Glass, IU Athletics changing spring game culture

If you are looking for attendance numbers from previous IU spring games, don’t bother — they aren’t there.

But Athletics Director Fred Glass can give you a pretty good idea of the scene.  

“You weren’t likely to get run over in the concourse or anything,” Glass said.  

Pat Kraft, senior assistant athletics director for marketing, can only speculate.
He said the highest attendance he remembers was about 3,000 people, but he doesn’t think the department ever recorded hard numbers.

“That just goes to show how it was kind of like, ‘Whatever,’” Kraft said.

The Kraft of change

Glass, Kraft and the rest of the administration have two goals with the annual Cream and Crimson Spring Game: create a festive atmosphere and create traditions similar to those of basketball’s Hoosier Hysteria.

An IU linebacker from 1997-99, Kraft said he knows firsthand how barren the Memorial Stadium stands can be for April action. “I’ve played in spring games where the parents were the only ones there,” Kraft said.  

Now a member of the athletics department since June, Kraft said the front office can no longer accept that.

“We really haven’t put 100 percent into it from an administration standpoint. No one’s fault of their own, it’s just times have changed,” he said.

In changing the culture of a program, the administration has to be willing to think outside the box, Glass said. Last season, coinciding with the new North End Zone facility, Glass added game-day experiences such as Kick for Keeps and Knothole Park to regular-season games. He also lowered student ticket prices to $5 for all games.

The changes left an impressionable mark on the season. Average attendance in 2009 spiked to 41,833 people per game, 10,051 more than 2008 and the highest average since 1992.

Glass said making the moves at IU was different than it would have been somewhere else.

“I said, ‘You know what? We’ll take some chances. What am I going to do, make the 30,000 people there mad?’” he said. “It’s not like Michigan. Those guys might not want to take chances because they might make 110,000 people mad.
“I’m willing to color outside the lines a little bit,” he said.

Not just a spring fling

Now, Glass said, the same decisions have to be made to turn the spring game into a must-see event.  

But before such a big change can happen, the department is making small changes.

During the game, the scoreboard and corresponding video board will be on. The Marching Hundred will play, and fans are permitted to bring their dogs to the stadium.  

The Hoosiers’ new uniforms will also be unveiled Saturday, set up on mannequins throughout the stadium.

But that’s where the small changes end and the bigger vision begins.

The stadium’s east side —  where fans are asked to sit — will be split into Cream and Crimson sides. Fans will know their side when they arrive, as — depending on which gate they enter — the first 3,000 fans will receive a free cream or crimson T-shirt.
As each side scores or makes a stop, crimson- or cream-clad fans will win a prize.

Fans will have a chance to text plays in, either helping their own team or sabotaging the other. Random prizes — including an opportunity to kick from the 40-yard line for a year’s free tuition — will be awarded throughout the game.

Kraft said he hopes the division and desire for free things will create a friendly competitive atmosphere and establish new traditions.

“We really said, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to focus around this game.’ And guess what? We’re going to do it next year,” Kraft said. “You’ve got to start somewhere.  

“We talk about changing the culture, and it’s believing in success, saying ‘It’s Indiana, we’re going to go root for them and have fun.’”

Kraft said he’s been asked questions about how the department will bring basketball back. The 100-plus years of traditions will get that program back on track, but football doesn’t have that luxury, he said.

“When we go to a bowl game this year, is the culture going to be changed? No,” Kraft said. “When we go to two bowl games back-to-back, is it going to be changed? No, but we’re getting there.

“To me, it’s consistency, it’s focus and dedication.”

All their work, though, couldn’t prevent mother nature from running its course. Kraft said the weather trumps anything else in fans’ decision-making, and the staff is praying for a clear night.  

Even if dark clouds hover over the stadium, Glass said he has a plan to bring — and keep — the festivities in the stands.

“We’re not going to let it rain,” he said.