Old Titan Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 39 minutes ago, Bad Blood said: Agreed that it's hard to sell tickets without a schedule. But the people who sell tickets don't make the schedule I think everyone knows that. And, therein lies the problem. "Back in the old days" (cue nostalgic music and wavy lines across the screen), the ORU Athletic Director orchestrated the men's basketball scheduling process, actually scheduling most games himself*, with input from the coaches, in order to finalize the schedule in late spring/early summer, so the season ticket campaign could get in the mail with all or most of the home games & dates featured. It was an "all-hands-on-deck" effort for the entire athletic department, with one goal in mind: SELL MORE SEASON TICKETS. Not sure that's the case anymore for ORU basketball, at least in terms of urgency-in-scheduling, as evidenced. But, you still hear about AD's such as Joe C. at OU and Mike Holder at OSU scheduling games for football, their No. 1 revenue sport. Wondering if AD's at non-football schools are as equally involved these days in scheduling for their top (only?) revenue-producing sport of basketball, or if they defer completely to their coaches, who (I'm assuming) don't list "the season ticket campaign" as a high priority when it comes to scheduling. * And as an independent with no conference games, that meant scheduling 28-30 games per season, not just 12-14 non-conference games now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 ....another thing that helps sell tickets ---- WIN more games! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted September 1, 2016 Author Share Posted September 1, 2016 No real surprises here from what we already had: Richmond will be on Friday, December 23rd (no students + no cheerleaders + skeleton band, if at all + season ticket holders occupied by holiday weekend = zero home court advantage), John Brown the 2nd non-D1 game on Saturday 12/10 (nice respite from the December gauntlet of road games). We've known about the rest of these games for what seems like weeks. Only one exhibition game for the first time in recent memory (ever?). Is trying unsuccessfully to find a second exhibition opponent the reason the schedule was held-up so long? If that's the case, it's like the launch of a cruise ship being delayed because they hadn't finished the floor tile in one of the bathrooms... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 25 minutes ago, Old Titan said: Only one exhibition game for the first time in recent memory (ever?). Is trying unsuccessfully to find a second exhibition opponent the reason the schedule was held-up so long? If that's the case, it's like the launch of a cruise ship being delayed because they hadn't finished the floor tile in one of the bathrooms... they can't have a second exhibition because of the closed scrimmage with WSU. a few years ago ORUWBB went with 2 closed scrimmages and no exhibition games. i'd bet the hold up was picking a date for Richmond since their schedule was not out either. Dec 23 screams of we just could not get it to work on any other date on the calendar. It's secret scrimmage time -- ESPN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted September 1, 2016 Author Share Posted September 1, 2016 52 minutes ago, ORUalum said: they can't have a second exhibition because of the closed scrimmage with WSU. a few years ago ORUWBB went with 2 closed scrimmages and no exhibition games. i'd bet the hold up was picking a date for Richmond since their schedule was not out either. Dec 23 screams of we just could not get it to work on any other date on the calendar. It's secret scrimmage time -- ESPN I wasn't aware of that rule regarding the "secret scrimmages" replacing an exhibition game. There's been a contract for the Richmond game for at least a month - don't those documents typically include the date? Regardless of whatever legality prevented the entire schedule from being released until now, why not issue press releases re: individual games & dates throughout the summer, as they are officially announced by the opponents? That way, the conversation about ORU's upcoming season has a much longer shelf life during the lean sports news of summer, as opposed to this "all-or-nothing" release, which will now go virtually unnoticed amidst all the high school, college and pro football news in the next 72 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Overall, TheEagleman has to say that this is a very impressive schedule......lots of attractive opponents....it's unfortunate that two of our most sexiest home games in December are when the students are gone and holiday shopping will be in full swing....but sometimes that's how it goes.....it's still one of the better ORU schedules that I have seen in the past decade....lots of tough games and our squad will have to step up quick if we want to be anywhere close to .500 at Christmas...let's hope that we can be competitive early....otherwise, look out 4-10........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Baylor game will be on ESPNU.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oru86alum Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Anyone know why the Saturday change of game times this year, i.e. Women's at 12:30 pm & Men's at 3:00 pm? I personally think these are horrible times. My husband & I try to go to all the men's & women's home games, but this schedule basically blows up getting anything done on a Saturday. I have a feeling we will be attending a lot fewer games this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 I also noticed that the home games on the schedule do not state "ESPN3" as in the past two years. Has that relationship ended? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleManiac Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 5 hours ago, oru86alum said: Anyone know why the Saturday change of game times this year, i.e. Women's at 12:30 pm & Men's at 3:00 pm? I personally think these are horrible times. My husband & I try to go to all the men's & women's home games, but this schedule basically blows up getting anything done on a Saturday. I have a feeling we will be attending a lot fewer games this year. Can't see this doing anything but make attendance worse on Saturday games. 3:00 is going to be a very difficult time for families, who are our main target. Seems very silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU82 Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Does anyone know if our games will still be on ESPN3? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Yeah....TheEagleman doesn't like it either...I don't go to the games but it will make them more difficult to watch if they are on TV or ESPN3...just guessing but it has to be an edict from the Summit League because it appears that most Jan/Feb games on Saturdays are in the afternoon..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 Just curious: how is a 3:00pm game on a Saturday a more "difficult time for families" than a 7:00pm game the night before church? AFWIW, I'm betting our aging season ticket base prefers being out in the light of day at 3:00, rather than tripping around in the parking light at night. All that being said, I'm guessing this all about teams wanting to fly/bus out on Saturday nights, getting the kids back home sooner and avoiding another night of hotel expenses. Might even be a new league mandate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU82 Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 To be clear, I hope all the home games are on ESPN. Since I live as for away from Tulsa as I do, that is the only way I get to watch the team. Further, I agree with OT about the 3:00 pm start time. It would actually be easier to make that than getting home late on a Saturday night. One of the other institutions I hold a degree from plays most if not all of their Saturday home games during the afternoon. It actually helps alums who live regionally to come into town for the game and still drive home that night, hence helping to increase ticket sales/attendence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 the 3pm start time is way better for me. I haven't been able to stay past halftime that often over the past couple seasons with a (now) 3½ year old. Plus, then you have the entire evening free. Hope we still have the ESPN3 deal though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Blood Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Attendance at 7 pm hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire so why not try something else? Personally I see this as a much better time. Get your errands done in the morning, then go to the game, then get home in time to go to bed before church. Seriously, who's got something booked for Saturdays at 3 pm? Fact is, there's someone out there to gripe about EVERY change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleManiac Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Guess I was wrong about the time change! My concern was that families would be busy with kids activities on a Saturday afternoon (sports, birthday parties, whatever). Sounds like everyone else prefers the time. Obviously whoever made the schedule knows more than I do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted September 16, 2016 Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 Valid arguments on both sides, particularly for folks with kids. Personally, I prefer the 3pm games - feels like the old Big 8 Game Of The Week, "brought to you by Phillips 66, The Performance People"! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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