Episode 82 - Joe Rafanelli

So really my focus is revenue generation for the athletic department, which comes with the fan experience component too, and really, you know, making this one of the best environments for both fans and students for Old Dominion University. And I mean, I'm incredibly excited too. I've been here since July of last year, so still getting my feet wet.

But, I mean, one of the most attractive parts of this place was, I mean, A, like, just the facilities and, you know, the programs that Old Dominion has, but also, too, I mean, I think just, like, the fan base, you know, it's, we have so many, like, really great opportunities in front of us, and really, you know, Great pieces to build on.

And for someone like me and my role where, you know, there's, there's the ability to kind of, I guess, be an entrepreneur in a way, in a lot of like the different areas that we look at, we're like, all right, how do we like, kind of like build out these events? How do we build this program? How do we do this campaign?

You know, it's, it's really fun to kind of, you know, get, you know, get into it, work with our team here on, on the external side and really, you know, have some fun with it, build out some memorable experiences for fans and students and, you know, kind of go from there.

And I mean, the area has been great. I mean, we love going up and down the Elizabeth river trail, love going over to Virginia beach. You know, a lot of great breweries, a lot of great local, local stops that I've, I've found so far too. Good. You know, I think it's, it's, it's a matter of bringing the community to ODU and vice versa. And like, that's been something that I'm really excited about.

I think we've had a lot of internal conversations over the last, you know, really a few months too, just of like, how do we, you know, bring the community to ODU and, and, and the reversal as well and identifying some, you know, new and hopefully fun, you know, different elements that we can then bring into like our in game experience and how do we.

Folded into Kaufman mall or different areas like that too, which like just excites me on how, like just the opportunities that we have for the season.

I, like, I, I'm really excited about, you know, where we can, you know, take things and everything else. But yeah, I think, I mean, this past year we really focused on like those experiences, those group sales, a lot of those different elements. You know, I think, I mean, you've got, Probably some fans noticed a lot more national anthems this year with some of the choirs and everything else out. Our, uh, what program is that called?

We worked with a lot of local, like, elementary schools and middle schools for our Stars of Honor programs and everything else. Which actually, I think they brought out close to 3, 000 students over the course of the season. And then we have our school days and everything else for women's basketball.

So, There are a lot of moving parts every basketball season, and our crew, Justin on my team, Alicia, Chrissy, and Ryan and Lauren, like, they did an awesome job, really kind of working with a lot of those different groups, and, you know, it's a ton of logistics, but they did a good job this season.

you know, for everyone listening to, I mean, we appreciate that, that type of feedback and it's incredibly helpful for us to understand, you know, where we need to focus on, where we need to, you know, it's good to know what we're doing well, it's good to know what we're doing bad, but also just like, you know, where are those, you know, middle of their own areas that we might be missing or not even on our radar. So, yeah. So from.

This season, the, the feedback that we received, like there's three main areas that I think were very common in a lot of the responses. A lot of it was our, our pregame and Kaufman Mall was an area that I think, and I think just like, you know, me being, seeing game for the first time this season too, that was like one area, like right off the bat that I kind of noticed that I think we can really like do more with.

Our pregame show and then our in game programming were like the three elements that I think we got the most feedback on over the course of the year. And I hope fans, it was kind of consistent through both surveys, the mid season survey as well as the post season. And we did, from that mid season survey, there were some immediate pieces that we tried to address, or at least like, started putting in place for the final three games.

And like, the nice thing that we saw was that our net promoter score overall improved from the mid season to the post season now. You know, there's other factors too, like weather was a factor, I think, you know, the App State game was a really, like, great game for us from a, an overall atmosphere standpoint and everything else.

But, there was some, like, some elements with our, we had an on field MC for that final game against Georgia State, there was a few other elements that we threw out there that I think we saw some changes. But, going back to the three main takeaways that we took from the survey, with Kauffman Mall, All the feedback is, you know, fans want a tailgate. That, that, that's one of the most important pieces, and they want to attend like some sort of pre game event.

And then when we were looking at the numbers, and again, we know, we understand why they're playing it. played a little bit of a factor of it. Only about 63 percent of our fans actually participated in tailgating. And then a lot of those folks that were coming from like the Chartway garages or anything else, only 50 percent of them tailgated.

So that tells us that we need to put more programming into Kauffman Maul for not necessarily like, so we, like, we don't want to necessarily take like, The traditions away from like from everyone who has their traditional tailgate and all that. We're not trying to like replace that or take anything away from tradition.

We really want to kind of enhance that element of like the school spirit, the, you know, when the monarch walk and a lot of those different elements, when the team's coming in, the band and everything else, we want to like, kind of enhance that period of time. And we have some, we have, there's some like good pieces there. And a lot of the other elements around Coffin Mall, like obviously live music, it was a big key to that.

And so we're really looking into this year, you know, how do we get that there for all six home games as opposed to a couple. Really finding more food options available pre game, I think. You know, identifying some more food trucks and everything else to bring in to the game too. Student programming is something that we're talking internally with the university on first to see what more we can get there.

And what I, I don't want to over promise anything yet because there's still a lot to be addressed and a lot of planning, but ideally with Coffman Mall, finding like having a game by game program or like a special event that we would host on Coffman Mall. Um, like I said, I, we threw some ideas out there in the, in the survey. So like a beer festival or a wine festival or wing eating contest, something to that effect.

Now I can't guarantee any of those will get there, but we're, we're working on trying to identify some.

Special event that we can host there and do that so hopefully that'll address a lot of like the feedback that we got from Coffman mall The pregame show was the other element that the fan survey gave us back to so we're certainly like it sounds like everyone loves the parachuters A lot of the flyovers that we do pre game and everything else, we're working hard to try to like secure some of those for next season.

As well as like the fireworks and, you know, really having that more status consistent throughout the year too. So like those are some areas that we got a lot of good feedback. Um, and then the in game programming, which we did get a lot of feedback on as well. So there's some areas there with, you know, the on field presentations. with the student engagement throughout the game.

I think we have some ideas and some ways that we're already working towards right now to kind of help improve some of that. And I think more importantly too, like looking at it, I think we, we have some strengths in like the present, the game presentation area, but maintaining crowd energy is something that like, I think is incredibly important. So we're really focusing on like those type of areas from a momentum feel from a. you know, music selection, different things like that.

But I think, you know, and again, like music selection is always one of those things that like, you can either go right or go wrong. It's just all a matter of opinion of the individual, but just finding that consistency is something that we, we, we got great responses from and great feedback from, and we're really, really focused on that for, for next year. So

So it's like it's like those cue cards. It's that sound right like that third down, you know sound that kind of triggers a response like Those are the things that, you know, we're looking at, and again, like, we need fan feedback, right? And we want fan feedback in a lot of those areas, too, because it doesn't happen without them. So, we're not trying to, like, fit a square peg in a round hole by any stretch.

But those are, like, the little subtle pieces that, yes, we have talked about that we're looking to roll out for next season. Awesome.

The, the goal was actually to do it earlier this spring, or really like once we got Pat through like basketball season, but depending on when we get the approval on like our final promotions and all that, because we're going to want to kind of involve a lot of fans and just like what's going on on game days, but, but also provide like, you know, The full list of like, here's everything planned and like where we can go from there.

But yes, so we are looking at probably setting those up probably like early summer.

So kind of, I guess a data nerd in a sense there, but you know, the first thing that we looked at are just, is just the scalability of the building, right? So you're looking at like sell through rates and some, some data points that can give you an idea of, you know, where the supply and demand and all those different factors are throughout the building.

You're looking at, you know, the schedule, the home opponents, you know, obviously I think, you know, this, I think it's fair to say that this is probably like the best home schedule that we've had, you know, for, for ODU. We're looking at things like weighted averages and everything else to understand just like, all right, what's, you know, what is like the true value of seats and then like the secondary pricing and everything else.

We do have the integration with SeatGeek and a few other partners too, that allows us to get like a better, really good understanding of what those values are. So it's not like we're looking at like the high end or low end, like we're, we're kind of meshing a lot of those data points together to kind of come up with, you know, where that is.

where the numbers are and then understanding kind of like history to knowing that like we haven't had many price increases over the last few years and understanding that there are different elements in the background too. We're like, we're talking about all the investments in like the fan experience and what we need to do to kind of get there and everything else. So it's, it's kind of like a culmination of all those different factors to kind of get where we are with, with the pricing.

You know, again, like I said, like we don't, we don't take that lightly. We certainly understand. And for any fans to like, you know, that are listening and, you know, we're, we want to be customer service, uh, facing as much as possible too. So. You know, you know, get in touch with them, you know, Justin on our sales team, he's, you know, constantly talking to fans and everything else. Let him know if there's any, you know, if there's any hardship, hardships or anything else, let us know.

And like, we'll certainly be able to help you address them or put up, you know, hold the seats or something to that effect too. Like we're, we're flexible and we want to make sure that like, you know, our fans, you know, are all our fans are taken care of. But overall, like it is just a, it's a big deal. A lot of different data points.

I think I had a very long presentation, but looked at in terms of what all the different numbers, everything else that kind of went into it, but we did that like every area in every situation. And again, like the scaling of the building is usually like one of the first things that we look at that opponents and date, time, stuff like that.

So I don't know what can be done about that in the future, but I know a lot of fans were upset with that. And I think they'd be upset if I didn't mention it.

So like, that's why when we kind of like rolled out the pricing and I think too, like part of it now that I'm like looking at like what we've done, we can certainly call more attention to it. So definitely on us. And I think we can definitely get better, um, from that standpoint, but no, just no for, you know, for everyone to like, you know, the expectation of, you know, what we roll it out on March 13th.

You know, you're not going to be penalized if you don't renew by March 14th or something like that. May 8th is the deadline this year, too, so if you need time to kind of take it in and just understand everything, just know that, like, your seats aren't going anywhere until following the deadline and everything else. And even so, just, you know, let us know and talk to Justin.

But That's very good feedback and understanding for me to know too, and we can probably do more to call attention specifically to that, more so than we did leading into it, but yeah, I do appreciate that feedback.

And hopefully once we're working on getting a date for, for homecoming and parent weekend now from, we have proposed something to the university, it's not finalized yet, but hopefully in the next, like, probably within the next, like, two to three weeks, we'll have some of that finalized. Once that gets done, we'll be able to kind of then line up all of our other like promotions and events and everything else once those dates get set. And so I'm really excited about that.

I don't know if we've talked about it too, you know, coming from Rutgers, one of the, that was one of the biggest things that we did, you know, during my time there where I mean, we brought the Jersey Boardwalk to game day. I mean, it was awesome. And I think it's, it was one of those things, and believe me, it wasn't me by any stretch of the imagination. It was a big team of us that kind of put a lot of effort in there. But once we got that up and running, that was like one of the coolest.

Like, I would argue right now, like, Rutgers probably has the coolest game day atmosphere in the country. Like, and that's probably saying something in the big, you know, the Big Ten and everything else. But pull up some videos of the boardwalk and everything else. It's impressive. And so, you know, I, I, I, I've seen that and I know where, like, I know where the potential is, especially with something as great as like, I mean, it's so convenient. It's right next to the stadium.

It's on a perfect part of campus. Like there's so many cool place things we can do with it. So I think that's, that's something that I'm excited about heading into next year. You know, for the in game too, I think we have some opportunities in front of us to, Rethink the way in the process of doing some things. Everything in terms of just like our, I wouldn't say our scripting. It would be more of like our, our execution of like the on field elements.

And, you know, we've talked about like the present, the on field presentations. That is on our list. We are going to be revamping some of that. Hopefully adding some new elements to that with more fan interaction. And more than anything else, too, like, like, we've talked about it internally, where, like, our, like, we're really, really focused on the student engagement piece, too.

And we want to identify some more pieces, because, you know, we love the fans, but we know when the students, when the student section's going crazy, you know that everyone kind of feeds off that. And so, you know, we're looking to identify some areas there that I think we can really do well in. And I think it's also doubling down on what we do do well. I think, you know, there's, I think the light show is a really great element of game day. We're looking at revamping that for next year.

So we're not, you know, we just want to like, kind of like double down onto it. I think, I mean, what COOP has done, and a few other folks in my office with, like, all the, like, the flyovers and the parachuters, like, those are awesome, and, you know, we really want to double down on some of those areas.

So, so yeah, I think it's a, it's a mixture of kind of, like, you know, new opportunity and doubling down on what's working, and then, you know, just shoring up structurally kind of like how, you know, what are some of our processes are.

So, whether it's in hoops or it's football, what are some things that you guys are talking about behind the scenes? Because I know Mike and I talk about it all the time. How are you going to get those students engaged? Because the crowd goes as the students go. If you have that crazy student crowd at the TED, or you've got them over there, you know, Ricky likes to point up at them. You know, what are some things that you guys are talking about to try to get them more vested in those experiences?

Like, put the focus on, you know, how important, you know, get, like, getting the students to games and everything else. I think a lot of it from a student perspective is also FOMO, and so it's, it's kind of like getting, like, if you're, if you see your friends going to a game and enjoying themselves, then you're going to more likely go to a game and enjoy yourself, and, like, it kind of, like, builds from there, too.

So, you know, really, I think one of the biggest things that we're doing is try to find There's a new group on campus called Monarch Mayhem, right? For the new student group. And they're, they're starting to build. Like, I know that there was, I'm probably gonna get yelled out for forgetting the previous student group's name. The Maniac. There we go. Thank you. Sorry about that.

But like really engaging with them to be kind of like our spirit, like our, our leader in like kind of like the student activities and really like, you know, providing them resources that, you know, otherwise maybe they, you know, they wouldn't have or something like that to, to do that, like even when we, we did, I don't know if you guys saw it. We. We had Ricky go out and brought the Jugs machine out to Coffman Mall last year and just saw how many students could catch a punt.

Um, and like that was like something small that we hadn't done previously, but like we got really good engagement on it and like it was leading into the App State game. And again, I'm not saying that was the reason why that was probably the best student section of the year, but like that was something that we were able to kind of build some momentum, engage like outside of, you know, the normal emails or whatever else is coming out.

And, and in getting in front of the students and like have them feel a part of, you know, the, you know, the, the coaches that like the athletic community and stuff like that. And so, what we've talked about is finding more of those a engagement pieces that we can be on campus in advance. And then B, once we get them to the game, is where we, that's when we really need to like double down on everything that we're doing. And again, it comes down to like some more music selection.

We've talked to, I think we're really excited about, we're going to have a new band director this year as well. So, getting the band more involved in leading the student section is something that I think we can really take advantage of from that standpoint.

And then having more interaction with the student section during the games, too, so, you know, having, you know, whether it's RMC or anybody else actually in there doing a presentation, leading a chat, doing those different elements, just to kind of get them, like you said, get them off the phone, right, get them looking up, get them looking at the game. Not to say like all of them are doing that, but like that's where we can really start that tradition.

I mean, it's crazy when you look at, you know, it's, you can't go from zero to 60. Right, like, immediately in a lot of these situations, like, I mean, I remember when I was at Rutgers, like, Peichel's first couple years, like, we were, we probably got, like, three, four hundred students out to a couple games, like, Eddie, Eddie Jordan was just leaving Rutgers, but, like, there wasn't much of a culture or anything else.

But, you know, winning helps, but you know, the, the, the attachment that like that staff built with the students and like just the atmosphere, it kind of grew over time to a point where we had a line of like, you know, 2000 students waiting to get in by, you know, by last year. So, you know, just finding those different like engagement opportunities is something I think that's really key and critical to it.

So, we've, we're starting to make some inroads on the Greek life. That's like an area, too, we're like, we're looking at as a, to be kind of one of those leaders on campus to really, you know, get that movement going.

And to be fair too, one of the things that always kind of factor in is just, especially in basketball with the longer schedule, we want to make sure that, you know, the schedule is a little more firm too, because there's still a couple like, we have some out of conference games scheduled up and we know the conference schedule, it's just we're So some contracts out there and everything else. So that's usually like when basketball, it's usually the one factor that delays us a little bit.

Um, so yeah, so we're looking at probably right around that time frame. We do the same thing to like, especially with Mike's first year heading into it too. We'll probably do something similar to basketball or sorry, similar to football. We'll allow everyone to renew first and then, you know, in case anyone doesn't renew their seats and anything opens up, we'll go through that like relocation process first and then open up new sales afterwards.

So that way, you know, if anyone wants to move their seats or they'll have first crack at it.

I'm really excited about basketball and, you know, Delicia's got a great program going right now on the women's side. Like, there's so many different elements that I think, or I should say there's so many good stories that we'll be able to tell. From our side. And again, I think it's the biggest thing that I think is, you know, exciting and, and cool is just getting to know and become a part of the community and everything else is, you know, something that I, you know, I I'm jacked up about.

And I think, you know, we'll hopefully fans will see that from, you know, some of the products and some of the different pieces that we work on. And again, we want to, we, we, we are listening and I do want to reiterate that to my right. We're not trying to do anything in a vacuum on our side either.

So, you know, feedback is key and critical and, you know, we, we might not always see eye to eye on everything and there might be some, you know, different, you know, goals and things that we have to focus in on or, or hit on our end, but always understand that, you know, we're always looking to just be the best game day, you know, in the country. Like that's what, that's what we want to do. So.