ISU Athletics

[SCHawkeye2]

Good read.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/63...sketball-finances/?source=user_shared_article‘Grow our own fans’: How Iowa State found a golden era after college athletics’ longest climb

 

[CP87]

Gotta tip your cap to them, they have built something over there.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

Gotta tip your cap to them, they have built something over there.

Agree

 

[trj]

Random thoughts:

I finally got a subscription to ’The Athletic’.

Jaime Pollard came off to me as this whiny, nasal voice guy. What I have come to realize, is that he good at his job. More importantly, timing was perfect, he was the ideal cheerleader/administrator needed for Iowa St. when he was hired.

I grew up in the 80(s) and 90(s), and the majority of the ISU fan base was a 40-50 mile radius of Ames. Has that changed now? Is the ISU brand state wide?

The grass roots approach that ISU took, Iowa needs to copy now. You cringe and shrug your shoulders, but this isn’t the 80(s) and 90(s) anymore.

 

[CP87]

Random thoughts:

I finally got a subscription to ’The Athletic’.

Jaime Pollard came off to me as this whiny, nasal voice guy. What I have come to realize, is that he good at his job. More importantly, timing was perfect, he was the ideal cheerleader/administrator needed for Iowa St. when he was hired.

I grew up in the 80(s) and 90(s), and the majority of the ISU fan base was a 40-50 mile radius of Ames. Has that changed now? Is the ISU brand state wide?

The grass roots approach that ISU took, Iowa needs to copy now. You cringe and shrug your shoulders, but this isn’t the 80(s) and 90(s) anymore.

What I really want them to copy is CyTown, but geographically, not sure how you do that. Maybe with a new BB arena somewhere out on west Melrose?

 

[Zstatman]

Random thoughts:

I finally got a subscription to ’The Athletic’.

Jaime Pollard came off to me as this whiny, nasal voice guy. What I have come to realize, is that he good at his job. More importantly, timing was perfect, he was the ideal cheerleader/administrator needed for Iowa St. when he was hired.

I grew up in the 80(s) and 90(s), and the majority of the ISU fan base was a 40-50 mile radius of Ames. Has that changed now? Is the ISU brand state wide?

The grass roots approach that ISU took, Iowa needs to copy now. You cringe and shrug your shoulders, but this isn’t the 80(s) and 90(s) anymore.

I grew up in Ringgold County, south of Des Moines on the Missouri line, I'd say it's 75% ISU.

 

[Grady]

The Waterloo metro is an interesting mix: seems to me the fan breakdown is about 1/3 UNI, 1/3 Iowa, and 1/3 Iowa St.

 

[Gander Hawk]

Iowa still manages to sign most of the top prospects in the revenue sports but ISU is chipping away.

 

[Fryowa]

I grew up in the 80(s) and 90(s), and the majority of the ISU fan base was a 40-50 mile radius of Ames. Has that changed now? Is the ISU brand state wide?

Yes.

 

[trj]

What I really want them to copy is CyTown, but geographically, not sure how you do that. Maybe with a new BB arena somewhere out on west Melrose?

When Cytown was announced I rolled my eyes and thought it was a pipe dream. I was wrong, it is not only happening, but it feels like it is going to be very successful. And they are doing this on the “cheap” for about 250 million.

As for Iowa, they are not moving away from Carver. BG is on the fundraising trail now looking for 65 million dollars or so to get luxury boxes put into Carver. I am not an engineer/architect so I do not even know how that works. The arena is built into the ground, so how you add luxury boxes is beyond my knowledge/expertise.

 

[CP87]

When Cytown was announced I rolled my eyes and thought it was a pipe dream. I was wrong, it is not only happening, but it feels like it is going to be very successful. And they are doing this on the “cheap” for about 250 million.

As for Iowa, they are not moving away from Carver. BG is on the fundraising trail now looking for 65 million dollars or so to get luxury boxes put into Carver. I am not an engineer/architect so I do not even know how that works. The arena is built into the ground, so how you add luxury boxes is beyond my knowledge/expertise.

Maybe we need to wipe out University Heights, and replace it with HawkTown? I am sure we can get some eminent domain going to support that.

 

[trj]

I grew up in Ringgold County, south of Des Moines on the Missouri line, I'd say it's 75% ISU.

The Waterloo metro is an interesting mix: seems to me the fan breakdown is about 1/3 UNI, 1/3 Iowa, and 1/3 Iowa St.

Yes.

Deep down inside I knew the answer to my own question. Homerism/denial was the only reason why I asked the question. My argument for the longest time is that Iowa and ISU could be successful at the same time because they were in different conferences.

We all know where this trending. Could Iowa and ISU both be successful in a 8 team division in the same conference?

 

[haydensly]

Maybe we need to wipe out University Heights, and replace it with HawkTown? I am sure we can get some eminent domain going to support that.

LOL, I thought about the same thing. I'm sure the fine people of University Heights won't mind giving up their trashy homes for the good of the University.

 

[CP87]

LOL, I thought about the same thing. I'm sure the fine people of University Heights won't mind giving up their trashy homes for the good of the University.

Maybe some high-rise condos can replace the residential units, and now instead of a 100-year old home they get a penthouse on the 10th story with a view of Kinnick? Sounds like an upgrade, to me.

 

[CP87]

Seriously, we should get to work planning this thing. Unprecedented times call for radical ideas.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

Deep down inside I knew the answer to my own question. Homerism/denial was the only reason why I asked the question. My argument for the longest time is that Iowa and ISU could be successful at the same time because they were in different conferences.

We all know where this trending. Could Iowa and ISU both be successful in a 8 team division in the same conference?

Look, ISU is a nice, quaint little success story of a little engine that could. Pollard decided to make himself a big fish in a small pond and he has become just that in Ames. I hope UNI and Drake follow this blue print and grow their brand as well.

But, let's not make this more than it is. ISU's athletics is never going to equal Iowa's in terms of revenue and prestige for one simple reason: conference. ISU is never getting into the Big 10. Did I say never? Yes. Never. There are dozens of better candidates out there, and I am not sure how much more expansion the conference needs or wants, but it sure doesn't need to double down on Iowa.

Redevelopment Districts centered around athletics is a fine idea, but its not exactly novel. Nebbie put the Haymarket District in a decade ago. I agree that Iowa should be looking to big swings like this, but IC is just a different animal than Lames. Its complicated for sure.

Congrats to our Little Brother. Yawn.

 

[trj]

View attachment 11449

Seriously, we should get to work planning this thing. Unprecedented times call for radical ideas.

Soooo, your 300 million in crypto is going to make this work.

 

[trj]

Look, ISU is a nice, quaint little success story of a little engine that could. Pollard decided to make himself a big fish in a small pond and he has become just that in Ames. I hope UNI and Drake follow this blue print and grow their brand as well.

But, let's not make this more than it is. ISU's athletics is never going to equal Iowa's in terms of revenue and prestige for one simple reason: conference. ISU is never getting into the Big 10. Did I say never? Yes. Never. There are dozens of better candidates out there, and I am not sure how much more expansion the conference needs or wants, but it sure doesn't need to double down on Iowa.

Redevelopment Districts centered around athletics is a fine idea, but its not exactly novel. Nebbie put the Haymarket District in a decade ago. I agree that Iowa should be looking to big swings like this, but IC is just a different animal than Lames. Its complicated for sure.

Congrats to our Little Brother. Yawn.

Are we sure Iowa St. will never get into the Big 10? Clemson and Florida St. win their lawsuits and all hell breaks loose. The SEC absorbs the ACC, minus Duke and North Carolina, and the Big 10 takes on the Big12, including Oregon St. and Washington St.

If that scenario happens, ISU gets into the club.

 

[CP87]

Soooo, your 300 million in crypto is going to make this work.

So, we start meme-coins marketed toward all other B1G programs, and ISU for good measure. Their fans jump in, we dump and run, and we put all of the profits into Hawkeye Swarm. Sounds like a foolproof scam...I mean strategy.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

Are we sure Iowa St. will never get into the Big 10? Clemson and Florida St. win their lawsuits and all hell breaks loose. The SEC absorbs the ACC, minus Duke and North Carolina, and the Big 10 takes on the Big12, including Oregon St. and Washington St.

If that scenario happens, ISU gets into the club.

Yes. I am sure.

Clemson and FSU have already won their lawsuits for all intents and purposes. They will be joining the SEC soon enough and then they will be our size. I truly question how much bigger these conferences want to get.

But, let's say we go to 24 each to start the super football conference. You don't think there are 6 markets that the Big 10 would prefer to have over an overlapping small populous Iowa market??? Kansas, Arizona St., Colorado, Utah, BYU. That's just better teams in the Little 12 off the top of my head. If the mega conferences happen, however, the territories will overlap with SEC country and the better academic schools will want to be in the Big 10 and vice versa. So, you are looking at Miami, North Carolina, Duke, UVA, and I guaranty that the Big 10 takes a school from Texas to gain that market. Let's not forget Notre Dame. You think they want to be in the SEC? I also think Stanford and Cal bring a hell of a lot more to the table than ISU, especially Stanford and all its Olympic sports and academic prowess.

The Clowns are so far down the list of desirable schools we would have to go to like two 32 team conference and even then its not a sure thing. Never say never, but what I can say is that ISU is the below average looking guy waiting at the back of the line to get into the club. Truth.