Stringer rightfully complains about Rutgers’ failure to market her program
March 27, 2009 by mhueter
Filed under Basketball, Famous Women in Sports, Marketing and Advertising
Rutgers women’s basketball team have done it again – they’re on their fourth trip to the elite eight in five years. That’s pretty amazing.
But in an article released on NJ.com today, head women’s basketball coach Vivian Stringer was not happy.
In fact, she was just the opposite (and rightfully so). She was quoted as complaining about the athletics department’s inability to effectively market a program that has been incredibly successful in recent years.
I have to say, I agree with her.
And speaking out was a great way to put some pressure on their new athletic director, Tim Pernetti.
But the answer is more than just installing a flashy scoreboard or having smoke come out when the girls run on the floor.
It has to do with engaging directly with your audience, creating fans.
For example, get your athletes online. Have them blog. Get them on Twitter, have them respond to their fans. Hold contests through Facebook. Partner with third party sites like womentalksports.com (disclosure, I am co-founder of this site) to get these ideas out there.
These ideas aren’t new.The fans will come if you earn their respect, I assure you. In fact, if you’re looking for a good role model, check out what women’s pro soccer is doing – they’re leading the way for other women’s sports teams to follow.
In the mean time, keep winning. Keep speaking out about what’s unfair. Your fans will come.
Check out the rest of this article (it’s an interesting one), here: NJ.com on Rutgers Women’s Basketball.
i read an article two nights ago about women’s college basketball and how the championship should take place in april. the argument was that women’s college basketball will be successful when it differentiates itself from men’s college basketball. so the suggestions were starting their season in december and running til april, changing the format of the championship tournament. unfortunately i can’t find the article at this moment but will continue looking. worst case it will be on my laptop at home in the history. it was interesting, more interesting maybe, or disturbing, are the comments.
It’s funny how everyone has an opinion about women’s basketball “not doing this right” during the final four, isn’t it? Check out this great post by Mechelle Voepel – she does an excellent job talking about it: http://voepel.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/just-as-we-prepare-to-tip-off/
I agree with Stringer, and was even more convinced after attending my first games at the RAC a few weeks ago. Hope the new AD is willing to make some of the changes she suggests (and I’m wondering how long Stringer’s contract with RU runs… sounds like she may be frustrated enough to leave if things don’t improve).
I can somewhat agree with Voepel’s comment, “if you don’t want to watch the women, that’s your choice. Don’t watch.” At the same time, it’s frustrating to attend NCAA tourney games featuring the nation’s top teams and see a 7- or 10-thousand seat arena half full. I hope the NCAA can do *something* to get more people to attend these games.