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Kewlswim
03-25-2007, 01:48 PM
Hello,

Part of what disturbs me about the Women's basketball situation, regardless of whether or not Coach G stays or leaves, is what I perceive (perhaps incorrectly) as a total lack of intelligent thinking regarding how to handle this sport. Women's basketball is gaining in popularity and we have one of the best franchises, yet we are 2 million dollars in the red. Sometimes, it is important to hire someone with expertise, thus spending more money, to recoup money in greater quantities later on down the road. Does the Athletic Department have a person or persons whose sole role is to find ways to (tastefully and without hurting the brand) increase revenue for Women's basketball? Has anyone analyzed where we could make more money? Could it be that there needs to be more merchandising? Does it mean that we need to do better scheduling to have more ticket revenue? Does that mean we need to find more marquee games to have on tv? Does it mean we need to find more outlets for Coach G to be on tv to both supplement her income and that of the program? (Why wasn't Coach G on the State Farm commercial instead of Pat Summit, what does it take to get her national tv ads.) Does it mean that we need to do more clinics? Does it mean that we need to find other avenues of distributing the brand? For example--Duke Women's basketball basketballs or heck, I don't know, lunch boxes. What do young women like to use that could have Duke Women's Basketball stamped on it, hair braids? I am not advocating cheaping the brand, but lets see where we can go with it. Thus, I am sure, not every idea would be put into play. Could the team go on a foreign tour and play teams and increase revenue that way? I don't have all, probably very few since I am not a marketing guru, the answers but we apparently have one of the best business schools in the country. Why not tap into its resources? Why not try to, instead of lamenting that the sport is in the red, find ways of putting it in the black. Again, I might be off base here and the University is doing just that.

GO DUKE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL!!!

FireOgilvie
03-25-2007, 02:33 PM
Only two schools in the country make money in women's basketball (Tenn. and UConn). These schools have really high attendance for their games, while Duke can't even fill a small stadium. Tennessee plays on a court named after Summitt and they only make around 50k a year. The problem for the women's team is probably a combination of ticket sales and poorly-paying TV contracts. Duke plays Tennessee, UNC (twice), and Maryland (once or twice) on TV, not to mention the ACC/NCAA tournaments. It's more than a lot of men's teams.

Kewlswim
03-25-2007, 02:43 PM
Hi,

I appreciate the response. Like I stated, I am prepared to say I am wrong and the University is doing what needs to be done. I am curious if those other schools that do make money, well, are actually not maximizing the amount of revenue they could make by using outdated thinking? I would love the Duke Business School to take this on as a project and see what they can come up with. Don't forget just a few short years ago there weren't kids text messaging each other and now it is almost ubiquitous.

GO DUKE!

gadzooks
03-25-2007, 02:59 PM
I linked to this article (http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWSREC0101/602260313) in an earlier thread; it gives some numbers and a lot of food for thought re: women's hoops and the money situation. I think one obvious thing Duke could be doing is looking at UT and UConn and what kind of marketing they're doing, and whether it would work for Duke. There's a market out there, they just need to figure out how to reach the people who will want to put their butts in the seats. I've been to a women's game at Cameron, and there was no lack of enthusiasm, they just need to build on that base.

Kewlswim
03-25-2007, 03:06 PM
I linked to this article (http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWSREC0101/602260313) in an earlier thread; it gives some numbers and a lot of food for thought re: women's hoops and the money situation. I think one obvious thing Duke could be doing is looking at UT and UConn and what kind of marketing they're doing, and whether it would work for Duke. There's a market out there, they just need to figure out how to reach the people who will want to put their butts in the seats. I've been to a women's game at Cameron, and there was no lack of enthusiasm, they just need to build on that base.

Hi Gadzooks,

When it comes to athletics I get the feeling that people do things because that was the way it was done before, that includes finding revenue. In my heart I believe Duke Women's Basketball can make a lot more revenue than it is. Maybe not the whole 2 Mill defecit it is in now, but a big chunk of it can be washed away. In a stange way maybe this whole Coach G leaving thing will be a kick in the butt the athletic dept needs to do things better.

GO DUKE!

bludev03
03-25-2007, 04:17 PM
Here are a few things I have noticed:

UConn has t-shirts of their players, and when Dee played, had her jersey. I dont recall there being any Duke Women's basketball merchandise in any shopping malls or stores in this area; the bookstore may have a few items - if you can catch them on a lucky day.

Also, most coaches have televison and/or radio shows. Does Coach G have a television and/or radio show? I dont live in the area, so I dont know first hand about this.

Finally, some schools, such as Tennessee, has a seperate women's athletic department, complete with their own AD, marketing department, etc. I'm sure that plays a big part in their success.

buddy
03-25-2007, 05:05 PM
Don't overlook that both UT and UConn are state schools, with LOTS of alumni living in the area. And with UT, there is no real local competition for the sports dollar (not true with UConn). Without the strong alumni base, Duke needs to do more local marketing, which means attracting casual basketball fans, or people who otherwise would support Duke but don't have the bread to contribute to the Iron Dukes at a sufficient level to get into the men's games.

I also would like to know how the numbers work. I have men's tickets, but enjoy the women as well (and have MUCH better seats for them). But I bet they don't count ANY of my Iron Dukes contribution towards women's revenue. And if they go back to the Debbie Leonard days, I probably won't be in the stands for the women either.

FireOgilvie
03-25-2007, 05:11 PM
Don't overlook that both UT and UConn are state schools, with LOTS of alumni living in the area. And with UT, there is no real local competition for the sports dollar (not true with UConn). Without the strong alumni base, Duke needs to do more local marketing, which means attracting casual basketball fans, or people who otherwise would support Duke but don't have the bread to contribute to the Iron Dukes at a sufficient level to get into the men's games.

Also, there is some serious competition for casual fans in the area. Between the excellent women's programs of NC State, unc, and Duke the fans get spread really thin.

Kewlswim
03-25-2007, 06:16 PM
Don't overlook that both UT and UConn are state schools, with LOTS of alumni living in the area. And with UT, there is no real local competition for the sports dollar (not true with UConn). Without the strong alumni base, Duke needs to do more local marketing, which means attracting casual basketball fans, or people who otherwise would support Duke but don't have the bread to contribute to the Iron Dukes at a sufficient level to get into the men's games.

I also would like to know how the numbers work. I have men's tickets, but enjoy the women as well (and have MUCH better seats for them). But I bet they don't count ANY of my Iron Dukes contribution towards women's revenue. And if they go back to the Debbie Leonard days, I probably won't be in the stands for the women either.


Hi,

Please don't mention that name again. What a deep dark time for Duke Women's basketball. About the best thing I can say about her regime was that we had some good players--Chris Moreland, Cal Coach Boyle, and others played then. Coach G is just so much better it is almost laughable. Was it Alleva who picked Coach G or was it still under AD Butters?

GO DUKE!

jjasper0729
03-25-2007, 08:47 PM
butters was the AD when G was hired.

Teton Jack
03-25-2007, 09:04 PM
Very constructive and thought provoking. I'm sure many of us would be willing to volunteer some time to analyze the current status of WBB and propose ways to raise revenue.