Are You Answering the Call by March 1 Deadline?
Change in Donation Plan Will Change Fabric of Fanbase
Robert Shields
The University of Arkansas athletic program takes millions of dollars to run each year, and Viceroy of Athletics (or whatever he has self-glossed as his title) Jeff Long says the Razorbacks must have more to be competitive in the SEC.
As a scheme to get more money out of you, Long and the UA launched the Razorback Seat Value Plan in August to drastically increase required donation levels for the privilege of purchasing a season ticket to Razorback football.
The deadline for Hog fans to make their pledge for priority seating is March 1, so you better get on it if you haven’t handed over your credit card number to the Razorback Foundation by now. It’s an important commitment date if you want to keep your seating that maybe you’ve had for decades at a lower donation requirement.
After you’ve made your pledge, the UA athletic department will then give you an online appointment after April 1 to select seats available within your donation level. Those with the highest priority will get to plunder what is available first.
The timing is good for the UofA football program. It’s coming off one of its best seasons in decades and its first BCS bowl trip. If demand outstrips supply (a big hypothetical since football games already typically don’t sell out), this is a scary proposition for those who are delinquent in getting in their donation, and many may have procrastinated with the inflation of priority donations and ticket prices.
I have to believe most Razorback fans are being priced out of this model for season tickets. The recession has hit households hard as many have taken pay cuts or at worse lost their job. Plus this is a poor state to begin with.
But this is not your father’s Razorback Program anymore. This model favors corporations, not mom and pop thinking of taking the tikes to the ball games, ensuring that they grow up Razorback fans for life. If your finances are tight, making friends with people who can get you corporate tickets once or twice a year is your best option.
The downside of all this is that the concept of the lifelong Razorback fan will die a slow death to be replaced by the newbie who likes to be part of what is hot. In my estimation, it will make the good times more vibrant in ticket demand, and in bad times there will be tons more empty seats. It will make the mountains higher and the valleys lower when it comes to attendance.
My guess is the steadfast fan will become fewer. Football games will become more of a place to see and be seen than to watch an event – and be part of the event, which is a crucial element to any good home-field atmosphere.
If getting those who are willing to pay the most is the goal, the program will get the fans it deserves and bought.
I will get a lot of messages over the next several days telling me it takes a lot of money to run the Program and that this plan needs to be implemented to compete. But if it takes a competition for money to win at football, the Hogs have already lost. It will never be able to compete against the likes of Tennessee, Florida, LSU, Alabama, and Georgia for revenue and donations collected. These schools have larger alumni bases and reside in states with larger populations and better per capita incomes.
The RSVP website points out that Arkansas is ninth in athletic budget and ninth in annual funds. Moving up the ladder to seventh or sixth on the backs of fans’ paychecks will not guarantee success. Arkansas finished great this year being ninth in athletic budget. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid and believe that by moving to first in finances we will be first in football. It’s just a piece in the overall puzzle and it’s also not realistic.
With this new ticketing plan, the UA athletic department hopes to move up in financial stature -- but at what cost to the fabric of the fans? Arkansas has to be more effective and unique in other areas to compete, and it has been able to in the past.
None of this is written to dissuade you from renewing your tickets because you better act now. This is happening whether you want it or not. It’s just a symptom of the times. College athletics has become more about money than the playing field.
The changes in the plan will not only change your pocket book, but also the base that makes up your Program. It is a fundamental shift that will continue to occur over time as corporations become the norm and your average fan becomes more of an oddity.
These changes bring the Razorbacks closer to NFL light. Even the Answer the Call website makes the case that this ticketing program is used by “professional” teams.
But even Frank Broyles wasn’t this greedy. He knew that demanding too much would only send the season ticket curve downward in the end. That balance between bringing in money without alienating the fanbase is what made him such a successful AD.
Send your donations to fromthebench@yahoo.com.
end
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
From the Bench - Horse Racing Class in Session
Handicapping Class is in Session
Robert T. Shields
The failure of an existence of a competitive basketball team at the University of Arkansas in the past decade, including in this season, has left a void for column material this time of year until the football team starts practicing. The news about Razorback football this past week was an ex-player getting arrested on a second drug charge. But you’re really searching for something when you have to write about a player who has been gone form the team for a few years. For columnists, gone are the glory years of the Frank Broyles era when a new controversy was stirring every month.
The other big story last week was the poisoning and probable death of the live oaks down at Auburn that their fans love to roll after a victory. I was saddened by the event because it’s crazy. What happened to just the simple pranks of stealing the Navy goat or painting the triangle at the corner of H and Hughes? What have fans become? What is next? The poisoning of Big Red, Tusk, or Mike the Tiger? Or the destruction of Touchdown Jesus? This was a bad event no matter where you stand on Auburn and I personally despise them over all SEC teams. Football in Alabama is not an obsession; it’s an illness.
Here is my suggestion to Auburn fans: Build a big steel tree as a memorial to the live oaks that gave their life for your team’s success. A plank of the wood from the dead trees could be encapsulated in the memorial. That way you can still roll the big steel memorial tree after your victories like an adolescent as the newly replanted live oaks grow. The rest of the wood from the dead trees you sell off Jeff Long style to fans.
Now that I’ve covered the non-events of the week, time to move onto Oaklawn and how to wager (or you can just go ahead and mail Oaklawn a check and save yourself the trip). Oaklawn needs the love this season as it has had a very rocky start with the severe winter weather caused by Al Gore’s climate machine.
I will briefly cover the 11 basics of going to Oaklawn as a service to my readers.
1) Start a show pool with your friends. It’s the best way to make it to the $50 wager window. A show pool is when each person of your group contributes $5 to make a pool of money for wagering on an agreed upon horse to show. The winnings, if there are any, are carried over from race to race until the group decides to cash in the pool to be divested among the participants.
2) You do not have to bet on every race. If you want to keep your money, some races are better skipped -- another reason to have a show pool so you still have a horse to follow during a race.
3) Buy your own racing program. It’s rude to borrow others’.
4) Bring your own writing instrument from home. Those pencils they sell at Oaklawn are lame and shows the people in line at the betting windows that you are a novice.
5) Eat the gumbo.
6) You do not have to always bet on the gray horse. It’s not a unicorn.
7) Stay away from exotic wagering. The payout is higher for a reason.
8) Listen to Terry Wallace. He has no real incentive to mislead you. The track has no vested interest in who wins.
9) Avoid people who talk to themselves.
10) A horse using Lassix for the first time is likely to have an improved performance. (L1) will be the designation in the program for a first-time Lassix user.
11) Always look at your horse before wagering. Would you ever buy a car without looking at it first? No. By visually seeing your horse, you might see something that encourages you or discourages you from betting – like the horse limping.
Send your wagering tips to fromthebench@yahoo.com.
end
Robert T. Shields
The failure of an existence of a competitive basketball team at the University of Arkansas in the past decade, including in this season, has left a void for column material this time of year until the football team starts practicing. The news about Razorback football this past week was an ex-player getting arrested on a second drug charge. But you’re really searching for something when you have to write about a player who has been gone form the team for a few years. For columnists, gone are the glory years of the Frank Broyles era when a new controversy was stirring every month.
The other big story last week was the poisoning and probable death of the live oaks down at Auburn that their fans love to roll after a victory. I was saddened by the event because it’s crazy. What happened to just the simple pranks of stealing the Navy goat or painting the triangle at the corner of H and Hughes? What have fans become? What is next? The poisoning of Big Red, Tusk, or Mike the Tiger? Or the destruction of Touchdown Jesus? This was a bad event no matter where you stand on Auburn and I personally despise them over all SEC teams. Football in Alabama is not an obsession; it’s an illness.
Here is my suggestion to Auburn fans: Build a big steel tree as a memorial to the live oaks that gave their life for your team’s success. A plank of the wood from the dead trees could be encapsulated in the memorial. That way you can still roll the big steel memorial tree after your victories like an adolescent as the newly replanted live oaks grow. The rest of the wood from the dead trees you sell off Jeff Long style to fans.
Now that I’ve covered the non-events of the week, time to move onto Oaklawn and how to wager (or you can just go ahead and mail Oaklawn a check and save yourself the trip). Oaklawn needs the love this season as it has had a very rocky start with the severe winter weather caused by Al Gore’s climate machine.
I will briefly cover the 11 basics of going to Oaklawn as a service to my readers.
1) Start a show pool with your friends. It’s the best way to make it to the $50 wager window. A show pool is when each person of your group contributes $5 to make a pool of money for wagering on an agreed upon horse to show. The winnings, if there are any, are carried over from race to race until the group decides to cash in the pool to be divested among the participants.
2) You do not have to bet on every race. If you want to keep your money, some races are better skipped -- another reason to have a show pool so you still have a horse to follow during a race.
3) Buy your own racing program. It’s rude to borrow others’.
4) Bring your own writing instrument from home. Those pencils they sell at Oaklawn are lame and shows the people in line at the betting windows that you are a novice.
5) Eat the gumbo.
6) You do not have to always bet on the gray horse. It’s not a unicorn.
7) Stay away from exotic wagering. The payout is higher for a reason.
8) Listen to Terry Wallace. He has no real incentive to mislead you. The track has no vested interest in who wins.
9) Avoid people who talk to themselves.
10) A horse using Lassix for the first time is likely to have an improved performance. (L1) will be the designation in the program for a first-time Lassix user.
11) Always look at your horse before wagering. Would you ever buy a car without looking at it first? No. By visually seeing your horse, you might see something that encourages you or discourages you from betting – like the horse limping.
Send your wagering tips to fromthebench@yahoo.com.
end
Monday, February 14, 2011
From the Bench
Time to Move on to Football Season
Robert Shields
CLANG!
That’s the sound I keep hearing thinking Razorback basketball has hit rock bottom, but it keeps careening off of something only to fall even farther into the endless abyss making the road to recovery all the more dimmer and farther away. Yeah, they beat a hapless LSU team, but losing three out of the last four doesn’t feel so good.
So in the vain of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny arguing over whether it’s rabbit season or duck season, I am just going to declare basketball season over and move on to football season.
Spring practice cannot start soon enough. Maybe Bobby Petrino can hold one practice a week spreading it out over time so we can enjoy it and discuss it up until summer starts. But even if the NCAA won’t allow that, I am going to discuss football.
You now get my wish list for next season, and as I always do, I go in reverse order:
7) I hope Zach Hocker continues with his excellence as the place kicker next season. My advice to the coaches, whatever you did last season don’t change a thing, even his eating times. He is the best place kicker for the Razorbacks since – I will let you fill in the blank. I will argue that he is the best place kicker since they had to kick off the ground and no longer could use the old black block tee. I do miss that tee, though.
6) I hope that Chris Gragg continues to improve at tight end. With the departure of DJ Williams, a large whole will be missing in the offense. Garrett Uekman will also have to step up quickly to help Gragg fill this void.
5) I hope someone on the defensive line become a dominant player. The defensive line was good last year, but it was far from dominating other teams. It lacked that one great special lineman like Ohio State had in Heyward and Auburn had in Fairley. Maybe Big Tex can make a difference at that spot. It’s very difficult to find that kind of player the other team just can’t block, but it is what takes a good defense to a great defense.
4) I hope the Hogs beat Texas A&M in Dallas again to make it three in a row. Make no mistake, last year the Aggies wanted that game a whole lot more than the Hogs. The Hogs were just better physically and were able to just mail the game in at Dallas. A&M will come into the game next season all the more inspired and determined to win its first game in the renewed series in Dallas. A&M is improving. The game cannot be taken lightly next time.
3) I hope Knile Davis continues in his pursuit of excellence. He emerged in the middle of the season and became almost unstoppable. He will start next season as one of the top backs in the SEC. Here is to him exceeding all the expectations that will be put upon him.
2) I hope Tyler Wilson runs the offense as smoothly as he did in the loss to Auburn and the victory over Ole Miss. The team needs his precise management of the offense. He needs to run the offense as effectively under center as he does from the shotgun formation. The Hogs were very successful last season when they came out of the I formation and that will be just as important next season with Knile Davis in the backfield.
1) I hope Dennis Johnson has a great season. I hope he will be an excellent back behind Knile Davis as Davis cannot carry the entire load for the season. No back in the SEC can do it alone. I hope Johnson can step right back into his role as kickoff returner extraordinaire. The Hogs missed him badly last year in that facet of the game.
1a) I hope the Hogs run the table and make it to the national championship game and in that game they face Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State. And this time they get it right.
Other than not mentioning my pastor, boy did this sound like a Wally Hall column.
Send your hopes and dreams to fromthebench@yahoo.com.
end
Robert Shields
CLANG!
That’s the sound I keep hearing thinking Razorback basketball has hit rock bottom, but it keeps careening off of something only to fall even farther into the endless abyss making the road to recovery all the more dimmer and farther away. Yeah, they beat a hapless LSU team, but losing three out of the last four doesn’t feel so good.
So in the vain of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny arguing over whether it’s rabbit season or duck season, I am just going to declare basketball season over and move on to football season.
Spring practice cannot start soon enough. Maybe Bobby Petrino can hold one practice a week spreading it out over time so we can enjoy it and discuss it up until summer starts. But even if the NCAA won’t allow that, I am going to discuss football.
You now get my wish list for next season, and as I always do, I go in reverse order:
7) I hope Zach Hocker continues with his excellence as the place kicker next season. My advice to the coaches, whatever you did last season don’t change a thing, even his eating times. He is the best place kicker for the Razorbacks since – I will let you fill in the blank. I will argue that he is the best place kicker since they had to kick off the ground and no longer could use the old black block tee. I do miss that tee, though.
6) I hope that Chris Gragg continues to improve at tight end. With the departure of DJ Williams, a large whole will be missing in the offense. Garrett Uekman will also have to step up quickly to help Gragg fill this void.
5) I hope someone on the defensive line become a dominant player. The defensive line was good last year, but it was far from dominating other teams. It lacked that one great special lineman like Ohio State had in Heyward and Auburn had in Fairley. Maybe Big Tex can make a difference at that spot. It’s very difficult to find that kind of player the other team just can’t block, but it is what takes a good defense to a great defense.
4) I hope the Hogs beat Texas A&M in Dallas again to make it three in a row. Make no mistake, last year the Aggies wanted that game a whole lot more than the Hogs. The Hogs were just better physically and were able to just mail the game in at Dallas. A&M will come into the game next season all the more inspired and determined to win its first game in the renewed series in Dallas. A&M is improving. The game cannot be taken lightly next time.
3) I hope Knile Davis continues in his pursuit of excellence. He emerged in the middle of the season and became almost unstoppable. He will start next season as one of the top backs in the SEC. Here is to him exceeding all the expectations that will be put upon him.
2) I hope Tyler Wilson runs the offense as smoothly as he did in the loss to Auburn and the victory over Ole Miss. The team needs his precise management of the offense. He needs to run the offense as effectively under center as he does from the shotgun formation. The Hogs were very successful last season when they came out of the I formation and that will be just as important next season with Knile Davis in the backfield.
1) I hope Dennis Johnson has a great season. I hope he will be an excellent back behind Knile Davis as Davis cannot carry the entire load for the season. No back in the SEC can do it alone. I hope Johnson can step right back into his role as kickoff returner extraordinaire. The Hogs missed him badly last year in that facet of the game.
1a) I hope the Hogs run the table and make it to the national championship game and in that game they face Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State. And this time they get it right.
Other than not mentioning my pastor, boy did this sound like a Wally Hall column.
Send your hopes and dreams to fromthebench@yahoo.com.
end
Monday, February 07, 2011
Recruiting Question Mark - From the Bench
Despite Hoopla, Recruiting Class Still a Question Mark
Robert Shields
The ink has dried on all the letters of intent for high school kids intending to play major college football, and the Razorback football program signed its share. Everyone seems to think signing day is lots of fun, and all the kids get to pretend to put on hats and show out and be treated like they were the king for a day, when in fact many of them are just the kids still hanging out at the Gas ‘N Sip later that night. Then the next day all the hoopla becomes irrelevant.
Recruiting is the life blood of any great program. Rankings are some indication of how your school will do in the future, and there are many adults out there dedicated to the glorification of these teens with a hint of athletic ability that could bring future joy to entitled fans, but these rankings are not though the ultimate predictor.
There was probably no bigger signing in Razorback history than Mitch Mustain – a five star recruit (highest ranking possible for those that are not recruitniks). He was the Parade, Gatorade, and USA Today player of the year. He was the player who was supposed to deliver the Hogs to a championship and apparently so good that it was worth hiring his high school coach and signing some players with lesser talent just to make sure he was locked in. In his freshman season, the team won eight games in a row with him as starter thanks to an NFL backfield playing behind him. But he was gone after that first season as were several others associated with his signing.
Therein is the key to any great recruiting class. It’s not the talent that is assembled, but the ability to keep the class together. You show me a college team that only has a dozen left in its senior recruiting class and I will show you a bad team.
Razorback Coach Bobby Petrino proclaimed this to be his most complete class of recruits. The fact remains that if players do not make it to campus that pronouncement is meaningless and he knows it.
The statement heard over and over again on signing day was that this Razorback class was one of character. The story of the kid driving his tractor through the snow to file his letter of intent with the UofA was one for the ages. Maybe, it is a sign of character. The reality is that it will only be a great story if he stays at the UofA for the duration, as is the case with all the athletes who signed.
There is always attrition out of any recruiting class, and there will be a few in this Razorback recruiting class who will never make it to campus. Petrino seemed to take few chances in this class with guys who were on the bubble of being qualified or not to attend the UofA. This is always a good sign as opposed to hoping that this thug or that thug makes it.
There is always the issue of the rankings of individual players and how many stars they rank. This again is fun leading up to signing day. But the day after, all the stars in the world behind your name are not going to earn you anything.
Greg Childs came to the UofA as a three-star recruit. Since the moment he played his first game, he has been nothing but a five star player. But for an injury, he would be heading to the NFL next season. In the 2009 recruiting class, there was a star running back that was a must have. There was another running back who was lesser known to the fans. The lesser known back that emerged was Knile Davis. This is not to say the more ballyhooed back will not develop into a great one, but to point out that just because you were all that in high school is no guarantee of success in major college football.
Now that all the hoopla is over, we will see over the next four years which players and which schools keep the promise of future excellence that existed on signing day.
-
As the basketball team continues to spiral down into the abyss even further, my idea last week of moving games back to Barnhill arena doesn’t sound that crazy anymore. Many readers last week even agreed and made me think that I did not go far enough. Maybe the Hogs should move to the HPER Building. I hear better basketball is being played there anyway.
Send your rankings to fromthebench@yahoo.com.
Robert Shields
The ink has dried on all the letters of intent for high school kids intending to play major college football, and the Razorback football program signed its share. Everyone seems to think signing day is lots of fun, and all the kids get to pretend to put on hats and show out and be treated like they were the king for a day, when in fact many of them are just the kids still hanging out at the Gas ‘N Sip later that night. Then the next day all the hoopla becomes irrelevant.
Recruiting is the life blood of any great program. Rankings are some indication of how your school will do in the future, and there are many adults out there dedicated to the glorification of these teens with a hint of athletic ability that could bring future joy to entitled fans, but these rankings are not though the ultimate predictor.
There was probably no bigger signing in Razorback history than Mitch Mustain – a five star recruit (highest ranking possible for those that are not recruitniks). He was the Parade, Gatorade, and USA Today player of the year. He was the player who was supposed to deliver the Hogs to a championship and apparently so good that it was worth hiring his high school coach and signing some players with lesser talent just to make sure he was locked in. In his freshman season, the team won eight games in a row with him as starter thanks to an NFL backfield playing behind him. But he was gone after that first season as were several others associated with his signing.
Therein is the key to any great recruiting class. It’s not the talent that is assembled, but the ability to keep the class together. You show me a college team that only has a dozen left in its senior recruiting class and I will show you a bad team.
Razorback Coach Bobby Petrino proclaimed this to be his most complete class of recruits. The fact remains that if players do not make it to campus that pronouncement is meaningless and he knows it.
The statement heard over and over again on signing day was that this Razorback class was one of character. The story of the kid driving his tractor through the snow to file his letter of intent with the UofA was one for the ages. Maybe, it is a sign of character. The reality is that it will only be a great story if he stays at the UofA for the duration, as is the case with all the athletes who signed.
There is always attrition out of any recruiting class, and there will be a few in this Razorback recruiting class who will never make it to campus. Petrino seemed to take few chances in this class with guys who were on the bubble of being qualified or not to attend the UofA. This is always a good sign as opposed to hoping that this thug or that thug makes it.
There is always the issue of the rankings of individual players and how many stars they rank. This again is fun leading up to signing day. But the day after, all the stars in the world behind your name are not going to earn you anything.
Greg Childs came to the UofA as a three-star recruit. Since the moment he played his first game, he has been nothing but a five star player. But for an injury, he would be heading to the NFL next season. In the 2009 recruiting class, there was a star running back that was a must have. There was another running back who was lesser known to the fans. The lesser known back that emerged was Knile Davis. This is not to say the more ballyhooed back will not develop into a great one, but to point out that just because you were all that in high school is no guarantee of success in major college football.
Now that all the hoopla is over, we will see over the next four years which players and which schools keep the promise of future excellence that existed on signing day.
-
As the basketball team continues to spiral down into the abyss even further, my idea last week of moving games back to Barnhill arena doesn’t sound that crazy anymore. Many readers last week even agreed and made me think that I did not go far enough. Maybe the Hogs should move to the HPER Building. I hear better basketball is being played there anyway.
Send your rankings to fromthebench@yahoo.com.
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