Nov. 4, 2009

It's another happy week in Aggieland. I went to the soccer match on Friday where we dominated our friends from state capital, 4-0, for a full-point in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown. And then on Saturday, our football team really dominated Iowa State. Our football and soccer teams continue to improve.

Quarterback Jerrod Johnson has been leading our offense in a very efficient manner. Whether we are running or passing, or covering on defense, our athletes are making good decisions. I think that comes from a better understanding of the system our coaching staff has put in place. The fact we did not see our freshman punter play on Saturday is amazing.

Since the trip to Kansas State, we've learned a lot about preparation, weather climates, and playing on the road in the Big 12. Being a college student-athlete is a lot more than just practice and play. They have so many distractions in their world, and our coaches work every day on helping the players focus.

The game at Colorado this Saturday is important for us. Not only is it an opportunity for another Big 12 road win, but it's a chance to become bowl eligible.

Folsom Field is a hard place to play. We've only been victorious there once in A&M history. The stadium is one tightly packed venue. The crowd is right on top of you, and they do the very best to get in your head. To make it even cozier, Ralphie's handlers like to run the buffalo as close to the visiting bench as possible. I can still picture Tom Osborne waving the buffalo away as it thundered toward the Nebraska sidelines.

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For those of you who will be joining us in Boulder, the game will kick off at 11:30 a.m. mountain time. That's 12:30 p.m. central time if you are listening to the Texas A&M Sports Network or have access to the Fox College Sports broadcast.

Click here for a list of radio stations carrying the game. In Houston, fans can listen via 740 KTRH-AM, while fans in San Antonio can hear us on 760 KTKR-AM. Those of you with Sirius Satellite Radio should tune in to channel 154. Don't forget we offer a free internet audio feed at AggieAthletics.com, while PDA users can go to RadioAggieland.com for the game.

As for the television broadcast, FCS is the same network which televised our game at Kansas State a few weeks ago. It is primarily a cable-only channel. We're told more than 100 cable companies in Texas offer FCS, so please check your local listings or call your cable company to see if the game will be available in your area. Direct TV subscribers, who also have the sports package, will receive the game on channel 617.

We learned earlier this week our game at Oklahoma on Nov. 14 will be televised nationally by FSN and kickoff at 6 p.m.

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I've heard from a lot of you in recent weeks concerning television. It seems there is a campaign to write me, and the conference office, in an effort to get us on television. Here is a response I wrote to one fan earlier this week regarding all things TV.

"Jamie, thanks for the note.  The current policy you cite is that we will not put up an Aggie home football game on pay per view (ppv) until we are sold out in season tickets at Kyle Field.  By conference contract, we broadcast every contest our conference TV partners pick.  Here's my rationale for our ppv policy.

First, the game has to be moved outside the current TV windows of ESPN/ABC and Fox per Big-12 Conference contracts.  That means we either kick early (sometimes as early as 10:30am), or we kick late, (sometimes as late as 9:00pm like we did at Tech a few years back).

Second, the most recent numbers I've seen say only 16% of our football season ticket sales come from Brazos County.  That means 84% of our fans drive some distance to our games.  The latest numbers I've seen are about 36% come from the greater Houston area, 24% from the DFW area, and the remainder comes from the I-35 corridor down into the Valley and from East Texas.  My position is asking 84% of our fans to move their departure times to come to College Station is an inconvenience for them. (editor's note: those are the 2008 numbers. The 2009 numbers have seen Brazos County grow to 21% so that means we would inconvenience 79% of our season ticket holders)

Third, the way revenue is distributed for ppv is:  50% to Fox, 25% to our opponent and 25% to us.  The last time we did ppv, our net was $15,000.  To give you a comparison, when Nebraska is on ppv, they not only are sold out in season tickets, they generate more money than an ESPN/ABC game as their 25% share.  That's almost 20 times what we have netted when we have put up ppv.  We average 10,000 walkups per home game, but for our ppv game, we had 5,000 fewer walkup sales.  At an average price of $50, we gave up $250,000 in ticket income for $15,000 in TV income.  That's not a good trade.

Fourth, when we do have games of national interest, the networks broadcast them.  The games we would ppv are the Utah State, Louisiana Tech type games, and candidly, our fans not only don't purchase tickets for those games here in Kyle, they also don't buy ppv.  Heck, this last weekend we had over 22,000 Aggies who had purchased tickets to the ISU game who did not show up at Kyle.  I know some would argue that ticket prices are high, but these are folks who've already spent their money on Aggie football and then don't show.  Speaking of ticket prices, we have offered half price tickets for every home game this season so far and have not sold out of those seats. 

Fifth, our Big 12 television partners (ESPN/ABC/FSN/Versus) make their selections based upon what they feel is the best matchup for that particular week.  We cannot turn those picks down when we are selected by conference contracts with those platforms.

Last, I don't think it is unreasonable to ask our fans to come see us in person.  Our tickets are priced the way they are so we can offer 31,000 half priced tickets to our students and keep the tradition of the 12th Man alive but doing that comes with a price and that price is our other fans have to subsidize those low ticket prices for our students.  Most Aggies I have talked to think that is a fair price to pay.  I hope you do too.

Thanks again for taking the time to write.  I very much appreciate your loyalty and support."

This is not news. I know some of you research my old Wednesday Weekly's to fact check me, especially on television issues. My stance has not changed, and I know that does not sit well with some fans.

We have never sold out Kyle Field without our opponents buying a large number of tickets. There are a number of programs, including a couple we play each season, which sell out their stadium no matter who they are playing. I look forward to the day when Kyle Field is sold out on a season ticket basis.

We've heard from many folks in the state capital inquiring about tickets for the Thanksgiving game. I sure hope those are our loyal Capital City Aggies, because I'd rather not see a sea of orange at Kyle on Thanksgiving night.

We have tickets available in a variety of seating locations for our game with our friends from the state capital. Contact the Athletic Ticket Office at 1-888-99-AGGIE or click here to purchase.

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We've received numerous emails from veterans thanking us for the Military Appreciation Day we held last Saturday at Kyle Field. We offered free tickets to families of those currently serving in the military, wounded veterans, and to all currently enrolled students at A&M who have served. We also offered half-priced tickets in the best available seats to all veterans.

I was pleased to learn we have more than 600 students on campus who have served in the military. At halftime, we honored these students on the field.

I really enjoyed visiting with a few of the veterans and student veterans. Many of them told me they were just doing their jobs. They are all heroes to me.

Here is one of the many emails we received from veterans regarding Military Appreciation Day.

"I bought tickets for myself and a Vietnam Era Classmate early in the week for the Iowa State game and read an article this morning that tickets for veteran could be purchased for half price. I am a Class of '69 Vietnam Combat vet with a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, 1st Class and Vietnamese Civic Actions Honor Medal, 1st Class along with various other U.S. awards including a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service. So on a whim and expecting nothing, I called the ticket office to see if I could get credit retroactive to my purchase. Even though I offered to bring my discharge papers reflecting my record, I was treated with utmost respect and taken at my word. Furthermore the woman answering the call got permission from her supervisor to credit my Visa card back to the half price rate. I don't know whose idea this was, but this is one very grateful veteran who appreciates the thought and the effort "beyond the call of duty" on the part of you and your entire staff. Sir, I salute you all. It is 180 degrees from how we were received upon return from that horrible conflict. Thanks from the bottom of my heart."

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Basketball season starts Thursday. We are going to be very good in both men's and women's basketball.

Our men will host Texas A&M-Commerce at 7 p.m. Thursday in an exhibition game. The regular season home opener is Friday, Nov. 13 against Angelo State at 7 p.m.

Some of you may be wondering why we play just one exhibition game instead of two. A few years ago, the NCAA altered the rule on pre-season games. The NCAA allows one open exhibition and one closed scrimmage. So, we signed up North Carolina for the closed scrimmage. Wish you could have been here last week. Just kidding! That was a belated trick on my part instead of a treat. Actually, we are hosting TCU on Sunday in our closed scrimmage.

Season tickets start at $200. You can purchase season tickets for men's basketball in a variety of seating locations by clicking here.

Meanwhile, our No. 16-ranked women's team will host Oklahoma City University in an exhibition game at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12. We open the regular season on Sunday, Nov. 15 against No. 6-ranked Duke at 2 p.m. at Reed Arena.

We've already sold a record number of women's basketball season tickets, but we have great seats still available. Season tickets start at $85.

At both of the exhibition games, members of Aggie Athletes Involved will be outside Reed Arena collecting coats, blankets, and sweaters to benefit Twin Cities Mission. Everyone who donates will receive a voucher for a free ticket to one of the exhibition games.

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Beating our friends from the state capital in soccer last Friday was fun! I thought the first 20 minutes our friends put everybody they could find in front of their goal. We soon scored, and it all changed. They could not keep up with us the rest of the game. We limited them to two shots on goal.

We finished the regular season in second place behind Missouri. Tonight, our No. 20-ranked team faces No. 7 seed Baylor at 8 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship. It is being hosted at Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio. You can click here for live video or audio of our games.

Congratulations to sophomore Bri Young who was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week as we recorded our third straight shutout.

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Our volleyball team beat Kansas on the road last Saturday night. Due to a strange order of play in the schedule, we will play back-to-back games in Kansas when we play at Kansas State tonight at 7 p.m. The match will be televised by FSN-Kansas City. Check your local listings.

Saturday, we host Baylor at 6:30 p.m. at Reed Arena. We are 7-2 at our new home this season, and I hope we have a good crowd in attendance. We set an all-time record for home attendance at our match last week against our friends from the state capital. It was an enthusiastic and energetic crowd our players were very appreciative of seeing. Our players will be signing autographs following the Baylor match. You can click here to purchase tickets for Saturday's match.

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While we were preparing for the football game Saturday, our sixth-ranked equestrian team beat seventh-ranked Baylor in impressive fashion at the Brazos County Expo Complex. We won three of the four disciplines during the show and ended a three-show losing streak to the Bears. This week we are ranked third and will ride on the road against seventh-ranked Kansas State in Manhattan on Friday at 10 a.m. before heading to fourth-ranked Oklahoma State on Saturday at 10 a.m.

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We have an important meet in women's swimming this Friday in the state capital. We will face our friends in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown at 6 p.m. We have a great chance to win, because we have an impressive roster that's at full strength this year.

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It was a terrific win for our No. 16 women's golf team Tuesday at the Challenge at Onion Creek in Austin. We rallied from a 21-stroke deficit for the biggest comeback in school history. Senior Julia Boland won the individual title with a four-under par total, and Ashley Freeman finished second. I thought it was interesting to read the Houston Chronicle this morning and see that the women's team from the state capital placed fourth in the Onion Creek Challenge, but there was no mention of the winning team. It seems to happen a lot from my perspective. And it's not like we don't send them the information, because here is the release they received at 4:39 yesterday afternoon. Our women have won two tournaments this fall, and they have the talent to do very well in the spring season.

Our defending NCAA national champion men's golf team finished the fall season with a pair of wins, and today we learned junior John Hurley was named the Big 12 Golfer of the Month for October. John won the Lone Star Invitational a few weeks ago in San Antonio.

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Some of you have written asking for an update on where we are on the safety assessments done on the McFerrin Athletic Center after the collapse of a similar facility. Here's what we have learned and done:

1. Upon completion of construction, our engineers certified the indoor facilities to 90 mph wind bursts. In September, a new independent consultant, brought in by the University, initially recommended we not use the facility. This caused considerable debate, since we had recently experienced Hurricane Ike with no problems, and our buildings had significant structural improvements as compared to similar facilities. 

2. After much conversation among the various architects and engineers involved, it was decided the buildings could be used in winds up to 60 mph. We established a safety protocol, including use and evacuation procedures. 

3. After more study, based on an actual engineering examination of the building, the advice from some of the engineers was to install reinforced cabling into the sidewalls and ends of both buildings to make doubly certain they were safe. That was accomplished without any disruption of the buildings use.

4. After the reinforcements were added (at no cost to us by the way), the football side of the building was again certified to 90 mph wind gusts and the track side certified to 75 mph wind gusts. More tests were scheduled to take the track side to 90 mph. This will ensure the buildings meet standard building code requirements for all buildings on the Texas A&M campus.

5. As part of certifying the track building to 90 mph, a wind tunnel test was initiated, and we are waiting for the results. We expect those results any day.

The reinforcements were installed at night and around our practice schedules in September, so we never missed a day using the facility. This has been a very useful process. Having all this additional evaluation and analysis completed gives us great comfort that our buildings are safe, and they will protect our students, staff and fans from the elements, when needed. 

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Before I go, here's a story for the dogs. Some of you who use the elevators at Gate 8 on the west side of Kyle Field, or who use the walk-ways near the space where the broadcast television truck parks, may have noticed a black dog on an extremely long leash in the area before the game. The dog was tied to the bumper of a pick-up truck parked next to the instant replay production truck. Because of the long leash, the dog managed to alter the movement of fans in the area. We assisted University Police in locating the dog's owner. He was a camera operator on the Big 12 instant replay crew. However, the owner placed the dog in the cab of his truck and went back inside. That's not the best place for a dog. Eventually, the owner placed the dog in the actual production truck.

I'm placing the dog on my growing list of odd things folks bring to Kyle Field on game day.

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Have a great week.