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Ideas to help UTEP make money.

UTEPDefense

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Oct 8, 2002
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This was a topic on Sportstalk yesterday and I have also seen some follow-up ideas on Twitter. I have read on this board for years how fans are upset that they can't buy a real looking UTEP jersey. Rodney Terry was then wearing a great looking Nike Texas Western shirt yesterday, which of course the fans can not buy. So here are some ideas that I would like to suggest to UTEP in order to help them make money:

1.). Each year when they place their football/basketball jersey order, offer the fans the chance to buy their own authentic game jersey with their own name sewn on the back. Make it authentic and quality with sewn numbers and logos, not just screen printed stuff. Charge $250 and if it costs the university $100 for each jersey, then they make a net of $150 on each order. Just 1,000 orders would give UTEP an extra $150,000 in net revenue. Each year change the jersey offer and offer only one color/style each year, so that people buy one each year. The first year could be the blue jersey, the second year could be the orange jersey, third year the white jersey, and by the 4th year UTEP will have probably already changed jersey styles and you can start it all over again. Plenty of people will pay for a real jersey with their name on it.

2.). This kinda builds on Kappy's idea of creating an authentic Pay Dirt Pete plush doll. Each year UTEP should create one authentic stuffed Pay Dirt Pete doll or in some years it could be Miner Teddy Bear wearing a jersey/holding a pick axe instead. Make just one design each year and release it around christmas time(one year it is a Pete, some years it is a UTEP bear, etc.) Make it a big social media event each year when you release that year's version of the stuffed animal. Get people excited. Make the stuffed animal an eye grabber, not just something plain that you can find on eBay. Target this animal towards the kids that aren't in the market yet to purchase a $250 real jersey. Charge $50 for each doll and net a profit of $20-$30 on each stuffed animal that we sell. The university could net an additional $100,000 if they can just sell a little over 3,000 each year.

3.). Just simply make the same items that the coaches wear in practice or on the sideline available for purchase. UTEP could make a ton of money just by selling that Rodney Terry Nike Dry fit Texas Western shirt alone. I would have paid top money for the retro paydirt Pete basketball practice shirt from a couple of years back or the collared Nike UTEP football shirt with the sewn logo. Make it easy for the fans to purchase, put a direct link on the utepathletics website, maybe even add pictures of the coaches wearing each item on the sideline or in practice, next to the item on the website that is available for sale.

4.). Make the authentic game used stuff available for sale on the UTEP website. It seems like every NBA team shop has game used items for sale. I was surprised to see how relatively easy it was to buy an authentic Joel Embiid certified game used item directly from the 76ers or how game used items are available at the Milwaukee Bucks team shop. The Chihuahua's sell their special jerseys for charity after the games all of the time. UTEP rarely and randomly offers items for sale through auctions but it usually is only through their once a year annual fundraising dinner, for instance I won a game used framed Johnnie Lee Higgins jersey years ago. But instead of just once a year, UTEP should make it a weekly thing where they add 10 items for purchase each week after each game. Offer game used helmets at the end of the season, jerseys, gloves, game balls, etc. Just order extra equipment and then add to the website each week, if they start selling out immediately and people start complaining, then just keep adding more and more items to the weekly release(which of course will make more and more money). Create a simple certificate of authenticity and maybe a sticker with a matching number on it to place on the item itself, then just add that COA number to a list/database that can be accessed easily on the UTEPathletics website and you are done. 10 items per week at $100 per item would add an additonal $52,000 in revenue.

Does anybody else have any other money making ideas?
 
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Great ideas Defense!

I don't agree with #4 because its basically making money off of players backs and they get nothing extra in return. I'm not a fan of college players being paid more than a stipend, but I don't see how it is fair to them. This is way different than professional players or teams making money.

I would love to buy official UTEP gear and I would gladly pay your suggested prices if I knew the money was going back to athletics or education.

In addition I am a firm believer that contributing to athletics is a part of belonging to a university as a student. There should be an athletics fee to all students each semester.
For example: $100/semester x23,000 students x 2 semesters= 4.6 million dollars anually.

I understand that UTEP is "a commuter school in a pobresito community", but that is a fair amount and I would gladly pay (and so would all the students if they weren't given a choice). This would also hold the athletics program to a higher standard in student's eyes IMO.
 
1.). Each year when they place their football/basketball jersey order, offer the fans the chance to buy their own authentic game jersey with their own name sewn on the back. Make it authentic and quality with sewn numbers and logos, not just screen printed stuff. Charge $250 and if it costs the university $100 for each jersey, then they make a net of $150 on each order. Just 1,000 orders would give UTEP an extra $150,000 in net revenue. Each year change the jersey offer and offer only one color/style each year, so that people buy one each year. The first year could be the blue jersey, the second year could be the orange jersey, third year the white jersey, and by the 4th year UTEP will have probably already changed jersey styles and you can start it all over again. Plenty of people will pay for a real jersey with their name on it.

2.). This kinda builds on Kappy's idea of creating an authentic Pay Dirt Pete plush doll. Each year UTEP should create one authentic stuffed Pay Dirt Pete doll or in some years it could be Miner Teddy Bear wearing a jersey/holding a pick axe instead. Make just one design each year and release it around christmas time(one year it is a Pete, some years it is a UTEP bear, etc.) Make it a big social media event each year when you release that year's version of the stuffed animal. Get people excited. Make the stuffed animal an eye grabber, not just something plain that you can find on eBay. Target this animal towards the kids that aren't in the market yet to purchase a $250 real jersey. Charge $50 for each doll and net a profit of $20-$30 on each stuffed animal that we sell. The university could net an additional $100,000 if they can just sell a little over 3,000 each year.

3.). Just simply make the same items that the coaches wear in practice or on the sideline available for purchase. UTEP could make a ton of money just by selling that Rodney Terry Nike Dry fit Texas Western shirt alone. I would have paid top money for the retro paydirt Pete basketball practice shirt from a couple of years back or the collared Nike UTEP football shirt with the sewn logo. Make it easy for the fans to purchase, put a direct link on the utepathletics website, maybe even add pictures of the coaches wearing each item on the sideline or in practice, next to the item on the website that is available for sale.

4.). Make the authentic game used stuff available for sale on the UTEP website. It seems like every NBA team shop has game used items for sale. I was surprised to see how relatively easy it was to buy an authentic Joel Embiid certified game used item directly from the 76ers or how game used items are available at the Milwaukee Bucks team shop. The Chihuahua's sell their special jerseys for charity after the games all of the time. UTEP rarely and randomly offers items for sale through auctions but it usually is only through their once a year annual fundraising dinner, for instance I won a game used framed Johnnie Lee Higgins jersey years ago. But instead of just once a year, UTEP should make it a weekly thing where they add 10 items for purchase each week after each game. Offer game used helmets at the end of the season, jerseys, game balls, etc. Just order extra equipment and then add to the website each week, if they start selling out immediately and people start complaining, then just keep adding more and more items to the weekly release(which of course will make more and more money).

Does anybody else have any other money making ideas?

1 - Plenty of people will not pay for that. No way 1000 people are buying a $250 UTEP jersey every year. Some people don’t want their last name on their jersey. Most Cowboy jerseys I see around town are of players and not Martinez 69.

2 - Why would anyone pay $50 for a plush pay dirt Pete doll? How big are you suggesting it be? I can go buy a Fozzie bear plush doll for a lot less and they can watch him on TV every day.

3 - This has always been a problem with UTEP. They never have merchandise that fans want to buy. Their selection of Nike merchandise pales in comparison to other similar sized schools. Senter will likely blame Nike or something for this, but if they don’t want to produce top merch for us, find another company that will.

4 - Those are pro teams. UTEP can’t do that until those players leave school. Imagine if OU was selling game used Kyler Murray jerseys right now. Not a good look.

Basically your ideas are dumb and involve UTEP marking up their merchandise an insane amount to rip off fans, except number 3, which is obvious to anyone with a brain.

I have an idea to make money. Don’t lose all your home football games for 2 straight years and maybe have the basketball team beat someone other than D2 teams.

How about not finish in last place every f’in year?

How about not go 51 years in between bowl wins?

How about not go 27 years in between NCAA tournament wins?

How about beating name teams? Radford has beat Norte Dame and Texas this year, on the road. UTEP can’t even beat UNM or NMSU

How about UTEP does all of that stuff before charging $250 for jerseys and $50 for plush dolls?
 
I think the Athletic Fee is a very important idea. I know that UTEP tried it a few years ago, but it got voted down by the students. UTEP needs to keep trying and marketing it until it passes, even if they have to start low at like $25 per semester, that would still add over a million per year in extra income.

As for the authentic merchandise, the school could try and keep the items not player specific(I.E. game used balls, helmet with no numbers, shoes, gloves, etc.). This is just an idea. And for the record, I bought the game used Johnnie Lee Higgins blue #21 jersey, with his autograph on the number 2 directly from UTEP a few years ago, so it can be done. And plenty of people will pay for authentic uniforms with either their name, or whichever info that they want to have on it. Or maybe the authentic jersey that UTEP releases for purchase each year has only the year option on it and no names. So this year everyone would have purchased jersey #18, next year #19, etc. All that UTEP would be doing is adding these orders to their already exisiting jersey order, so there would not be much extra cost to the university to do this, just net profit with each order. If people think it’s too high and they don’t want to buy, then don’t, these are probably the same people that also complain that $10 tickets at UTEP cost too much. Plenty of people are already paying $50 just for a UTEP flag and nobody is complaining that a flag costs $50 because they are viewing it as a donation. An authentic jersey in exchange for a $250 donation seems like a great deal to me.
 
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Those are all very good ideas and it should help generate extra change around the department. I don’t think the amount of fans buying those jerseys and the amount of money it will generate is anywhere near accurate. Good thing you brought up the plant your pick campaign. Something simple as a $50 flag (donation) should easily be able to hit 1000 flags. As of now it’s off to a slow start.

I really like the idea of Axingfools1 and the money it can make for the athletic department. Imagine what Senter could do if he had an extra 2-4 million dollars in the budget.
 
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1 - Plenty of people will not pay for that. No way 1000 people are buying a $250 UTEP jersey every year. Some people don’t want their last name on their jersey. Most Cowboy jerseys I see around town are of players and not Martinez 69.

2 - Why would anyone pay $50 for a plush pay dirt Pete doll? How big are you suggesting it be? I can go buy a Fozzie bear plush doll for a lot less and they can watch him on TV every day.

3 - This has always been a problem with UTEP. They never have merchandise that fans want to buy. Their selection of Nike merchandise pales in comparison to other similar sized schools. Senter will likely blame Nike or something for this, but if they don’t want to produce top merch for us, find another company that will.

4 - Those are pro teams. UTEP can’t do that until those players leave school. Imagine if OU was selling game used Kyler Murray jerseys right now. Not a good look.

Basically your ideas are dumb and involve UTEP marking up their merchandise an insane amount to rip off fans, except number 3, which is obvious to anyone with a brain.

I have an idea to make money. Don’t lose all your home football games for 2 straight years and maybe have the basketball team beat someone other than D2 teams.

How about not finish in last place every f’in year?

How about not go 51 years in between bowl wins?

How about not go 27 years in between NCAA tournament wins?

How about beating name teams? Radford has beat Norte Dame and Texas this year, on the road. UTEP can’t even beat UNM or NMSU

How about UTEP does all of that stuff before charging $250 for jerseys and $50 for plush dolls?
You're missing the whole point captain obvious. He is trying to come up with ways that fans who want to support the NEW athletic administration can do so. What do any of your complaints have to do with Senter or what he is trying to do now? Yeah probably most people won't pay because they can't afford it, but there are a lot that will because it's a donation and you are getting something in return (short term and hopefully long-term). Get it?

We know you think everyone is stupid and you hate UTEP, but what are your ideas for helping turn things around for free? I'm interested in knowing. And if you are going to be a condescending ass hole about then nobody will hear you....again.
 
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You're missing the whole point captain obvious. He is trying to come up with ways that fans who want to support the NEW athletic administration can do so. What do any of your complaints have to do with Senter or what he is trying to do now? Yeah probably most people won't pay because they can't afford it, but there are a lot that will because it's a donation and you are getting something in return (short term and hopefully long-term). Get it?

We know you think everyone is stupid and you hate UTEP, but what are your ideas for helping turn things around for free? I'm interested in knowing. And if you are going to be a condescending ass hole about then nobody will hear you....again.

Senter hasn’t even tried anything yet. And why would fans want to be butt raped on merch when they’re already buying season tickets and whatever?

What’s free is UTEP actually winning and beating teams that they should. We lose to NMSU all the time now. They have less fans than we do and they have had much more recent success by any variable!

As I pointed out earlier, Radford beat ND and UT this year, both on the road. Radford does not have the arena, fans, etc, that UTEP does. Up until this year, when was the last time UTEP played 2 Power teams on the road in the same season?

How can Radford accomplish more than UTEP? UTEP would rather stiff their longstanding season tickets holders with games vs ENMU and UTPB then go and play road games versus real teams. The Arizona game was on the Pac12 Network and the Marquette game will be on FS1. What channels were those D2 games on?

Nobody notices or cares if UTEP beats a D2 team. UTEP does not challenge themselves and would rather rob their dwindling fan base with D2 games then better themselves on the road.
 
And I don’t hate UTEP. I hate fan blaming and ways to give the department more money that hasn’t done jack shit since 1992!

Win some damn games against good opponents. At least Senter has taken out the trash by firing all the loser coaches that Stull kept around.
 
Senter hasn’t even tried anything yet. And why would fans want to be butt raped on merch when they’re already buying season tickets and whatever?

What’s free is UTEP actually winning and beating teams that they should. We lose to NMSU all the time now. They have less fans than we do and they have had much more recent success by any variable!

As I pointed out earlier, Radford beat ND and UT this year, both on the road. Radford does not have the arena, fans, etc, that UTEP does. Up until this year, when was the last time UTEP played 2 Power teams on the road in the same season?

How can Radford accomplish more than UTEP? UTEP would rather stiff their longstanding season tickets holders with games vs ENMU and UTPB then go and play road games versus real teams. The Arizona game was on the Pac12 Network and the Marquette game will be on FS1. What channels were those D2 games on?

Nobody notices or cares if UTEP beats a D2 team. UTEP does not challenge themselves and would rather rob their dwindling fan base with D2 games then better themselves on the road.
You mean up until this year when we have a new AD and coach that are trying to build a better schedule to include power 5 road games. A lot of us have been asking for that for years. Now that its changing you want to bitch about DII teams on the schedule. Neither of us have season tickets so why do you care so much? Come on. Your negativity towards the program shines like a beacon of dispair.
 
You mean up until this year when we have a new AD and coach that are trying to build a better schedule to include power 5 road games. A lot of us have been asking for that for years. Now that its changing you want to bitch about DII teams on the schedule. Neither of us have season tickets so why do you care so much? Come on. Your negativity towards the program shines like a beacon of dispair.

There’s no reason to buy season tickets because of D2 games and no other incentive. It’s been pointed out, that it’s actually CHEAPER to buy single game tickets than season tickets. That makes no f’in sense.

You mean to tell me out of the other 352 D1 teams they were all booked on those dates? Cal Baptist, Florida A&M, Montana St, Chicago St, and countless others were all unwilling to come here? Yeah right.
 
Senter hasn’t even tried anything yet. And why would fans want to be butt raped on merch when they’re already buying season tickets and whatever?

What’s free is UTEP actually winning and beating teams that they should. We lose to NMSU all the time now. They have less fans than we do and they have had much more recent success by any variable!

As I pointed out earlier, Radford beat ND and UT this year, both on the road. Radford does not have the arena, fans, etc, that UTEP does. Up until this year, when was the last time UTEP played 2 Power teams on the road in the same season?

How can Radford accomplish more than UTEP? UTEP would rather stiff their longstanding season tickets holders with games vs ENMU and UTPB then go and play road games versus real teams. The Arizona game was on the Pac12 Network and the Marquette game will be on FS1. What channels were those D2 games on?

Nobody notices or cares if UTEP beats a D2 team. UTEP does not challenge themselves and would rather rob their dwindling fan base with D2 games then better themselves on the road.

HoneyBoy likes getting butt raped.
 
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UTEPDefense, I think you presented some pretty good ideas. Many universities sell game worn memorabilia, including jerseys and helmets. Boise State sells game used jerseys in their campus bookstore. Texas Tech has an annual "garage sale" where they have lots of helmets, jerseys, apparel, etc. all worn and used by the team. I realize Tech has a much larger fan base than UTEP, but nothing goes unsold. If you look at Fanatics.com (which is a sports memorabilia site) you'll find OU helmets and jerseys, Oregon helmets, etc. Senter mentioned something on Twitter about needing to check if memorabilia sales are in compliance with the UT system, well I happened to have bought a UT Longhorns game worn helmet that was originally sold through Fanatics.com. Came with their COA and hologram decal on the back of the helmet. By the way the helmet had the player's number on the back and was easily photomatched to the 2012 Alamo Bowl, so that is really not an issue. Anytime stuff like that is sold, listings will say Player Worn Helmet, or Player Worn Jersey and will not identify the specific athlete. You don't have to mention names and in fact nameplates are always removed from college jerseys when sold to the public.

UTEP can make money on an idea like this, I really believe it. Expired helmets cannot be used or donated to high school programs and must be discarded. This would be a perfect opportunity to turn basically trash into cash. Same with jerseys. Outdated jerseys I imagine may be given to the players, but again it would be a good opportunity to flip them into profit. UTEP's "plant your pick" idea is a start I guess, but they have only gotten 48 donations according to UTEPDefense, and I would bet that the majority of those were on the first couple days. That is not a sustainable campaign and frankly it's not exactly a clever one in my opinion.
 
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The plant your pick thing is a great idea... but they need to update the website, I did my donation, and it's not showing on the map... The only names rotating are the same one's like Senter's... Good idea, but stick with it... Plenty of students to manage these kinds of stuff.
 
Whoever is going to be the new president of UTEP, @JimSenter2 and @UTEP_MBB need to start thinking about renovating the DHC...

 
The plant your pick thing is a great idea... but they need to update the website, I did my donation, and it's not showing on the map... The only names rotating are the same one's like Senter's... Good idea, but stick with it... Plenty of students to manage these kinds of stuff.

My donation did not appear on the website until the day after I did mine, so if you did it this weekend it might not appear until Monday.
 
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UTEPDefense, I think you presented some pretty good ideas. Many universities sell game worn memorabilia, including jerseys and helmets. Boise State sells game used jerseys in their campus bookstore. Texas Tech has an annual "garage sale" where they have lots of helmets, jerseys, apparel, etc. all worn and used by the team. I realize Tech has a much larger fan base than UTEP, but nothing goes unsold. If you look at Fanatics.com (which is a sports memorabilia site) you'll find OU helmets and jerseys, Oregon helmets, etc. Senter mentioned something on Twitter about needing to check if memorabilia sales are in compliance with the UT system, well I happened to have bought a UT Longhorns game worn helmet that was originally sold through Fanatics.com. Came with their COA and hologram decal on the back of the helmet. By the way the helmet had the player's number on the back and was easily photomatched to the 2012 Alamo Bowl, so that is really not an issue. Anytime stuff like that is sold, listings will say Player Worn Helmet, or Player Worn Jersey and will not identify the specific athlete. You don't have to mention names and in fact nameplates are always removed from college jerseys when sold to the public.

UTEP can make money on an idea like this, I really believe it. Expired helmets cannot be used or donated to high school programs and must be discarded. This would be a perfect opportunity to turn basically trash into cash. Same with jerseys. Outdated jerseys I imagine may be given to the players, but again it would be a good opportunity to flip them into profit. UTEP's "plant your pick" idea is a start I guess, but they have only gotten 48 donations according to UTEPDefense, and I would bet that the majority of those were on the first couple days. That is not a sustainable campaign and frankly it's not exactly a clever one in my opinion.

UTSA had auctioned off game worn jerseys a year or 2 a ago. If they found a way around the UT system then we can too
 
UTEP will be charging $50.00 per ticket for this year's Signing Day Luncheon. I believe it was $35.00 last year and they sold out. The law of supply and demand my friends.
 
It's going to take a multi pronged approach. The first thing you have to do is get alums and friends engaged with the university. This is way more important than town halls and ticket sales. Every year they should have a caravan that goes around the country and meets with alumni chapters. Sell your vision for the university. Dont say we're going to win explain it and sell it. Give people something they want to buy in to. Sell people on signing up for quarterly donations. Donations not ticket sales are the life blood of any program. Secondly stop making UTEP athletics cheap. Dont cut ticket prices. People dont want to donate money to a program when it looks like discount city.

Secondly hire a professional marketing department. I'm very confident Senter is addressing this. UTEP's marketing marketing is and has been pathetic. They badly need professionals who understand marketing. Like I said I've heard senter is adressing this.
 
Secondly stop making UTEP athletics cheap. Dont cut ticket prices. People dont want to donate money to a program when it looks like discount city.

Yes, it’s much better to have empty seats and keep the fans at home. Promotions suck and trying to get fans to the arena/stadium is dumb. Let the 1 football win in the last 2 seasons and zero NCAA appearances in 8 years, sell the tickets.
 
For all the times he changed his names, he still trying to make the same old points.

And here we are. Miner Athletics still hasn’t accomplished anything and fans are still making excuses. You can give and give to UTEP, but what have they done to deserve it. Nothing. UAB shut down their football team for 2 years and won a division title when the Miners haven’t done so in 13 seasons! But yeah, let’s buy $50 paydirt Pete dolls and $250 jerseys to support this program that gives back nothing to it’s fans! Great idea!
 
Does he also run the fake Dana Dimel Twitter account? Writes the same... Personally, I don't care, but why does he like to waste his time? UTEP is a frustrating program, those of us here are die hards... Or f'n nuts... What's his excuse for being here?
 
Does he also run the fake Dana Dimel Twitter account? Writes the same... Personally, I don't care, but why does he like to waste his time? UTEP is a frustrating program, those of us here are die hards... Or f'n nuts... What's his excuse for being here?

To troll...
 
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Yes, it’s much better to have empty seats and keep the fans at home. Promotions suck and trying to get fans to the arena/stadium is dumb. Let the 1 football win in the last 2 seasons and zero NCAA appearances in 8 years, sell the tickets.
Your next name on here should be "BrokenRecord95" cause you keep saying the same things over and over. You just forgot to mention how great the Chihuahua's promotions are and how being in the stadium makes you feel like you are at a MLB game.
 
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Your next name on here should be "BrokenRecord95" cause you keep saying the same things over and over. You just forgot to mention how great the Chihuahua's promotions are and how being in the stadium makes you feel like you are at a MLB game.

Wrong guy, but whatever makes you sleep at night.
 
Does he also run the fake Dana Dimel Twitter account? Writes the same... Personally, I don't care, but why does he like to waste his time? UTEP is a frustrating program, those of us here are die hards... Or f'n nuts... What's his excuse for being here?

Quote of the year right there.
 
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