http://rutgerstdclub.com/The next Rutgers Touchdown Club meeting is on August 4 at 7:00 at the Visitors Center next to Rutgers Stadium
Rutgers Touchdown Club Meeting---August 4
- Thread starter HeavenUniv.
- Start date
Caviar & wine !!
due to significant $$$ earned due to ticket market pricing...
The subject of the horrible uniforms and the inability to read names and numbers. Flood said one more year.
Issue of negatives playing Navy/Army came up. Dispite the negatives Flood will still schedule them because they are local.
Issue of negatives playing Navy/Army came up. Dispite the negatives Flood will still schedule them because they are local.
I really wanted to go to the meeting, but like several of you, the turnpike situation prevented travel from the north. How was the attendance? If there is any other non-confidential info (nothing about players, opponents, or anything that would help the opposition) that you could share with the general message board, it would be appreciated.
-Scarlet Jerry
-Scarlet Jerry
The room was about 2/3 full. Only real thing of interest it the stipend not being equal among the schools. Per Flood, we will probably be in the top 1/3 in regards to amount given to the students. Also thought it might become a recruiting thing in a year or so, but as of yet has only come up twice.
They didnt have food, just pretzels. So I'm still hungry.
It was a bit ho-hum for a first of the year event.
And no hand outs as in years past.
There are plenty of other local teams that won't have the team banged up for weeks. And those other local teams run more conventional offenses that are similar to the rest of our schedule.
Agree that it was ho-hum. Flood answered questions for a half-hour and that was it. Really need to have at least two speakers to make it worth members' time to attend. No problem for me. I live in Piscataway, but I'd be disappointed if I had driven more than 15 minutes to get there last night. No 50/50 either. Lou has stepped down. His replacement will have big shoes to fill.
I've given up on the touchdown club. Was a member for 18 years and this is the first year I will not renew. There was nothing there last year and it appears this year is the same.
I wouldn't go that far because I like attending meetings to shoot the breeze with fans and friends I don't get to see as often as I'd like.
TD Club execs should take a lesson from Brian Kelley, president of the Court Club the past few years. I looked forward to every meeting he organized.
Mike...thanks for the plug brother! I'm back for one more season as Court Club president, then I'm hoping to take on another role.
I wasn't at the meeting this week (Janet and I spent the weekend in Chicago restocking our auction inventory at the National), but Perhaps a bit of perspective though as to what groups like the TD Club and Court Club are dealing with right now would be helpful to those who left the meeting wanting for some reason or another...
There has been a bit of a financial shift in the accounting of 50/50 revenues. All game day 50/50 money still goes to the teams they support, but is not part of the respective Clubs donation any longer. As such, we are suddenly under a huge financial pinch, with no real way to draw revenue except membership dues, unless you get creative (auction events, merch sales, alternative fundraising, etc). The TD Club was hit very hard by this shift. We were not so much because of the scope of our auction and the other irons we have in the fire, but it definitely has impacted my approach to my final season at the helm.
Craig is the new head of the TD Club, and deserves the time to get things rolling in the right direction, and establish the relationships with the staff and the surrounding entities at RU. Trust is important, and has to be earned. I've spoken to him and I know he can get the job done. As such, I've offered the Court Club's support to him in anyway we can.
Obviously, the TD Club can't control Flood's availability or time on the podium. We experienced that at our final meeting of last season to a certain extent, but Politi found a way to still make it a "big deal". That said...not every meeting is a winner, despite your best effort. Whatever is served food wise at meetings comes directly out of our bottom line, and with no 50/50 to help offset that cost...ouch!
As for the giveaways, The Court Club will not have new promotional items this year either. The dollars are just too tight without a significant increase in dues, which we are reluctant to do at any cost. In fact, our season will be a very back to basics affair. Truth is, I often front thousands of dollars of my own money in the preseason to make open practices and premium auctions a possibility for our members. Meetings are VERY important to me (and to Coach Jordan), and they will always be a priority of mine.
But if our groups are going to continue to be financially relevant to the program...I urge you all to support your Club of choice in anyway you can. Buy a t shirt, check out our auctions, or just flat make a donation...knowing that your support goes DIRECTLY to the team. Stand up and be counted, and support the group that most directly backs the needs of your teams and players.
I hope to get another invite to speak to the TD Club this preseason....it is always a pleasure to share what we do with all who attend.
I wasn't at the meeting this week (Janet and I spent the weekend in Chicago restocking our auction inventory at the National), but Perhaps a bit of perspective though as to what groups like the TD Club and Court Club are dealing with right now would be helpful to those who left the meeting wanting for some reason or another...
There has been a bit of a financial shift in the accounting of 50/50 revenues. All game day 50/50 money still goes to the teams they support, but is not part of the respective Clubs donation any longer. As such, we are suddenly under a huge financial pinch, with no real way to draw revenue except membership dues, unless you get creative (auction events, merch sales, alternative fundraising, etc). The TD Club was hit very hard by this shift. We were not so much because of the scope of our auction and the other irons we have in the fire, but it definitely has impacted my approach to my final season at the helm.
Craig is the new head of the TD Club, and deserves the time to get things rolling in the right direction, and establish the relationships with the staff and the surrounding entities at RU. Trust is important, and has to be earned. I've spoken to him and I know he can get the job done. As such, I've offered the Court Club's support to him in anyway we can.
Obviously, the TD Club can't control Flood's availability or time on the podium. We experienced that at our final meeting of last season to a certain extent, but Politi found a way to still make it a "big deal". That said...not every meeting is a winner, despite your best effort. Whatever is served food wise at meetings comes directly out of our bottom line, and with no 50/50 to help offset that cost...ouch!
As for the giveaways, The Court Club will not have new promotional items this year either. The dollars are just too tight without a significant increase in dues, which we are reluctant to do at any cost. In fact, our season will be a very back to basics affair. Truth is, I often front thousands of dollars of my own money in the preseason to make open practices and premium auctions a possibility for our members. Meetings are VERY important to me (and to Coach Jordan), and they will always be a priority of mine.
But if our groups are going to continue to be financially relevant to the program...I urge you all to support your Club of choice in anyway you can. Buy a t shirt, check out our auctions, or just flat make a donation...knowing that your support goes DIRECTLY to the team. Stand up and be counted, and support the group that most directly backs the needs of your teams and players.
I hope to get another invite to speak to the TD Club this preseason....it is always a pleasure to share what we do with all who attend.
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Can you go over this for me? It was my (probably incorrect) understanding that the 50/50 revenue went to the clubs for operational expenses, ie trips, giveaways, promoting.... And not to the school. Who now gets the $ and why has the university changed the rules?
Solid. Fans spend so much time bitching they forget how much time people put in for no other reason than love of RU.
I can only truly speak for how the Court Club's 50/50 funds have been handled, although it is my understanding that the other groups have similar structure.
The money we raise game to game has been handled completely by the foundation for the purposes of reimbursing the winner in compliance with the applicable tax regulations for lottery winnings. The Club is required to get permits for each game with Piscataway Twp as such. The total take for the season is held till end of fiscal and then donated directly to the team for use as they see fit and counted as a donation from the Court Club. We sold the tickets, our labor and dedication, so our credit for the donation. The only exception to this is any season long raffle (permitted) or meeting 50/50. That money is held directly by the Club at all times.
This year, RU has decided to go with a more technologically advanced 50/50 selling system not unlike you'd see at any pro arena across the country. It's an idea I've been championing for a couple years now (it's sort of "my" idea) as it has the potential to triple (if not more) the money raised for the team. However, it will be run by a 3rd party, and the CC will no longer be directly involved in the process, although we may be a name sponsor initially. Since we have been removed from the process...we can no longer count that money as part of our season contribution. None of us at the Clubs anticipated that twist.
While we never held the money raised, the knowledge that we had a baseline donation level built in allowed us to be "more generous" and expand what we could do for our members. While our 50/50 funds were only about 40 percent of our total gift...think about what has happened to the TD Club, where a single game of 50/50s alone could raise more than we do for an entire season...multiplied by 7 home games...now gone. Sure, it's still going to our teams, which is absolutely the point, but without that built in guarantee...every dollar is now far more important.
Look...this move is going to be amazing for the programs. It'll mean a boatload more cash for the things they need...the very reason why the Clubs exist. In a way, our work has paved the way for this giant leap forward in fundraising. But now we need to be far more savvy to stay around and "matter" to our programs.
So new uniforms in 2016 confirmed?
Also, thank you for everything that you do to help the teams, Bk!
Also, thank you for everything that you do to help the teams, Bk!
Sounds like another RU screw. I wonder if the TD club 50/50s or the newer version of it will pull in the same amount of cash.
Well that is prett damned shitty. But would you expect anything less from the RU admin? Can you no longer do your own season long or meeting raffles? How can the school literally cut your funding to such a degree and expect you to continue?
TD Club members are probably the football program's best ambassadors. Many supporters who showed up at the meetings for years have stopped showing up. Who knows ... they may be still paying dues. Lots of the little "thank you for supporting the team" freebies (license plate holders, coffee mugs, free tickets for ho-hum games to bring friends, etc) have disappeared, the food & drink (sandwich/salad/pizza/soft drink) isn't what it once was, and the speakers/guests are routinely late, keeping the audience waiting, and frankly don't have much to say.
Please don't misunderstand....
RU has NOT cut our "funding". We are funded by membership dues. All they have done is modernize and vastly improve an existing fundraising tool to the betterment of the teams represented, and also opened the door for wider sales at other events like wrestling soccer etc.
The side effect of that is the accounting has to change, and in doing so...has changed the way we must do business. That's life. It's a tough transition, I'll be honest. The ultimate result of which will most likely be a dues raise at some point soon...at least for the Court Club. It'll be that or bottled water and second hand potato chips at meetings for the foreseeable future, and all those freebies will go the way of the Dinos.
I'm approaching this season a bit more frugally to see if it can be done before we raise prices, and potentially alienate fans who have stuck with me and a program that has seen more than it's share of losing, scandal and frustration over the past few years. Instead of being able to use more membership dues as operating capital, I will now need to save everyone of those dollars that I can to enhance our impact for the team at the end of our season, since the 50/50s are now handled another way.
This 50/50 move by RU will ultimately be a boon for every program that will DIRECTLY benefit from it. I'd never say that is anything but a very very good thing, despite the transitional phase it has thrown us in at the booster groups. It is the responsibility of the group to stand up and continued to be counted if we want to keep coming back year after year.
I drove an hour and a half both ways for a 30 minute underwhelming meeting, pretzels, soda and water; no handouts, no free ticket vouchers (Norfolk State) as in the past.....disappointed, I brought a prospective new member ? ......every meeting seems worse than the last, I will give it a few more and if no improvement, I am out of here !
Brian deserves a huge amount of credit for what he and his team accomplishes with the Court Club. Anyone who has never tried to lead or manage a group of volunteers over a sustained period like he does has no idea of the effort and commitment required. Just the challenge of keeping the programming fresh is a daunting undertaking.
Plenty of voluntary organizations have less than smooth transitions in leadership. Many don't survive them. I'd imagine the TD Club will get past this. The fact that the Touchdown and Court Clubs have being going this long is a credit to many dedicated, un-paid, people.
Anybody who says "How hard can it be to put on a good meeting?" or "I could do better" should step up and try.
Plenty of voluntary organizations have less than smooth transitions in leadership. Many don't survive them. I'd imagine the TD Club will get past this. The fact that the Touchdown and Court Clubs have being going this long is a credit to many dedicated, un-paid, people.
Anybody who says "How hard can it be to put on a good meeting?" or "I could do better" should step up and try.
This is how I feel also. Used to be 1800 members back when I was going, curious what it's at now. The give aways were great, circular Rutgers travel bag was one of the best. The food back then, Captain Crunch chicken and other hot and cold dish's were the common. I stopped going when I felt the meetings were nothing but a money grab and felt uncomfortable if you didn't buy a 50/50 or bracelet for Eric, or anything else that was being peddled at the entrance. Don't get me wrong, I always brought a 50/50, and have 2 Eric Believe bracelets, but the atmosphere to do so changed, and not for the better.Current membership? Anywhere near 1800?
With all due respect, if you are a TD Club/CC member for what your paltry 50 dollar donation gets you "for free" you are missing the point entirely.
We are supposed to be helping the programs we support. In the current environment, unless we charge you 250 bucks a year...hot meals and duffle bags won't be back anytime soon.
There's no point to operate just to lose money, and that won't be allowed . We need to have an impact to stay around.
That is more a function of new media/internet than anything the club can control. The fact that we are dissecting the meeting is evidence of that. There used to be weekly lunches during the season for donors that definitely included comments from coaches they would not share with the press. Now everything they say is probably recorded and anything interesting will be broadcast before the night is out.
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