The WSJ posted an interesting article last week on College Football programs looking to the MLS for marketing, game day experience and ticketing ideas. What's interesting to me is that programs that might not have much in common with the MLS are looking for answers in the soccer boom, yet the stadium size and locals markets are so different. BC, however, probably has more in common with an MLS' teams issues than a big SEC school. Our stadium is smaller, we are in an urban setting and we compete with bigger teams.
BC is not mentioned as a team looking to the MLS, but fortunately we are already doing things they recommend. Stadium improvements are the most obvious, but we are also tracking individual student attendence and rewarding loyalty.
What the MLS is also improving the food at the stadium. Food is rarely mentioned as the problem with BC sports. But maybe it is something BC should address. An improved team will always have a greater impact than improved concessions, but it doesn't mean something can't be done.
I rarely go to games so I am always an armchair QB on the issue. But I think that the only way to get Alumni and Conte filled is to make it an experience you cannot get at home. Winning is important, but everything else matters too.
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Food has been mentioned at every town hall I've been at. Would love to see a game day experience with Anna's, Moogys, flatbreads and of course CheChi as vendors in the stadium...
I get the sense that interest in BC football is fading. Just look at your blog. Not many commenters. Not much lively discussion about BC football and the season starts in about a month. The BCI blog seems stagnant too.
I am not sure why there is less interest, but my guess is that BC football is too mediocre to get excited about for many. Hard to get excited when 6-6 might be considered a decent outcome. Could be something else too.
SERIOUS POST--I don't pay much attention anymore since all the evidence about concussions has come out in the last year-plus. Football has always been a violent game, albeit particularly so before the reforms of the early 20th century (that Teddy Roosevelt had pushed). To the extent there were abuses, I saw them as failures of individual teams and management rather than the system in general--hence the easy mockery of pompous programs like ND and those in the SEC.
In the last year-plus, though, the concussion evidence has really shaken me. Now I see football as inherently problematic. I understand that's not everyone's view, of course, just my own. I root for BC and against certain others, but beyond checking casually on ATL and EO for news I really don't pay attention to football at any level anymore.
Get rid of those d*mned sesame seed pretzels and get real ones, please...
I completely agree with you eagle1331, those pretzels are always stale and terrible.
Observer, yes the concussion stuff is a drag.
Back in my day, our football coach told us to "ring his bell." That was a goal: make your opponent dizzy and possibly unconscious (briefly)
However, the other team had the same objective. I think back with amusement at the treatment given if you were knocked out cold on the field. The 'trainer' would rush out on the field with a little white stick of 'smelling salts'. He would crack the smelling salts under your nose. You would get a wicked smell of ammonia gas and other nasty stuff. But it would wake you up.
You would then trot (no walking allowed) to the sidelines to the applause of the crowd, where you would remain for one play to "shake it off." You could then return to action! No one was ever examined for a concussion or a "rung bell."
Re: Observer's comment. I say this as the world's biggest football fan, but the end is near for football. I doubt it will be a sudden ban (like what happened to lawn darts in the 80's). Rather, when studies indicate that football is unsafe at any level, high school teams will become uninsurable and will cease playing. The talent drain will soon crop up to the collegiate level and fan interest will fade to the point that only a handful of state schools will play.
Just a guess.
Well, the game day experience is difficult to make 100% positive at BC.
When I lived in the area, it was easier to drive onto Shea as a season ticket holder - and it didn't cost an arm and a leg - and more. You set up your grill, cooked some burgers and sausages, etc. and had a few beers building up to game time.
Now, when I fly up to a game - if I happen to have a car rental, I use my spot on Upper Brighton, and I can't even have a sandwich and a glass of wine. That baloney has to stop.
But it's also all about the in-game experience. So we need wifi and the latest in scoreboard/video-boards.
However, the professionalization of college football, plus the concussion and serious injury issue are probably the biggest threat to the game as we know it.
I'm old enough that when I was a student, many or most players played both ways - and they didn't use their heads as tackling battering rams. The Offensive Line was 235 not 325. Football was tough, but not the crazy collision sport is has become over the years.
Jadeveon Clowney can run as fast as a running back, but his tackles pale in comparison to a 250 LB streaking across the field 25 yards, and launching full speed like a missile into the ballcarrier (Mark Herzlich). I guess Clowney might do that in the pros.
We had just as much fun, and just as many thrills watching our guys in those old days without the brutal collisions.
And how about those guys in the trenches who might get their bells rung multiple times per game?
I'm rambling, sorry.
Anyway, I still love college football and will support our BC Team until it no longer makes sense.
I love the campus and the band, etc. all the pageantry (on those beautiful fall days - not as much in the rain) - but I'm old school.
Today, the younger fans need much more, and I hope BB can continue to figure this out. We also need broader support in our own city.
I'd be thrilled if they added rest rooms in the upper deck on the Conte side. :-)
But really - if we're fans, let's go to the games. That's how we fund football and other sports.
If we want to compete, fans need to do their part and not cop out.
We need continued leadership to stoke up the BC base. It's not coming from the Fenway Sports Group - dump those bums.
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