West River Following

[JACKGUYII]

I have been involved in a thread started over on the Bisonville site regarding South Dakota's support for SDSU's DI move. Some interesting comments and observations if you care to view or participate. There are different issues between the 2 State U's with NDSU being in Fargo's largest city and SDSU being in Brookings in terms of media following etc. One point that was brought up was that SDSU needs to engage people in the West River region. I think this is very true. What kind of following does SDSU have in communities West of the River? I see articles in the Pierre and Rapid City papers periodically and I'm sure there are plenty of alumni residing on the western side of the state. What kind of media presence and marketing of SDSU events do people who live out there see?

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: West River Following

I have been involved in a thread started over on the Bisonville site regarding South Dakota's support for SDSU's DI move. Some interesting comments and observations if you care to view or participate. There are different issues between the 2 State U's with NDSU being in Fargo's largest city and SDSU being in Brookings in terms of media following etc. One point that was brought up was that SDSU needs to engage people in the West River region. I think this is very true. What kind of following does SDSU have in communities West of the River? I see articles in the Pierre and Rapid City papers periodically and I'm sure there are plenty of alumni residing on the western side of the state. What kind of media presence and marketing of SDSU events do people who live out there see?

Sadly, not a whole lot. And you're right, there are plenty of alumni out here. USD has billboards on the interstate on both sides of Rapid, sponsers a radio station and does some nice marketing in the mall. They also get, imo, more sports headlines in the Rapid City Journal.

I find it amazing how many alumni out here have lost touch with SDSU and what's going on. An alumni I work with hasn't been back to Brookings since she graduated in 1999. Many others rarely come back for sporting events. However, there is interest in our move. I've sort of become known as the resident crazy Jackrabbit fan and coworkers are always asking me how we did against GSU, Kentucky, Montana, Illinois, etc.

I'm not sure how SDSU will be able to market the Black Hills area. It'll be a tough task for sure. For now, BHSU and South Dakota SM & T rule the roost out here. I don't think people realize that the product that SDSU has is light years ahead of those programs. And, unfortunatley, I'm not sure they'll find out anytime soon. A good start may be to get a men's and women's exhibition game out here.

I think most are probably happy with watching those (BHSU & SDSMT) teams. And it's a long drive back to Brookings from here. I actually don't think that I'll get to watch a basketball game in person this year.

[West_River_Jack]

Re: West River Following

This thread is pretty closely related to the "Wyoming Shootout" thread on the Basketball board. I have made some comments there.

I would generally agree with RLIV but the enthusiasm for BHSU and Tech sports is far less that I experienced with Jackrabbit sports in eastern South Dakota.

I think that getting Black Hills people interested in SDSU sports will require a couple of things: 1) Some of us have to get others interested, i.e. carpooling to Brookings, and 2) A few televised events. Quite a few people were excited about the 3 games on ESPNU. The problem with those games was the time zones. They were on so early that very few of us could watch them from the beginning. In fact, I missed the entire game against the UNC Bears because it was over before I got home from work.