I thought I'd start a piggyback thread here to discuss ways to increase attendance at home duals. It's obvious to me that OSU has a lot of fans, but even when I was attending in the 90s and early 2000s I felt like attendance was quite low for how good the teams were. And it does get a little old to keep hearing about the good 'ol days of packing IGA for duals with no insight about how that was achieved or how to recreate it or how high-attendance programs manage to get people in the doors year after year.
So here are some of my ideas. Feel free to share, discuss, whatever.
1. Get the students involved. Don't assume you know what they want. Go ask them! Polls, surveys, a street team to talk to approach students between classes and straight up ask them what it would take to get them to come to a dual. Free tickets for students would be HUGE and there's certainly enough room in the arena!
2. Follow up to #1, why not give free season tickets to all students? Just make it part of their perks of being at the University. Then on dual day you reserve seats for the Reserved Ticket holders and let the rest of the seats be a free for all. Even if some people can't get in, that just adds to the hype and the mystique and next time they'll get there early, plan for it, etc.
3. Update the dual experience. New chants specific to wrestling. Let the team storyboard a bunch of ideas for making it a fun atmosphere. Get public input. And then implement some of those ideas. And don't assume wrestling fans will clamor for the basketball experience. Again, find out what people want and then give it to them.
4. Market the team outside of the University and outside of the immediate circle of wrestling fans. The majority of Stillwater has no idea that this exists. I went to public school and college in Stilly and I can tell you that none of my friends would ever come to duals with me and would only tolerate my gushing about the teams for so long. Even my buddy who was a wrestler himself, it was hard to get him to come to one.
5. Embrace the shorts/shirt already. Singlets are goofy and I'll tell you all that the #1 reason my buddies in #4 would never come to a dual is because "why would I want to watch guys in spandex lay on each other". Shorts/shirt is allowed by the NCAA, make a move! Or at least shorts over the singlet. People straight up feel uncomfortable seeing so much butt and crotch in a singlet. I get it, and I can get past it but this is a primary barrier to bringing in new fans.
6. A raffle per dual would be cool. Give away an iPad or something that students would like. Again, don't guess, find out what people want! Putting 5 grand a year into giving away iPads or gasoline cards would be a massive incentive for on-the-fencers to come to duals.
7. This is a bit of a crazy one, but have some exposition matches afterwards between members of the public. Have them register, review the rules, sign waivers, weigh, have a good ref that keeps things safer than a collegiate match, maybe shorter periods too. Wrestling is unlike the more well-attended sports in that it's hard to participate; it's easy to play some catch, shoot some hoops, throw a football, it's much harder to casually wrestle somebody (weight has to be similar, you need a safe place to do it, a ref etc). So if a wrestling dual provided an opportunity for fans to get an abbreviated match in and actually be a participant in the sport, that would bring interest for both viewers and the folks wanting to participate. Alternatively, do come-one-come-all workshops on the mat after the dual to teach casual fans how to do moves like takedowns and reverses. When people can participate and take some ownership in activity, then they'll be more likely to have it be a part of their conversations, part of what they look forward to, part of what they think about when their mind wanders, all of which builds momentum and interest.
8. Less crazy version of #8 - partner up with other teams already. Do your duals back to back in the same arena. This gets even more local wrestling fans in the same place at the same time. Heck, why not rotate hosting high schools or junior highs? I think you need to become more of a regional draw. I.e. A Perry dual right before an OSU one would bring in Perry fans that wouldn't normally make the trek to Stilly.
9. Intramural wrestling squads. Call 'em "Bring The Payne".
10. Print a Guide To Scoring Folkstyle Wrestling and give it out to every attendee at the door. IME this is another sticking point for on-the-fence fans. Scoring is complicated and happens fast and so a guide would help make things make sense.
11. More publicity, more marketing, more youth energy, more cool vibes, more female involvement. Make the team into the celebrities that the basketball or football players are. And then at the events, recognize that GIA kind of feels like an old boys' club. Few women attendees, and when I was going most everybody was 1 or even 2 generations older than me. It has to be *fun* for people to want to come, and part of *fun* at an event is feeling like you fit in and there are people similar to you. To call back to #5, staring seriously with a bunch of old folks at 2 spandexed dudes go at it just doesn't have a ton of crossover appeal. And to combine with #8, partner up with women's wrestling to bring in female fans and make the whole atmosphere less of a machismo-man-only vibe.
12. Official OSU wrestling discussion board with a moderator. AMAs of the wrestlers and coaches would be cool. This board is pretty good for wrestling discussion, but I hate that it's associated with so much political and social nonsense from the rest of the Rivals site. Every time I get on here I have to see a bunch of inflammatory bullcrap on the "Related Threads" on the side of my screen. It's bad enough that with OSU sports you have to deal with the constant calls to Fire Gundy, don't also subject us to the latest and greatest of what a few dozen Hobbyist Arguers are on about. It makes this board incredibly kid-unfriendly and I sure don't want my kid witnessing pointlessly volatile rhetoric every time they come on here. And make the board free! Right now we have this one, then people post in various paid sections. I don't want to pay to talk wrestling, but even if I did, I want all the wrestling discussion in one single board. Not in 34 and Counting, The Corral, Pistols Firing, and wherever else. Put it all in one place and don't auto-serve non-related topics.
13. Serious market research into what the highly-attended programs are doing combined with serious market research into what it would take to get Payne County into duals and then well-executed implementation.
14. Recognize that it's not athletic success that brings people in. Attendance was poor even during our NC run of 2003-2006. Meanwhile men's basketball will pack the house during a losing season.
15. Change the marketing to accept that we're underdogs now. The Dynasty was Defined in the 1920-1960s. It's great to honor that legacy, but one could argue there's entirely too much looking backwards. The Present and the Future is that OSU is that we're disliked by the media, discounted by other fans, and are on the outside looking in - but that's a good thing to market to our fans. The underdog, the challenger, the outside chance of victory, it's all very fairy-tale and people eat that stuff up. If we're expected to win and win, big whoop. But if we're expected to lose, and people come out and support the team, win or lose that gives people ownership and gets them excited. See #14.
Anyways, just a ramble, some critiques, and some potential solutions.
So here are some of my ideas. Feel free to share, discuss, whatever.
1. Get the students involved. Don't assume you know what they want. Go ask them! Polls, surveys, a street team to talk to approach students between classes and straight up ask them what it would take to get them to come to a dual. Free tickets for students would be HUGE and there's certainly enough room in the arena!
2. Follow up to #1, why not give free season tickets to all students? Just make it part of their perks of being at the University. Then on dual day you reserve seats for the Reserved Ticket holders and let the rest of the seats be a free for all. Even if some people can't get in, that just adds to the hype and the mystique and next time they'll get there early, plan for it, etc.
3. Update the dual experience. New chants specific to wrestling. Let the team storyboard a bunch of ideas for making it a fun atmosphere. Get public input. And then implement some of those ideas. And don't assume wrestling fans will clamor for the basketball experience. Again, find out what people want and then give it to them.
4. Market the team outside of the University and outside of the immediate circle of wrestling fans. The majority of Stillwater has no idea that this exists. I went to public school and college in Stilly and I can tell you that none of my friends would ever come to duals with me and would only tolerate my gushing about the teams for so long. Even my buddy who was a wrestler himself, it was hard to get him to come to one.
5. Embrace the shorts/shirt already. Singlets are goofy and I'll tell you all that the #1 reason my buddies in #4 would never come to a dual is because "why would I want to watch guys in spandex lay on each other". Shorts/shirt is allowed by the NCAA, make a move! Or at least shorts over the singlet. People straight up feel uncomfortable seeing so much butt and crotch in a singlet. I get it, and I can get past it but this is a primary barrier to bringing in new fans.
6. A raffle per dual would be cool. Give away an iPad or something that students would like. Again, don't guess, find out what people want! Putting 5 grand a year into giving away iPads or gasoline cards would be a massive incentive for on-the-fencers to come to duals.
7. This is a bit of a crazy one, but have some exposition matches afterwards between members of the public. Have them register, review the rules, sign waivers, weigh, have a good ref that keeps things safer than a collegiate match, maybe shorter periods too. Wrestling is unlike the more well-attended sports in that it's hard to participate; it's easy to play some catch, shoot some hoops, throw a football, it's much harder to casually wrestle somebody (weight has to be similar, you need a safe place to do it, a ref etc). So if a wrestling dual provided an opportunity for fans to get an abbreviated match in and actually be a participant in the sport, that would bring interest for both viewers and the folks wanting to participate. Alternatively, do come-one-come-all workshops on the mat after the dual to teach casual fans how to do moves like takedowns and reverses. When people can participate and take some ownership in activity, then they'll be more likely to have it be a part of their conversations, part of what they look forward to, part of what they think about when their mind wanders, all of which builds momentum and interest.
8. Less crazy version of #8 - partner up with other teams already. Do your duals back to back in the same arena. This gets even more local wrestling fans in the same place at the same time. Heck, why not rotate hosting high schools or junior highs? I think you need to become more of a regional draw. I.e. A Perry dual right before an OSU one would bring in Perry fans that wouldn't normally make the trek to Stilly.
9. Intramural wrestling squads. Call 'em "Bring The Payne".
10. Print a Guide To Scoring Folkstyle Wrestling and give it out to every attendee at the door. IME this is another sticking point for on-the-fence fans. Scoring is complicated and happens fast and so a guide would help make things make sense.
11. More publicity, more marketing, more youth energy, more cool vibes, more female involvement. Make the team into the celebrities that the basketball or football players are. And then at the events, recognize that GIA kind of feels like an old boys' club. Few women attendees, and when I was going most everybody was 1 or even 2 generations older than me. It has to be *fun* for people to want to come, and part of *fun* at an event is feeling like you fit in and there are people similar to you. To call back to #5, staring seriously with a bunch of old folks at 2 spandexed dudes go at it just doesn't have a ton of crossover appeal. And to combine with #8, partner up with women's wrestling to bring in female fans and make the whole atmosphere less of a machismo-man-only vibe.
12. Official OSU wrestling discussion board with a moderator. AMAs of the wrestlers and coaches would be cool. This board is pretty good for wrestling discussion, but I hate that it's associated with so much political and social nonsense from the rest of the Rivals site. Every time I get on here I have to see a bunch of inflammatory bullcrap on the "Related Threads" on the side of my screen. It's bad enough that with OSU sports you have to deal with the constant calls to Fire Gundy, don't also subject us to the latest and greatest of what a few dozen Hobbyist Arguers are on about. It makes this board incredibly kid-unfriendly and I sure don't want my kid witnessing pointlessly volatile rhetoric every time they come on here. And make the board free! Right now we have this one, then people post in various paid sections. I don't want to pay to talk wrestling, but even if I did, I want all the wrestling discussion in one single board. Not in 34 and Counting, The Corral, Pistols Firing, and wherever else. Put it all in one place and don't auto-serve non-related topics.
13. Serious market research into what the highly-attended programs are doing combined with serious market research into what it would take to get Payne County into duals and then well-executed implementation.
14. Recognize that it's not athletic success that brings people in. Attendance was poor even during our NC run of 2003-2006. Meanwhile men's basketball will pack the house during a losing season.
15. Change the marketing to accept that we're underdogs now. The Dynasty was Defined in the 1920-1960s. It's great to honor that legacy, but one could argue there's entirely too much looking backwards. The Present and the Future is that OSU is that we're disliked by the media, discounted by other fans, and are on the outside looking in - but that's a good thing to market to our fans. The underdog, the challenger, the outside chance of victory, it's all very fairy-tale and people eat that stuff up. If we're expected to win and win, big whoop. But if we're expected to lose, and people come out and support the team, win or lose that gives people ownership and gets them excited. See #14.
Anyways, just a ramble, some critiques, and some potential solutions.
