They followed this up with a recruitment video talking about being the MAC team with the most wins to ever pose with firefighters.

They were going to pose with police, but then they realized they've been doing that for years.

Do you suppose those are real Firefighters or like their recruitting video random people they could throw in to fit their agenda?

That's big time right there. We need more of that throughout the rest of the MAC. 

I get what you're trying to do, but you can't want to be big time and at the same time call yourself "Southeast Ohio's Bobcats."  We're Ohio.  That's it.  There are other ways to tie the team to the community and the area without making fun of yourself in the process.  I hate to use them as a reference, but it'll be a cold day in hell before you hear OSU call themselves "Columbus' own Ohio State Buckeyes."

UC is the second team in the state? I would say outside of the Cincinnati area and their alumni, who cares about UC.

Having grown up in Athens, I can assure that Ohio already has a firm foothold in the area. If the team is winning, people will show up.

I think gaining fans outside the area is what they are trying to accomplish with the "My State My Team" campaign.

From my own personal experience, I have seen this happen with my in-laws. They are all die hard nut heads and in the past, despite the fact that both my wife and I are Ohio alumni, could have cared less about what Ohio was doing. With recent successes however, in both football and basketball, they now cheer on the Bobcats (and they live outside of Toledo).

We are never really going to take fans away from the nut heads, but we can get them and others interested in what we are doing.

Of course, anyone sitting in Peden or listening to Russ is going to hear "Your Ohio Bobcats" a lot.  That strikes me as a reasonable amalgamation of both "My state, My team" and "Athens' own" without saying too much.  In addition, I just like it.  Why not put it in ads and on billboards, too?

I don't think we will ever completely win SE Ohio. There will always be OSU and WVU and even a sizable Marshall fanbase. Those are 3 very successful programs and for different reasons I think they will always be able to have some claim in SE Ohio.
 

That isn't to say we couldn't do more in SE Ohio, but I think we are already doing a pretty good job, and I really don't think there is that much growth left in SE Ohio. Are there really a lot of people in SE Ohio that are potential Bobcat fans that aren't already fans of the program? I just cannot imagine that. If you live in Athens and aren't already a Bobcat fan... I don't know that you ever will be. Places like Nelsonville? Maybe... But I think the people who aren't Bobcat fans are probably pretty solid WVU/OSU fans or just do not care about sports. I think they probably know about Ohio and just don't care....
 

As for the rest of the state, its not just "hey we won a bowl come watch us." We have quality programs in both football and basketball in the national spotlight like NEVER before. Our opening game in football is on ESPN for the 2nd straight year. We've got something special going for us right now that we have never had before.

A lot of MAC programs have had a string of quick success and then fallen off the map when the coaches leave and the success ends. I think we are in a unique position to build on our success and actually sustain and expand it because we have an opportunity to expand our fanbase that most MAC programs don't have. I don't think we have the luxury of waiting 10 years when Frank Solich may be retired by that point. The timeline has to be much quicker than that.

This is probably true. Unless a team actually alienate fans, people that grow up as fans of one team tend to stay that way. They can, however, pick up a second team to follow, and this is what you are suggesting. Since the teams rarely play, there is no reason a fan can't root for both. Similarly, since the Athletic Department wisely tries to avoid scheduling games at exactly the same time, these dual fans can watch both games.

Over the longer term, if you can win fans slowly, starting with the young, you can grow the long term support. Things like boosting in-state and regional recruiting are important for building support, and so are outreaches to the youth in the area. Things like the family packs, for example, are great idea. I see the Athletic Department doing a great job in all these areas, and therefore, support steadily increasing.

Here's one more idea - now that Peden is mostly sold out for most fall games, how about approaching area businesses and getting them to buy up the remaining tickets at a discount, and then donating them to various organizations in nearby cities. For example, one week donate 1000 tickets to a Nelsonville youth sports league, and so on. This accomplishes  a few things - One - the kids will bring parents, and they will buy concessions, etc. They will probably also spend money in the community, so the area businesses will make the money back, so its a win-win. It builds support, without actually costing anything. Next, it also allows higher attendance, plus the games become sellouts, meaning the tickets start having a cachet of scarcity. That in turn will cause more season ticket sales.

Not sure if this is still part of the script but back when we had Derek Scott as our radio personality he would begin his broadcasts by saying "From the shores of Lake Erie to the banks of the Ohio" and I always like the wide spread net that cast, staking our claim as a flagship university. 

While those who came before us helped to shape our athletic fate in terms of conferences/recognition, etc. we can control our future and how people recognize us.  

Any promotions/advertising we do should include all corners of the Bobcat State, much like the one we have in place now.  

At the same time I know we have limited resources so focusing visual ads in locations that are a reasonable distance from Athens to get butts in seats is a practical approach to me.  I do look forward to the day when I will see an Ohio billboard in Cincinnati though!

As far as the Toledo piece I thought that was a nice approach using footage from the Jeep plant.  I always like when schools pay tribute to the local community/state such as the canary yellow used by WVU as a tribute to the coal mining of yesteryears or how Iowa will wear decals on their helmets celebrating farmers etc. 

You're spot on with this. The stadium has got to be upgraded to have a chance at making money with ticket sales and looking like a serious player with recruits. I could live with 28,000 seats, NFL caliber concessions & bathrooms, plus a permanent team shop at the stadium. What we have right now is too small time particularly when you consider the Hill is counted in the 24,000 calculation. Without the Hill the stadium seats 21,500. That is unacceptable for a fanbase that can put 26,000 in the house to watch New Mexico State. A crowd of 21,500 is no longer rare like it was 10 years ago. It would be below our 2012 average so we're over capacity as it is.