spreading of bison fans???

[NDSUFan_Sav]

Question to all the bison faithful....

This past off-season have you got friends, family, or anyone a bigger bison fan? Got friends to purchase season tickets? What have you guys done to spread the word of Bison Nation???

I have some a buddy that attends ECU and he is a huge ECU fan and being its a FBS team he loves reading bison stuff i send him or hearing how the bison are doing. I also have a friend that attended Baylor and same goes for him. My buddy from ECU is starting to become a Roehl fan and is hoping he gets a chance in the NFL.

[tjbison]

I thought everyone was a little bit of a Bison fan;)

[4mcruenomore]

My friends from LSU watch for Bison stuff. They said our BB stuff got greater coverage that they noticed after Wisconsin. They thought our BB program was tough, didn't even know about FB.

[met1990]

I can't say I've converted anyone, but the first thing everyone I know asks me is how the Bison are going to do this year. I'm not an expert on them, but they know I follow them closely. To me, that means a lot of people are just starting to catch on to Bison football. As an aside, my wife is taking grad school through SDSU. I'll admit, it's an OK school, but she has an SDSU shirt, which I call "The Poop Shirt."

[TAILG8R]

I bought season tickets finally this year instead of single games. I also talked my brother and his neighbor into buying season tickets. 2 for each of us = 6 new season ticket holders. PLus two extra for SDSU I couldn't quite get the other friend converted fully.

[fargocyclone]

I've been working on my friends from Iowa State for a few years now. They all cheer for the Bison. It was actually my roommate who saw the highlights of the MN game on ESPN before me. He was halfway excited about it too! I almost got a few to come to the SDSU game this year, but it's going to be on Thanksgiving break. Not to mention the Iowa-North Dakota trip is a bit long for someone who didn't even know NDSU existed before seeing my posters. I, however, will still be there...

[NDSUFan_Sav]

I've been working on my friends from Iowa State for a few years now. They all cheer for the Bison. It was actually my roommate who saw the highlights of the MN game on ESPN before me. He was halfway excited about it too! I almost got a few to come to the SDSU game this year, but it's going to be on Thanksgiving break. Not to mention the Iowa-North Dakota trip is a bit long for someone who didn't even know NDSU existed before seeing my posters. I, however, will still be there...

++++++

keep it up....

everyone expand bison nation!!!

[No_Skill]

Last year I took 4 people to games that had never been to Bison games before and they loved it.

This will also be our first year as Teammakers and season ticket holders (me, wife, and friend).

On top of that, I've got a brand new one in the oven:

http://www.bisonville.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13365

[roper1313]

my fist time buying season tickets (4) instead of single game. My company's been a teammaker for quote a while though. We'll see how this year goes, next year we might have to up the ante to the teammaker level for tickets.

[lakesbison]

I got 2 people buying 4 season tickets now, they are from a large ad agency and large construction company in fargo. 2-3 years ago, these guys laughed at me about how I was into bison nation too much, now they don't want to miss anything.

[BisManBison]

I got both my brother who lives in Minneapolis and a friend in Dickinson, neither of which are NDSU alum (although my brother did attend for a few years), to get season tickets this year. I also got an extra season ticket to bring others with that have not had the experience of going to an NDSU football game.

[Tatanka]

Bought 10 season tickets for family and extended family.
Business I own became a Teammaker (low-level, but it's not a big business).
Bought canopy and ample supplies for tailgating.
Procured and installed shiny Bison valve stem covers for local Sioux fan's car.

[SDbison]

I posted this on another thread today, but also believe it is relative to this one.........

Not only do a lot more season tickets need to be sold to people and businesses in the FM area, but also to the surrounding three state area. It is obvious that the bulk of Montana fans drive from outside of Missoula area to come to home games. They are sold on the team and are willing to travel to most every home game. Likewise for Nebraska. Seems like NDSU has a lot of growing that could be done to expand the market. Hopefully the game with Minnesota the past couple years has inspired more Alumni and fans from the Twin Cities area to purchase season tickets.
Early on game day when I traveled from Sioux Falls to Lincoln for Nebraska games it was fun to see several vehicles (with obvious Husker fan wear, flags, bumperstickers, etc. on their way to the game just after I left Sioux Falls. By the time I got to Omaha there was bumper to bumper traffic going to the game. What an experience! Would be fun to some day see something similar happen as I head north out of Sioux Falls to Fargo. As it is now I am lucky to see a few vehicles with NDSU fans as I travel from the border 65 miles south of Fargo.

[bisonmike2]

I posted this on another thread today, but also believe it is relative to this one.........

Not only do a lot more season tickets need to be sold to people and businesses in the FM area, but also to the surrounding three state area. It is obvious that the bulk of Montana fans drive from outside of Missoula area to come to home games. They are sold on the team and are willing to travel to most every home game. Likewise for Nebraska. Seems like NDSU has a lot of growing that could be done to expand the market. Hopefully the game with Minnesota the past couple years has inspired more Alumni and fans from the Twin Cities area to purchase season tickets.
Early on game day when I traveled from Sioux Falls to Lincoln for Nebraska games it was fun to see several vehicles (with obvious Husker fan wear, flags, bumperstickers, etc. on their way to the game just after I left Sioux Falls. By the time I got to Omaha there was bumper to bumper traffic going to the game. What an experience! Would be fun to some day see something similar happen as I head north out of Sioux Falls to Fargo. As it is now I am lucky to see a few vehicles with NDSU fans as I travel from the border 65 miles south of Fargo.

Sort of like the first game against the goophers. I say the first b/c I lived in F/M at the time and when we travelled down 94 you couldn't go 5 minutes w/out spotting a car with either people wearing Bison gear or the car with some sort of NDSU markings. I assume it was like that for the most recent goopher game, thankfully I only had a 15 minute ride instead of 3 hours. Imagine if that's what 94 looked like every saturday but with the NDSU faithful heading west toward Fargo.

[Bison"FANatic"]

Or the trip down to Brookings last year. I travel that stretch quite often and the traffic was crazy that morning and after the game. Bison Green and Gold was going strong. We always sport the bison window flags on the way to the games so its easy to guess what we are up to.

[Ferd]

Or the trip down to Brookings last year. I travel that stretch quite often and the traffic was crazy that morning and after the game. Bison Green and Gold was going strong. We always sport the bison window flags on the way to the games so its easy to guess what we are up to.

+++

It looked like we could have had a tailgating party at the rest area north of Brookings after the game. A lot of Bison fans seemed to have eschewed the port-a-potties after the game was over.

[BisonNeil]

I got 2 people buying 4 season tickets now, they are from a large ad agency and large construction company in fargo. 2-3 years ago, these guys laughed at me about how I was into bison nation too much, now they don't want to miss anything.

Get them to become Bison TeamMakers to support scholarship dollars and you will finally become a real Bison fan and not just a, well, I won't say it...

[sambini]

Question to all the bison faithful....

This past off-season have you got friends, family, or anyone a bigger bison fan? Got friends to purchase season tickets? What have you guys done to spread the word of Bison Nation???

I have some a buddy that attends ECU and he is a huge ECU fan and being its a FBS team he loves reading bison stuff i send him or hearing how the bison are doing. I also have a friend that attended Baylor and same goes for him. My buddy from ECU is starting to become a Roehl fan and is hoping he gets a chance in the NFL.
Its all part of being OF TEAMMAKER FUND DRIVE. Join Teammakers today++++

[LITTLEGUYSINGREEN]

I posted this on another thread today, but also believe it is relative to this one.........

Not only do a lot more season tickets need to be sold to people and businesses in the FM area, but also to the surrounding three state area. It is obvious that the bulk of Montana fans drive from outside of Missoula area to come to home games. They are sold on the team and are willing to travel to most every home game. Likewise for Nebraska. Seems like NDSU has a lot of growing that could be done to expand the market. Hopefully the game with Minnesota the past couple years has inspired more Alumni and fans from the Twin Cities area to purchase season tickets.
Early on game day when I traveled from Sioux Falls to Lincoln for Nebraska games it was fun to see several vehicles (with obvious Husker fan wear, flags, bumperstickers, etc. on their way to the game just after I left Sioux Falls. By the time I got to Omaha there was bumper to bumper traffic going to the game. What an experience! Would be fun to some day see something similar happen as I head north out of Sioux Falls to Fargo. As it is now I am lucky to see a few vehicles with NDSU fans as I travel from the border 65 miles south of Fargo.

Well said, but the bulk of the team marketing is the job of the athletic dept. and they haven't done that great of a job outside of the F-M area. Where I live out here in a small town in south central ND, not many people even know or care about the Bison.

This year the athletic dept. finally got KFYR to broadcast games. In western ND, KFYR is KING! If you want a statewide fan base then you need to get the games to the fans. The way you do that is through KFYR. Last year (and every year prior) I couldn't even listen to the games on the radio after dark. WHAT A JOKE! The only D-I football program in the state and they still didn't have statewide radio coverage. I had to subscribe to GO-Bison.com just to listen to a game. The average fan isn't going to go through this kind of trouble for a Bison football game.

If we want the fan base to grow the athletic dept. has to get more aggressive. I know they have made vast strides but a lot more can be done. Like I said, there are a lot of people out here who know very little about the Bison.

[SDbison]

Well said, but the bulk of the team marketing is the job of the athletic dept. and they haven't done that great of a job outside of the F-M area. Where I live out here in a small town in south central ND, not many people even know or care about the Bison.

This year the athletic dept. finally got KFYR to broadcast games. In western ND, KFYR is KING! If you want a statewide fan base then you need to get the games to the fans. The way you do that is through KFYR. Last year (and every year prior) I couldn't even listen to the games on the radio after dark. WHAT A JOKE! The only D-I football program in the state and they still didn't have statewide radio coverage. I had to subscribe to GO-Bison.com just to listen to a game. The average fan isn't going to go through this kind of trouble for a Bison football game.

If we want the fan base to grow the athletic dept. has to get more aggressive. I know they have made vast strides but a lot more can be done. Like I said, there are a lot of people out here who know very little about the Bison.
Thanks LTTLEGUYSINGREEN. You speak for the majority that NDSU has avoided in the state of North Dakota in their quest to cozy up to the rich in the FM area. Too bad they don't get it yet........

[Hammersmith]

Well said, but the bulk of the team marketing is the job of the athletic dept. and they haven't done that great of a job outside of the F-M area. Where I live out here in a small town in south central ND, not many people even know or care about the Bison.

This year the athletic dept. finally got KFYR to broadcast games. In western ND, KFYR is KING! If you want a statewide fan base then you need to get the games to the fans. The way you do that is through KFYR. Last year (and every year prior) I couldn't even listen to the games on the radio after dark. WHAT A JOKE! The only D-I football program in the state and they still didn't have statewide radio coverage. I had to subscribe to GO-Bison.com just to listen to a game. The average fan isn't going to go through this kind of trouble for a Bison football game.

If we want the fan base to grow the athletic dept. has to get more aggressive. I know they have made vast strides but a lot more can be done. Like I said, there are a lot of people out here who know very little about the Bison.

This is only the third year(I think) that the Bison have had direct control over which radio stations would air the games. The first year was learning how to produce, distribute and sell advertising for the games. The second year was about adding stations for better statewide coverage. The third year has been about tweaking statewide coverage(KFYR) and adding a MSP presence. I don't think they could have done any better in this short span of time. You could argue that NDSU should have taken control from ForumComm years earlier, but I don't think the money needed to move production in-house was available prior to the DI move.

[SDbison]

The rich own the dome.......if they say sit everyone should sit. NDSU needs to start giving credit to the the thousands who tailgate and make it to most every game.......they cheer and make it a real college environment. Time to make NDSU games a place for true fans..........

[SDbison]

This is only the third year(I think) that the Bison have had direct control over which radio stations would air the games. The first year was learning how to produce, distribute and sell advertising for the games. The second year was about adding stations for better statewide coverage. The third year has been about tweaking statewide coverage(KFYR) and adding a MSP presence. I don't think they could have done any better in this short span of time. You could argue that NDSU should have taken control from ForumComm years earlier, but I don't think the money needed to move production in-house was available prior to the DI move.
The regional TV coverage still sucks!

[LITTLEGUYSINGREEN]

This is only the third year(I think) that the Bison have had direct control over which radio stations would air the games. The first year was learning how to produce, distribute and sell advertising for the games. The second year was about adding stations for better statewide coverage. The third year has been about tweaking statewide coverage(KFYR) and adding a MSP presence. I don't think they could have done any better in this short span of time. You could argue that NDSU should have taken control from ForumComm years earlier, but I don't think the money needed to move production in-house was available prior to the DI move.

What about the '80s? They shouldn't have to be reinventing the wheel. NDSU didn't just get a football team 5 years ago. When I was in college and the Bison were a D-II power, KFYR (and other prominent stations) carried the games. But, then in the '90s the athletic dept. dropped the ball and let all the media outlets slip away. Now they have to build them back up again. I hope now they can stay consistent and keep the media presence, even when the team is down.

[imported_Bisongold]

What do you expect from alot of people on this board that could care less about the small communities and think a D-1 athlete can't come from a smaller ND town!! For some reason they think that kids in cities are are somehow superior to kids in the rural areas. Many denigrate kids recruited from the lower A divisions and God forbid recruiting a 9 man player! The difference is only that we have fewer of them, but the ones we have are used to playing 3 or 4 sports and excelling. They may have not concentrated on football only and spent their life in a weight room because they were too busy competing. So yes they may be behind to some degree for that reason, but once they concentrate on football they quickly catch up and will be the backbone of the team. Their work ethic is unmatched. Hello! Look at the kids who make up the student body at NDSU and tell me where they come from. I have said it before on this board, but the day the rural ND towns and kids no longer matter to the athletic dept., NDSU, and the Fargo Forum will be the day that the real grass roots support for NDSU begins to deteriorate. Conversly, start broadcasting and reaching out to them and for God's sake keep recruiting them and the NDSU population will continue to boom.

[56BISON73]

The rich own the dome.......if they say sit everyone should sit. NDSU needs to start giving credit to the the thousands who tailgate and make it to most every game.......they cheer and make it a real college environment. Time to make NDSU games a place for true fans..........

What???? :D Where did this come from??? lol PL

[Hammersmith]

What about the '80s? They shouldn't have to be reinventing the wheel. NDSU didn't just get a football team 5 years ago. When I was in college and the Bison were a D-II power, KFYR (and other prominent stations) carried the games. But, then in the '90s the athletic dept. dropped the ball and let all the media outlets slip away. Now they have to build them back up again. I hope now they can stay consistent and keep the media presence, even when the team is down.

From what I understand, back then NDSU didn't have direct control of which radio stations would carry the games. NDSU would accept bids from media outlets who would be responsible for putting together the network. Several years back, ForumComm, who had won the media rights for decades, began to drop or switch stations that were not owned by ForumComm(I wonder if the purchase of many stations by Clear Channel had anything to do with this). This loss of coverage was a major factor in NDSU changing how they handle the radio network. Today, NDSU doesn't sell the media rights away; they do the negotiations with the individual radio stations themselves. This allows NDSU to put together a network made up of a combination of ForumComm, Clear Channel, and independant stations.

Let's put it another way. If only two companies send you bids and neither proposal is as good as the previous contract, what are you supposed to do? You have to take the lesser of two evils or do the job yourself. As the ForumComm contracts were sliding backward, it was just too expensive to bring the production in-house. The combination of even worse ForumComm proposals and the increased funding from the DI move finally allowed NDSU to take option number three.

[99Bison]

What do you expect from alot of people on this board that could care less about the small communities and think a D-1 athlete can't come from a smaller ND town!! For some reason they think that kids in cities are are somehow superior to kids in the rural areas. Many denigrate kids recruited from the lower A divisions and God forbid recruiting a 9 man player! The difference is only that we have fewer of them, but the ones we have are used to playing 3 or 4 sports and excelling. They may have not concentrated on football only and spent their life in a weight room because they were too busy competing. So yes they may be behind to some degree for that reason, but once they concentrate on football they quickly catch up and will be the backbone of the team. Their work ethic is unmatched. Hello! Look at the kids who make up the student body at NDSU and tell me where they come from. I have said it before on this board, but the day the rural ND towns and kids no longer matter to the athletic dept., NDSU, and the Fargo Forum will be the day that the real grass roots support for NDSU begins to deteriorate. Conversly, start broadcasting and reaching out to them and for God's sake keep recruiting them and the NDSU population will continue to boom.

Whoa, don't mistake everyone for one lakes...