Okay, I probably should not be doing this but....I advertised UCA home games like crazy. Before every single football and basketball home game and before select other home athletic events the athletic department would put LARGE purple signs in 6 different "hot spots" on campus. We would do table tents, posters, fliers and Student Center TV ads. The cheerleaders would also "hit" the campus the Thursday before each home football and basketball game announcing the upcoming game, throwing out t-shirts, etc. Something much like a mini-peprally/parade. Often they would set up a table in the student center for an entire week before a big game to promote it all week.
My thought after being the Marketing Director for five years. We have to get people on board before they come to UCA. By the time a young person is 18 headed to college they likely have Razorbacks so burned into their brains, they don't even know who the Bears are. UCA has done an incredible job in all respects of changing this. Nine years ago, no one on campus wore purple or said go bears or went to any games. Going D1 will help, and continuing to work to create a better atmosphere at the games will also help. But we have to find a way to a) keep students on campus on the weekends. Right now everyone leaves campus b/c to be quite honest the UCA campus is boring. Students are micro-managed as far as having fun goes, so they go home or somewhere else on campus so they can have fun without getting in trouble. And b) we have to find a way to get the Bear word out to people across the state. This means our fans have got to call the Buzz more often every day. The local media will talk about what their listeners want to hear. The more we call local radio, the more WE push to hear and see more on the Bears-the more we will get. That is not to say that I think we will ever surpass what U of A has. We know the pecking order, but we have to at least make certain that our incoming students know who we are, what we are and our games are the most important. We have to find a way to build a tradition, to make sure students know that it is "cool" to go to the games. The games must be the center of weekend social life. I don't know the answer to that problem-obviously, but I do konw things have gotten better. With what Coach Conque, Lu Hardin and the Athletic Department has done over the past two to five years, there is a foundation to build off of. Each year the Freshman need to be completely inundated with Bear spirit as soon as they step on campus. Not that that is the cure-all, but it is a start.
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