Family Nights spark community interest
Dave Lomonico
Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: Sports
The Greyhounds will throw an oversized Hassan Fofana jersey on a kid's back and tell him to go make a layup. They'll have a band bang out riveting chants and cheers. They'll offer autographs from the players, free shirts and gift certificates, pizza and hot dogs for a buck. And on top of it all, tickets are only $1. Last I checked Pat's Cats weren't doing that.
"I'm excited; I've never been to a college game before," said 10-year-old Nick Gugerty, who took part in the layup contest with his cousin, Bennett.
"It's $1 -- you can't beat that," his father, Mark, said.
In case you missed it -- and unless you were one of the 32 students in the stands, you did - the first Family Night was held in a Jan. 4 contest against Fairfield. With students on break, chances were that Reitz Arena would've sounded more like an 8 a.m. economics class than a college basketball game. That's never good for the home team and even worse for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network audience.
But Loyola had a plan. They promoted the heck out of Family Night on 1570 AM WNST (a local 24-hour sports-radio station) and on wnst.net in hopes of drawing in the local community members. At first, Kelly was a little unsure of how successful the promotion would be, but all fears were allayed when over 400 people showed up at the box office asking where the arena was.
"It was a great success, and we hope to replicate it," Kelly said.
But Loyola's PR team can't take all the credit. WNST, which broadcasts a Tuesday afternoon show with Patsos and a Wednesday afternoon show with women's coach Joe Logan, helped immensely. And, somewhat paradoxically, so did the local football team, the Ravens.
"Loyola has a coupon advertising "$1 Family Night" on WNST's website, and at the same time the coupon was up, there was news about Brian Billick's firing and then rumors about who the new head coach would be," Kelly said. "So people went to the site to get the latest on the Ravens news, and they saw the Loyola Family Night coupon."
"I'm excited; I've never been to a college game before," said 10-year-old Nick Gugerty, who took part in the layup contest with his cousin, Bennett.
"It's $1 -- you can't beat that," his father, Mark, said.
In case you missed it -- and unless you were one of the 32 students in the stands, you did - the first Family Night was held in a Jan. 4 contest against Fairfield. With students on break, chances were that Reitz Arena would've sounded more like an 8 a.m. economics class than a college basketball game. That's never good for the home team and even worse for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network audience.
But Loyola had a plan. They promoted the heck out of Family Night on 1570 AM WNST (a local 24-hour sports-radio station) and on wnst.net in hopes of drawing in the local community members. At first, Kelly was a little unsure of how successful the promotion would be, but all fears were allayed when over 400 people showed up at the box office asking where the arena was.
"It was a great success, and we hope to replicate it," Kelly said.
But Loyola's PR team can't take all the credit. WNST, which broadcasts a Tuesday afternoon show with Patsos and a Wednesday afternoon show with women's coach Joe Logan, helped immensely. And, somewhat paradoxically, so did the local football team, the Ravens.
"Loyola has a coupon advertising "$1 Family Night" on WNST's website, and at the same time the coupon was up, there was news about Brian Billick's firing and then rumors about who the new head coach would be," Kelly said. "So people went to the site to get the latest on the Ravens news, and they saw the Loyola Family Night coupon."
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