An Opportunity…The Idea…The Results – ESPN and First Football Game Attention for ATΩ

The idea: Do something special at the first home football game against Virginia Military Institute to gain attention for ATΩ one week out from our 150th anniversary of being founded at VMI. The approach: Worthy Master Adam Gordon reached out to his Sigma Nu counterpart to discuss various Lexington Triad ideas. When the Lexington Triad ideas did not materialize, Alumni Relations Officer Andrew Will organized an alumni tailgate and the chapter decided to then also make it a recruitment event. Taking the opportunity with the special game against VMI to introduce recruits to alumni. Board of Trustees Chairman Rusty Bruce had the idea to reach out to a contact with the Ball State Sports Marketing department to explore having a special message from ATΩ shown on the stadium screens during the game 1) because it was VMI and 2) since the Chapter was in the middle of recruitment. Expecting to pay a “sponsorship fee”, we were surprised to have Ball State agree to post our image, then offer to have a script read over by the game announcer (written by Brother Matt Smith), and the game cameras show chapter members on the stadium big screen during the first quarter. With the news of the special recognition during the first quarter, the chapter went about ensuring every brother who did not have class or work obligations was in attendance along with friends of the chapter. Alumnus Alan Gordon also utilized his contacts within the University Sports production complex to maximize coverage. Worthy Master Adam Gordon enhanced the opportunity by using some of his contacts with the contracted ESPN camera crew which led to the Chapter also being included three times in the live ESPN footage. Finally, PRO Eric Black worked to ensure the experience was documented and promoted on social media channels. To quote Brother Khalid Al-Rasheed “One of my best days at here at Ball State.” More importantly it demonstrated a Ball State Theta Alpha strength of teamwork across generations of Brothers to promote ATΩ. Watch the video to see the results…