die hard gopher
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I really love the sort of outreach we see from the Gophers these days doing stuff at a Twins game, getting out there in front of other sports fans and such.
Couldn't agree more. Especially big with the decline in attendance we have seen. However, I expect attendance to trend upward this year.
Rather than complain about this being a pro sports town, kick the ground and say "Well, I guess we can never capture the attention of people here," I like the way Fleck has approached things. He has totally embraced the pro teams and has been careful to minimize the "competition" with them. Everything from having a practice out at the Vikings facility to events like this. Think of all the fans in the Target Field stands today that got a jolt of positive Gopher Football vibes.
I like the way Fleck is building the image of Gopher Football with the things he can control.
And, I might add it also helps to get a writer like Meg Ryan covering the team. Well written stuff. Excellent material appearing regularly now in the Strib as it relates to Gopher football. Useful, interesting info yet avoiding the politics. A completely different story than that writer they had dug up last fall, totally intent on hammering on or exposing anything related to Gopher athletics. The agenda was soooooo obvious. Glad to be rid of that.
Rather than complain about this being a pro sports town, kick the ground and say "Well, I guess we can never capture the attention of people here," I like the way Fleck has approached things. He has totally embraced the pro teams and has been careful to minimize the "competition" with them. Everything from having a practice out at the Vikings facility to events like this. Think of all the fans in the Target Field stands today that got a jolt of positive Gopher Football vibes.
I like the way Fleck is building the image of Gopher Football with the things he can control.
And, I might add it also helps to get a writer like Meg Ryan covering the team. Well written stuff. Excellent material appearing regularly now in the Strib as it relates to Gopher football. Useful, interesting info yet avoiding the politics. A completely different story than that writer they had dug up last fall, totally intent on hammering on or exposing anything related to Gopher athletics. The agenda was soooooo obvious. Glad to be rid of that.
And bringing the axe to the Vikings game in which they received a standing ovation from the crowd.I have been saying this for years, stop having the mindset that local pro teams are competition but instead more of promotion opportunities, from to getting fans to getting recruits. Love the fact that lately I have been seeing on social media our sports programs working with the local pro sports scene, from throwing out first pitches, to "let's play hockey" to local pro coaches and players coming to games/practices. This gets your brand out there to other fans, and something that you can sell to recruits, there are not many programs who can sell these type opportunities to recruits. I was mad back in the day when North Dakota teamed up with the Vikings and was wondering why the U wasn't doing the same, glad that seems to have changed.
I even saw that Twolves head coach was at practice.
This is a step change. It’s a brilliant move. Should’ve been standing operating protocol for years, but better late than never.
I have been saying this for years, stop having the mindset that local pro teams are competition but instead more of promotion opportunities, from to getting fans to getting recruits. Love the fact that lately I have been seeing on social media our sports programs working with the local pro sports scene, from throwing out first pitches, to "let's play hockey" to local pro coaches and players coming to games/practices. This gets your brand out there to other fans, and something that you can sell to recruits, there are not many programs who can sell these type opportunities to recruits. I was mad back in the day when North Dakota teamed up with the Vikings and was wondering why the U wasn't doing the same, glad that seems to have changed.
Yeah I don't know if these things alone hit attendance, but I doubt that these things along with other events that keep the gophers in folks mind help with other things start to come together.
Rather than complain about this being a pro sports town, kick the ground and say "Well, I guess we can never capture the attention of people here," I like the way Fleck has approached things. He has totally embraced the pro teams and has been careful to minimize the "competition" with them. Everything from having a practice out at the Vikings facility to events like this. Think of all the fans in the Target Field stands today that got a jolt of positive Gopher Football vibes.
I like the way Fleck is building the image of Gopher Football with the things he can control.
And, I might add it also helps to get a writer like Meg Ryan covering the team. Well written stuff. Excellent material appearing regularly now in the Strib as it relates to Gopher football. Useful, interesting info yet avoiding the politics. A completely different story than that writer they had dug up last fall, totally intent on hammering on or exposing anything related to Gopher athletics. The agenda was soooooo obvious. Glad to be rid of that.
Yeah I'm not saying someone is going to see that and say "I'm going to buy single game tickets," or anything like that. What it does is get Gopher Football facetime with thousands of sports fans. Not sure how this wouldn't help the program in some aspect.
Also a tip of the cap to the Twins for facilitating this. They seem to be at the forefront of efforts by the pro teams in town to partner with the U (and other schools).
This is who Fleck is. He’s a PR/CEO type. He’s not an old ball coach or an X’s and O’s genius, which is fine as long as he can keep quality staff and recruit well. He works tirelessly to grow our/his brand. Some people love it. Some people hate it. Time will tell if it works in raising the program.