Stinger keys to sucess in 2008 -My thoughts

[augustaspartans]

Okay folks I didn't come to Columbia to do anything but offer my advice to the Stingers.

In the next couple of days Im going to post my thoughts, ideas as to how to make Stinger ball last a long time in Columbia.

In case some of you don't know me I have been involved in high school football for 17 years at Strom Thurmond High and Aiken High. Served on board of operations Augusta Stallions AF 2 arena football helped write mission statement and policy for fan club.
Served with the Augusta Spartans was there two weeks after the season started last year. Served as fan club president, wrote programs for Augusta, sold sponsorships and was in charge of some of the most sucessful projects the spartans were involved in.
Have served with the GA Rajun Bulls and am more than aware of the hard work it takes to suceed in sports.
I have a associates degree in Management. Marketing and a BA from Lander have won awards in sales, marketing and am not afraid of a challenge.

Have the respect of many in the area and want to see the Stingers be sucessful.

so keep your eyes out on this page

[augustaspartans]

To understand the Stingers lets breakdown the problems then go after each one as a topic later.

1) Attendance
a ways to improve it
b promotions, buy 1 get 1 free
c theme nights
d Youth indoor football
e other
2) THE NIFL
a get out leave run dont walk
b the new league for 2008
c the schedule - Augusta and Florence would be fun to play with
3) Ownership
a previous
b present
c future
4) Staff
a General Manager
b Sales Manager
c Public Relations
d Promotions
e Cheerleader cordinator
f Un paided labor / game day help
g year round operations
Misc
a free ads promotions that dont cost anything
b group nights folks
c entertainment
e stuff for whole family to do
f give people the idea they run the team
Fan Club -community outreach
a on going
b hospital visits
c schools
d churches

Theres more just going to tear into them one at a time

[augustaspartans]

We can and we will do this

[augustaspartans]

Every couple of days Ill pick a topic from my general outline above and go indepth with it more.

Tonight I want to look at ways to improve attendance at games

Theme nights seem to pack them in Boy Scout night where you call the local scout office and block off a certain area of the stadium and a certain amount of tickets . Tickets are sold in advance through local scout office if tickets normally cost $ 10.00 you sell them to the Scouts for $ 7.00 allow them to keep $ 1.00 for the unit treasurer. Make this interesting by having a spirit contest before gametime and invite head football coach to work with the kids cub scouts may earn a badge for attending a flag football demonstration.

Military night- In Columbia there is a huge resource just a few miles up the road they call it Ft Jackson its a huge home to a large amount of soldiers who like to un wind after a long hard week of work this is a resource that the Stingers need. Offer them a discounted ticket and invite the DIS down for the games at intermission. Don't be afraid of Shaw AFB it is another resource of folks with free time use it

There are more ill expound on later this will be a ongoing post

[palmettoevenings]

Hello Folks. We did have a military night planned, but unfortunately it was supposed to be the June 2nd game which was cancelled due to the folding of the Marshals. We will have the new schedule by November and will have special promos for each home game.

As far as getting out of the NIFL we will have a major announcement by the end of the summer regarding our league affiliation. We are excited at the prospects, but cannot annouce anything as of yet.

Please stay tuned as we will be making changes that will make next year (yes, there will be a next year!) a "relaunching" of the Stingers!

By the way we are trying to set up an away game caravan to Fayetteville for the final away game. We will have more details coming soon. Please email me at [e-mail] if you would be interested.

Thanks for being great Stinger fans!

[augustaspartans]

I know merely pointing out some ideas. Cool think I may join you in NC for the final game.

[augustaspartans]

As a fund raiser to finance Youth indoor football league tickets were sold by the players to their games it was called Super ticket it was good for their game and the regular game. It was a $10.00 ticket only available through them. Parents with businesses were offered sponsorship packages tied in with tickets to youth indoor football.

The first and 10 club was a ticket selling sponsorship designed for small business that wanted to do something but had limited resources. For example if you owned a wrecker shop and you had $ 300.00 you could have 30 tickets to the same up coming game your name in the program and if you didnt need them or want them they would have been donated to a youth charity or given to kids who made honor roll in school .

2 more to think about

[redzone]

--Freebies always brings people in. Minor league baseball has been doing for years by giving away bats to batting helmets. As far as freebies for the fans for Stingers, how about rally towels? It couldn't be too expensive for a sponsor to step up have their logo printed on towels with the Stingers.
--Coordinate with local high school athletic directors and booster clubs to have a group night from their school or club and use it as a fund raiser also. Don't just limit yourself to scout groups. Church youth groups are also a good source to get people in. Youth pastors are always looking for something cheap to do with the kids. Maybe have a Christian rock band perform in the arena after the game as an extra incentive.
--Don't just look at the military, consider public safety people (fire, ems and law enforcement). South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Association (scleoa.org) is a statewide group based on Broad River Road in Columbia. They have over 10,000 members statewide. Get with a big business (Blue Cross/Blue Shield as an example) and have the different divisions within the company compete for the craziest fan section. They would get discounted tickets in a block of seats. This would help create comradery within their business and maybe help bond the divisions (sounds like a good selling point).
--Get with a local credit union (I have to suggest Safe since my wife works for them) and let them sell get involved. They had employee giveaways for the Florence Phantoms all year. Safe has branches from Lexington to Florence and all points in between.

[augustaspartans]

Yes, redzone police night and EMS are a good draw to fill the stands as well as other avenues. The Stingers will pack the house this year.The rally towels are a great idea and cheap to so that will get them in to. We tried playing around with the football program cover and changing it for every game and sell the tee shirt design to match it. That worked well we tried buy 1 get 1 free that did well and nascar night with a car and autograph picture drawings. We tried it all did it work Yes all the way around.
Augusta will lead the league in attendance even if only 1500 show up this week. To increase attendance all its going to take is advertising.

Should you pay for ads yes and no - some of the best ads the Stingers can get is the local players going to the schools, churches, youth groups going to the paper getting their pictures in the paper with their local ties from the area. Calling sports talk at 800-956-7266 bringing along a game ball and several tickets I know Phil Kornblut personally people like him. Flyers in schools web site with updated information this is how you do it. Best part about alot of this is staff doesnt even have to do it this is booster club jobs.

Why arent the Stingers setting up information tables at festivals, parades and football games the high school football games are the best places to meet folks.

In my next post we will continue to explore Stinger off season ideas.

[pfunksc]

I wanted to start at Booster Club, just like the Columbia Inferno! I am more than will to start if i could get some help! We could do so much with it like: Dinner with players, meet and greets, stuff for kids. We could even do like a ryder cup aganst the Inferno booster club and i could set it i work at a golf course!!!! Also, set up a table on the concourse to give our info. Anyone have any thoughts!!!

[augustaspartans]

Way to go High five give this man a gold star. We had one in Augusta it was financed by selling little white balls with numbers on them. The ------- insert sponsor throw for dough which was held at third quarter break. The object of this little game was to buy 7 balls for $ 5 or $ 1 a ball sign the sheet with the number by your ball throw them onto the field at the announcement of the pa guy closets to the pin wins 1/2 the money other half went to fan club. We used that money to buy a few tee shirts, and to pay for the I-20 cup a little battle between us and our neighbors the Florence Phatoms it was a little rivialry started the winner of the series kept the cup for one year. Augusta owns the cup 3-0 and Florence cant play Augusta to get it back had a little bet with a good friend of mine from Florence if we won he would have to display our logo for a week under his name.
I was asked by Spartan management to start a fan club in Augusta but during our first year of operations we had so much to do it was hard to get alot of it done. Membership was six and still is at six but during the last two seasons we managed to accomplish alot.

* First time in Augusta history the Augusta Lynx, Augusta Green Jackets and Augusta Spartan fan clubs agreed to work together ever since the begining of time they hated each other now they are friends
* created fan of the game where a deserving fan who posted from the other team on the message board was drawn at random and awarded two tickets to the game at the best seats in the house and was given the VIP treatment. free program, drinks and snacks and a gift from the Spartans after all in the WIFL we were all friends except Daytona.
* hosted several events in preseason set up tables at festivals and was in a parade with Cheerleaders, staff
* responded to over 2000 request for information about the team and schedule request freeing up office personal for other duties
* signed several sponsors for the fan club to finance year round projects
* set up last season the first ever Outdoor sports night where vendors from the fishing and hunting companies gave samples away before gametime
* visited the sick and the under privallaged at nursing homes and hospitals
* gave tickets away to people all over CSRA who have never seen a game
* started a little rivialry with Florence
* put together several bus trips that were sucessful

I had it all a owner who cared listiened to me and appreciated the feed back a staff that gave me everything I wanted a former GM Robby Wells Defensive Cordinator Benedict College a friend and a heck of a gm. I would probably still be a Spartan but I have decided that after two years to only work one team this off season the GA Rajun Bulls.

The Spartans have a problem they seem to not appreciate their help. The new GM has burnt many bridges in Augusta so in my belief its just a matter of time before it all comes to a end in Augusta.

To be sucessful with a fan club youll need the complete and total support of the Stinger management we had alot of fun with ours it disbanded last month because of the fact it just wasnt worth the hassle but we did alot.

If you want my help Im all for it

[augustaspartans]

Moving right along folks Im going to cover Youth football Indoor ball and how this will blow Stinger attendance wide open.

[augustaspartans]

I have been asked to explain the Youth Indoor football league to the Stingers.

The youth indoor football was the brain child of several folks. It was started to serve as outreach of the Spartans. There are 4 teams the mini Spartans, the Cowboys, the Desperados, the outlaws
they wear the colors of the 4 WIFL teams

The teams were made up by the recreation departments and are really just youth football teams
the equipment is their own the only expense they incurred was uniforms for the Spartans.

Their plays and formations are all the same for each teams. They practice the week before their games all week. They can keep up to half of their roster but must rotate the other half all season so numerous kids can play. They are governed by their own comissioner of the YIFL and are subject to the rules they approve.

They play 1 game before each home game they play 2 the first of the season all season long. Seasons end they will play for the championship. There are plans to add two additional teams next year one from Edgefield, Aiken County.

They play game conditions have their own cheerleading squad and just are fun to watch.

This will blow attendance figures wide open

For extra fun invite local high school pep band to perform during game. Might cost you 50 tickets but it will give the crowd a ralllying point.

[augustaspartans]

Will continue this post in a day or so hope everyone is doing great