A nice Anthony Turner article in the Blade...

[FalconKing]

1987...what is there to do in Philly? I have been thinking of making the road trip, but have been on the fence. Maybe you could do a vistors guide for those thinking about going to the game?

[hammb]

Look, if Bowling Green would have gone 14-0 last year, Harris would have won the Heisman. The Web site would have been nice -- but I can see why BGSU didn't bother. They have limited resources, and the Web site wouldn't have been the best use of those resources.

As the person who did most of the work for that site I can say that it really didn't take that many resources. I got a good graphics guy in Dayon's and Grant hooked me up with the domain & server space. In the case of the university the server space would've been already there, and they could've gotten a grad student or something from the comp sci dept. to do it.

I really think it was a drastic oversight rather than a calculated use of resources. Notice that they actually DID try to put out a little website after we already had the work going for h4h.com. They didn't even bother to register a domain for their site. I was very disappointed in the athletic department on that one.

Promoting your player like that would do wonders for future recruiting, etc.

[1987alum]

Schadenfreude, that's all well and good and an important part of the puzzle. But it's not the whole thing. The school needs to do more to get the word out to people and entice them to come to a game.

Noah & I made the trip out to the Kent State game last year. The Falcons had already beaten Purdue, given OSU a shock, been on natinal television twice and were in the thick of the MAC West race. Nonetheless, the announced attendance was just 12,035. And they must have been counting knee caps because there's no way there were that many people there. There's no way that should have happened. When Brandon turned to the crowd and asked for noise, it made me sad to think of how small a crowd he was addressing. Until the program is established, BG needs to do more marketing.

A side note, the Kent game was NCAA Youth Night, according to the schedule. I spoke with three folks at the university and not one of them ever told me what that meant. Every game should be an event. I don't care if it means balloon animals and dunk tanks, make The Doyt the place to be on gamedays, regardless of whether or not ESPN is there.

[1987alum]

1987...what is there to do in Philly? I have been thinking of making the road trip, but have been on the fence. Maybe you could do a vistors guide for those thinking about going to the game?

FalconKing: That's a great idea. I'm on my way out the door, but will do so tomorrow!

[BGSU Falconz]

What irritates me the most is that out of all the visual communicators they have on campus (and some very established ones at that, like Gene Poor, et. al.), no one has found it worthwhile to establish a decent visual marketing plan for athletics.

I'm talking superbly designed advertisements, merchandise, billboards, commercials, etc. etc.

And when I say superbly designed, I mean using a solid identity system. Something that when someone looks at a piece of BG propaganda, they have no doubt in their mind it's from Bowling Green, and it makes them think to themselves "Wow, this looks awesome! I'll have to go to that!"

I'm tired of people 2 hours away from the school not knowing where Bowling Green, Ohio is.

I'm tired of cheesy, poorly designed merchandise.

I mean, come on. How awesome would it be if they made a line of these (no, it doesn't exist - but God, don't I wish it did):




THESE are the kinds of things we need. Things that will actually get people interested in Bowling Green athletics and NOT Ohio State.

[rollalongFF0304]

What irritates me the most is that out of all the visual communicators they have on campus (and some very established ones at that, like Gene Poor, et. al.), no one has found it worthwhile to establish a decent visual marketing plan for athletics.

I'm talking superbly designed advertisements, merchandise, billboards, commercials, etc. etc.

And when I say superbly designed, I mean using a solid identity system. Something that when someone looks at a piece of BG propaganda, they have no doubt in their mind it's from Bowling Green, and it makes them think to themselves "Wow, this looks awesome! I'll have to go to that!"

I'm tired of people 2 hours away from the school not knowing where Bowling Green, Ohio is.

I'm tired of cheesy, poorly designed merchandise.

To their credit, the University Bookstore has taken vast strides in terms of the quality and design of merchandise offered since it moved to the Union. In the last year or so, we've actually seen a pretty wide variety of brown items at the store. And the general merchandise has really put them yards ahead of the other bookstores in town.

To top it off, the U. bookstore has been looking for a site downtown to open a satellite store for general interest books and BGSU merchandise. Rumor has it that this will be where Beyond 2000 ice cream joint used to be.

As for the athletic department, I'll reserve judgement until after this year. They have done some work in reevaluating the visual identity of BGSU, including the new graphic as seen on the pieces/parts of the scoreboard. I think that's going to be the new image that ties together all of the official BGSU merchandise. Not to worry, though, the falcon head logo is staying.
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[Falconfreak90]

I dropped by the Doyt last week to let my 2.5 year old daughter run around in the grass outside the south end zone. While I envisioned what the new scoreboard and SAC were going to look like once they were in place, I realized that we are at a very crucial juncture in the history of BG athletics. If all goes as planned, we'll be a program that can compete nationally for players and attention. We won't be USC or (gasp) OSU, but we can sure as heck be in the top 25 or on the cusp year in and out.

If things don't work out and we experience another Gary Blackneyesque meltdown, we're going to look back at these years and wonder what went wrong. We're going to look at our sub 10,000 crowds and wonder why we tried in the first place.

People, we have to do this. I really don't want to go back to the year 2000...

I totally agree....there is no "can't" in the equation here. We will be a player or not. And its up to us fans to support the team and program no matter what. Recalling those late '90's and the 6, 7 or 8,000 that would show up....it was truly depressing how far our program had fallen.

[CapitalFalcon]

All of you make great points. Whether you are talking about winning or marketing, you really can't have one without the other. I don't care if you hired the best PR firm in New York City for the Falcons, unless BG is fielding successful teams, it won't mean squat. On the other hand, if you are not marketing the crap out of your team with some real slick stuff to get the word out and build support, then who would want to come play in BG? It's the old chicken and the egg situation.

That being said, right now, BG is winning. This season, as I said on the last board (yes...the 2004 NOT 2005 season ) is a crucial one. We really need to step up again, and show that we are not a one player team...That we can beat you multiple ways. If BG can produce another awesome season, which I see no reason why we can't, the Athletic Dept. and the Marketing Dept. need to have a all out, full-court, media bonanza. Mailers, billboards, commercials, the kitchen sink treatment. When people hit Wood County on I-75, people need to see that they are in Falcon country. And it shouldn't stop there...They should be reaching out to outlying areas too.

The biggest problem we have is a small population, having to support two teams in the same market. But right now, we have the momentum. God I hope we don't squander it like we did in the past! Roll Along indeed!!!

[Warthog]

The biggest problem we have is a small population, having to support two teams in the same market.

Uhh, who is the other team

[transfer2BGSU]

Uhh, who is the other team

The University of Findlay Oilers!