Gameday Experience

Five Two

All-American
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
I believe interest in almost all sports is down, the MLB and NBA viewership numbers are awful.
The EVP of Fox Sports tweeted this out yesterday:
From the day MLB returned through the end of NFL Week 4, total viewing of live sports is up +7% nationally.
https://twitter.com/mulvihill79/status/1313610210921967616
Now, some of this is due to a change in how Nielsen calculates ratings. About a month ago, the ratings started to include out of home. So in theory, everything should be increasing because they are now capturing more viewers.

As for MLB specifically, their ratings on the local regional sports networks went up 5%. I dont believe all of that was due to out of home being included because they had games for 2 months before OOH was part of the calculation. Nationally, MLB ratings have been low for years. They just can't crack the nut when it comes to creating national relevancy.

I don't know what to say about the NBA #s. They are terribly low, even when including OOH.


But back to Mason, JPgmusim is spot on- winning cures all.
 

tblack33

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
I don’t know what thread this belongs on but we’re pretty concerned that people are going to simply stop giving AF all together if we can’t have fans at the game. We were just picking up steam with tailgating, the game day experience was improving and AJ is a highlight reel.

Seems pretty clear the only fans that may be at games are high end donors. We hold a lot of fringe fails, we fail at containing them in normal years. We can also tell numbers on our content are way down. Maybe GK just sucks, maybe it’s the off-season blues.....but people outside of these boards do not care right now. It’s scary.

Outside factors aside because Mason hoops should be en escape from all the bull shit we’re dealing with.

So I was just talking about this with someone the other day, because I noticed it too. To be honest, your average, casual observer doesn't even know that there is going to be college basketball this year. Most folks who I talk to about it don't know that the NCAA, let alone Mason, are going to play games this winter. So there's that uphill battle of simply educating folks on the fact that yes, there will be basketball, and yes, Mason will be competing. Agree that winning cures all, but in the mean time the program needs to find a way to recapture some of those casual folks who bought in after 2006 and 2011. I honestly think that as much as some folks on here detest the idea, bringing back guys from those eras will bring some of the casual folks back. If we aren't good, people like to relive those glory days and feel a connection to back when we were relevant. I think bringing in Ike Tate was a super smart move on the ADs part and I hope they move forward with a plan to bridge that gap and bring some of those guys back in the fold. Listening to y'all's interviews with former players they players are open to it, but they aren't going to make the first move, it has to be the school (and it should be). We should be sending those dudes gear every year. There is no reason why Lamar shouldn't be wearing a Mason T shirt to every single one of his practices. If it's stupid, but it works, then it's not stupid.

Take this next piece with a grain of salt because it's super subjective and just my opinion:

Y'all's content is not bad. Your production value is top notch comparing it to other places. I think you need to do a better job capturing some of the niche audiences and grow from there. The old farts on this board don't understand what a podcast is, let alone listen to it. They want to see written articles with static pictures. Statistics are cool too and will catch some of the more hardcore basketball heads, but if you have an article with all numbers you are going to scare folks away. They want interviews with Brad and Washington and Dave. They are interested in recruiting, but want to be told what to think on it. They don't want to engage with folks on Twitter (tbh they don't have Twitter, or instagram, or any of that).

Then you have the college aged kids who I think you are really good with interacting with. They want the content focused around the players. They want an instagram post with a paragraph caption on whatever it is you are trying to talk about. Memes, vidoes, you know the drill. They'll engage with you across social media and will also engage with you on recruits. Your average student is not going to listen to podcast over 15 minutes though.

Then you've got the middle of the road weirdos. Folks like me, who like niche content. I really think that y'all bringing ExPat into the fold was genius. It gives people a good cross section of Mason content. Behind the scenes type stuff that you'd never get out of them as a student, info on what they are up to now, etc. I think you could really expand the Expat audience if you made it a little more clear on the marketing side that a huge portion of the pod is dedicated to talking about the guys time at Mason. I went in not expecting y'all to talk about college at all, but was pleasantly surprised when half of the interview was dedicated to it. I also think it will do wonders for the program as a whole. For some of these guys you interview, this might be the first mason-related interview they have done since leaving school. Gives them a little nostalgia, and maybe can help facilitate conversations between them and the AD in the future.

So to sum it up, I think you need to have separate content for the various niches of your audience, focus on capturing and developing that and the mainstream will come with it. Also interviews with some of the more important folks around Mason sports will go a long way. The geriatrics on here would probably have their grandkids download a podcast on their iphone for them of y'all talking to Washington about basketball and his view on what role the team plays in the university.
 

tblack33

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
So I was just talking about this with someone the other day, because I noticed it too. To be honest, your average, casual observer doesn't even know that there is going to be college basketball this year. Most folks who I talk to about it don't know that the NCAA, let alone Mason, are going to play games this winter. So there's that uphill battle of simply educating folks on the fact that yes, there will be basketball, and yes, Mason will be competing. Agree that winning cures all, but in the mean time the program needs to find a way to recapture some of those casual folks who bought in after 2006 and 2011. I honestly think that as much as some folks on here detest the idea, bringing back guys from those eras will bring some of the casual folks back. If we aren't good, people like to relive those glory days and feel a connection to back when we were relevant. I think bringing in Ike Tate was a super smart move on the ADs part and I hope they move forward with a plan to bridge that gap and bring some of those guys back in the fold. Listening to y'all's interviews with former players they players are open to it, but they aren't going to make the first move, it has to be the school (and it should be). We should be sending those dudes gear every year. There is no reason why Lamar shouldn't be wearing a Mason T shirt to every single one of his practices. If it's stupid, but it works, then it's not stupid.

Take this next piece with a grain of salt because it's super subjective and just my opinion:

Y'all's content is not bad. Your production value is top notch comparing it to other places. I think you need to do a better job capturing some of the niche audiences and grow from there. The old farts on this board don't understand what a podcast is, let alone listen to it. They want to see written articles with static pictures. Statistics are cool too and will catch some of the more hardcore basketball heads, but if you have an article with all numbers you are going to scare folks away. They want interviews with Brad and Washington and Dave. They are interested in recruiting, but want to be told what to think on it. They don't want to engage with folks on Twitter (tbh they don't have Twitter, or instagram, or any of that).

Then you have the college aged kids who I think you are really good with interacting with. They want the content focused around the players. They want an instagram post with a paragraph caption on whatever it is you are trying to talk about. Memes, vidoes, you know the drill. They'll engage with you across social media and will also engage with you on recruits. Your average student is not going to listen to podcast over 15 minutes though.

Then you've got the middle of the road weirdos. Folks like me, who like niche content. I really think that y'all bringing ExPat into the fold was genius. It gives people a good cross section of Mason content. Behind the scenes type stuff that you'd never get out of them as a student, info on what they are up to now, etc. I think you could really expand the Expat audience if you made it a little more clear on the marketing side that a huge portion of the pod is dedicated to talking about the guys time at Mason. I went in not expecting y'all to talk about college at all, but was pleasantly surprised when half of the interview was dedicated to it. I also think it will do wonders for the program as a whole. For some of these guys you interview, this might be the first mason-related interview they have done since leaving school. Gives them a little nostalgia, and maybe can help facilitate conversations between them and the AD in the future.

So to sum it up, I think you need to have separate content for the various niches of your audience, focus on capturing and developing that and the mainstream will come with it. Also interviews with some of the more important folks around Mason sports will go a long way. The geriatrics on here would probably have their grandkids download a podcast on their iphone for them of y'all talking to Washington about basketball and his view on what role the team plays in the university.

One more thing then I'll hop off my soapbox I swear, I think the branding is a little confusing. What's the difference between By George and GiantKillerCo? Why is ByGeorge a subset of GiantKiller?
 

GMUgemini

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
Why would any one of us detest bringing back guys from the 2006 and 2011 teams? We seem to be all in support of Ike Tate's role...half of us are all in for Skinn (just don't forget who mentioned it first guys).

As for this upcoming season, I'd really be surprised if they let fans into the games. November and December are projected to be really bad right now, and if they do let in fans, I'd be surprised it they let in more than 1,000-1,500. The band will also most likely not be allowed to play. Indoor spaces are just so much different than outdoor ones. So, from a fan outreach perspective, it's got to be about channeling people to ESPN+...pumping up the social media presence, maybe hold socially distanced outdoor viewing parties for some away games to keep the students engaged, etc.

I agree with you about the GiantKiller and By George thing...I've never understood it.
 

sleeperpick

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
I don’t know what thread this belongs on but we’re pretty concerned that people are going to simply stop giving AF all together if we can’t have fans at the game. We were just picking up steam with tailgating, the game day experience was improving and AJ is a highlight reel.

Seems pretty clear the only fans that may be at games are high end donors. We hold a lot of fringe fails, we fail at containing them in normal years. We can also tell numbers on our content are way down. Maybe GK just sucks, maybe it’s the off-season blues.....but people outside of these boards do not care right now. It’s scary.

Outside factors aside because Mason hoops should be en escape from all the bull shit we’re dealing with.
As a podcast person I listen to Pardon My Take (all sports) , AlltheSmoke (basketball/life), Titus and Tate (college basketball), Starting 9 (Baseball), Spittin Chiclets (NHL), and a couple episodes from podcasts that interest me (Rogan, Duncan Pod, Crime Junkies)... with being strictly remote and not traveling (I was doing cross country flights 2-5 times per month) my podcast listening has gone way down. I have no interest in the female basketball player you interviewed and did not listen but I did listen to the other 3?! you have created and I think it is great. My personal opinion is the production value is amazing (give your editor a fist bump for me) but it can be way too long. I do listen all the way thru and enjoy them though.... I read something like 75% of podcasts have had their numbers go down since COVID hit and kept everyone WFH so maybe your numbers get better.

Winning does cure everything. We have 5-6 guys that do season tix and I know for a fact if we were any good I could get 10 guys out to games paying for season tix.... but nobody outside of this board excluding Swimom does seem to give a rip about Mason basketball. A new exciting coach that has a historical connection to the program when it was good might help Mason basketball in general. But if the $20k donors that just enjoy a night out with their family at a game love Paulsen that might never be in the cards. School doesn't seem to care, BE seems content so why should the average fan give a rip either?

#ALLIN4SKINN
 

Falco

Hall of Famer
GIVING DAY 2023
I don’t know what thread this belongs on but we’re pretty concerned that people are going to simply stop giving AF all together if we can’t have fans at the game. We were just picking up steam with tailgating, the game day experience was improving and AJ is a highlight reel.

Seems pretty clear the only fans that may be at games are high end donors. We hold a lot of fringe fails, we fail at containing them in normal years. We can also tell numbers on our content are way down. Maybe GK just sucks, maybe it’s the off-season blues.....but people outside of these boards do not care right now. It’s scary.

Outside factors aside because Mason hoops should be en escape from all the bull shit we’re dealing with.
I knew this would happen with Paulsen. I hope I’m proven wrong this season, but Mason will never return to the glory days. To much time has passed
 

mkaufman1

Administrator
Staff member
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
Why would any one of us detest bringing back guys from the 2006 and 2011 teams? We seem to be all in support of Ike Tate's role...half of us are all in for Skinn (just don't forget who mentioned it first guys).

As for this upcoming season, I'd really be surprised if they let fans into the games. November and December are projected to be really bad right now, and if they do let in fans, I'd be surprised it they let in more than 1,000-1,500. The band will also most likely not be allowed to play. Indoor spaces are just so much different than outdoor ones. So, from a fan outreach perspective, it's got to be about channeling people to ESPN+...pumping up the social media presence, maybe hold socially distanced outdoor viewing parties for some away games to keep the students engaged, etc.

I agree with you about the GiantKiller and By George thing...I've never understood it.

Yeah -it'll be interesting what is/isn't allowed. That said, I haven't seen anything out of the AD to build some excitement for the season. No Zoom call with donors or fans with the staff, no word on Mason Madness even being virtual. Nothing.

Some of that is Mason being Mason though. I see events all the time from them that are virtual. I haven't heard a peep out of the alumni association checking in or seeing if they want to do a virtual event in our region. Sad because we've had REALLY good turnouts for our events. But whatever. Meh like with everything else.

I wonder if there will be a virtual media day. I went last year to Brooklyn and for once I wasn't the tallest one in the room of 14 basketball coaches. Funny enough Fordham staff was put at table 14 just like where they place in conference every year, heh.
 

Patriotsince81

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GOLD SPONSOR
As average/poor as we have been over the past 10 years my interest in investing financially in the program is waning. By now I would have already donated to The Green Machine and the Patriot Club. I have given too much money over the past 10 years and received so little in return. I just don't call 7 home losses a year under DP, a few bowls of snacks, and a warm Miller Lite at halftime as equal compensation for my dollars. You can only beat a dead horse so many times to gain satisfaction from it. If the decision is to allow no one to attend games this year, I'll deal with it accordingly. If students are allowed to attend instead of season ticket holders I'll have to rethink my position of supporting the program at all. Yup, I'm that frustrated with mediocrity.
 

tblack33

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
As average/poor as we have been over the past 10 years my interest in investing financially in the program is waning. By now I would have already donated to The Green Machine and the Patriot Club. I have given too much money over the past 10 years and received so little in return. I just don't call 7 home losses a year under DP, a few bowls of snacks, and a warm Miller Lite at halftime as equal compensation for my dollars. You can only beat a dead horse so many times to gain satisfaction from it. If the decision is to allow no one to attend games this year, I'll deal with it accordingly. If students are allowed to attend instead of season ticket holders I'll have to rethink my position of supporting the program at all. Yup, I'm that frustrated with mediocrity.

I understand and don’t blame you for this point of view. Personally I’ll still probably donate this year regardless because I view covid as out of their control, but I’ve made the decision that if we aren’t successful and don’t fire Paulsen this will be my last year donating to the program. I’ll go to the occasional game and watch the rest on ESPN+ like the rest of the fan base.
 

Patriotsince81

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GOLD SPONSOR
1999 NCAA
2001 NCAA
2002 NIT
2004 NIT
2006 NCAA Final 4
2008 NCAA
2009 NIT
2011 NCAA
Not great but better than most mid majors, a stretch that I think most here would be happy as hell with.
Since 2011.... not a damn thing.
 

GMUgemini

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
As average/poor as we have been over the past 10 years my interest in investing financially in the program is waning. By now I would have already donated to The Green Machine and the Patriot Club. I have given too much money over the past 10 years and received so little in return. I just don't call 7 home losses a year under DP, a few bowls of snacks, and a warm Miller Lite at halftime as equal compensation for my dollars. You can only beat a dead horse so many times to gain satisfaction from it. If the decision is to allow no one to attend games this year, I'll deal with it accordingly. If students are allowed to attend instead of season ticket holders I'll have to rethink my position of supporting the program at all. Yup, I'm that frustrated with mediocrity.

One thing I would say, though, is the students pay more than the average donor to support the athletic department (in 2019, that's $867k in donations + $876k in ticket revenue vs. $18 million+ in student fees), so I don't begrudge the university if they let students in first.
 

Patriotsince81

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GOLD SPONSOR
And while I'm on a roll. FU Brad Edwards. How freaking hard is it for you to create a distribution list of season ticket holders and send out an e-mail once a month letting us know about the status of things? Douche. Let us know what is under consideration. One press of the mouse informs a lot of people. The more I think about it Brad is 2nd rate. Maybe it's the 27 beers talking ;) but we truly are crappy in every way.
 

tblack33

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
Lucky for us it’s not like the students will show up anyway. How many are even on campus? There were like 150 that came to games last year...
 

mkaufman1

Administrator
Staff member
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
I'm sure once things are finalized there will be emails floating around from the AD. I suspect its probably still not finalized. Mason hasn't ever been one for incremental updates on anything.
 

By George.

Starter
Why would any one of us detest bringing back guys from the 2006 and 2011 teams? We seem to be all in support of Ike Tate's role...half of us are all in for Skinn (just don't forget who mentioned it first guys).

As for this upcoming season, I'd really be surprised if they let fans into the games. November and December are projected to be really bad right now, and if they do let in fans, I'd be surprised it they let in more than 1,000-1,500. The band will also most likely not be allowed to play. Indoor spaces are just so much different than outdoor ones. So, from a fan outreach perspective, it's got to be about channeling people to ESPN+...pumping up the social media presence, maybe hold socially distanced outdoor viewing parties for some away games to keep the students engaged, etc.

I agree with you about the GiantKiller and By George thing...I've never understood it.

Have to agree with all of the above.

By George and Giant Killer started as 2 different forums, we both liked each other’s content so we linked up 5 years ago mostly because the guys of By George were pretty basic and had never created social media accounts or a website before and needed David.

Www.GiantKiller.co is our host site. Everything falls under it. By George is the podcasting channel that has featured a ton of shows now - By George the Original Mason B-ball Podcast, Hey10, Hey10Minute, Post Game Pods, The Domcast, and now Ex Pat Hoops.

But all of our content from written work, to highlight videos can be found at our Giant Killer website. We have like 8 guys working with us and a few former contributors who still chime in and help. Thanks for the feedback.
 

tblack33

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
This is a good topic for the off-season. Thoughts?
Honestly nothing but good things to say about the game day experience now for what’s in the university’s control. Beer in the gold room, pregame lighting is better, you take take beer out of the gold room. You can buy beer when your goldroom beers are empty. It’s great. I guess I wish they’d let the cameramen lean into chug cam a little more but that just feels petty at this point.
 

Jack Strop

Starter
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
Honestly nothing but good things to say about the game day experience now for what’s in the university’s control. Beer in the gold room, pregame lighting is better, you take take beer out of the gold room. You can buy beer when your goldroom beers are empty. It’s great. I guess I wish they’d let the cameramen lean into chug cam a little more but that just feels petty at this point.
With the Reich's Field Marshall Jay Marsh deep into retirement and the Mason Gestapo disbanded it appeared that the vigor of fan engagement has improved. It was a little unsteady and inconsistent at times, but that is likely a product of shaking off the rust. Bring it on Mason Nation!
 

ProfessorCFK

Specialist
GIVING DAY 2023
Since we have a new coach and a new AD, maybe it's time to resuscitate this thread from the dead. I saw a post on reddit today and had heard whispers of something similar happening for MBB games in the past. The athletic department needs to figure out how to get students their damned free tickets - this is an outrage and only serves to gatekeep sporting events for students.

Current Student - "I’m trying to book tickets for the men’s baseball game on Sunday on the Mason Patriots app, and it’s showing a ticket fee of 0 + Additional service charge of 3.50$. Why the hell aren’t the student tickets supposed to be completely free?"

Athletic Department/Ticketmaster Charging Fees for Free Student Tickets
 
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