“People are excited since we won, there’s a chance to capitalize on other opportunities.”- Ryan Ivey, SFA Athletic Director
The SFA Lumberjacks pushed Duke to the limits last Tuesday and walked away with a 85-83 victory. It may have been unexpected, but AD Ryan Ivey was ready for anything.
“Even if we lost and kept it close, I wanted to do something from a donation standpoint. A push for how many we scored,” Ivey told CollegeAD, “I wanted to be ready.”
And he was ready. Shortly after the upset of Duke, his staff was in full gear making the most of the headline grabbing win.
“We didn’t have any set plans beforehand, but I will tell you I did have somethings in my mind. Myself and my assistant AD, Kevin Young, we had talked about some things ahead of time. As soon as it ended, I was immediately on the phone and getting our staff together.”
Plans were made, as Ivey explained to CollegeAD, to make the most of their moment at Duke. While the outcome was still a mystery, his staff wanted to take advantage of the set stage even if Duke pulled out the win.
“Going into the game we did put a package together for donors to come with us, so we ended up having about 25 of those individuals at the game with us. We had dinner in Durham, did the tour of Duke and tour of North Carolina. It was a good opportunity to leverage the game in North Carolina.”
Ivey says those donors contributed $28,366.09 to SFA. They went into Duke the clear underdog to the top team in the country and one of the all-time legends in college basketball. Ivey knew they would have to act fast to capitalize on the moment.
“We had our holiday promotion going before the win, now we have the point spread ticket package. Which we have the remaining 6 Saturday home games we have for $28 for 150 hours. That’s to commemorate the Duke’s 150 home game winning streak, that gave us a price point and a timeline.”
SFA sold 37 point spread packages. They are also taking the opportunity to promote their annual giving program – the Purple Lights Fund. The PLF serves as the comprehensive fundraising program for SFA Athletics that will allow the department to reach its goal of becoming the leading mid-major athletics department in the country.
“You can donate $28 to the PLF, which is our Purple Light Fund for a chance to win and autographed basketball or $85.83 which represents the score and you get four chances to win.”
This story first appeared in The NightCap, CollegeAD’s evening newsletter. The NightCap delivers the day’s college athletics news in simple bullet points, giving you what you need to know in just a few lines. Get The NightCap today.