For decades, Bison basketball has been the most popular sport on Lipscomb’s campus. However, in recent years, attendance at games has dropped, especially students’ attendance.
With the way technology has advanced, there are now reasons for students to not attend games, so Lipscomb athletics Director of Marketing Garner Goode believes.
“It’s always a challenge to get students to come to games,” Goode said. “It’s a challenge to get anyone to come to games, really. With the world of ESPN and social media, it makes it really easy to stay at home.”
Goode and his team are tasked with the challenge of getting people to go games rather than to watch them from home or their dorms.
“Some of the main features we try to focus on are items that would get people to games.
Goode works to get various sponsors of items from outside Lipscomb to bring new ideas for giveaways, including Pancoast Benefits. This year’s promotional giveaways range from posters and magnets to bobbleheads depicting Lipscomb’s mascot and Lipscomb founder David Lipscomb, to various t-shirts, including one completely in Spanish.
“We love working with Pancoast. They always want to push the envelope a little bit further. That’s kind of how we got to the idea of the bobbleheads. And the SGA (Student Government Association) has been great working with us as well. They’re actually sponsoring another bobblehead.
“We’ve got some things that is focused on community engagement and ways to plug into the community. We’ve got a shirt this year that is completely in Spanish we’re going to give away on Latino Heritage night that’s coming up on December first.”
Lipscomb athletics has a schedule full of promotional nights, but that doesn’t mean they can’t use more. Goode is always willing to listen to students’ ideas for promotions at games.
“On a pretty regular basis, I keep in touch with the presidents of the social clubs, presidents of the other clubs on campus as well as the SAB (Student Activities Board) and SGA. Some of the best things that we’ve done with students have come out of their ideas.”
The Bisons next home game isn’t until December first, when they host Tennessee Tech on Latino Heritage night. For more promotions during basketball season, check for Lipscomb athletics’ emails.