Saturday

[statefan]

If the weather holds, it would appear that there will be more visitors to the campus Saturday than possibly any other day in the history of the campus. I was told by a member of the athletic dept that there could be as many as 15,000 people watching the two Giants/Jets practices. I sure hope the University and the Athletic Department in particular have some sort of marketing booth or promotion that could be of interest to the visitors to campus and could get them to think about attending a UAlbany athletic event during the coming year.

 

I'm certainly not a marketing person, but as an example, if an identifiable athlete such as Zoellner, who I think is identifiable simply by being 7 foot tall, was out there meeting and greeting kids, and then when basketball season began, I could see a parent wanting to take his/her kids to a game and they might choose to see a game featuring someone who was nice to their kids, and who their kids might remember from August.

 

I just hope we don't waste an opportunity.

[Dane96]

Statefan,

 

I think that the staff is very capable, however awfully busy. This simple idea may have been glossed over....so I suggest an email. It is something that could be put together on short notice.

[alumni '92']

I just hope we don't waste an opportunity.  -  Statefan

every chance to make a positive impression matters ... there should be an effort made by charlie v. and co. to capitalize on the event/their summer residency ... no harm for the giants

[Dane Pound]

Did anyone go on Saturday?

[statefan]

I attended both sessions Saturday and enjoyed both very much. While I generally try to catch two Giants' practices a year, it was the first time I ever had the opportunity to see the Jets "up close". I thought the sessions were administered very well. I saw a number of Danes athletes serving as staff for the event, including Jarred Knotts, Danielle Hutcheson and Brandon Howlett. There were probably a lot more, but generally , the basketball players are the only ones I can recognize facially. The program they handed out with the team rosters did contain the UAlbany football schedule, but that was about the only UAlbany athletic marketing I saw.

 

I spent part of the day with a group of friends who are Giants fan and have no affiliation with the University. They were impressed by the University in general and pleased with the manner in which the event was run, but expressed no desire to ever attend an athletic event on campus.

[Dane Pound]

I wouldn't be surprised if Danielle Hutcheson attended more Albany athletic events than anyone on this board. She seemed to be at just about everything l went to last year.

 

While I'm not a Giants fan I certainly hope they keep training on campus and hold some more things like this in the future. It's great to hear UAlbany's name come up on national media when they talk about Giants training camp. Even better to get locals on campus with things like the Jets-Giants. As the new facilites on campus get built things like this will be a terrific way to introduce the football-loving public to them and hopefully get them to come back to watch a few games.