Sidelines
WAC may have solution
to lackluster rivalriesSO you say this year's Hawaii home football schedule (minus the glamour of Alabama) is uninspiring. All the good games are on the road, and the old WAC was better than the new WAC, and you just can't seem to get excited about Nevada, Tulsa, San Jose State.
Fear not, paying customer. The Western Athletic Conference, aware of similar distress throughout the league, is working on it.
The concern is valid, the obstacle obvious. In 1996's Great Expansion, the conference bloated to 16 teams. In 1999's Great Schism, eight schools, mostly longtime, recognizable members, bolted to form the Mountain West. Another team was added. Another one fled. Two more joined up. And here we are.
While the WAC name has remained, the current lineup is essentially new. No real history here. The names are still unfamiliar, and, as a result, many of them still do little to get the blood pumping.
The WAC's possible solution? More sizzle equals more sellouts.
The conference wants to see if it can take an active role in helping its blended family build new rivalries.
How? This is the best part.
"It's preliminary," commissioner Karl Benson said, "but we have had a conversation with a company, a marketing company, that has at least created a rivalry package or a rivalry plan."
A company that has created a rivalry package?
Now I've heard everything.
Maybe these days Punahou would just hire these guys to repaint Roosevelt's field.
(That, they tell us, was a real rivalry. The battle for the "Paint Brush Trophy." That trophy, Punahou alum, teacher, coach Dave Eldredge once said in one of the all-time great quotes, "was an attempt to make the rivalry stand for something other than vandalism.")
So how does a company do this? What is a rivalry package?
"It's media based, radio ads that would be generated for each school that would be played in an opposing market to create fan reaction," Benson said.
This sounds like the first cousin of all the back and forth that is so popular on the Internet these days. Official, professional, WAC-sanctioned trash talking?
No. No, no, no, Benson does not want to use that word. The connotation's too negative. He characterizes this kind of thing as healthy, clean, without animosity.
"I don't think it's locker room (bulletin board) type fodder," Benson said. But it would, say, remind Tulsa basketball fans that their team had lost to the Rainbows four consecutive times (twice in the WAC Tournament championship game). A sample spot might say something like, 'Hey Tulsa fans, remember what UH did to us on our home court? Let's do a little revenge!' " Benson said.
But then, because of that, and because they are the two best hoops teams in the conference, Tulsa-UH is already showing rivalry potential, without any extra prodding.
"The best way to create rivalries are with well-played games and exciting finishes, and it doesn't happen overnight," Benson said. "Does TV help? Sure it does." Radio too, he said. And right now, looking at its attendance figures, trying to find some instant history, the WAC is thinking about getting some help.
(Note to the Commish: think newspaper advertising. It's economical. It's effective. It has impact. It pays my salary. I can't say enough.)
For now, the notion of using a company's rivalry package is still just in the conversational stage. Just a possibility, another alternative to keep in mind. Benson won't even name the firm that has developed a marketing method of creating rivalries.
Besides, everyone knows that this is only a boost, and not the actual starting point for growing attendance and building rivalries.
"It's also important that the WAC membership continues to stabilize and fans can depend on what teams are coming in to Aloha Stadium," year after year, Benson said.
Yes, that would help.
And if that doesn't work, try vandalism.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com