When Ryan McBride and two classmates were assigned to a project to come up with ways to draw more students to Ball State games and create a better atmosphere, they were immediately intrigued. 

“I knew there was a lot of potential,” McBride said. “I was a freshman in [2008] when [the football team] went 12-0. So I got to see the atmosphere that could be generated. I knew there was more that could be done.”

Throughout the course of the semester, the group put together a survey for students, brainstormed ideas how to complete their project and met with football coach Pete Lembo on a monthly basis. The group pitched moving football kickoffs to a later time, having longer tailgating times and for Lembo to be active on social media. 

The idea of a student rewards program, which ultimately became the centerpiece of Ball State athletics wanting to get more students at games, wasn’t initially received well by the athletics department, McBride said. 

Eventually, the athletics department decided to form a program, hoping students would follow to games.

PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

The day before the football team’s home opener against Eastern Michigan on Aug. 30, 2012, Ball State announced the start of The Charlie’s Crew Student Rewards Program. 

Any Ball State student could use their student ID to swipe into home football, women’s volleyball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball games to earn points. The points were determined by the sport, and the more points earned meant more prizes for students. 

The most appealing prize to students came for attending all five home football games in the 2012 season: a chance to kick a field goal to win free tuition. The free tuition idea wasn’t original to Ball State — Director of Marketing Promotions Molly Myers said it came from former Ball State football coach Stan Parrish after a game at Western Michigan. 

Just like attending any Ball State sporting event, the program was free for students. 

Putting the program in place took research, fitting it into the department’s budget and finding sponsors to provide prizes. The athletic department allocated $30,000 for the program, $23,765.52 was spent on the program, which included purchasing the prizes, card scanners and advertisements. 

“[The student rewards program] was one that we think we could realistically achieve and set in place,” Myers said. “We thought it would have good appeal from the sponsor end and that they would be able to provide us with the different prize levels.” 

Myers, like McBride, arrived at Ball State in 2008 and witnessed the football team’s run to the Mid-American Conference title game. Scheumann Stadium saw a packed student section every home game during the team’s unbeaten regular season, but Myers knew it probably wouldn’t last or carry over to the other sports. 

She was right. In the 2009 home opener against North Texas, 16,035 fans showed up at Scheumann Stadium to watch Ball State lose 20-10. The Cardinals would go on to lose the next six games, losing fans along the way. The seventh loss of the season, a 31-17 home loss to Bowling Green, only 10,192 fans were in attendance. 

The students came out in less numbers as the season went on and carried over into the 2010 season. Myers knew student attendance was becoming a problem for Ball State and the athletic department needed to find a solution.

“I guess probably then just moving into the other seasons that year and getting a better feel for the appeal or draw that the athletics has to the student body here,” Myers said. “It wasn’t necessarily a No. 1 priority.” 

While researching how to put together a student rewards program, McBride and Myers looked at other schools similar in size to Ball State. McBride referenced similar programs that are done at Middle Tennessee State and East Carolina. Myers stayed in the MAC and looked at Ball State’s closest neighbor, Miami of Ohio. 

RED ALERT STUDENT GROUP

Since 2004, two years before Miami assistant athletic director of marketing, sales and licensing Anthony Azama arrived, the athletic department has sponsored the Red Alert Student Group — it’s own version of a student rewards program and the biggest student group on campus. 

Miami’s program is similar to Ball State’s with getting points for swiping in at games and receiving prizes at point levels. Unlike Ball State’s the top point level is only 25 points, where students receive a $50 online gift card and a free extra value meal coupon to McDonald’s. 

But there is one other difference about Miami’s program — a $20 entrance fee. 

Azama said the program’s rewards are constantly changing, which is decided by the student body, not the athletic department. Each offseason, the university emails a survey to its students asking what kinds of rewards they would like for the upcoming season. 

The reason for changing the rewards every year, Azama said, is because it increases the chances that the students will renew their membership to the group each year. 

“I think you really look at the value of your program by how many upperclassmen do you have [participating in it],” Azama said.

In Ball State’s first year with its student rewards program, 7,382 students swiped into at least one game, 41 percent of the on-campus Ball State student body. 

With those numbers, Myers said it’s possible the athletic department could draw more sponsors for prizes and grow the program beyond the four revenue sports. 

“I think there’s great potential for it to be better and for it to grow,” she said. “That’s where we decided our initial focus would be because we don’t want to start off doing this for every team because we didn’t know if we could logistically do it.”

FOOTBALL

Former linebacker Travis Freeman, who played at Ball State from 2009-12, had seen the decrease in student turnout at football games. Freeman said he remembers being disappointed at times at student turnout. One game he remembers being upset was Senior Night his freshman season against Central Michigan. 

But a Wednesday night game in the pouring rain made the student section at Scheumann Stadium virtually empty, despite playing the Dan LeFevour-led Chippewas. 

“Just for it to be a Senior Night and those seniors who had put everything they had into the program for four years, for them not to witness the fan support they worked so hard to get was a disappointment,” Freeman said. 

With the creation of the student rewards program, Freeman said it helped bring more students on a consistent basis to the stadium. 

“The student population was up and down depending on other factors besides what the football team was actually doing,” Freeman said. “I think the student rewards program did bring some consistency to that.”

From the 2011 season to the 2012 season, student attendance rose 63 percent. The highest student turnout came in the season opener against Eastern Michigan when 5,154 were counted. Of those that showed up, 2,087 swiped in for the rewards program. 

“The fans want to see you win football games and if you’re winning football games, they’re going to continue to support you.”
Travis Freeman, former linebacker

Senior Night against Ohio on Nov. 14 consisted of more perks for students. The athletic department rented a video board, the football team wore black uniforms for the first time and one student had the opportunity to kick a field goal for free tuition. The student missed the field goal, but Ball State blew out Ohio 52-27 in front of 2,680 students. 

Student attendance did rise, but the football team also had its best record since the 2008 season at 9-3. 

“The fans want to see you win football games and if you’re winning football games, they’re going to continue to support you,” Freeman said.

WORTHEN ARENA

While the student rewards program saw a rise in student attendance at football games, the three other sports involved saw mixed results. 

Volleyball coach Steve Shondell is familiar with the tradition of his sport at Ball State and welcomed the student rewards program. 

But he also thinks the student support for volleyball was strong prior to the rewards program.

“The Ball State students really support volleyball here,” Shondell said. “They love watching men’s volleyball and our support has been good the last three years.”

In the first season with the student rewards program, Shondell said he didn’t notice a drastic change in student attendance at the women’s volleyball games, which could be contributed to the two previous seasons. 

In the first two seasons under Shondell, Ball State lost only one game at Worthen Arena. With the quick success, students showed up to support the team during it’s home court winning streak. 

In 2012, losing players to graduation and injuries resulted in a 14-17 overall season, and the student attendance dropped off toward the end of the season, Shondell said. 

Student turnouts for men’s and women’s basketball games were different between the two teams. 

Under first-year coach Brady Sallee, the women’s basketball team rebounded from a slow start and finished 12-4 in conference play. But even with the second-best record in the league, the student section struggled to grow, which Sallee said will take time.

“Hopefully, if we start with 30 students or 300 students, we just keep building,” Sallee said. “The bottom line is whether the student rewards is there or not, we still have to do our part of it, too.”

Perhaps the best game of the season for student attendance was against Toledo on Feb. 10. Both teams at the time were playing for first place in the MAC West Division. 

Though Ball State lost 68-64, Sallee said the crowd and the student section was the best he’s seen it and wants to recreate the atmosphere from that game. 

The men’s basketball team, which has struggled to fill the student section unless a marquee nonconference opponent comes to Worthen Arena, did see improvement, Myers said. 

She said with no opponents like Butler on the schedule, the crowds improved for the first half of the season. The games that struggled with student attendance were weekday games or games during holiday break. 

Jauwan Scaife, who just finished his senior season at Ball State, said he noticed an improvement in turnout since the student rewards program began.

The two games during Scaife’s career where the student section was full were the two games against Butler. Scaife didn’t say it was because Butler was in Muncie, but said it takes winning to get similar crowds at every home game. 

“When you win, fans come to watch,” Scaife said. “When you lose, they don’t come. That’s just the nature of basketball and sports in general.”

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

Senior human resources management major Rebecca Luebcke has attended numerous Ball State sporting events. From football to field hockey, she didn’t need the incentive of a student rewards program for her to go to games. 

But it made for a nice perk for the games she already goes to. Of the more than 7,000 students that swiped into games, Luebcke is fourth on the leaderboard with 305 points. 

“I already go to a lot of sporting events anyway,” Luebcke said. “So it was nice to get rewarded for something I already did. And the prizes looked cool so that was nice.”

Luebcke said she was able to convince her roommates to attend games because of the rewards program. She said the easiest way to persuade them was to get free food at the games. 

As an avid Ball State sports fan she was disappointed with the student turnout at football games before the rewards program. She said the only students that would stay for the entire game were the most dedicated ones. 

But since the student rewards program was introduced, she’s noticed a better atmosphere. She attended all five home football games because she wanted to be able to win free tuition.

“I think people are definitely more excited for the games because there are more people there,” she said. “People were more engaged and paid attention.”

Luebcke noticed the low student turnout at women’s basketball this season, which she said was a matter of advertisement for the team. She said even though the team did well enough, there was much more coverage or advertisement to promote students to come to the games. 

MOVING FORWARD

Myers said for its initial run, she’s been pleased with the results and sees potential for it to grow. The first place it would grow to would be beyond the revenue sports like soccer, men’s volleyball and tennis. She said she also wants to be able to bring in more sponsors for more prizes. 

Even if the students turnout to the point Scheumann Stadium and Worthen Arena are packed every game, Myers said she won’t be completely satisfied. She said in marketing, there’s always something that can be worked on so things don’t go stale during a game. 

But as she was pleased with the turnout at the football and men’s basketball games, Myers said she has to create an atmosphere that’s fun for the fans even if a team isn’t winning. 

“I try really hard to make people come to the games,” she said. “You never know coming into the game if you’re going to win or lose, but creating an experience that’s fun for the people there regardless of what the outcome is, I think that’s ideal.”

But just like the athletes, coaches and students, Myers agreed that at the end of the day, there’s one guarantee that will bring students to the games: winning.