“Maybe we bit off more than we could chew. But I don’t want to ever stop dreaming big.” – Brian Hardin, deputy athletics director
The deputy athletics director said about 2,500 students attended the football game Wednesday night against Central Michigan University, meeting about one quarter of the Project 10,000 goal.
In total, 9,494 people total showed up to the game.
Athletics and Ball State Dance Marathon had partnered together for Project 10,000 in an attempt to get 10,000 students to the game. If they had succeeded, athletics would have paid the group $10,000 for Riley Hospital for Children. Even if 5,000 students or more attended, athletics promised to pay a dollar for each student, under $10,000.
Although they didn’t reach either benchmark, Hardin said an anonymous donor is offering BSUDM $2,500 for the hard work.
This will help start the group’s fundraiser for the hospital.
“We’re thrilled with the work they did on the front end, and we’re happy they were able to find an anonymous donor to come forward and say, for all of the hard work and effort they put in, that they wanted to give $2,500,” Hardin said.
EARLIER: The athletic department and Ball State Dance Marathon were unsuccessful in the attempt to get 10,000 students to the game Wednesday night despite Ball State’s win.
Official numbers for the amount of students in attendance were not available directly after the game, but Emily Probst, BSUDM president, said she estimated about 3,000 students showed up.
As part of Project 10,000, the athletic department had offered BSUDM $10,000 for Riley Hospital for Children if 10,000 students attended the game. For the game against Central Michigan University, 9,494 people attended.
Zach Brown, BSUDM director of media relations, said he was still not disappointed by the results. He estimated there were closer to 5,000 students there.
“I think that given the weather conditions and the cold, the halfway mark is impressive,” Brown said. “We put more students through the gates on a Wednesday night than Homecoming did. We know we worked hard and did our part.”
Although the organization didn’t reach its ultimate goal, the athletic department will give BSUDM a dollar for each student if more than 5,000 students came to the game, so BSUDM still could receive some money.
“Obviously, we were hoping to get to that 10,000 mark, but in my opinion, this was not a downfall for anybody,” Probst said. “We got more students to the game and part of our mission statement is not only to raise money, but to raise awareness and that’s exactly what this is.”
The group had promoted the event through fliers, its Facebook page, newspaper advertisements and by going group to group to pitch the project. The athletic department also gave away T-shirts to the first 2,000 students who came, a free 2014 GMC Terrain and numerous prizes during half time.
At each gate members students were counted by clickers and turnstiles. Each student who entered was counted regardless of how long they stayed at the game.
Brian Hardin, deputy athletics director, said he hopes to continue working on other ways to get students to games, although he said he probably won’t try the same project again.
“Maybe we bit off more than we could chew,” he said. “But I don’t want to ever stop dreaming big.”
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