Smut Spends $750k To Try And Lure More Suckers

[NT80]

SMU ponies up cash to increase visibility

Mustangs hope bump in marketing budget yields more fans

02:35 PM CDT on Friday, August 17, 2007

By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News

khairopoulos@dallasnews.com

UNIVERSITY PARK – SMU ranked last in Conference USA in home football attendance last season, according to the league's statistics, averaging 15,428 fans.

As the Sept. 3 opener against Texas Tech approaches, SMU is banking on what it hopes is a perfect storm to draw more fans to 32,000-seat Ford Stadium.

SMU is launching its first full-scale advertising campaign in years. The school increased its marketing budget by $750,000 to ramp up its visibility in the Dallas area.

The hope is that the campaign will merge with the Mustangs' first bowl berth since 1984 – and since SMU received the "death penalty" from the NCAA three years later. The campaign is based on the slogan "Pony Up," illustrated with a red SMU logo and an upward-pointing arrow.

Along with television commercials, radio spots, print ads, billboards and banners, SMU is paying to produce a weekly show for coach Phil Bennett and to air three road games on Channel 21. SMU hasn't had a coach's show or a locally produced game broadcast since 2000.

"Football's very important in generating resources, so we've made an investment in that part of our program to hopefully get a return," athletic director Steve Orsini said. "With the combination of success on the field, a winning product, and a proper marketing campaign, I believe we've got enough supporters out there to support our program."

Bennett said he appreciates the financial commitment to the program, which includes an increase of more than $1 million with new recruiting staff and weight room enhancements added to the marketing increase.

Bennett said it's time to validate the program by "being a bowl championship team."

Orsini said SMU's goal is to increase season-ticket sales from about 4,000 last season to 5,000 this season. The school hired Shawn McGee as associate athletic director of sales to focus almost exclusively on increasing ticket sales.

"Part of the challenge SMU has had is that the focus has not been on proactively selling tickets," McGee said. "The hope was people would come to our Web site and buy tickets or simply come to our games."

McGee said SMU has reached about 85 percent of its season-ticket goal and plans to almost double its ticket revenue from last season.

Hosting Texas Tech will help. SMU did not play a home game against a Big 12 team last season.

SMU used research from focus groups and surveys sent to the Dallas community, students and alumni to design its campaign.

Two new billboards are already visible on North Central Expressway, which borders the SMU campus. Commercials will begin airing on local TV on Aug. 26. Radio spots start Aug. 29.

The campaign attempts to link the present – notably quarterback Justin Willis, the 2006 C-USA freshman of the year – with the glory years of Doak Walker and the Pony Express. It also plays on SMU traditions, such as its version of tailgating on The Boulevard, the main road of SMU's campus.

"The only way to increase attendance is to build awareness of SMU," said Monica Contreras, director of marketing and promotions. "We wanted to do something that was different, not just the typical SMU logo on everything. We wanted to generate buzz and awareness, people talking about it, questioning what the 'Pony Up' was."

C-USA ATTENDANCE

SMU's 2006 average attendance of 15,428 in six home games ranked 108th among the 119 NCAA Division I-A programs. Here's how the 12 C-USA teams ranked against each other and nationally in home stadium attendance last season:

Team G Avg. att. Rank

UTEP 6 42,444 40

East Carolina 6 37,168 63

Memphis 7 32,440 71

UCF 7 31,569 73

Southern Miss 6 28,994 78

Marshall 5 26,031 81

UAB 6 23,139 83

Houston 8 21,910 84

Tulsa 6 21,364 86

Tulane 5 18,942 95

SMU 6 15,428 108

Rice* 4 14,760 112

*Rice's home game against Texas at Reliant Stadium is not included in the NCAA's statistics.

Source: NCAA

Texas Tech at SMU, 3 p.m. Sept. 3, Ford Stadium (ESPN)

Ahh yes, the glory years of the Death Penalty!

Edited August 17, 2007 by NT80

[UNTFan23]

"Football's very important in generating resources, so we've made an investment in that part of our program to hopefully get a return," athletic director Steve Orsini said. "With the combination of success on the field, a winning product, and a proper marketing campaign, I believe we've got enough supporters out there to support our program."

He doesn't like he's entirely convinced this is going to work.

Orsini said SMU's goal is to increase season-ticket sales from about 4,000 last season to 5,000 this season. The school hired Shawn McGee as associate athletic director of sales to focus almost exclusively on increasing ticket sales.

"Part of the challenge SMU has had is that the focus has not been on proactively selling tickets," McGee said. "The hope was people would come to our Web site and buy tickets or simply come to our games."

McGee said SMU has reached about 85 percent of its season-ticket goal and plans to almost double its ticket revenue from last season.

SMU has sold approximately 4250 season tickets if they are at 85% of their goal. It'll be tough to make it when the season starts in 2-1/2 weeks. The only way they're going to double their ticket revenue is if they increase the ticket price.

SMU used research from focus groups and surveys sent to the Dallas community, students and alumni to design its campaign.

How big are these focus groups? As the attendance at the games clearly states, Dallas doesn't give a damn about SMU.

[Charlie NT 73]

I had to read the part about the 3 road games twice. $mu is going to "pony up" and

pay for TV coverage for 3 road games, along with Bennett's TV show? Is this correct?

[emmitt01]

I had to read the part about the 3 road games twice. $mu is going to "pony up" and

pay for TV coverage for 3 road games, along with Bennett's TV show? Is this correct?

Yep.

9/15 @Ark St 6pm

10/27 @Tulsa 2pm

11/24 @Memphis 1pm

Edited August 17, 2007 by emmitt01

[Bryan316]

This article and maybe one other took up an entire page in today's Quick. Our "commuter school" needs to buy half- or full-page ads for every home game this season in this "commuter paper." If SMU wants folks to "Pony Up," well, "It's Wide Open."

[drex]

For $750,000 why don't they just pay 75,000 people to come to their games? They are used to paying players, why not fans?

[Green Mean]

Great for SMU....atleast they are spending the money thats needed in hopes to build up their football program and eventually their whole athletics program.