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Yeah, I read that too. I guess I should be glad that this is my biggest problem with how think have been done so far, but I am feeling like my fan experience is being de-hanced. Now, if they announce the alcohol sale will debut for the spring game I could be persuaded the overall experience is enhanced.
The Hokie Club does support making installment payments - to quote hokieclub.com "HokieMatic electronic transfer option allows the member to have his or her annual donation drafted with even payments on a monthly basis from a specified banking account." As other comments have said - $100/12 = $8.33 per month, not far off from your $5/month friend.
One challenge is the manner in which they collect those donations. Enrollment in HokieMatic is though a paper form submitted by snail mail with a physical voided check or deposit slip. With the variety of methods that monthly payments are collected today this method in not only antiquated but also prohibitively slow. People want to submit their form electronically and get started not dig for a checkbook, find a stamp, make a trip to the post office and then wait for someone to lose their form.
it'll be a few years before house/kids so I've got a little time to stabilize
Yep. That's what we all say/said.
Not store... giveaways. Up the incentive to join. Give away free HC shirts every year. I know we already send out HC car decals, so make there be incentives on putting them on the car. Do things that give people kickbacks with minimal effort on their part just by joining.
ratio of bow-ties to attendees should be at least 1:1.
Then shouldn't there be a tiny fake trophy?
Umm isn't there already a HC store with exclusive HC club items?
At a certain point the cost to get people in the door goes over what they donate. You have to have a low point. New alums are given a discount but I think you have to stay around 50/75 a year to work.
Yes! Move the fan to the balcony. And there needs to be a 6-pack of Zima somewhere
lol I was thinking the same
That place is reserved as "Future home of the Commonwealth Cup"
Hahaha all I can think of is Puff Daddy singing this with the Vote or Die lyrics, just change 'vote' to 'join' and it's hilarious
Agreed.... and I think that needs to be tackled next. First, completely revamp the 'why' on joining. Then, once people actually want to join, tailor the 'how' to absorb as many people as possible.
i meant as far as spending loads of $$$ on stuff. it'll be a few years before house/kids so I've got a little time to stabilize
They probably got more page views from this page than from fans going to the website...... Boo hoo!
Also: why have a mandatory minimum $100 up front donation to join? Why can't we set up some kind of monthly fee or lower the $100 requirement. I feel like a TON more people would be inclined to join and donate $25-50. Every little bit helps.
Case-in-point: I know someone who donates $5 per month to her alma mater. Not a huge amount, but it's what can be done while building a career. If we had more people donating like that, not only would that add up to more revenue, but would help our statistics for percentage of alumni who donate to athletics. A lot of those type of statistics factor into many school rankings as well (as far as donations to academic programs).
Can you move sad UVa fan to the balcony on the right?
100% agree with your main points. I think Whit started down this road with some of the exclusive perks that began last year for Hokie Club members-- professional on-field photos during Furman weekend, private tour of practice facility, etc. Like you mentioned, going a step further to have an annual gift that is *only* given to HC members (i.e. not for sale anywhere)-- something along the lines of a HC tshirt, pint glass, etc.-- would further make it feel more exclusive and incent more donors on the lower end- those people who maybe can't go to games but like collecting all things VT.
Wow, that is just sad. Pathetic AND sad.
....but I'm hoping things calm down a little bit after the wedding.
*sigh*
The biggest problem with the Hokie Club is that there is really only one incentive to join - football tickets.
There really needs to be exclusive Hokie Club events throughout Virginia and surrounding states that you simply cannot attend without a membership, and advertise the hell out of them. Discount parking on campus for all athletic events with a Hokie Club sticker on the car. Mail out exclusive VT and HC merchandise annually to all Hokie Club members. Make joining the HC the cool thing to do, and really make people feel like they're legitimately missing out on things if they don't join. People will join Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu for less than $10 a month, tap into that with the HC. Incentivize the hell out of it, and our membership will soar.
Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. In this era of fundraising, this couldn't be more true. Essentially bribing our alumni to join the HC will pay off tenfold down the line if we do it right. But first, the #1 thing we have to do to really turn our HC participation levels around is to break the notion that you only join for football tickets. At this point, that mindset is harming us more than helping, especially when the football team itself isn't exactly a great selling point over recent years.
Sorry, but I never miss an opportunity for a
soonmeme.
FIFY /s
I think the new slogan could be "Join the Hokie Club or Die!"
This concerns me more than anything else. If we go all in and balls to the wall to create a fast flowing offense, the last thing in the world we need is relaxed play by the officials and the guys on the chains slowing us down and the resulting break it would give to the opposing defense.