do they start selling tailgate spots or renewing those from last year?

Same time as season tickets. These are also 100% booked - and I doubt that they change hands anymore. If you weren't in them 3 years ago, you're SOL and locked out.


When do they start advertising athletic booster brunches etc?

NDSU Teammakers does weekly lunches during the season, when you re-up your donation for the year they send you a schedule for the year. Coaches that have matchups that week are almost always there. It's great hearing Coach Klieman talk about football and hearing stories about the previous game.


Do they personally call or write the fans to purchase those tickets/tailgate spots/fundraise or do they hope fans will make an effort to do those things?

Uhhh yes. But the product sort of sells itself right now.


How often do they update your athletic website with current year information and photos?

Little slow on this front - but it's adequate enough.


Do they ever ask for volunteers to help them with these processes?

Teammakers has people do volunteer work which allows you to get priority points - I'd personally rather just give money.


On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being poor and 10 being excellent, how do you rate what appears to be the effort put out by your Athletic Office?

8.5 Some work to do on communication, but I believe our AD and booster clubs are FBS level - at least how they are ran.

[DFW HOYA]

Georgetown:

When do they start advertising that season tickets are on sale? Aug. 15. Then again, you don't buy season tickets to sit at the MSF.

When do they start selling tailgate spots or renewing those from last year? None. No tailgating available.

When do they start advertising athletic booster brunches etc? No such brunches.

Do they personally call or write the fans to purchase those tickets/tailgate spots/fundraise or do they hope fans will make an effort to do those things? Later in the season.

How often do they update your athletic website with current year information and photos? Rosters? Each August.

Do they ever ask for volunteers to help them with these processes? No--it's a staff responsibility.

[BEAR]

Thanks for the info guys...looks like we are WAAAAAY behind! xlolx

[Twentysix]

IBY, is that number missing a zero or is the comma in the wrong place?

250,00 is 250,000 or 25,000?

[BEAR]

IBY, is that number missing a zero or is the comma in the wrong place?

250,00 is 250,000 or 25,000?

Nah. It's Canadian money being so close to the border and all eh?xlolx

[IBleedYellow]

IBY, is that number missing a zero or is the comma in the wrong place?

250,00 is 250,000 or 25,000?

$250,000.

I didn't get the specifics - so it may be over a certain time frame. But that figure is correct.

[lionsrking2]

Our SIDs and marketing folks do a great job given our resources. State budget cuts in Louisiana have put a strain on just about everyone who's not LSU, but we've been able to make do so far.

[number1]

Southern University

I know it's never simple especially at the FCS level with limited budgets, but what has your Athletic department done to kick off the football season? Or any sport for that matter?
We just had new field turf installed in Mumford Stadium with a brunch and tour of the new field. We always have a fan day/pep rally prior to the start of the season for fans and students to get hype about the upcoming season.

When do they start advertising that season tickets are on sale?

I receive my season ticket renewal letter usually around late May/early June.

When do they start selling tailgate spots or renewing those from last year?

I'm guessing around the same time as the season tickets.

Do they personally call or write the fans to purchase those tickets/tailgate spots/fundraise or do they hope fans will make an effort to do those things?
In terms of fundraising, letters are sent out showing the different projects that would be supported with the donations. We had one sent out for supporting the building of Jaguar Park by purchasing personalized bricks or fence columns or donating to the project. With season tickets, I believe I just visited the website for info when I first bought them a few years ago.

How often do they update your athletic website with current year information and photos?

It's usually pretty up-to-date during the school year. Over the summer, a few relevant topics may be posted along with the new football schedule and roster.


On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being poor and 10 being excellent, how do you rate what appears to be the effort put out by your Athletic Office?

7.5-We have room for improvement, but with all of the issues that our athletic department has had to deal with (APR, Louisiana Budget Cuts, No Full-time AD, etc.......) they've done a pretty good job of holding things together.We have a lot of projects that are moving forward to keep up with other state and regional FCS schools(new field house, new field turf for the football stadium, practice field upgrade, and new scoreboard). There are some logistical things in terms of communication and gameday operations that can be improved, but it's a big improvement over how things used to be a few years ago.

[tierre]

I know it's never simple especially at the FCS level with limited budgets, but what has your Athletic department done to kick off the football season? Or any sport for that matter?

When do they start advertising that season tickets are on sale?
As soon as they release the schedule. The ones who are getting Reserved Seats in the season ticket package have a certain date to renew them if they want to keep the same seats.

When do they start selling tailgate spots or renewing those from last year?
All of it on the same day as they release the schedule.

When do they start advertising athletic booster brunches etc?
We have an A club but it doesn't have much advertising

Do they personally call or write the fans to purchase those tickets/tailgate spots/fundraise or do they hope fans will make an effort to do those things?
No

How often do they update your athletic website with current year information and photos?
A Whole lot better than they use to. A lot more updated than 4-5 years ago.

Do they ever ask for volunteers to help them with these processes?
Not that I know of

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being poor and 10 being excellent, how do you rate what appears to be the effort put out by your Athletic Office?
7 The staff are very friendly. I want to see them make a goal of season tickets they want sold and see where we are on that amount.

I'm giving my Athletic department a 3.

As good people as serve our Athletic department are, there "appears" to be very little effort to do those things listed above. Especially to look for volunteers to assist with many aspects they appear to not have time to do.

For example, if you want to buy tickets to any athletic event at UCA you go to their website and click "tickets" then "buy tickets" and you get this:

Server Error


404 - File or directory not found.

The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.





If you want to see how much tickets cost you go to "tickets" and then "ticket prices" and you get this:

University of Central Arkansas
Athletics Ticket Department
Ticket Prices



2015 Football






Season Tickets
Game Day Tickets





Or articles about our facilities that describe them:




OUTDATED.

I have yet to receive a phone call or email or letter asking to purchase a tailgate spot or season ticket.

The website carries outdated construction photographs of excellent facilities. It's pathetic. Hence the reason I asked the question about the department NOT asking for volunteers to assist in updating those things.

What's your take on your department? While this looks like a slam on my school, I'm actually looking to see if anyone else has the same issues and if not, how they corrected them! I know we're just fans and the athletic admins don't know us from jack....but I bet many of us here wouldn't mind helping in some way to give visitors and fans a better experience. And yes, it has been offered to UCA several times by many different people but they act like they just don't know where to start. xlolx

I also hope they can get more people to come to games that don't involve Jackson St., Southern, or Grambling.

[clenz]

$250,000.

I didn't get the specifics - so it may be over a certain time frame. But that figure is correct.
How much is teammakers pulling in each year?

If you have 6 people doing that this year that's 1.5 million dollars in donations this year. Isn't the temmaker number about 2.5 million? You're saying that all other donations only equal about 1-1.5 million?

[IBleedYellow]

How much is teammakers pulling in each year?

If you have 6 people doing that this year that's 1.5 million dollars in donations this year. Isn't the temmaker number about 2.5 million? You're saying that all other donations only equal about 1-1.5 million?

Once again - I don't know if that $250k has to be a lump sum in their first year - or to hit in 5 years. All that I know is I was told that's the price from THE man who raises money for us.

Also - TM gives closer to 3.28M/year currently. News Article (http://www.gobison.com/news/2015/2/27/ATH_0227155931.aspx?path=general)

[SFA 93]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnQRpo2VYAA_Ryy.jpg

Tickets for SFA Football went on sale in May and a link to the ticket office can easily be found at sfajacks.com in the football section. You can click on the Buy Tickets tab for on-line orders through e-ticket or one can call the ticket office located at William R. Johnson Coliseum at 936-468-JACK

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CihgTKOUYAAkOX7.jpg

Varsity Club Members get first crack at season tickets and post season tickets as the AD sends out a nice colored illustrated Membership Guides through the mail with your options. I got my membership guide in the mail the first week of June.

The AD also calls every year for donor membership renewals, and the callers are student volunteers, some are even the student athletics themselves working the phones.

Varsity Club Chairback: $55.00
Varsity Club Reserved: $38.00

Benefits at the highest donor level (Hall of Fame Level $30,000)

- Football Program Recognition
- Invitation to Weekly Luncheons
- Invitation to Special Receptions
- Away Game Ticket Information
- Post Season Ticket Priority
- Game-Day Media Guides
- Special Football Parking
- Reserved Chairback Seating (I’m up to this point at Jr. Varsity Level $250.00)
- Reserved Season Tickets
- Access to Murray Shaw Room
- Elite Football Parking
- Annual Championship Dinner
- Exclusive Events with Head Coaches
- Personalized Wall Plaque
- Two Tickets to Hall of Fame Dinner
- Travel with Team to Division I Game (two guest)

Gen. Public Season Tickets Chairback: $93.00
Gen. Public Reserved Season Tickets: $63.00
Fac./Staff Chairback: $55.00
Fac./Staff Reserved: $38.00

Single Game Chairback: $22.00
Single Game Reserved: $15.00
Gen. Admission: $12.00
Visiting Student (w/ID): $6.00
Children (ages 9-17): $6.00
Children 8 and under: Free

Texas Tech Game – Jones A&T Stadium (Lubbock) Reserved: $30.00

Battle of the Piney Woods - NRG Stadium (Houston) Reserved: $15.00-$43.00

Tailgating Parking Passes went out July 12

The SFA website was overhauled a couple of years ago and now is much more professional with a staff and is updated daily with current SFA sports news and events.

Stephen F. Austin gets a rating of 10 with me as the AD runs a very organized effort to keep students, Alumni, and fans updated. Our Athletic Director Robert Hill is one of the best in the nation and seeing how our AD has grown nationally (mainly in basketball) is a testament to that.

[eiu1999]

When do they start advertising that season tickets are on sale? Two months before season opener
When do they start selling tailgate spots or renewing those from last year? tailgating is first come first serve.
When do they start advertising athletic booster brunches etc? Two months before
Do they personally call or write the fans to purchase those tickets/tailgate spots/fundraise or do they hope fans will make an effort to do those things? Not that I'm aware of.
How often do they update your athletic website with current year information and photos? Weekly
Do they ever ask for volunteers to help them with these processes? Never

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being poor and 10 being excellent, how do you rate what appears to be the effort put out by your Athletic Office? 5