I know this has zero chance of happening but I’m high on yesterday still. Can Miami do something truly innovative and just lease the entire East/student side of Yager to Will Weisman? Just give him a percent of revenue and let him operate half the stadium as Brickstreet North and see if he can get the students there. The team deserves to see an atmosphere like this.
Let him sell the booze. Let him turn the concourse into a sports bar. Let them run Beat the Clock with the actual stadium clock for all I care. Lets give it a try. What do we have to lose?
There is something that can be built. We saw Miami do it with hockey in the 2004-2010 era. Students who I know didn’t care at all about hockey lined up for hours to get in and rock the Goggin.
https://twitter.com/BrickStOxford/status/1731059361563206006
https://twitter.com/BrickStOxford/status/1731060500937547821
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You forgot pot. Needs to sell pot. Think of all the old people with arthritis and glaucoma. We must think of their health. Miami has a civic responsibility. Let them toke up. Sell Miami-themed Grateful Dead shirts. (Seriously, the largest pot-smoking demographic is now over 50 years old).
Toke it up for Yager!
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Not sure what the Ohio regs will be but I fully support turning yager and millet into the only legal dispensaries in Ox and setting the operating hours as only during sporting events.
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Dank Stands @ Brick St North.
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My first thought when I saw the tweet was “Gee. I wonder how many of them have actually bothered to go to a game?”
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I had the same reaction Hoosier
It will come down to the admin getting out of their own way
I wish we could get them to come to the games with that energy and enthusiasm.
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Let me wake my cynical side….what really do more students attending home games actually do for us?
Take the priorities/ needs of the program and suggest how more student attendance helps achieve them
Curious to see what people’s thoughts are
When you were playing, did you like playing in front of bigger crowds? I would imagine it was more fun, no? I think the benefit is to the players. Students will party anywhere so might as well do it where the game is happening.
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I’m not sure how many can fit into that Brick Street location, but perhaps the vast majority of them already go to the games, but just didn’t make the trip to Detroit.
Good crowds were fun yes
Not sure it helped us win tho. Yager wasn’t a hostile environment back then.
I tend to think it creates better memories for all, but yes, likely not a huge impact on w/l’s. Although I would imagine when you play in front of 60-70k it’s very hard to hear the calls and that might affect a team not used to the noise.
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Oxford isn’t a city like Toledo or Akron or Kent. We need a strong student supporting base or we will never have good crowds.
I don’t know what the real solution is but Miami students clearly aren’t interested. The optics of turning the stadium into an uptown bar obviously would never fly but honestly I’d like them to try something innovative. The weisman brothers support Miami sports and obviously have a pretty good pulse on marketing to Miami students. I do wonder if they’ve ever been brought in for ideas.
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Of all the ideas I’ve personally ever heard over the years (including ones I’ve suggested) I think your insight is the best on yet. It’s simple math. Those dudes know how to build student mousetraps really, really well. They should be consulted.
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Even if there’s no meaningful impact on the team’s performance, I think it’s safe to say that having more students engaged in the games during their time in Oxford will translate over the long term to having more alumni who attend games and give $$ to athletics. Heck, I have to think having students more engaged in the games during their time at Miami will translate to more giving to the university as a whole, since being able to cheer on the team, even if just streaming ESPN+ on your phone, is going to provide an ongoing and regular connection to the university in a way that few other things can, particularly for alumni who don’t live near enough to Oxford to visit regularly.
Finally, even if the only impact of a better student section on the players is that they have more fun, I think that’s a worthwhile goal in itself!
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Ok. Is it worth enough having the university spend some money on it?
My bias is showing, but this could actually help basketball more, since the football season is almost over. I have little faith this signals a culture change, but at the very least it shows these students how much fun cheering on your team and discovering some sense of community can be.
If basketball can capitalize on it (introduce the football team at halftime, etc.), then maybe the “spirit of Brick Street” can be kept alive and be there when football starts again.
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In answer to HawkLB I believe improved student attendance and participation could have a substantial impact on recruiting.
We are the MAC school of choice for football history(along with Toledo). Our facilities are as good as any in the conference. The quality of the degree is an advantage. Our coaching stability is an advantage as well.
The game day atmosphere is not superior to other MAC schools and is not commensurate with lower level P5 schools that we might beat out for talent.
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Miami is located in Butler county with a population of almost 400,000. Hamilton is only 20 minutes from campus and has a population of 66,000. Further our campus is part of the Cincinnati-Dayton metroplex with a population of almost 3,000,000 people. Yes we need student support first and foremost but we also have a vast untapped population base that should be at least casual fans. Butler county is only slightly 25,000 smaller than Lucas county (Toledo) and about 100,000 smaller than Summit county (Akron).
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