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Indiana athletic director Fred Glass will do anything it takes to fill Memorial Stadium.
Even if it means slashing ticket prices, paying for new technology and turning the reddest of Big Ten schools green.
Yes, Glass is trying to put the Hoosiers football program back on the national map and he has a pitch that can make it happen. Or so he thinks.
''I believe being good is the best way to get people in the seats,'' he said Tuesday during Indiana's annual media day festivities. ''I really am excited about this team, but I want to focus on the family and fun part of this.''
The mission is obvious: Indiana cannot afford to have 40 to 50 percent of its 52,692-seat stadium empty each Saturday.
So Glass has put together a broad game plan to change directions.
He's cut ticket prices to $5 for children under the age of 18, college students who are not from the opposing school and Indiana alums who have graduated within the previous three years, and it already appears to be paying off. Glass said the school has already seen a 1,400 percent increase in ticket sales among new alums, a 35 percent increase in children's tickets and an 800 percent increase in overall ticket sales over 2009.
He didn't stop there, either.
Indiana's student section is being renamed ''The Quarry,'' a perfect fit for the stadium late coach Terry Hoeppner nicknamed ''The Rock,'' and Glass has put new trim at the base of the stands on both sidelines. He took the Hoosiers traditional candy-striped look from the basketball uniforms to the poles underneath the new scoreboard in the south end zone, will have the band play the William Tell Overture after the third quarter and has met with INDOT and the state police about Hoosiers' fans biggest complaint - traffic control.
''Traffic is a huge focus for us because people don't want to wait getting in and out,'' Glass said.
Not enough?
Glass wants to put a 20-foot high crane in front of the student section and top it with a horn that blows whenever the Hoosiers make a big play.
He also wants to make Indiana the ''greenest'' school in the Big Ten. He's putting recycling bins throughout the stadium, using only Indiana-based popcorn and biodegradable corn-based utensils at concession stands and a valet service for fans who ride bikes to games.
And Glass promises the stadium will be noticeably louder this year, too.
''The Big Ten athletic directors passed a new rule that allows you to amplify the band sound, and we're going to take advantage of that,'' he said.
Players have mixed opinions about how much all this will help.
''We don't really focus on all that, we try to do what we do on the football field,'' senior safety Mitchell Evans said, about 50 yards from the new scoreboard that Glass bills as one of the nation's 10 largest.
Quarterback Ben Chappell believes there is a bigger component to it all, though.
The Bloomington native remembers coming to games as a child and rolling down the hill in the north end zone - a hill that was removed during the recent stadium renovation project - and says the new approach will help Indiana's image.
''It shows that the athletic department and the athletic director are putting their full support behind the football program,'' Chappell said. ''I think that means everything, and I think that breeds success.''
But the quickest way to fill the stadium, even Glass acknowledges, is to start winning.
The Hoosiers are coming off a 4-8 season in which they lost eight of their final nine games and they've gone to only one bowl game since 1993. Perhaps that's why Indiana has traditionally ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten in average attendance.
This year, with eight starters back on offense including Chappell and four on defense, hopes are high.
''It's exciting,'' coach Bill Lynch said. ''There's a new attitude, and I think there is a buzz out there (in the community) and I think the kids are picking up on that.''
Glass, now entering second full academic year as athletic director, is among the optimists.
He sees three winnable games at the front of the schedule - Towson, Western Kentucky and Akron - followed by back-to-back games against perennial Big Ten powers Michigan and Ohio State. Then comes Arkansas State, Illinois and Northwestern, and if the Hoosiers get hot early, well, Glass might have the final piece to filling the stadium.
''If we catch fire by winning some non-conference games and we beat Michigan, then I think this thing will really catch fire,'' he said.
