Gibby this is a test, correct? You know good and well that we have an entire Dept, VP and all.
We need to confront reality: we have terrible leadership at WSU
- Thread starter ttowncoug
- Start date
Do the math. Alcohol is already sold in the suites. 10,000 people buy two beers for $10 each. That’s $200k each home game. And that’s just revenue.
I could be totally wrong but IIRC, the board of regents are political appointments and which glorious party controls this state ever since all mail in voting was installed.....Inslee cares about 5he west side and udumb..
That's why you advertise and sell more before and during the game to anyone and everyone.
No different than concessions and apparel
Problem is that WSU doesn’t call the shots on alcohol service. Spokane office of the Liquor board does, and they have not signed off on anything that would allow alcohol outside of the boxes, field house, and the tents on the practice field. There’s no good place for a beer garden anymore, and they’re not convinced that there would be any control on consumption in general seating.
We can have shitty leadership and a stingy alumni base. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Plenty of blame to go around.
At what point is it ridiculous?
Imagine going to a Seahawks game and at half time on the jumbo screen the owner starts asking for $$$ for a new stadium…. and to pay the coaches more… and for their general fund…. and to pay the players…. and you’re to blame if we lose and cant keep our players…. at some point it’s ridiculous. Especially when bad or wrong decisions are consistently made.
The idea that your biz model is built on customers giving you $$$ for the sake of giving you $$$ and then you blaming them for ot giving more when you fck it up is asinine. A few bucks here and there? Fine. To be expected to collectively come up with millions of dollars out of our pockets and into players and coaches pockets? Nope. All while the HC made $2.7m and cried poor? Fck him.
I'd be 5% happier.
It's a simple/easy.
You know how much more money we would have made over the last 20 years?
A buttload.
Usually as soon as you begin typing.
Meanwhile in Alabama:
Bama AD tells fans to 'fight back,' help fund NIL
After narrowly missing the expanded College Football Playoff, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne is urging Tide fans to "fight back" and help fund the school's NIL fund.
I can't remember when the laws or regulations changed, but my best guess is five years ago. So, for years 1-15 or so, the difference was zero dollars.
Go ahead and get to work on placing a beer garden or gardens in Martin.
Edit- Looks like alcohol sales in husky stadium started in 2021.
Anything helps, but yeah, a lot of times looking even an inch below the surface reveals why something like beer sales won't fix the budget. Similar principle when people start about reinstituting buses from Seattle to Pullman, or getting overly excited over a new 75-room hotel. Yeah, those things might help a little, but a couple of buses with 45 people each, and a hotel that can house maybe 150-200 people, aren't going to solve our attendance issues.
425, what did you think about the one "Seattle game" a year?
There were some good crowds, but the concept itself also seemed to divide the fan base between "make it easier for most fans" vs. "it's not a home game if it's not in Pullman"
Sold our soul to the networks with the 7pm games.
How many folks over say... 35 want to be driving home to Spokane/ TC at 11pm with a road full of drunks and assholes?
Since the TV contract sucks anyway, stipulate only 1pm kicks and start filling the stands again with 'locals."
You are absolutely right on this, but to me the TV Money is a no brainer.
Which is why we need more concerts/festivals coordinated with home games.
Women's volleyball at 12 (Bohler)
Brett Michael's concert at 3 (Beasley)
Football game at 7:00 p.m.
people still have to drive home, not sure how having a day long festival changes driving home at 11pm. My point being people would rather get home at 11pm than leave at 11pm. Not hard science, just my theory.
Thank god I read further, I thought maybe he wanted fans to attack the capital building.Usually as soon as you begin typing.
Meanwhile in Alabama:
Bama AD tells fans to 'fight back,' help fund NIL
After narrowly missing the expanded College Football Playoff, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne is urging Tide fans to "fight back" and help fund the school's NIL fund.www.espn.com
Well, there are 6 people in Section 7 in my group and you can count on exactly 0 (zero) beers from us each and every game. Who is going to buy 12-14 beers extra over the season since we obviously won't be doing our part?
Maybe Loyal could step up a bit, but IIRC he isn't even attending games any more.
What I will say about Jeff Banks is that out of all the coach calls to the Pierce County Cougar Club, and any coach or player that spoke at a golf tourney or recruiting dinner, he was the one that was the MOST outgoing, enthusiastic, energetic. If you had to pick between all of the folks I am talking about to get someone to sell ice cubes to Eskimos, Banks would be the guy.
Under the heading "WSU could f*ck up a wet dream": No way the buses are coming back. The Alumni association had buses going from Tri-Cities for a few years. The schedule wasn't great (I hated having to be back on the bus 30 minutes after the game ended - especially after a big win), but they were a good option for the late kickoffs in particular. Seats started at $25, and gradually went up to I think $40 by 2022. $25 was a steal - probably the same I would have paid in gas. $40 was getting to be more paying for the convenience, even though it was a little more than my direct cost.
WSU athletics took the buses over for the 2023 season. Immediately jacked the cost to $90 per seat, and did zero advertising. At that price, it was no longer competitive with driving myself, especially if someone was going with me. Oh, and it was BYOB, so there's an additional cost. No longer worth it.
In 2024, WSU eliminated the buses because there wasn't enough interest in them in 2023. No shit, dumbass - that's because of your ridiculous money grab jacking the price. Bring it back down to where it's reasonable again. Or, if it's $90, make sure that includes a GA seat.
Seattle game was stupid. Your memory of "some good crowds" is confined to the first couple years. Attendance was great at the first one, and then fell off steadily until we were barely putting more in Qwest/Lumen than we were in Martin.
I can also confirm that the WSU Athletic Department/Pullman central apparently made concerted efforts/decisions to cut down on interaction with Cougar fans/alumni over the years. The Cougar Club presidents were all invited to summits with the AD before a home game for several years and the presidents ALWAYS pleaded for more interaction and reaching out by the gang from Pullman. The presidents, most of whom were business men and women in their communities, begged for help with drumming up support. They pointed out that there needed to be investments made in order to receive a return, but the results were dropping more and more events as the years went on. Apparently the feeling was that a few post cards, emails, and a phone call from a student every year or two was entirely adequate. Sure, let's pay attention to the main hive in Pullman rather than listening to the movers and shakers in the communities that WSU needs the support from.
For those that may be ignorant of how it used to be, there were 11 Cougar Club golf tournaments that raised money for the AD back in late 90's into the 2000's. Whatcom, King, Pierce, Vancouver, Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Tri Cities, Spokane, Walla Walla, Pullman all had tournaments that were a lot of fun, raised money, and raised the WSU profile in those communities. All fund raising ideas that were put forward by the presidents were ignored. Got a lot of "We'll look into it and get back to you on that". Funny how that just never seemed to work out.
Should any of you be surprised that enthusiasm faded away over time?
This squares with the WSU approach to almost everything. Pullman is the center of the universe, and their opinion matters most. If anyone has an opinion that doesn't align with the conventional (Pullman) wisdom, or if it will cost money, stop asking them for their opinion.
Too many risk adverse people leading the charge. Counting the pennies when some upfront costs could create them dollars. Do you want to create the next generation of Cougar fans so they can donate and help the program? Simple things like easy transportation to the games is a low cost entry to this. F*ck, the people who run the show are damn morons.
There are no visionaries across the entire WSU system. Until that changes, it will continue to be "woe me, lil WSU".
It costs a lot of $ to make it to Pullman for game weekends, make it a damn party. Close Stadium Way (as someone mentioned) and put a concert 3 hours before kickoff to get people going. Have adequate vendors, with easy payment around. Make it easy to get around, and make it so people want to be there and want to return. It's not f*cking rocket science.
Mike Leach once said, "you're either coaching it or allowing it to happen." Same goes with the WSU administration, "you're either leading it or allowing it to happen." Unfortunately, WSU admin doesn't swing their mothaf*ckin' sword.
I can do 12-14 provided i DON'T bring my wife! That's all I have to....ah fck it
Anybody remember "cougar mania"? They had a deal with local grocery/food brokers. Many, many busses left from spokane. I was on many of those buses. Somewhere along the way WSU lost it's connection/affiliation with the regional grocers (I actually do think i know why) but those buses were always full. Musta been about at least a half dozen going down. Taihtsat
Krusty, do you think the Spokane's fan base's relationship with the Cougs was impacted when WSU stopped playing games at Joe Albi in 1983?
Probs, but what was the alternative? Once we got the uw and usc coming to Pullman why play in spokane.
Now it might work but the only stadium seats just over 6k. Taihtsat
I know Spokane fan base very well...
Gonzaga's emergence blows.
The amount of "Spokane people who went to WSU" isn't what it used to be.
The number of kids from the area who play for WSU isn't what it used to be.
Television and time of games isn't what it used to be.
Younger Kids in fall sports on Saturdays is probably 1000 times more than it used to be.
