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Post by bogeyman on Aug 9, 2023 9:47:27 GMT -6
Read the just announced strategic plan. I guess sports information falls under "brand and fan development." The problem with the objectivs as I read this document, is it hits hard at "fan experience" (which I read as experience at games/matches) with one objective at developing new fans thru targeted outreach to KEY (money givers) constituents. Where does this address the lack of information coming from the ACU sports information department to alumni and fans who may be unable to give but are still huge fans and supporters. This is the broader fan base with the potential to bring fans to games, student athletes to ACU and maybe even big time revenue down the road. Until we fix the lack of flow of sports info from ACU we are missing the mark. My opinion only.
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Post by Outsider on Aug 9, 2023 10:10:35 GMT -6
I see them addressing some of this in 5.1: Strategy B & D; and 5.2: Strategy C.
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Post by bogeyman on Aug 9, 2023 10:28:48 GMT -6
OK. Let me amend my previous post by noting Strategy C--Equip staff with tools and resources to properly share what make ACU Athletics unique--Does this mean add to the Sports Info staff to allow them to properly report on ACU sports? We seem to think the "big" picture is what makes ACU athletics unique when alumni and fans are just wanting basic coverage of each sport in a timely manner. Uniqueness is a byproduct of doing all the little things right. When we are in day 11 of fall football and there has only been 1 report with minimal information (from Day 1 of camp) then there seems to be a problem that transcends "uniqueness" to the alumni and fan base.
P.S. As I watch us (ACU) add staff member after staff member and see the Sports Information Department continue to lack personnel and evidently the resources to get basic sports info out, I have to wonder if we have priorities in their proper place. From my viewpoint, the way to increase revenue, expand fan base, get the ACU message out to future generations is the flow of info from the school to alumni and others that may have a tie to the school, NOT JUST KEY CONSTITUENTS. (I'm talking athletics info here). Case in point; I see on ACUsports today the announcement that men's basketball now has 7 staff for a roster of 12 players. Yet we have 1 SID with possibly 2 assistants to cover 15 ACU sports teams with hundreds of student athletes. How is that properly promoting ACU Athletics to alumni and fans? Maybe this is being addressed. Maybe I'm alone in the wilderness wanting more coverage. Maybe I don't matter. All those things may be true but this is how I see things at this juncture of time. Grandiose plans will fail if we don't attend to the little things.
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Post by Outsider on Aug 9, 2023 11:05:37 GMT -6
My hope led with 5.2: Strategy C, which is the establishment of the Fan Experience Committee and other avenues to generate better feedback. Hopefully getting fans more involved in planning and decision making can help move communications forward and bridge some of that gap.
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Post by dallasalum on Aug 9, 2023 14:16:02 GMT -6
OK. Let me amend my previous post by noting Strategy C--Equip staff with tools and resources to properly share what make ACU Athletics unique--Does this mean add to the Sports Info staff to allow them to properly report on ACU sports? We seem to think the "big" picture is what makes ACU athletics unique when alumni and fans are just wanting basic coverage of each sport in a timely manner. Uniqueness is a byproduct of doing all the little things right. When we are in day 11 of fall football and there has only been 1 report with minimal information (from Day 1 of camp) then there seems to be a problem that transcends "uniqueness" to the alumni and fan base. P.S. As I watch us (ACU) add staff member after staff member and see the Sports Information Department continue to lack personnel and evidently the resources to get basic sports info out, I have to wonder if we have priorities in their proper place. From my viewpoint, the way to increase revenue, expand fan base, get the ACU message out to future generations is the flow of info from the school to alumni and others that may have a tie to the school, NOT JUST KEY CONSTITUENTS. (I'm talking athletics info here). Case in point; I see on ACUsports today the announcement that men's basketball now has 6 staff for a roster of 12 players. Yet we have 1 SID with possibly 2 assistants to cover 15 ACU sports teams with hundreds of student athletes. How is that properly promoting ACU Athletics to alumni and fans? Maybe this is being addressed. Maybe I'm alone in the wilderness wanting more coverage. Maybe I don't matter. All those things may be true but this is how I see things at this juncture of time. Grandiose plans will fail if we don't attend to the little things. |
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Post by dallasalum on Aug 9, 2023 14:31:03 GMT -6
Totally agree. There is obviously some overlap but, basically I see little as it relates to real fans, people who attend home and road games, and donors. Maybe I am just ignorant about that. Catering to donors is very reasonable but we also need to appreciate real fans. Of course, some people are both but not a large number. By fans, I primarily I mean people who attend games. That is what creates excitement. Case in point, it was interesting to see the number of ACU "fans" who showed up in Indianapolis for the game vs UCLA on Monday who were not there on Saturday night for the UT game.
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Post by dallasalum on Aug 9, 2023 14:32:26 GMT -6
My hope led with 5.2: Strategy C, which is the establishment of the Fan Experience Committee and other avenues to generate better feedback. Hopefully getting fans more involved in planning and decision making can help move communications forward and bridge some of that gap. |
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Post by dallasalum on Aug 9, 2023 14:38:17 GMT -6
Just curious, how do you define "fans"? Who is on the Fan Experience Committee? How are/were they chosen? How do you distinguish between people who live in Abilene, students, staff, and faculty and others? Am really interested in learning more about this.
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Post by Outsider on Aug 9, 2023 16:48:20 GMT -6
Just curious, how do you define "fans"? Who is on the Fan Experience Committee? How are/were they chosen? How do you distinguish between people who live in Abilene, students, staff, and faculty and others? Am really interested in learning more about this. I didn't write it and can't answer those questions for you. |
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Post by rc on Aug 9, 2023 16:54:22 GMT -6
Let's nominate Bogeyman for the committee.
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Post by Cap'n Cattitude on Aug 9, 2023 17:39:47 GMT -6
If Bogeyman can attend meetings by Zoom, I can for sure get him a spot.
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Post by dallasalum on Aug 9, 2023 18:27:23 GMT -6
Just curious, how do you define "fans"? Who is on the Fan Experience Committee? How are/were they chosen? How do you distinguish between people who live in Abilene, students, staff, and faculty and others? Am really interested in learning more about this. I didn't write it and can't answer those questions for you. Sorry, Guess that I messed up. Would like to hear a response from whoever wrote it. |
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Post by Cap'n Cattitude on Aug 10, 2023 15:45:34 GMT -6
Just curious, how do you define "fans"? Who is on the Fan Experience Committee? How are/were they chosen? How do you distinguish between people who live in Abilene, students, staff, and faculty and others? Am really interested in learning more about this. The Fan Experience Committee (FEC) was started by Steve Harrell. At the time, he encouraged people to volunteer to serve on the committee. I don't remember how he communicated it to me but I told him that I would be interested and suddenly I'm on the committee. The committee has been a fairly diverse group but there has been some turnover. The primary purpose of the FEC is to find ways to get people in the seats and sell tickets - particularly the Abilene community. To that end, the committee consists of mostly local Wildcat fans. Lassiter has made it clear that we should stay away from discussing student experience as that is handled elsewhere. Our brainstorming has provided some pretty good ideas. The lack of news has been a topic just like on this board but not as much. The behavior of the big purple at both football and basketball has been discussed. This has actually led to some type of conversation with the band director about expections but I don't know what if anything came of it. Youth team games, church group games and the like have been discussed along with Dyess night, first responder night, school games. My favorite idea for football is a battle of the bands - AHS, CHS and Wylie for sure but you could take it to other schools nearby like Clyde or Jim Ned. One topic that has been considered a great deal is the question of tailgating. The student tailgate in the stadium has been a success but some would like a way for adults to tailgate with looser rules for beer. Personally, I think working out something around the Allen Ridge area offers the best opportunity for this. That way there's no alcohol on campus. There just needs to be a safe way for people to cross Ambler Ave. So, that is the long answer. The short answer is that it's a volunteer group that is still figuring out it's role. |
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Post by Outsider on Aug 10, 2023 16:34:10 GMT -6
Just curious, how do you define "fans"? Who is on the Fan Experience Committee? How are/were they chosen? How do you distinguish between people who live in Abilene, students, staff, and faculty and others? Am really interested in learning more about this. The Fan Experience Committee (FEC) was started by Steve Harrell. At the time, he encouraged people to volunteer to serve on the committee. I don't remember how he communicated it to me but I told him that I would be interested and suddenly I'm on the committee. The committee has been a fairly diverse group but there has been some turnover. The primary purpose of the FEC is to find ways to get people in the seats and sell tickets - particularly the Abilene community. To that end, the committee consists of mostly local Wildcat fans. Lassiter has made it clear that we should stay away from discussing student experience as that is handled elsewhere. Our brainstorming has provided some pretty good ideas. The lack of news has been a topic just like on this board but not as much. The behavior of the big purple at both football and basketball has been discussed. This has actually led to some type of conversation with the band director about expections but I don't know what if anything came of it. Youth team games, church group games and the like have been discussed along with Dyess night, first responder night, school games. My favorite idea for football is a battle of the bands - AHS, CHS and Wylie for sure but you could take it to other schools nearby like Clyde or Jim Ned. One topic that has been considered a great deal is the question of tailgating. The student tailgate in the stadium has been a success but some would like a way for adults to tailgate with looser rules for beer. Personally, I think working out something around the Allen Ridge area offers the best opportunity for this. That way there's no alcohol on campus. There just needs to be a safe way for people to cross Ambler Ave.
So, that is the long answer. The short answer is that it's a volunteer group that is still figuring out it's role. Things like this was why I asked for a pedestrian tunnel underneath Ambler and wondered why it was never put into the design. We knew that once development began, a simple crosswalk across Ambler was never going to be adequate. As more parking and development occurs, that demand is only going to increase. |
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Post by dallasalum on Aug 10, 2023 16:38:09 GMT -6
Just curious, how do you define "fans"? Who is on the Fan Experience Committee? How are/were they chosen? How do you distinguish between people who live in Abilene, students, staff, and faculty and others? Am really interested in learning more about this. The Fan Experience Committee (FEC) was started by Steve Harrell. At the time, he encouraged people to volunteer to serve on the committee. I don't remember how he communicated it to me but I told him that I would be interested and suddenly I'm on the committee. The committee has been a fairly diverse group but there has been some turnover. The primary purpose of the FEC is to find ways to get people in the seats and sell tickets - particularly the Abilene community. To that end, the committee consists of mostly local Wildcat fans. Lassiter has made it clear that we should stay away from discussing student experience as that is handled elsewhere. Our brainstorming has provided some pretty good ideas. The lack of news has been a topic just like on this board but not as much. The behavior of the big purple at both football and basketball has been discussed. This has actually led to some type of conversation with the band director about expections but I don't know what if anything came of it. Youth team games, church group games and the like have been discussed along with Dyess night, first responder night, school games. My favorite idea for football is a battle of the bands - AHS, CHS and Wylie for sure but you could take it to other schools nearby like Clyde or Jim Ned. One topic that has been considered a great deal is the question of tailgating. The student tailgate in the stadium has been a success but some would like a way for adults to tailgate with looser rules for beer. Personally, I think working out something around the Allen Ridge area offers the best opportunity for this. That way there's no alcohol on campus. There just needs to be a safe way for people to cross Ambler Ave. So, that is the long answer. The short answer is that it's a volunteer group that is still figuring out it's role. |
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