Creighton – Philly
Could be a match made in Heaven. Philadelphia is a major media market, a recruiting hotbed with scores of recruits, and home to the Big Five. It is a natural basketball mecca.
Creighton has had the benefit of playing Philly area teams over the last couple of years, in Drexel and St. Joe’s. The fans in the Philadelphia area and Jays fans are becoming used to seeing the Jays in town – this year at the Palestra. Drexel is not an official member of the Big 5, and the Dragons are in a rebuilding mode.
This trend is one we should continue. Jays are becoming a fixture that the fans in Philadelphia look forward to – as a non-conference gauge for their teams. And…You can’t get a ‘bad’ game in Philly.
The BIG 5: St. Joe’s and Penn are steady. Temple and LaSalle are rapidly rising due to great recruiting years. Villanova is still at the Top of the pile in Philly.
Most promising games would be a continuation of the St. Joes’s series and the addition of a LaSalle or Temple series. LaSalle article link below:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/20080917_Glen_Mills__Murray_commits_to_La_Salle.html
Coach John Giannini returns the most scoring and rebounding of any Atlantic 10 school. And now the program has added a colossal recruit, certainly the biggest since Giannini took over five seasons ago, and the most highly-regarded for quite some time. Building via transfers and recruiting, LaSalle is on course to a return to prominence.
Creighton should work to maintain this Philadelphia link with the A-10 and expand it to include all the Big Five schools (on a rotational basis). There are no bad basketball games in Philly.
Stimulating Alumni Interest with Neutral Court Games
Over on Bluejay Basketball they have broken out the spread on where Creighton season ticketholders are located. The spread is not surprisingly Eastern Nebraska (Omaha area) and Western Iowa centered.
http://bluejaybasketball.wordpress.com/ Where Do They Come From?
These numbers are interesting.. There doesn’t appear to be any correlation to major population centers, nor areas of major alumni populations-other than Omaha. Looks to be heavily Omaha-centric. Good work.
Generally ST sales are based around interest in the team – although many out-of-towners, may only attend a few games/year. ST’s may be counted as a donation to the U, so I believe that they are tax deductible (that should be checked, as I am not 100% positive on that).
However, ST’s as a business expense are standard fare for businesses (generally corporations), making ST holding a win-win situation for them.
When alumni population centers are overlapped on the Season Ticket map – only Neb/Iowa will show a positive correlation, Cali, DC, MN, and other areas will show a disconnect. I think if the University would begin to consider a select neutral court ‘schedule’ of games (over a 3-5 year span) in Alumni population centers – maybe 1 or 2 per year, we can generate greater alumni interest…similar to what has been done with the alumni chapter parties – National Viewing Day scenario. (A page out of the Duke-Coach K. book) Limited to major alumni hubs &/or major recruiting regions.
Example: Schedule a neutral court or even an away game in 2010 with UMinn or Wisc (even Wisc-Milw) to stimulate interest by the alumni chapter and the broadbased appeal we have in that region.
2011 could do the same with G. Mason, American U., or (if poss) G’twn or UMD @ the Verizon Ctr. in DC. In this particular case, it may be easier to attempt to join in the BB&T Classic @ the Verizon Ctr. – usually held in early December.
Similar efforts can be attempted for 2012-2014, for other major alumni hubs. Alumni Relations can partner with the Athletic Department to coordinate and use the Alumni Board and local Chapters to help facilitate these arrangements, to lessen the burden on the Athletic Department. The AD (BRass) would maintain command and control of the overall policy, planning, and coordination for these efforts.
