ORUTerry Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 As BB said, we are fighting a current wave trend. The other three schools are having unbelievable football seasons - so getting attention/media until football season is over is not realistic. OSU has a new coach, OU has a seeming national power and TU is expected to do well with Uzoh and Randle. We are also an unknown quantity with limited star power (expect for Robert Jarvis who is a returning juco player) and lots of new faces. We have a weak home non-conference schedule (only John Brown and UALR) and it's unclear how good our conference is going to be - though the bottom dwellers will be there. This season will be tough for crowds - but if it has to happen, this might be the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 Frankly, I'm glad we don't have any "once in a decade"-type games at the Mabee Center on a Saturday night/afternoon in November or the first week of December, during what has now turned out to be a football season for the ages locally. Short of maybe North Carolina, I can't think of anyone on the national basketball scene this season that would draw more than 5,000 fans to the Mabee Center if OU, OSU or TU football conflicted in any way with our tip-off time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 We love you, Mike...and not your fault the 2008-9 home schedule is not attractive....probably should sell the blue seats for $5 or $6 and the Gold for $12...kids under 14 are 1/2 price.....John Brown game should be buy one...get 2 free....gotta get more than 4000 in Mabee Center..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Minyard Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 These posts are good. It has brought on some good viewpoints. Golden Boy and I are friends. I had to react to his post just to defend the marketing department. He went "Doug Wojcik" on me and my fellow co-workers. Totally fine by the way. I'm always open to suggestions, and want to see our fan base grow. Personally, I think we missed a window of opportunity while Ken and Caleb were here. We did generate more revenue each year they played here, but we didn't grow our season ticket numbers much. We had our best attendance in 2004-05 and 2005-06, but we took a hit in attendance in 2006. We required Golden Eagle Club memberships in certain areas, and some people left us. The bottom line is that the club generated much more income, and that ORU as a whole made more money. So it's addition by subtraction. I think we should have lowered season tickets when we were hot to try to get more people on board. We really need to increase just the numbers of our fan base. Right now we are maybe a couple bad seasons or one bad hire away from going back to the pre-Ken and Caleb days. Or another blow out loss at TU this year could set us back. We really need to win that game, but that is an unfair expectation. We are who we are at this point. There are several things you can count on at an ORU game: a win (90% of the time), quality players, good coaches, solid timeout promotions, plenty of free things, somewhere safe for the kids, etc. It's hard not to have a good time at an ORU game. Some people just can't be happy and you have to understand that. So we have a good number of people that spend a lot of money on season tickets and Golden Eagle Club benefits. The primary benefit of being a season ticket holder is having the same seat every game. There is a lot to be said about having your seats. The majority of season ticket holders aren't going to care how you get other people (the casual fan if you will) in the arena as long as it doesn't ruin their own experience. So how do we get more people to the games when we have $17 tickets for John Brown? We obviously have to cut that price down. Here's what we have available this year: Tulsa World Ads (BOGO) Wendy's Trayliner (Four Free Tickets) Mazzio's Pizza Box Ads (Four Free Tickets) Walk-up tickets at Mabee Center Ticket Office (Every fourth ticket has a BOGO coupon on the back of it) Radio ads through K95 and KVOO - new this year (offers BOGO discount through online orders only) Sports Animal Radio Ads (We will do a season ticket campaign for a week; We will also select one game to run a BOGO discount online only) 10,000 Drink Coasters with a BOGO offer will be distributed to restaurants this year Valpak coupon with a BOGO offer will be mailed out four straight months GTR (BOGO offer) Value News (BOGO offer) Also, each game has a "Game Sponsor". These people do sponsorships with us, and have the opportunity to giveaway free ticket vouchers for their particular game. So this allows us to get these to people that don't notice our other marketing efforts. Viral Campaigns that will be e-mails that fans can forward to other people (various online offers) The e-mail marketing will be taken to a new level this year. This is going to allow people to buy the general admission ticket at a deeply discounted price. So an offer similar to Rob Marshall's will be available this year. It will only be as successful as our current fan base allows though. We will depend on people to forward e-mails for us. People taking advantage of the opportunity will get tickets in advance with an online order. That way they don't clog up the lobby on game day. We have the technology for fans to buy and print tickets at home. So that will help us this year. We started it midway last year. The IUPUI (aka "Summit Showdown") was our first game. We filled nearly 300 orders just from online sales. So let's just say the average order was 3 tickets. So we know it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Minyard Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 ALSO... Season ticket holders... Look at the back of your season ticket "strip" (or sheet). The back of the exhibition games has a coupon for "Buy one, get one" ticket free. Take it to the ticket office and buy some tickets for a game later this year. Give them to someone else and try to get someone else on board this year. Better yet, tell them to go buy their own tickets with those coupons. That will increase the chances of them buying tickets again in the future. The offers are going to be available so anyone can get tickets at an affordable price. Speaking of individual game tickets... they go on sale November 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Minyard Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 The family fun pack is an affordable option for fans as well. You get five season tickets for $449. This is the break down: Total for season: $449 Total per person: $89.80 Total per game per person: $6.91 So someone can get a season ticket in the lower level for under $7 per person per game. Heck, they can get a FRONT ROW SEAT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Boy Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Radio ads through K95 and KVOO - new this year (offers BOGO discount through online orders only) Sports Animal Radio Ads (We will do a season ticket campaign for a week; We will also select one game to run a BOGO discount online only) Mike, have you had any luck working with KXOJ or Spirit 102.3? Both have a strong number of loyal Christian female listeners who may NOT be "basketball fans" but are a warm lead being potentially more "ORU friendly" and probably often "shopping for a bargain" entertainment option for their families. As you know, I like all the stuff you're doing...you're doing a great job...appreciate your passion brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Minyard Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Golden Boy... How would you distribute a "bazillion" Robert Jarvis cards to the Tulsa Metro area? And if you did... what would your expectations be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Boy Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Golden Boy... How would you distribute a "bazillion" Robert Jarvis cards to the Tulsa Metro area? And if you did... what would your expectations be? Early, often and every where imaginable...and well, since we're Oral Roberts, uhhhhh, I'd "expect a miracle." Okay in all seriousness, I'd approach Woodland Hills Mall and request the right to pass them out to shoppers there on the weekends throughout November and December...use your cheerleaders and ELI to assist with this project. I'd bless EVERY church in the greater Tulsa area with a plentiful supply. I'd have 'em stacked high at Billy's on the Square downtown for the lunch crowd of business folks. I'd go back to QT and say, "hey we understand you aren't writing checks anymore to support athletics concerns but would you consider helping us out by distributing these in all your greater Tulsa area stores." I'd go to every hotel in Tulsa and ask them to give one to each guest that staying the night at their property when s/he checks in. I'd go to every school in and around Tulsa and drop thousands of them, and don't forget the north side of town as there are a lot of basketball fans found there. GOODNESS how did I fail to mention the Mardel Book Stores and Hobby Lobby locations around Oklahoma (even OKC!)....talk about a no brainer to reach moms, that's the layup of all layups. I can keep going but I think you get the picture...early, often and everywhere imaginable just like I said at the beginning. And as far as my expectations, well I really would expect a miracle...too many folks trying to buy tickets at every game and the resulting mass confusion in the Mabee Center's Moskowitz (aka North) Lobby on game night would be my goal. But that's why you go ahead and add the on-line purchase option info on the backs of the cards. Also be prepared with plastic business card holders for the businesses who are going to distribute them from their counter space for you. Redemption percentages will be small that's why you need a bazillion of them floating around out there oh yeah and tag them with the proverbial "subject to availability while supplies last" disclaimer. Good luck and good selling! Godspeed brother! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 Are all the telephones in town out of order? Have all the e-mail servers crashed? Have all the cell phone towers collapsed? Has the health department closed all the coffee shops and restaurants? Why are we having this discussion on a public message board? In our next thread: finding MM a hot chick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU Big Brother Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 It reminds of the good ol' days when Huge, Mom and Blue used to have discussions between themselves on here. Thank God Al Gore invented the internet or the Minyards would have never spoken when MM was in college! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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