America's Game

Yesterday was a very, very big day for TigerBlog Jr. Why? Because Madden NFL 11 came out, that's why.

TBJ, armed with a GameStop giftcard, was able to secure his copy, complete with play-by-play from Gus Johnson.

TBJ is not the only one, apparently, who likes the Madden games. In fact, nearly 100 million copies of the game have been sold in the 22 years of the game's existence.

And, of course, if the jinx of being on the cover holds true, then don't invest too much on Drew Brees for your fantasy team.

TigerBlog is not a big fan of the Madden game, or any video game since Pong for that matter. Still, the Madden games are pretty fascinating.

While he was playing his new version of the game, TBJ had his back to the TV, which was set, as it often is, to the NFL Network. And if TB and TBJ don't agree on the video game, they both think that the "Top 10" shows are great and that the "America's Game" series is extraordinary.

If you haven't seen it, the shows are a must. They focus on the teams that have won the Super Bowl each year, telling the story through interviews with two or three key players and the head coach and getting narration from some top name actors, including James Gandolfini, Alec Baldwin, Laurence Fishburne, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Martin Sheen, Tom Selleck and Bruce Willis. The network has also recently come out with segments on great teams that didn't win the Super Bowl; these shows are called "The Missing Rings."

TB's favorite, of course, is the one that features Eli Manning, Michael Strahan and Tom Coughlin on the year the Giants beat the undefeated Patriots. Gandolfini narrated that one.

As for the series itself, TBJ has DVRed all of them. So there he was, with "America's Game" and "America's Video Game."

In TBJ's world, lacrosse is No. 1 and football is 1A.

As for the rest of America as a whole, there is no doubt what sport is No. 1 - football. It's not close or debatable. In fact, the only debate can be which is bigger, NFL football or college football.

In the NFL, they are simply printing money. The idea that they might have a work stoppage next year is unfathomable to TB.

On college campuses, especially BCS ones, football quite often drives the rest of the school, and not just athletically. Some of the decisions that are made in the name of maximizing football revenues amaze TB.

That's one of TB's absolute favorite things about working at Princeton: Football is not put above everything else.

At the same time, other than Reunions, there's nothing that brings people to campus like football games.

Last year, Princeton hosted five football games, and its attendance was this:
The Citadel - 7,885
Columbia - 10,738
Colgate (on a Thursday night) - 5,685
Cornell - 7,100
Yale - 9,483

Princeton last year was in the midst of its third straight 4-6 season, and the weather didn't cooperate for two of the four Saturday games. The only athletic event on campus last year that drew more fans that the smallest football crowd was the NCAA men's lacrosse quarterfinals (8,260 to see Maryland-Notre Dame and Duke-Carolina).

Think about these football numbers in the context of any other public offering on this campus. Nothing compares. Football is just, well, different.

At the same time, football is one of 38 sports here at Princeton, where broad-based athletic participation is the philosophy.

So what do you do if you're looking to market Princeton sports?

Football is going to draw the most fans, so do you put your efforts into that and then, while they're here, try to get them to learn about the other sports? Or do you market to all 38 sports equally, given that the marketing staff here consists of one person?

The answer is somewhere in the middle. Princeton doesn't "tier" its sports, but it does acknowledge that there is a difference between football, men's and women's basketball, men's hockey and men's lacrosse and the others in that those five are ticketed events while the other 33 sports all offer free admission. There is a responsibility to try to maximize attendance at the sports where tickets are sold, but it shouldn't be all we do.

In fact, it is TB's contention that the biggest hurdle is getting people to come to their first event here, because it's there that we fight the myths that keep people away. TB has heard a bunch of times that the games must be sold out or that tickets are prohibitive or parking is brutal or Princeton is inaccessible and unfriendly.

All of these are, in fact, incorrect.

The flip side is that TB can't remember anyone who has come to an event here who didn't come away saying "that was great." TB's belief is that if you get people here once, they'll want to come back for more.

Like media, marketing is changing rapidly as well. In the past, marketing meant advertising in newspapers and on radio.

Today, it's direct to the consumer. In fact, the more direct the better. If you can put together an email distribution list of people interested in, say, soccer, then you can give them updates direct to their inbox. The key is not to overdo it, though, so that recipients don't simply start deleting them.

We're getting close to the start of another season for "America's Game" - and for the other games that Princeton teams will play.

The goal is to get as many people out to see these games, regardless of the sport.