Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
If the '94 Hokies match their hype, this will be the most thrilling and successful season in school history. But there's one record they almost certainly won't set: season ticket sales.
Whether the Hokies set an average attendance record is another matter. But it's likely the 12,510 season passes sold before the 1992 season will remain Tech's most ever - despite a preseason national ranking, much the same offense that set scoring and yardage records last year and the presence of Tech's two biggest draws, Virginia and West Virginia, on the home schedule.
To Tech's athletic department, this is no throwaway subject. Athletic director Dave Braine wants season-ticket sales of around 21,000-22,000.
``That would relieve a lot of pressure for all of our programs,'' he said.
This year figured to be the easiest peddling job ever. Apparently, it wasn't.
So what's up with Hokies' fans? Or is it the Hokies' marketing and promotions efforts?
There's the long-cited problem that for Hokies fans in Tech's big alumni bases in Richmond, Tidewater and Northern Virginia, Blacksburg is too long a game-day trip. And there are other theories.
``We now have a product,'' said Tech assistant athletic director Steve Horton, who oversees Tech's marketing and promotions. ``I think it's going to take two or three years for us with a good product. We've got people that are still skeptical.''
Horton admires Virginia, which he says cultivates an atmosphere that if you don't have a season ticket, you may not get a ticket period.
``It's been ingrained in [Tech fans] that it's easy to get a ticket to a Virginia Tech game,'' Horton said.
Although Braine maintains stagnant season-ticket sales are not the fault of Tech's promotions department, the Hokies won't be accused of overadvertising. That's partly a function of a small staff and limited money.
Tech, for example, didn't make a special push during their spring football game in Salem. And, promotions director Peg Morse said, ``a lot of the [advertising] budget was eaten up'' by ads on Big East Network TV games stressing single-game sales, not season tickets.
Virginia, for example, got roughly $50,000 worth of broadcast and print advertising with ``trade-outs'' - trading tickets for time and space.
Virginia's season-ticket sales are at about 23,500, helped by direct mailings totaling about 35,000 to recent graduates and students' parents. UVa also arranged for season-ticket ads in a direct-mail coupon service (500,000 homes) and a Richmond advertising magazine (400,000 homes).
Virginia targets season-ticket renewals and new purchases with advertising during a seven-week period in April and May, shuts it down for the summer and resumes with about 75 percent of its advertising from August to September, Selig said.
Tech's promotions department, for years run by Morse and student assistants, has another employee in newly-hired Tim East. Horton said Tech may try to contract with a marketing firm to handle things such as game-day promotions that could have an effect on ticket sales.
And Tech will pray the football team continues to win and creates a demand for tickets.
``It hasn't reached a point where people know it's going to be tough to get tickets,'' Braine said. ``They're still going to cherry-pick.''
by CNB