Renew The Glory- Part 2

Previous Renew The Glory:
Part One

The Mocs have a few problems that have been discussed ad nauseam. One is that in this age of television, there are just too many games on for the Mocs to be able to draw crowds to the game. A subset of that problem is that new fans are not being formed because the younger generation is not as likely to go to a game.

Let me talk to you briefly about my story. My Dad was not a big Mocs fan, or a big basketball fan in general. I started watching basketball and really was enjoying in the early 90s. My Dad got tickets given to him at work to a game against Western Carolina. It was my first game I went to. LeVert Threats had a huge game. In fact, I have a bet that this video includes some shots from that game. The Mocs won by double digits. I was hooked. I started listening to JR for every game and reading the paper every day, excitedly looking for articles about the Mocs.

(It actually is that desire to read more about the Mocs that sparked my desire to write this blog. While it is not something else for me to read about the Mocs, it may provide a little bit more written about the Mocs to other people, and that is whay I am writing it. I loved reading every word I could get my hands on about the Mocs- even opinion pieces I didn't agree with.)

Now, people don't like listening to the radio to listen to sporting events. They want to see the action. And they don't want to pay any extra for that. I love listening to the JR still, and I have no problem listening to the game. That being said, even I have the video from Chattanooga All-Acccess (an excellent deal for those out of towners) to watch the home games.

So, what needs to happen for the Mocs to get more people interested? How about putting more games on local television? And I'm not talking about SportSouth. That doesn't count. Work out a deal with CW or Fox or CBS or NBC or ABC and get the local station to carry some games.

What games you ask? Well, how about home games against non-D1 teams? Those games have very low attendance as it is. So it wouldn't hurt to let the Mocs be on TV. Plus, those are games that the Mocs generally are successful in. So, some younger fans that happen to come across the game may see exciting play and be interested.

Secondly, when the Mocs are on the road, why not televise the game back to Chattanooga? This is particularly true if it is a mid-week game. Believe it or not, there is a precedent for this with a team we played earlier this year. Murray State has their own network- Racer TV Network. They televise their road games so that the fans can follow them back home.

Finally, in the mid-week home conference games, why not put some of those on TV? They don't need to be the biggest games, but the mid-week games are hard to make it to for younger fans on a school night. So put it on TV and drive up interest. This weeks mid-week conference home games are Appalachian State, College of Charleston, UNC-Greensboro, Georgia Southern, Furman, and Wofford. Why not pick out two of those and put those on TV? How about if UNC-Greensboro and Furman were both on TV in Chattanooga? Would some attendance be kept down? Sure- but the fan draw for those games was probably not going to make the budget for the year at McKenzie anyway. College of Charleston and Appalachian State, along with the defending champ Wofford were the most likely to draw the biggest crowds. So UNCG, a decent North rival, and Furman, in the last week of the regular season, would be good games to televise.

What about if all the mid-week road games all season, two mid-week home games, and all non-D1 home games (including the exhibition game) were on TV in Chattanooga? That might just attract some new fans to the games. It's strange to say putting games on TV would draw more fans, but it just might.

Would it cost money? Absolutely. The home games are already televised on the internet, so it wouldn't change the cost much for that. But the road games would cost something. And in the end, if it attracts more fans to McKenzie for all the other games and forms lifelong fans out of some people, why wouldn't you want to do this? The cost would be worth it in the long haul.

Murray State is a great example of a team trying to do this. Compete where the competition is- on the television set.

GO MOCS!