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Would you like theme nights for some of the FAU home games?

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I heard of some schools hosting theme nights for their college football games. Some like a Star Wars Night, most have a military appericate night, or a pink out game for Cancer. So I am wondering if FAU did the same thing would you like it?

Some of my ideas be.

1.) Star Wars Night

2.) 80's night. That would include music and custom designed uniforms

Those are two I think would get people excited, but if you have more I like to hear. 
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Thinking out of the box is great but the only thing that will energize and excite our local fan base are wins. Plain and simple.
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I know my two boys would love a Stars Wars themed game...me too.

GO OWLS!
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I log in, start typing a response to this (on my phone) and no more than five minutes later I go to post it and it fails because it's logged me out. I don't understand why such a short time is set to logout for inactivity and I wonder how many other people don't post for that reason.

Anyway…

I absolutely think this would improve attendance.

Star Wars/Cosplay Night
80s Night
Halloween Costume Night
Tropical/Hawaiian Shirt Night
Casino Night
Faculty/Staff Free Night
International Night

But, much like having a themed party at your own house, it's the decorations and the food that will really sell it, so the cost to host these will be a bit more. For instance with Casino Night obviously you have to put out craps tables and blackjack tables and get dealers with experience to man them. But it's definitely worth it; one of the best events I went to as a grad student was the grad student Casino Night and everybody loved it.

If you don't do it seriously people are going to realize you SAY a theme and expect the people who show up to sell it and that's pretty lame. You can lose the trust of the public pretty quickly. So for Hawaiian Shirt night yes you expect the public to show up in the shirts, but you put the employees in the shirts and you bring in tropical decorations and maybe build a fake volcano and whatnot.

We might benefit from hiring an Event Planner tasked just to do these things, to have plans or scour Pinterest to figure out ways to make it work, then make sure it does work on opening night.
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When I/we did theme nights at my former school, they did not lead to any attendance increase that can be directly attributed to the theme night. Minor league sports probably do theme nights the best; and without going too far out on a limb, I would hedge a small bet that the "bringing your dog to the game" theme is probably the best theme night of any team (i.e. "Bark in the Park").

FAU has done theme nights before, but you may not recognize them as themes, such as:
- Homecoming
- Military Appreciation
- Bury the Burrow in Red (remember that one?)

It's certainly worth a try, and some schools have a fan base that soak-up theme nights better than others, but to successfully pull off a full-fledged theme night, expenses could include:
- uniforms for players
- uniforms for game day staff
- uniforms for ancillary game day production staff (band, cheer/dance, etc.)
- creative marketing, videos, additional billboards, flyers, etc.

Theme nights are supposed to attract a certain type of fan you don't normally get at the games, such as "Greek Night" to try and get Greek life to the game.

Before embarking on a full-fledged theme night marketing schedule for football, I would look into:
- Lynn University's success rate with theme night and attendance
- Past success at FAU with theme nights
- Minor league sports, major league soccer, the Marlins, and other sports teams that host theme nights

I would think FAU baseball, softball, soccer, and select basketball games are better targets for theme nights than a full schedule of theme games/nights for football.

I'm a proud lifetime member of the FAU National Alumni Association. Are you a member? Join now at www.faualumni.org.
Tradition in the Making, One Alum at a Time…
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One potential theme game for football that FAU potentially examine for next year (because it's probably too late in the production cycle this year) is "striping the stadium." Stadium sections would alternate wearing white and red (because chairbacks are mostly blue). This would take coordination from the FANS to wear the right color, STORES to stock and sell shirts of that color (and help fans who are "lost" as to what to wear by associating their section with a color), and FANS FANS FANS to actually wear the color. I can't stress that enough. Fans are probably the most important part of any marketing plan/gimmick: they can either make it, break it, or make their own and overpower yours.

I'm a proud lifetime member of the FAU National Alumni Association. Are you a member? Join now at www.faualumni.org.
Tradition in the Making, One Alum at a Time…
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I would like to have "Fan" night.

It's where you invite fans to come to the game and they show up. You win the game. Repeat that for every game!

It works at schools all across America. 
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owl2Doc said

I log in, start typing a response to this (on my phone) and no more than five minutes later I go to post it and it fails because it's logged me out. I don't understand why such a short time is set to logout for inactivity and I wonder how many other people don't post for that reason.
Posted On: Jun 18th 2016, 1:14 PM #356780

It's not even close to that, so the issue is likely your carrier's connection resetting.

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FAUOWL....Great idea !!!!
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Local Owl said

FAUOWL….Great idea !!!!
Posted On: Jun 18th 2016, 3:28 PM #356785

I second that sentiment - Win AND be exciting!
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