Sports Marketing

[RichHParticipant]

Bathrooms with a panoramic view of the valley.

[LUHawkerParticipant]

I agree with several of the comments made here regarding Goodman and the gameday upgrades needed. Let me add my 2 cents.

Video board (or 3 boards if you will) across the top of the locker room is a long-overdue addition. Please, please don’t downsize it and stick in in the corner. For engineer, or those who would miss the view: You can’t gaze in between the stand and the lock-room; I’m not sure you’re missing that much anyway. For all of the great things about Goodman, it suffers from being a little too “wide open”. Because there is the grass hill and so much room to mill around, it dilutes the fan concentration in the stands. I think a larger video board would help pen the place in and start to give it a more intimate feel. I’d actually prefer the video board go above the grass hill to assist with this, although I admit enjoying walking in to that expansive view of the field. For as much as some like the grass hill, I think putting student seating there in the grass bowl would be a good addition as it gives the students a truly reserved section, where they could be rowdy. I’d also get rid of the chain-link fence and introduce a more substantial fence around the whole place that isn’t see through, so it creates a more closed venue. There are more creative ideas to be had, but these are my wish list ones.

[ngineerParticipant]

I get a kick out of reading these suggestions for upgrading Goodman and Stabler. No one has mentioned where the money is coming from. While I see the advantages for a video board, having some monster sized board for a stadium of 16,000 doesn’t make sense. While it may bring more interest from the students, I don’t see

ticket paying customers

increasing in droves because of a video board.
The bathrooms at Goodman are the finest around. Even heated!
It all comes down to money. Lehigh aint shelling out millions of dollars for ‘trappings’. You need a sugar-daddy for that stuff. Functionally, a better sound system would be nice now that we have an announcer with good diction. But with dropping attendance, nationwide, beacause of many cultural changes, I don’t see huge capital expenditures without a major outside contributor.
Stabler needs an upgrade, but in my view, it is quite functional for what we need. The main upgrade in my view is the need for a better scoreboard/video board suspended over center court. Perhaps, there is not enough structural support from the roof, so not sure if that can be rectified.
As for Grace, yes, the obstructed seats in the lower part of the upper level is a problem and a shame. However, you cannot modify Grace. Not with that stone structure. We live with the quirks. It is an historic venue that kids dream of wrestling in. Possible consider chairbacks, at least for the lower level. The attending population is senior laden.
Bottom line is that we have champagne tastes and beer wallets.

[sundayamqbParticipant]

I’m with you engineer. Not a big fan of video boards; the views are great all over anyway.

[lfnadminKeymaster]

[quote=24698]

ticket paying customers

…

Stabler needs an upgrade, but in my view, it is quite functional for what we need…

Bottom line is that we have champagne tastes and beer wallets.[/quote]

There’s a link between “decline of ticket-paying customers” and “we are fine with a functional facility, we don’t need trappings.” Trappings are one of the things that can attract people to games.

Some of the things are layups, easy to implement – giveaways, contests, prizes, etc. Others are more expensive.

The video board thing gets a lot of traction for six decent reasons:

1. Lafayette has one.

2. In #Rivalry150, one of the biggest thrills of all the fans were the video ads about Lehigh and Lafayette on Yankee Stadium’s big screen. What Lehigh person didn’t cheer when a huge image of CJ came on the screen?

3. While not free, getting a Daktronics board is no longer the huge expense that it once 15 years ago.

4. Delaware has one.

5. Lehigh’s scoreboard hasn’t essentially changed since 1988. There have been minor upgrades to change the lights and make them more readable, but that’s it.

6. A video board makes Goodman much more multi-purpose. During an outdoor graduation, all you get is a banner saying congratulations to the graduates. A video board could make that experience much more rich for everyone.

[sundayamqbParticipant]

@lfnadmin:

Take this a little tongue in cheek, not personally

Reasons FOR getting a video board?

1. Lafayette? Lafayette sucks. They got the board and their team still sucks, as does their program. I’m not sure I follow your argument. Did attendance go up 20 percent? If so, get a board.

2. Agreed. The ads were nice for that ONE game. They very well could get old. Do we want to see ads for Starter’s Pub, etc? No. Would it raise money? Yes. Generate more audience? Questionable. UNLESS — all sorts of fun, goofy things are done during TV time outs. Think Iron Pigs and other minor league baseball … That crazy hot dog man at the Reading Phillies. (If you have not seen him, he’s worth the price of admission.)

3. Using this line of logic, let’s give everyone who enters an iPad for the game. They’re cheaper than ever. They’d be able to see replays, comment on play calling, etc. (YES, HYPERBOLE)

4. See No. 1. Or, how about we get helmets like Delaware’s? Or a stadium like Penn State’s?

5. Sure, why not change the scoreboard? I have no problem with that. But what’s the mission? It should be to make game day better to attract more people and keep the ones who attend. The Taylor Stadium scoreboard was the same for as long as I can remember — and attendance there was awesome.

6. Graduation is one day a year — and a big screen would be great for it. But it’s one day a year. Football games are at most (at the rate we’re going) six or seven days a year. Buying a video screen because it will help us attract 20 more games with a soccer team (or Eagles scrimmages) would be a better argument.

Why not build Fargodome east? Would solve multiple problems folks here have raised. (I would not like to see that — Goodman really does have such a beautiful setting.)

Bottom line: What is the ROI? Can the LU capital to be deployed get a better ROI/use elsewhere?

[RichHParticipant]

I agree with sunday,A dome for Goodman yessirree.
All togue in cheek may be the best approach for all of us.LFN and sunday are both valid aspects.
Realistically,I doubt much is going to happen without impetus and money from outside sources.

[ngineerParticipant]

To be clear–I am not against a video board, just destroying what I consider one of the most scenic settings for college football. You would need a very good architectural study to determine that, but the embankment above the northeast corner endzone is most appropriate. Visitors can still see with proper angling…and few sit over there anyway so those few can turn their heads.

[RICHBLDNParticipant]

Long time lurker first time poster.

Seems to me if we want to attract folks to Goodman. ADD Lights
7:30 games in September. 4:00 October. 12:30 in November.

LC has lights, Buck has lights, Colgate has Lights. With $5Million for Georgetown, and all the use that will get, they will likely add lights.

2 other pluses for lights. Maybe that would keep the Pro soccer team at Goodman Permanently. And we could return to hosting PIAA high school playoff games, a plus for recruiting, a plus for the Lehigh Valley. Maybe I am wrong, but I suspect a lighted Goodman is better than Allentown SD stadium.

Yeah, I know it is not just the stadium. For parking we need to at least double the lighting around Stabler. And we would need to light the “student parking area” north of the Stadium. I would let the kids continue to party after the game, BUT make sure there would be a plan to make sure no one drives from that lot under the influence. (Train a couple University employees to administer a breathalyzer test before they get to a cop who be before they get to the road.)

I work as a whitewater guide in Jim Thorpe and figure I have missed 1-2 games at Goodman every one of the last 28 years. Must be a lot of other folks who miss games because September-October is the best time for Golf, Hiking, Biking and a hundred other outdoor activities.

[RichHParticipant]

The problem from folks at LU,the stadium lights themselves are not a problem,the cost estimate for lighting the paths and parking area are astronomical apparently.

[LUHawkerParticipant]

[quote=24730]The problem from folks at LU,the stadium lights themselves are not a problem,the cost estimate for lighting the paths and parking area are astronomical apparently.

[/quote]

I don’t buy the reasoning against lights because of parking lots and pathways. Does Stabler not host BB games and many other events in the evening? Do people get lost walking to Stabler. Yes, I realize that FB pulls more people. I’m not offering good examples, here, but don’t other schools with parking areas have night games where the lots aren’t entirely lighted? I recognize I’m not a lighting expert, but all I hear from LU are excuses not to do this, rather than looking for solutions. If we put permanent stadium lighting, what would a one-game cost for temporary lighting be? Trying out a temp lighting situation would allow the University to really determine what is necessary and what is “nice to have” before committing. If we ever got to a place where Goodman was full (or substantially full) for night games, I’m pretty sure the permanent lighting issue would become a nice problem to have and we could afford it.

[RichHParticipant]

Some years back. I went to a local HS nigjt game in NJ. Lots had no permanent lighting. The school had arc lights mounted on a number of pickup trucks to light the parking field. Cant imagine that cost overmuch.

[lfnadminKeymaster]

Two quick points on the video board.

First, it can be touted as a recruiting advantage, if not explicitly (“We have a video board, Lehigh does not”) then implicitly (“We have a BIG-TIME game atmosphere at Lafayette with Kirby Field House and oh yeah the big video screen”). Goodman has a very good game atmosphere in the afternoons, I know because I spend a lot of time there. A new video board could add to that and also remove a possible recruiting advantage for Delaware and Lafayette.

Second, with the opportunity Beth Steel FC coming to Goodman, it does seem like a good idea to update the facility to be amenable to pro sports franchises’ needs. Before, only the needs of Lehigh football were really necessary in Goodman. Now the folks at Goodman have more considerations to have the chance to be good tenants for a pro sports franchise.

Very worthy of mention here is that the original Bethlehem Steel FC back in 1913 used then-new Taylor Stadium to contest their bigger games, so you could say the original Taylor Stadium was intended to be a multi-purpose field when it was constructed. It also hosted Lehigh baseball games within walking distance of Bethlehem Steel. So in a way, all Lehigh is doing is retuning in a big way to its roots by having Goodman as a multi-purpose stadium.

[RICHBLDNParticipant]

In 2012 A group of my friends who had not been to a game before in Goodman returned. As it started to get cloudy in late October one questioned “Why don’t they turn on the lights.” Well another has a son who specializes in temporary lighting of locations like stadiums for events like Rock Concerts. A quick call returned an estimate of $30-35,000. Not that much more to light parking.

Permanent lighting of parking? look how weak the lighting of the parking lights are at Stabler are. I would guess lighting the “student parking area would cost as much as lighting a little league baseball field; expanding the lighting around Stabler, maybe as much as a small HS football field.

Lighting the walkway from Stabler to Goodman, heck you could do that with solar garden lights. Actually, I would suggest just a string of lights across the intramural fields.

Sure – Jumbotron, luxury boxes, better sound, better scoreboard, —- But lights first. Would be surprised if the cost was as much as the field hockey stadium

[sundayamqbParticipant]

I like the idea of lights, for all the reasons many of you cited (and there were some good ones I’d never thought of). One more: No more morning cocktails before tailgating. Now you could party AFTER the game with a ride back up the hill.

I’m particularly intrigued with the idea of holding state championships there (talk about a recruiting tool) and making it — as LFNadmin said — a multipurpose facility.

One challenge in the Valley is that it is NOT urban. Some newer schools are building stadiums surrounded by “downtowns” (parking garages, stores on first floors, offices second, residences above). I’ve seen the new-ish stadium at the University of Central Florida — with lights — and it’s impressive.

But what’s the ROI?

[Author]

Posts