Winning - IU football's only permanent solution

IU Athletics Director Fred Glass is working hard to make people excited about the university’s football program.

At this point, that’s all he can do.

Though many of his new gimmicks (see: bike valet service) are a bit overreaching in nature, it’s hard to argue with the numbers.

Consider:
Glass helped the Hoosiers increase the average attendance from about 31,000 in 2008 to about 42,000 last year. That was good for the third highest percentage increase of any program in the country, Glass said. The increase in attendance came in a year when the nation was in its deepest recession in decades. That’s a pretty remarkable feat, especially when you’re trying to sell a 4-8 football team.

The smartest thing Glass did in 2009 was lower the price of all student tickets to $5 apiece — including ticket prices for college students who do not attend IU, except for students from the school of IU’s game-day opponent.

Even college kids are willing to pay five bucks to see a game and by allowing their buddies from Purdue, Ball State and IUPUI to join them in the game-day experience (tailgating anyone?), he created a party-like atmosphere that everyone wants to be part of — whether the team is winning or not.

Glass also targeted younger kids and their parents by introducing Knothole Park, and now the Knothole Club.

He expanded on his initial effort, lowering ticket prices for all children up to the age of 18 to $5 apiece.

But despite everything Glass has done in the two years since inheriting the mess left by Rick Greenspan, it will never be enough. It can’t be.

The new scoreboard is great — now IU has “One of the World’s Largest Screens” to offset Purdue’s “World’s Largest Drum.” But it’s not enough. The Knothole Club is cool, but it’s not enough. The lower ticket prices are nice, but it’s not enough.

No gimmick, no matter how well-thought out, can get people’s butts in the seats like winning.

If the Hoosiers win, Glass and his marketing staff wouldn’t have to spend hour after hour thinking up ways to sell the on-field product.

You think Alabama needs to discount tickets to get students to the game? You think Ohio State needs to create a kid’s club to fill its stadium?

Winning solves everything, and Glass knows it.

“I’ll acknowledge that being good is the best way to get people in the stands,” he said. “I’m not a goof about that, I understand winning is the best marketing strategy you can have. But I reject the approach I think people sometimes have when they shrug their shoulders and say ‘Well, there’s not much we can do. We’ll just wait ‘til the team wins.’ I think that’s wrong-headed.”

It may be wrong-headed, but it’s never going to change. Fans are not going to continually spend their time and money to see a team that can’t win in the Big Ten. They will eventually realize that a cold one on the couch in front of the plasma TV is just as good as taking in a game at Memorial Stadium.

If Glass and the Athletics Department ever want to make a profit, IU has to win games. Glass is taking a risk by slashing ticket prices, hoping fans will like what they see and return to Bloomington for years to come.

Is that likely? Not unless the Hoosiers start turning 4-8 into 8-4. But give Glass credit – he is trying.