Four years ago, in 2009, after Circle City Classic attendance fell 25.4 percent to a then record low, Indiana Black Expo’s Board decreed IBE would assume day-to-day control of Classic.
The next year, the new IBE/Classic saw attendance dip to its lowest ever – 35,217. In 2011, Classic attendance rose 4.6 percent.
Unfortunately, attendance fell back 4.3 percent this year, with the announcement that IBE/Classic “distributed” 35,234 tickets – the Classic’s second lowest attendance ever.
The 35,237 “distributed” tickets isn’t how many actually were inside Lucas Oil Stadium. Veteran Indianapolis Star sports reporter Michael Pointer estimated Classic attendance at 20,000. And my sources say his estimate isn’t far off the mark.
In the weeks leading up to last weekend’s events, IBE/Classic made a series of marketing and PR blunders that contributed to this year’s depressed attendance.
IBE/Classic leadership’s anger at this columnist for simply “Just Tellin’ It” led them to decree that they’d do no interviews on prime time Black radio talk shows; preferring telling their positive story about Classic’s goals and events on lesser listened to weekend shows.
Instead of cultivating goodwill with local media, IBE/Classic took punitive action against some leading members of Black media, stripping them of longtime volunteer Classic roles and denying them access to cover Classic events. The net effect of those actions was reducing the amount of exposure the community had to Classic’s positive messages.
IBE/Classic’s self imposed media blackout helped to reinforce a feeling that many in the community had – this year’s Circle City Classic didn’t seem to have as much publicity and hype as other years.
The perception of a reduction in advertising and hype was reinforced by another key IBE/Classic decision which drastically reduced the amount of messages you heard on local radio concerning the Circle City Classic game and parade.
In the seven weeks leading up to the Classic, the level of radio announcements promoting the game and parade shrank 67 percent from last year’s total.
You read the sentence right! IBE/Classic chose a marketing strategy resulting in the community hearing nearly 1,200 fewer radio announcements promoting the game and parade than last year (and previous years).
And you wonder why the attendance at the game was roughly 20,000 with attendance at the Classic parade also the lowest ever? And why nearly 15,000 people “received” Classic tickets but never used them.
IBE/Classic’s ill-considered marketing decisions had a debilitating effect on parade attendance. IBE/Classic did virtually no advertising about the parade; no advance PR to create awareness of who and what would be in the parade.
An example: one of the parade’s participants was a drumline that travelled to Indianapolis from the island nation of Bermuda.
The Sandys Showtime Drumline is a group of 11 to 15-year-olds who attend Sandys Middle School, which is located on the western end of the island nation.
The group held fundraisers and their students’ families dipped into their savings so they could come to a parade Bermudians believed attracted 100,000.
Instead they and all the other parade participants were greeted by huge swatches of empty seats and stands.
I’ve walked the Classic parade for over 20 years. When I turned the corner at Pennsylvania and Ohio I nearly cried when I saw an entire side of Ohio and Meridian Streets with completely empty bleachers.
Two days after the Classic, having done nothing to put folks in seats at the game and parade, the IBE/Classic hype machine suddenly decided they needed to pay attention since the community was about to express their views on how the 2012 Circle City Classic went.
There were plenty of Classic positives like being violence and crime free. The norm for nearly all the event’s 29 years.
Satellite Classic events like the cabaret, comedy show and gospel concert did well.
But three straight years of anemic attendance is nothing to be satisfied about.
Hoping to tilt the scales of community opinion, IBE/Classic emailed talking points to supporters urging them to call into our WTLC-AM (1310) “Afternoons with Amos” program.
They urged callers to point out poor attendance at NASCAR, NFL and Indy 500 events.
Problem with that logic is NASCAR, the NFL, and Indy 500 draw far more actual paying spectators than Classic. None of those events put 50 percent discounts on all their tickets weeks before their events. The Indy 500 increased its advertising exposure in town; while the Classic reduced theirs.
One of IBE/Classic’s major talking points is bragging that this year’s event funded $200,000 in scholarships to some 90 students. That averages $2,200; a decent stipend that helps with books and other college costs. Those contributions must be applauded and those scholarship recipients saluted. But that story was only told a week before the game.
Why wasn’t that positive story told as part of Classic’s advertising?
When Classic was run independently of Expo that’s what happened. Classic advertising included messages about the importance of education and HBCUs; about the universities involved in the game. I know, because for 28 years I wrote those Classic ad messages. But this year, IBE/Classic kicked me and those messages to the curb.
The new IBE/Classic tries to hype this event just like Summer Celebration – devoid of substance and meaning.
While there’s a lot of good in this year’s 29th Classic, the fact remains that under Indiana Black Expo’s stewardship, Classic’s attendance is decreasing.
Blaming the economy, how other Black college classics perform or the sins of the Indy 500 doesn’t hide the fact that our Circle City Classic is in trouble. IBE’s stewardship of the Classic has been horrendous and the abysmal attendance at this year’s event threatens the economic viability of the event.
It’s time Black community leadership visits the leadership of Indiana Black Expo and demands significant, structural changes.
Without such meaningful change, the survivability of these two community jewels is in dire jeopardy!
See ‘ya next week.
You can email comments to Amos Brown III at acbrown@aol.com.
