Volleyball, football and soccer all have different promotions coming this way. Visit lionsports.net and look under promotions to get a list of all the different events that will be held this fall during Lions and Lady Lions athletics. 
The Lion’s Roar / Staff photos

It is about that time of the year again. The cool breeze has picked up, and fans are beginning to represent their green and gold with football season just around the corner. As some students have already begun to “Lion Up” at volleyball and soccer games, some are late to the party.

In these cases, the Marketing and Promotions Department is here to help those in need of getting excited for upcoming sporting events.

“For every sport each semester, we host one big promotion where we have free food, free shirts and games.” said Caitlin Wade, the Marketing and Promotions’ Administrative Assistant.

 We do Pack the Pat, Full Court Fest for men’s and women’s basketball teams, Dig the Lions and promotions for soccer and football.” 

The department’s goal is for more students to attend athletic events.

“Our biggest struggle is that we are a commuter school,” said Wade. “We try our best to schedule promotions during the week or on a Thursday night before everyone leaves to go home for the weekend. That way we can get the most attendance.” 

Students will wait around for what seems to be hours for a free t-shirt; however, Marketing and Promotions think out the box for fresh ideas in order to maintain a fun and exciting environment for all students. 

For instance, throughout the soccer season, the department will begin promoting black Southeastern scarves.

Alongside Strawberry Jam, a pep rally to kick-off football season, the department also plans to host Full Court Fest.

“Full Court Fest is held in the University Center every year,” said Wade. “We introduce the team and have free food and shirts, but we also try to have bigger prizes. One time we drew for a flat screen TV. We also brought it in the big money machine and pulled names.”

Full Court Fest does not have a set date yet, but students can anticipate the event to be held in late October or early November.

Recently, Marketing and Promotions have released a free app called Lion Up Loyalty. It is an interactive app students can download from the iTunes App Store.

“It is linked to the Lion’s Roar, our Twitter and Instagram. Students login with their W number instead of just signing our piece of paper. Many students would not even stop at our table so this [the app] will be more fun,” said Wade. “Instead of pulling names, the app will also keep record of who is there and shuffle the names and will pull a fan for the prize or whatever we have that day.”

Lion Up Loyalty is GPS based; therefore, a count of how many students leave throughout the game can be taken. The app also helps students keep track of the number of events they have attended throughout the season.

“The app will track all the games the student goes to. We’re hoping for a points system so for example, if you go to a soccer game, you get 10 points and then after so many, you get a prize,” said Wade.

The new app is also linked to lionsports.net where students have quick access to sports’ schedules, rosters and stats through the mobile site.

The department believes promotions have changed students’ outlooks on athletic events.

Just last week, volleyball players had set up a table in the union to announce their Green and Gold scrimmage.

“[Students meeting the athletes] face to face without the officials and without the court helps people to see that ‘Hey we’re kind of alike. We’re both students. We do similar things. Except you go to practices,’” said Wade.

After interacting with students all day, volleyball players were encouraged by support from fans that night.

“I’ve worked the table before, and I’ll tell them all the information, but they don’t really respond,” said the Marketing and Promotion Graduate Assistant Erin Sykes..”But it’s something about the connection between the athlete and student. That night, the UC was more packed for a volleyball game than I had ever seen, and it was just the scrimmage.” 

It is not too late to start attending sporting events. The department believes going to athletic event is “a part of the full college experience and a big social event to meet new people.”

“People say ‘oh no, I’m busy’ or ‘I have homework’ but sometimes they need to just put all that aside and just go. We basically give you free food and free clothing- a college student’s dream,” said Wade.

For more information on Marketing and Promotions’ upcoming events, visit lionsports.net.