Connecting with Greg Cusick
Dan, Nate, Bill and Leon connect with Greg Cusick, the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Strategic Marketing and Communications/External Relations on his background, plan for increasing attendance and driving engagement with Drexel Basketball and sports in general.
Transcript
Intro
Dan C: Hi everybody. This is Dan Crain and welcome to Dragonscast. Today on the show we've got a full house, Nate Leon and Bill joined me along with Greg Cusick. Greg, welcome to the pod.
Greg Cusick: Thanks for having me. Really excited to be here and, appreciate everybody taking the time
Dan C: Nate, how's things been going?
Nate H: Yeah, I can't complain. It's I'm just thinking it's only what, like a month till basketball and I was saying how many football games I've watched, so it's hard to make the transition. So yeah. Greg, thanks for taking the time. Looking forward to talking to you.
Dan C: Leon, you catch any football today?
Leon M: I watched a couple of the games. Thanks for coming on, Greg. We really appreciate it. As a bunch of Drexel fans that have been with the program for about over two decades now. It's crazy that, we have some new blood to partner up with the DAC Pack and we hope find out a lot about what you're trying to do here.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, appreciate. It's exciting meeting a lot of people. Obviously, just surpassed the two month mark so that alone feels like a milestone.
Dan C: That's a good tease, Leon. Cause I wanna hear a lot about the DAC Pack and what that, what relationship you're building there, Greg. Bill, how you been doing?
Bill M: Good man. Raiders got the first win, of the season today, so I'm happy about that. , I've been, not too happy with the team before that, so I'll take it.
Experience and Background
Dan C: All right. So Greg, you are the special guest. And you are new to so many of us here at Drexel. And to Leon's point, new is a little bit unusual, so you're gonna get picked on a little bit, but, we'll try to, we'll try to be gentle. But you wanna tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got here?
Greg Cusick: Yeah. I'm the new Senior Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Marketing Communications slash External Relations as I just mentioned. Just surpassed my two month, mark here at Drexel. Really excited about that. I grew up down in South Jersey, Sickerville be exact. So obviously had a connection to Philadelphia just from proximity alone.
That growing up, a lot of trips to Philadelphia with the family on the weekends and growing up a big Philadelphia sports fan, had the opportunity to be at a City six school was really exciting for me. Background for far as, work. I worked at a Wagner College for five years in a very similar role directly previous to this, where I oversaw external relations unit there, which consisted of marketing, communications, media relations, as well as fundraising.
We had a lot of success and some of the items and implementations of ideas, looking forward to, generating new ideas here, but maybe continuing some of those, strategies from the past, over to Drexel and, being a part of some growth and expansion.
Dan C: Brings me to my first question is, what did you do at Wagner? What significant impact did you have there that you were, got you excited? Get, move the needle?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, a hundred percent sure. No, I think number one, whenever you're in, external facing position, right? You'd be a little remiss. Not to say relationship building is one of your biggest strengths, is something you're most proud of. Specifically at Wagner, I think it did a really good job in regards to our touchdown club, which was a fundraising arm for our football program and just building that membership and making connections with individuals there.
I was really, I wouldn't say, maybe surprised be the word, but I received so many text messages of people when I got this job and the press release came out that I was gonna to Drexel of, thanks for everything you did, we're excited for you. And, that alone was really exciting to see that, that I made that many relationships where people were personally texting me and congratulating me with the alumni there.
And, that was probably what I'm most, proud of. And, same in the basketball lens, made some relationships there as well. And then, we were able to develop some large crowds. There was some of our key games. Usually highlighted three games per season that we really tried to blow out and we were very successful in my time there.
In doing so, specifically one game that stands out, my final year at Wagners played Mount St. Mary's on ESPN U I think was sometime in February, if I'm not mistaken. It was one of our first games, coming off some of our COVID restrictions. We had a phenomenal crowd. It was a great atmosphere, great event, showed very well on television.
We got a little bit of publicity too because Bashir. Did this one on his own, so I can't take credit, but he was rocking one of our players' jerseys on the sideline for the last two minutes that was injured. But that was all him. But we did some, good stuff after the game trying to get that out to some, news outlets.
That was, that's a moment that sticks out, so yeah, those the couple that pop into my mind off the top.
Dan C: Bashir is an extremely well educated gentleman.
Greg Cusick: he sure is. He sure is.
Transition to Drexel
Dan C: Glad that you got a chance to work with him. So then I guess what, brought you here? What made you interested, Obviously back in Philly, right? But what made you interested in the Drexel position was it both people you saw at the DAC and the film?
Greg Cusick: Yeah. I think no number one is, was the growth of the university as a whole. I think it's exciting what Drexel has done in regards to overall enrollment and outside of Rowan what they've done with facilities from a grand scheme of the university. So that was really enticing, at, from a overarching large, alignment standpoint.
And then outside of that, as you mentioned, the proximity obviously to Philadelphia and the City six and being a part of Philly basketball culture now and being in it, that's really important to me and exciting to be involved in that. And then I thought there's a mass potential here.
I think in some of my previous conversations I mentioned that the DAC alone is extremely intriguing to me, number one, because of all the initiatives that are, currently taking place. And I can't wait to have you all at a game and see what it looks like. Obviously, hopefully we can even get you out before the opener.
I'd love to give everybody a tour, but, that's exciting. And then the size of the arena alone is exciting if we're talking specifically basketball, because, I do think it's an intimate environment that can create a really cool experience, which is exciting for, in a position that I'm in.
Dan C: It is an intimate environment, I promise you that. It's a great environment. It can be really great. And I hope we can, you can get that out of it, right? Cause that's really the thing. So I did count, I went to the website while you were speaking there and counted.
You have a 10 word title. Most of my sentences are about that long. Can you give us some perspective on I guess what that role means? What maybe you would think of as part of that role? I know we talked about TV and whatnot, but, in the past, but what falls outside of that scope, give us a little more perspective on, on what you're doing.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, so essentially I'll just run through maybe some of the, items that would fall under my jurisdiction. So branding, revenue generation, website management, social media management. All internal external communications, marketing efforts for athletic games and events, the media relations, ticket sales, those items the main focal points.
What's outside of maybe that specific role, which people would maybe think could align? Fundraising, that's not something I'm directly involved in. It's more on the strategic communication side. It becomes a fundraising and working with that team in regards to what the emails look like, how constant, we are gonna be making touch points when a mailer is going out, when an emails going out, what the mass head looks like, those items rather than specifically fundraising.
And the other area that I would think people would maybe think a position with this 10 word title might be involved. And that is and would be, specifically event management. That's not directly under my, jurisdiction. But, we would work hand in hand, but that doesn't fall under me.
So those, that's the overarching items.
Dan C: So I guess with that in mind, how close are you? I'd imagine to your point, the things that are outside of scope that we just talked about that what you would think would be within that role development and whatnot. You probably work hand in hand though with those folks.
Greg Cusick: Correct. Yeah, no, definitely. I think anytime you're in a marketing or quasi marketing position, I refer to those roles as connectors, right? Like you have to be connector within your department and both, and then both externally as well, right? Internally and externally be a connector. So you kinda get your hands in a lot of stuff.
You get pulled into items and ideas and how do we make this happen? Which is the exciting part. So yeah, there's a heavy involvement, with fundraising. And then same thing is event management, right? You're gonna be involved in a lot of those discussions. That is connector piece.
Dan C: It's funny. That's what, I was just at a wedding back in March and we had 12 groomsmen and, the, overarching theme of the, he wanted all 12 groomsman to speak at the wedding, the rehearsal dinner. And, yeah, I, the look from Bill's face, I don't know what he could see that, but it's, that was our reaction too.
I think one of us for each era spoke, it was like three or four people spoke at the end of it, but the story was called the Great Connector, right? Cuz this guy was, it's what he does and it's the relationship there. I get it. And Zach Spiker talks about relationships, right?
That's, it's really what he talks about building around. So it's interesting to hear that in a very different position, but in the same building
Nate H: just thinking if, who's your team? Who else? Cuz Yeah, that's, And thank you for asking that Dan. I, when I emailed about something else, I cut and pasted your title cuz I didn't wanna screw it up. So it's good to hear, what the nuts and bolts of it are, but who's your team?
Who really works with you?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, work, with Sean Joyce, Jim Foley, Mike Tuberosa, Chad Cooper, Chris Friedkin. We just hired an assistant director of Creative Services, Brian Manley. We're real excited about what he's been able to do and, hopefully you've seen the elevation, some of the graphics and videos that we've been putting across on social media.
Josh Bellman, Director of video services, are the individuals that come to my mind right away. We have a graduate assistant, in the media relations department as well, but, direct reports is really, the media relations office, the external relations, and ticketing that are gonna report directly to me.
Hopefully I didn't miss anybody. I think I got just about everybody, if not everybody. So yeah, it's been a pleasure working in meeting with the new individuals. It's a unique in my time at Drexel because I think you of alluded to in the beginning there are a lot of individuals that have been here for, 20 plus years.
And there is a sense of a newer wave maybe of individuals that have been here two years or less. So it's a unique mix, which I think is really exciting cuz you get a sense of the history of, and what has been really a propeller, for certain programs or ideas and what really matters to people.
But you also integrate some new ideas and ways to, have a nod to the history, make some adjustments.
Dan C: Yeah, it's a funny thing. It's a funny dynamic, right? Especially a lot of the newer, the newer folks are now, Overseeing some of the folks who've been here for a long time. That's gotta be a challenging dynamic, for both sides, right? For it's challenging to manage and challenge to manage, up to.
Is that something, that you've had to address early on?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, I think, great question. To me, I'm always just trying to be as open and, honest as possible. I like let everything be an open book. I feel maybe you guys don't know me too well, but I'm pretty direct in regards to expectations and how, what we're gonna try to accomplish as a group.
I haven't, I don't. I haven't felt any pushback. To be honest, it, the most feedback I've got is excitement. To be fair. I think there's been a, there's just a new, maybe a breath of fresh air with Maisha being on board and some new people where there is an excitement and a sense of, especially with COVID maybe dwindling away here, that's something we're on the precipice of something and there's growth potential here, which, is exciting for everybody.
So that's really been the most feedback. Like anything during a transition, right? We're gonna have some bumps and bruises along the way and I'd be remiss not to act like that hasn't happened or won't continue to happen. Cuz that's the reality of life, right? So I don't want to act like that's not possible or hasn't happened.
But yeah, no, I feel really comfortable with the group and excited about working with everybody individually.
Surprises and Expectations
Dan C: Have you had any, any surprises since you've been here? Good or bad? I'm curious as to what your expect expectations of the job were versus the realities now that you're here.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, you know what the biggest surprise, and this isn't me with my marketing lens, is when they put the video board together and I saw how actually big it was. You can guess, when you see the dimensions of something in a, on a screen or on a PDF and that what you think it's gonna look like.
But, now that I see it physically put together, it's sitting on the floor of the DAC right now, should be hoisted very soon. It is very large, which is exciting. Even larger than anticipated. So that was a bit of a surprise in a good way. And then beyond that, I think it. Just learning the dynamics, of that history and some of the cool and unique things and people that have been around, just meeting Calvin and hearing that story, I wasn't really aware of that.
That was a really nice, pleasant surprise. And, that, that's, I think that's obviously very unique to Drexel and, that was a great experience for me. And, yeah. So those are some of the ones that come to mind.
Dan C: All right. I'm gonna ask the group here. Has anybody besides Greg been following? Many of the fall sports is Drexel. Yeah, that's, it's where I thought we'd end up going. I, but I will say this, if Twitter's to be believed, we have the best fall sports package we've ever seen. I see the highlights, I see the clips, I saw the undefeated run.
Kinda can you give us an update as to what's going on so we can become aware and see what we should.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, our women's soccer program, they dished, actually won today, two to one verse. Elon. They're eight, one and three overall. And three and one in the CAA be they had a 12 game on beaten streak, before they just got clipped on, this past Thursday versus Towson. But. You know that, they've off to obviously an incredible start.
And, also junior forward, Delaney Lapin, she broke into the top 10 career goals, which is really exciting. They've had some really, great moments throughout this year. They had a goal in the last, I think it was like minute and a half at UNC Wilmington for a victory. And, they've been an exciting team to follow and they're putting a lot of goals on the board, which is exciting.
The men's soccer program, they're four, three and 3, 2, 2 and one in conference. They've had a pretty strong start as well. A handful of conference honors and, regional honors there, field hockey program, they're six and five. They had a really big win, against Penn at home, which is, anybody that follows, field hockey knows that the Penn program's really strong.
And anytime you can get a win versus city rival and especially a program as strong as Penn, that, that's a great moment for our field hockey program. And then, just this past week, and I apologize to not met him yet, but Alan, Jus, let me say this again. Alan Jesudason, I believe, on the men's tennis program. He broke into the top 64, the IT all Americans, which is really big deal. He actually beat the 10th ranked individual, from Notre Dame. So those are some of the highlights and, to this point.
Nate H: I will say I've probably closer than I've ever been to coming to a soccer game in a men's or women's because of the, one of my son's playing soccer and I think he'd enjoy it. And then too, I think Dan, like you said, I am seeing a lot more social media presence than like I ever did. So have you been behind that or who's been getting that going?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, that, yeah. Yes. That was, to be completely blunt, honest, with everybody as part of my interview process, that was one of my largest pitches, was showing a development of how we can improve on social media. And that was something at Wagner that we really emphasized. And, we had a phenomenal individual, Max Rottenecker there that really led the charge.
And to be honest, I of sat back a lot of the time and just let him go cause he was so good at his job. But, just understanding the value of that and looking at the numbers to reach the analytics, how important it is cuz you're talking to a large audience every time you send something out, right?
So you want to have it be the highest quality possible and try to make the most connections possible. That's been a really big emphasis and maybe a little bit of a change in strategy in regards to the importance it holds and the overall weight of not just the individual teams, but. Department as a whole.
And as I mentioned, we did hire a new assistant director of creative services and, he's really the brainchild of the new look in regards to, know, the field, the graphics themselves, what they ended up being. So we've worked really closely on that. But overall strategy, that's definitely coming from, myself and the media relations office and just putting a reemphasis on how important that really is in the overall department.
Dan C: It's funny you say that, Nate, cuz I saw something, there was a one o'clock, I think, soccer game, I wanna say today on campus. And, it was the first time I actually thought about bringing my daughter to a Drexel event. I was just going, Hey, wait a second. That actually makes a lot of, No, wasn't the best weather day right?
But, I had my daughter out for the day and I was just, Wow, that's, that makes too much sense. Why would I not bring her to a women's soccer game? So I figure I'll be down there and it was largely because of that social media presence join Nate saying, I appreciate it.
Sometimes it's just a nice trigger to something I wouldn't otherwise be paying attention to.
Greg Cusick: No, exactly. You never know how you're gonna make a connection with somebody and, thinks really important as a representation of what we are as a, a university and as a City Six program and where we sit in the CAA that what we're putting out, meets a certain standard and hopefully we continue to develop and grow and we can be one of the best in the conference or not the best is really the goal from that aspect
Nate H: Did you use your connections to get Mount St. Mary's on the schedule today. I could look out my window and like almost see Route 15. It's not too far. We go down to DC. We go through past their campus on Saturday so that'd be nice too.
Greg Cusick: I failed to mention that at the beginning. I am a Mount grad and I tell this story all the time because people ask, Oh, what's Emmitsburg, Maryland? What that, what was that experience Like I said, first of all it was phenomenal cause it's a really small, close knit campus. Somebody like me likes to build relationships.
I couldn't ask for much more than that cause that's really all you can do. But I do tell a story all time. I find it was actually put on lockdown and classes got canceled because there was to rogue cows on campus one day.
Dan C: That is unique. I saw you intern at Penn too, and I apologize that you didn't get the Drexel internship. I wanna flip over real quick. We'll take it back, throw some rain on this parade. But, why, just in your opinion, obviously part of the reason for this podcast, part of the reason for the blogs that I've written, whatever else, and the Dragonscast podcast, before I got to join it with Leon, Bill and others, had to do with trying to keep, a tradition that we feel is very important alive.
And we saw it, dying, and not just a little bit, this was a terminal velocity. It was by far the biggest drop in the CAA or Philadelphia or the Northeast or pick your metric, your opinion real quick, just from an external relations view, what were the, not the mistakes were made, but what were the causes of where we are now?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, great. Great question. And I spent a lot of time talking to, season ticket holders, former season ticket holders, alumni, current student athletes, and trying to get a better sense for, what their opinions and thoughts were. And I think there's a couple things.
I think number one, I, you miss, not to mention, you maybe alluded to it, is there is a overall. Drop of attendance in collegiate sporting events specifically. I don't think there's been any mass studies in college basketball, but college football has had seven straight years of decline in attendance.
That is real. That is true. That isn't hyperbole that is happening nationally. So I did want to address that and to be fair to everybody. I think from, one of the things, the consistent feedback I got is, maybe a lack of entertainment upon the experience at the games.
Maybe too much of an emphasis on the basketball itself, which is obviously important and that's why everybody's there, right? But there's still that whole other aspect of going to a sporting event. And I think from the consistent feedback that I received is maybe that could, there could be some items there to improve that experience.
Really the overall fan experience, I think that's important obviously when we're talking about in person sporting events. And then from a strategical standpoint, just a overall, emphasis on a sustainable campaigns, to grow awareness and the brand of Drexel and Drexel basketball.
I think that's really important that there needs to be maybe a little bit of a more emphasis there, and that's something that we're definitely gonna address and are working on. But those were probably the two biggest items and feedback that I've received in my conversations. I would say.
Dan C: So in the building and out of the building kind of is, it's kind of everything. But you have your work cut out for you and I'm excited then to talk about this next phase of our conversation. We talk about basketball specifically and what's to come because obviously it sounds like it won't just be a video board, but it sounds like a hell of a video board, but no, will just be a video board.
But with some other changes to go in, in the building. And I've also talked to some folks who've already gotten, been approached outside of the building, just in the off season, which is great to hear. So we'll start, Overall, I don't think you're gonna turn around in a day.
I think that'd be a bit much. Can you tell us a little bit about kind of goals and we'll start with attendance, in the building
Goals
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no. We of just hit on it, right? How are we gonna grow attendance at our basketball games specifically. It is a focus on both internal and external. So essentially from a broader standpoint where some of the goals this year, I won't get specifics, but we want to grow by, a certain percentage of attendance and specifically with emphasis on pre-sale, you know that both men's and women's, we wanna make a concerted effort to have more pre-sold tickets in advance of our games. And I have some goals internally on what that percentage looks like, which I don't maybe feel comfortable sharing externally cause I don't want to have people's, under any scrutiny or anything.
But, that is a large emphasis, and something that we're gonna focus on. And then obviously more vaguely we want continue to grow student engagement and partnerships there. So from a, vaguer standpoint, those are the goals essentially is to grow our pre-sale number and to have more student engagement.
How are we gonna do it right? That's the real question. So essentially, My philosophical beliefs are, that you need to spend monetary resources on your external, growth and human resources on your internal growth. As far as digital ad campaigns, search campaigns, real monetary dollars will be spent more from external perspective.
That's how I look at it. And human resources internal perspective, that more grassroots effort and building connections and relationships with the people there.
Dan C: And hence, welcome to the podcast. I am gonna hound you, I'm gonna hound you cuz the real question, when we are, I'm not gonna hound you for a number specifically, but I will ask you obviously with the, with the crowds, how they've been on the pandemic, especially coming outta the pandemic, right? I would argue growth coming out of the last two years, that's all should be expected, in a generic scenario, right?
Are we talking about like a 5% increase or are we talking about like a 50%? Is it a substantial goal
Greg Cusick: No.
Dan C: A nice to have.
Greg Cusick: Sure, yeah, I think 50 would be a little aggressive. And I would say five is, is too, is not quite there. We're probably closer to five than we are at 50, but we're not at five. Specifically I said there's pre-sold numbers I would, are really, am looking for and anticipating a significant growth, which will, obviously, attribute to larger crowds and attendance.
So that's really the focus in regards to where those percentages lie. Like I said, closer to five than 50, but, definitely not five.
Dan C: Okay. Is the stress on pre-sold numbers? Is that, Cause obviously one of the things that I've talked about, some of the other, folks who've been involved in this discussion over the years has been, the challenges of marketing around the deck, right? The fact that you could stand for the past the corner of 33rd market and not know there was a basketball game going on.
You could stand in the, in. blanking on the name of the bar, but the, downstairs at the deck and not know there was a game going on. Landmark. Thank you. And obviously that would be walkup, right? That's not advanced purchase, but that was one of, one of our frustrations.
So the stress, and we always thought that was solvable, but maybe that's, it's harder than we think is a thought on presale. Simply, if you can start bringing crowds consistently through presale, then you'll get walk up.
Greg Cusick: Correct. The basically, I'm, we are really focused on sustainable long term growth, and the more consistent you are with your pre-sale numbers, the more consistent you're gonna be able to grow historically, theoretically, right? That we can turn some of those people into season ticket holders, or we can turn a single game ticket holder into a mini game plan holder.
Because once we have their data and information, we now can grow in as far as our reach. That's really important. In regards to sustainable growth. Presale, you can't control, right? If somebody makes a decision right then and there to come to a basketball game as more as you can control, right?
If you're marketing, as a whole, the season or individual game in advance for a month, two weeks, whatever the campaign might run. And then as far as the walkup, and the environment and things of that nature, there, there is part of the DAC renovations. There are gonna be external speakers on the Lancaster Walk side, which is exciting because that will definitely add to the atmosphere on game day.
And we'll also utilize that from a marketing effort to communicate, in advance the games when some of the games of information. And then, Landmark I think is something that we're working on from a relationship standpoint in regards to just what that looks like and having that, be a continued growth in the partnership and having that be a hub maybe for Drexel basketball, pre or post, whatever we can maybe work out.
But I think there's some opportunities there as well.
Nate H: I'm assuming that the new presale, the three game mini plan is part of the presale. So tell us a little bit about that and then anything else you have lined up.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no thank you know. Yeah, thanks for bringing that up Nate. Yeah. We have a, currently have a three game mini plan offering for the, on the men's basketball side for the Old Dominion game on November 11th, the Penn game on November 15th, and the Princeton game on December 3rd. As part of that, you're also gonna get a knit hat courtesy of Pepsi.
And it's over $45, which is a great deal in my opinion, in regards to, what you're receiving. And, that is definitely a hundred percent a concerted effort in regards to increasing that pre-sold ticket number. We are also going to do a, another mini plan once you get in the conference season.
I think we're gonna look at, what some of those high profile matchups look like after non-conference and make that selection. But that'll be something that happens for conference games as well. And we'll also do one of the women's side for the conference games. So that goes, does go back to the pre-sold and, also trying to, create a package that's enticing to people.
That is a good deal. That, that is important. I want people to feel like they're getting banged for the buck and they're excited to be here. And there's obviously three high profile matchups with, some nationally renowned brands. And, I think there's excitement there and we want to try to build off it.
Dan C: No, I really like the mini plan because a lot of times when you're buying into those, type of things and other sports, right? They try to throw you, the Marlins. The Marlins are in town for the 43rd or fifth time this year, and they want, now this is three pretty good games, right?
These are the top flight, if you wanna see the out of conference. This is probably the best of the schedule, plus you get the season opener in there. That's, it's a good, it's a good slate.
Nate H: I think there was a comment too from somebody about, people out of the area. So someone like me from Mechanicsburg, one year I got season tickets even coming in from Manayunk that one year we had a bunch of snowstorms and the buses were shut down and they still played George Mason on a Saturday afternoon.
I couldn't go. So a three game plan is perfect for even somebody like me outta the area. So I'm excited about. It's a good idea.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, and we, like I said, and Dan mentioned, we, we want people to feel like they're getting a good deal, that we're not throwing in a game that maybe isn't quite as intriguing or, to, to the non basketball, junkie or fan or, that's maybe coming for the matchup rather than the experience.
We tried to pick, high profile brands that we think will align to, more sales and more people in the door and when they're in the door, hopefully we can show 'em a great experience and keep 'em coming back.
Dan C: So curious, you touched on, a women's package potentially coming out. wanted just to jump over real quick. You talked about the goals we have on the men's side, at least alluded to them. Are the women's goals in line with that or are they a separate entity?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, they're very similarly aligned. Slightly different, but very similarly aligned, in approaching in a similar manner. I think, what is the biggest difference in regards to strategic planning on both is actually more a smaller scale. It's working with the programs in regards to what they value the most from like a promotional standpoint.
Like what are their, items that they're the most passionate about? And making sure that we can lean on to that for some of our, single game promotions, that's where some of the items change, right? Cause there might be different priorities from the women's program and their coaching staff from the men's program and their coaching staff.
Those things, differ a little bit. But overall goals in regards to attendance and growth percentage are very similar.
Dan C: You've got me curious there. What, and I'm not gonna ask you to point to either program individually, but what is an example of kind of a, something the coaching staff would be intrigued by?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, so like on like the women's side for example, there's a Women's in Sports Day, which is a really big deal for us all, women's basketball programs, and that's about, national girls surrounded by National Girls and Women's in Sports Day. So that's a really big deal for them, right?
So we're gonna make sure that we align with that, timeframe and have a good promotion on that day and, lean into something that they're passionate about. And, on the men's side, they've really alluded that, they want to be involved in some initiatives in the community. And specifically around, the winter and Thanksgiving season.
They think there could be some secondary opportunities for us to do a coat drive at a handful other games. I think that's something that, that's something that they've mentioned that they're passionate about, so we can, utilize that for some of these secondary items, at the games.
Dan C: That's interesting cuz normally, and you'll see we've done various drives, can drives and whatnot at games before, but you haven't known where it's come from. In most cases. I think that'd be interesting to hear if it's specifically coming from a team or something like that, or a coach, I think that gets more buy-in, right when you put a name or somebody behind it.
Greg Cusick: It's all messaging. It's all about how you message something. If you just say, Hey, we're doing a coat drive, Okay, maybe they might connect with some people, but if you recreate it in a way where, there's a connection to it and somebody is stating why it's important to them, and we get some, videos behind it and things of that nature, and we can make a connection, then we would hope that could make it be a little more successful.
Nate H: As you do lineup promotions, where are you gonna post them? How do you find out about 'em That sort of thing.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, we're gonna post 'em all. They're gonna live permanently, on its own tab in the, both the men's and women's areas of the website, and then also in, in the, fan section of the website. But we're also gonna make social media posts about, from both pages, both the men's pages and the women's pages.
Once they're finalized, we should be having to finalized this week and, plans to announce them, in the October 10th to 12th timeframe. And they'll live on the website. They'll be promoted on social media. And obviously there'll be individual games, every single time where we are promoting it from an email standpoint or externally that they'll be the associated promotion along with it.
And some of the items that we think, might be a little more successful or we feel really confident about, there would be, could be potentially be some smaller digital media campaigns behind them, from a social standpoint.
Dan C: No, I'm sure Greg and his staff do a great job of getting that promotion schedule out, but I usually find out about Drexel basketball promotions from Nate's social media. So my recommendation is to you, Greg, is just to reach out to Nate and make sure that you get that out that world. And anybody listening, make sure you, you follow.
Nate H: Yeah, it gets frustrating. Lehigh had, their football team had a dog day on Saturday and it was, so you looked on a schedule and it was like dog day. So I read the article and it said nothing. I assume it was like, Bring your dog. But then I'm like, Is it hot dog day? Is it what? So you know, cuz you know, and having kids, that's a lot of what gets me out, whatever promotion's going on.
So they little things get screwed up where you don't say what your promotion is and it should be pitch and catch, but I see that a lot. So
Greg Cusick: No, that's a great point. I think, like I said, messaging's really important. And Nate, maybe we can give you an exclusive and get you that promo for everybody else and, get you the drop on that. But
Nate H: I don't have any pets. If you have hot dogs, that would work.
Greg Cusick: There are a couple ones we're excited about and, one is an internal market I did wanna touch on. We're gonna partner with the Greek organizations this year, feel pretty comfortable about the day don't wanna just say publicly just yet, but the, we're gonna do, something, I'm calling Greek games.
All the on court promotions are gonna be between Greek organizations. There's also gonna be an attendance, program between the Greek organizations. Whoever has the highest, percentage among them will get a gift to their philanthropic duties. We're also gonna hopefully partner with a student life, staff event as well, and having the whole night be themed out in a way that, that, that is unified.
DAC Pack and Student Engagement
Greg Cusick: And the same thing, the DAC Pack we haven't really talked about too much yet, which maybe I'm a little surprised about. But I know in the past they've always done a Bluau and that's something that we wanna lean into from a overall theme of the night, right? We want to have a luau theme beyond just the DAC Pack and utilizing that video board and some of the ca and the camera, options and fun games that we can do.
Lean into the fact that we have a luau theme night. And we'll definitely take that on from a standpoint of, the entire game rather than just a DAC Pack.
Leon M: Yeah, we were trying to let you ease into it, little bit, Greg, before we started hitting you with the DAC Pack But I guess now is as good a time as any, one of the things when we were talking before engagement, attendance and everything. I remember 10 years in from the DAC Pack starting, it was like a big 10 year anniversary game.
It was like, it was also the height of the DAC Pack it was, leading up to snub 2.0 we'll call it, when we got snubbed for the second time from, from being on the bubble. But 20 years came and went, not, I don't think anybody even noticed, even though we made the NCAA tournament, . Right before that.
You mentioned human resources and like how you framed it, that human resources of the component that's gonna be critical to engaging the captive audience you have on campus to come and attend the games. Have you, I'm assuming you've already discussed with the DAC pack president, can you elaborate a little bit more on how you're gonna partner with the DAC pack, I guess to, and make 'em come back to maybe the heights they were in 10 years ago,
Greg Cusick: Yeah, so we, we've had one, meeting to this point with the president one on one specifically. And then we have a hand full of smaller, impromptu discussions with the president, some of the other members to this point in time, and, scheduled to be attending their, second official DAC Pack meeting, this upcoming week, which I'm really excited about.
And they've presented some ideas to me, to this point in regards to, theme nights, what they've done in the past, and, a lot of listening with them and a little bit of, hopefully directive and thought process and to, being in this business and what we can try to provide from a knowledge standpoint of how they can continue to grow and be successful.
I'm excited to talk to them. I have a couple ideas for some commercials and videos that, that I'd like to speak with them about and I hope they take to it. But the one thing is, they're students, right? I'm really big on, I, it's not their responsibility to get people to the game, that is the external relations department's responsibility, and I'm cognizant of that and that's how I approach it.
Everything DAC Pack does is. Awesome, appreciated, but I really don't want there to be any pressure on them. And that's something I've tried to make clear in our discussions, is that, there's no pressure. This is supposed to be fun, right? I imagine that's how this all started, right?
This was people, in the, Drexel students, they wanna have fun and or grew organically. And I think when there's pressure to get people to it and it becomes, something, it's not, it needs to be organically grown and everybody needs to be there for the right reasons and to not just because someone was pressuring them to join the DAC Pack. I don't think that's good for long term growth.
Bill M: I was gonna say think for a long time the DAC Pack was held accountable for attendance. Like it didn't seem like there was a lot of responsibility there besides on okay, the DAC Pack, this isn't doing a good job, so students aren't showing up. For me personally, that's really good to hear that, we have someone on payroll who's taking responsibility.
Running the show on, on attendance in general. I do think one thing that you're gonna find, is just, there's a general lack of respect for sports on campus in general. I think that's been going on since, we were in school like 20 some years ago. And it's, from what I understand, it's still going on today, so I think that's gonna be one of your challenges. And what can you do to combat that.
Greg Cusick: Yeah. So I think, goes back to what I stated earlier on, is, leaning into the entertainment piece, only so many people, love basketball, right? Like you, you say, we only promoted it as this is a basketball event but you just cut your potential reach of the students by a mass percentage.
More, the more, more the people, are not gonna connect with the basketball program than Will. That's just the nature of, the world, and I think when I was younger, specifically as a marketer, I was probably one of my biggest mistakes just because I was a sport guy. I played basketball in high school, basketballs near and dear to my heart.
I was actually a basketball coach for a period of time. And, I just always assumed that everybody. Love basketball. But the older I've gotten, and the more I've been involved in this, is leaning in more to the entertainment piece and the experience piece. And if you can get people to have fun and have a good time, that's how you get the students to keep coming back, and the basketball is a piece to the puzzle. Not the only, not the only, item. I think that's really important.
Dan C: I'm not gonna let Bill bring up Grand Canyon University for the 42nd time. But I will ask a little bit on, the obvious, which is what entertainment should we expect to see come November?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, I, Great question. I think number one, you're gonna see a, maybe an improvement in the quality of music, that we're utilizing. That was some feedback that I received from student athletes and students. And that's really important to me and something that I took a great interest in. And I think anything was massively important in the overall experience.
Obviously the video board is gonna allow us to do so many items as far as dance cam, bongo cams, flex cams, all kind of different items, interactive games, having encore promotions that are fun and that, we are gonna have aim for Encore Mc again, which I think is really important and having directive there and to how to get the, uh, crowd engaged and leading chance and things of that nature.
That, that's just some of the things that come to top of my head. That will impact the overall experience. And then, there'll also be a lot of engagement pieces on the video board where we can utilize the players themselves in, 10, 15, 20 second lead clips for chance, for get off your feets, for all those things that, will theoretically engage the fans to a level of wanting to get off their feet right, and cheer and be supportive.
Dan C: Interesting. You mentioned that and I'm glad you did. Cause when you talk about player engagement, I'm not, I'm not a TikToker and I'm certainly not the biggest instagramer around. But, and we'll talk about demos in a minute, but, I, it's the players that I do follow, which I think are.
All, if not most of them at this point on Instagram, seemed to have been much more active with, with reels and the like recently. Is that something that's, they've done organically or has that been kind of nudged.
Greg Cusick: The great question, mostly organically, but I have met with, the coaching staff and a couple of them and have emphasized that, that is helpful, right? The more followers they can gain and the more that they can be interactive and the more, they're promoting Drexel, the, the more it's going to hopefully get butts in seats so that we've had some smaller conversations there.
Nothing aggressive in regards to that, there's been some conversations and, as an athletic department we've put a, , I'm really big on the growth of Instagram and then we've put a lot of focus there and seen a lot of success, that space. And we did just recently launch TikTok, which, we're still in the phases there very minimal early stages where we'll grow.
And I'm sure there'll be a lot of opportunities for collaboration with some of these, individuals that will help both of us, right? Both them grow us grow and get people to the games theoretically.
Dan C: Does NIL help with that? Like where you can go to a player and say, Hey, you've got a 1000, 5,000 followers, whatever. Now if you get to the X number, you've probably got a better look NIL.
Greg Cusick: I can't really directly talk about NIL as a in that way, specifically as a, as an employee. We have to do it more from educational piece. And I think they, the student athletes understand the more followers they have, the more value they hold to a company. We can't be involved in broker deals or trying to push that, but we can speak to it in an educational piece.
And I they understand that. and right. Anytime you're working with a company, you're talking about social campaign. The more views, the more eyeballs, the more guaranteed impressions, the more financially beneficial it is.
Engaging other Demographics
Dan C: Okay. That's a great point. I appreciate that. The other piece of kind of what we're going on there, we haven't mentioned Facebook yet, right? We have, We, cuz and I mentioned this, especially because, the group of us, Bill, Leon, Nate and I were talking about this a few weeks ago, right?
How do you reach. Everyone, there's definitely eight demographics between the social media platforms. But goes beyond that a little bit. Are there specific demographics that, I don't wanna say you value more than others, but you target and are there specific social media channels you emphasize?
Are you just going around globally, you're trying to be out there?
Greg Cusick: No, that's a great question. From a demo, there are definitely demographics and, social media is a part of that as well, but also, paid search campaigns as well. So essentially we've actually, we're actually in the midst of partnering with the, university marcom department in regards to, A digital, media campaign, where we're gonna be utilizing, their resources as well as a third party company to really have a targeted analytical campaign on the greater Philadelphia area, specifically with individuals that might have a preference towards sports and entertainment and family fun.
And, we're really excited about that. And there's definitely a targeted demographic, on that front, more in the 30 to 55 age range specifically. Which, that's an exciting opportunity. As far as in a more, generalized scale, Instagram and TikTok are gonna speak to some of our younger demographics, right?
Probably 25 and under Twitter is speaks to the, probably the largest demographic, however, if you wanna really get in some of the weeds, just because you have a really strong reach on Twitter doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna have a greater impact because of all the new sources that's coming out on it.
It's a quality of content's really important. And then Facebook's, theoretical, not theoretically it is gonna speak to your, maybe a little bit of a older demographic than the other platforms. So that's a generalized approach from a social media standpoint. We also, Learfield is a great partner, to the athletic department and, they have some analytical data on our website traffic, which is very useful in regards to some additional smaller campaigns that we can do. We know, that let's say, 30% of our demographic that's visiting the website is from, 30 mile radius of Philadelphia and the age, 41 to 51. Like we can find that information out, which is really helpful, in regards to like when you're doing a small or more localized campaign to try to drive sales to maybe individual asset, like the three game, mini plan or individual game.
Leon M: You mentioned digital engagement, and you mentioned also that college attendance as it related to sports have been on decline. Are we have, Has the digital engagement been getting higher as a result of the in person attendance, dropping naturally, even pre pandemic and. Is there any strategy you got, you're thinking about employing on converting some of these digital, maybe more engaged users, or if you have that many, that maybe watch games online a lot or get them to watch games online more so that eventually they're like, Oh man, this sounds fun.
Let me try to make it to a game.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, I think that's a, that, that's a great point. A lot of it has to do with the messaging, right? Like we want to be running internal messaging on everything we're doing that's promoting what's next and how fun it is, and the excitement and we've seen growth on our channels and specifically Instagram, our engagement, our accounts engaged, in my first 60 days compared to the 60 days prior, it's like an 18% increase.
Our followers have grown by over 8%, which is a great start in, in regards to just. Improving our overall reach. And the next step is gonna be right. Can we turn that into actual, attendance and people in the seats? And, it's more from a brand awareness standpoint. If we're talking about digital engagement, like on the social channels, in my opinion, like I said, the human resource aspects is how we're really gonna get students or departments or colleges on campus to come to the game.
The digital campaigns are more targeted, external groups, to get that sale for that presale number that we talked about earlier.
Bill M: This is going back to, topic earlier a little bit, but, As far as making the game an event outside of the game itself, I've heard ideas tossed around about, tailgates or, something along the lines of, a meetup at Landmark or something like what is in the works as far as turning the game, into an event like outside of the game itself,
Greg Cusick: yeah, a great question. I think, know, I'd be remiss not to address the alcohol availability. I think is of at maybe at the, forefront of this engaging question and what I've heard for some other people, and that's something that we're trying to address, whether it be, a beer garden at a handful of games, whether it be more, marketing efforts to get people to landmark or whether it be an item in the arena itself, that's still trying to be worked out, but it's something that there is emphasis on and making that experience improved.
Dan C: You gonna tease us at all? We have. We have any specifics we can point towards.
Greg Cusick: yeah, I think, we're hopeful at the very least, that there's gonna be a growing partnership with Landmark. And we're also very hopeful that, there's gonna be more alcohol sales readily available to our fans. That's how I'll phrase it.
Women's Game Tip-off Change to 6pm
Dan C: All right. One, I think softball, before we get to the, my favorite question, looks like a lot of the women's games have shifted to a 6:00 PM tip. I'm curious as to, what the reasoning was behind that
Greg Cusick: Yeah. That decision's actually made prior to my arrival, but, talking through it, I agree with the decision and a lot of it has to do with the consistency and the, know, I think there's four or five, four, if I'm not mistaken, actually Friday conference games. And, the thought processes, try to improve that Friday attendance by trying something different and having a 6:00 PM start, and being a little experimental to see if that will drive, more attendance at that Friday games.
And then a consistency across the board for the weekday games to start at six. So that was really the driving factor, was those conference Friday games.
Dan C: Keep people in the city before they go home.
Greg Cusick: Correct. Exactly. Trying to create, hey, instead of somebody going to Collingswood and then coming back for 7:00 PM where, once you get home, what are the chances that somebody's gonna come back?
Are you diminishing the possibility, having that 6:00 PM great from work, can you come to the game, maybe have somebody from your family meet you there, those opportunities are on the table and we'll see if it's successful and, intrigued to see how it will work.
Dan C: All right. I'll slide in. I guess this is related to, but as far as, we saw a great expansion this last couple of years during COVID with, NBC Sports Philly, and getting some linear TV games out and that we can see in the market. Unfortunately mostly home games, right? So if you're going, it's a one or the other situation, you're either at the game or you're watching the game. Can't be two places at once. But, is that continuing or are we expecting to even expand further than we've, we were last year? Where are we at there?
Greg Cusick: I would say similar in regards to those linear opportunities and those carve outs. In regards to NBC Sports Philadelphia packages, I would say we're definitely gonna be on a similar level to probably, last year. And I think it's exciting in time we can get on, that local, NBC sports affiliate and Philadelphia specifically NBC Sports Philadelphia holds a lot of weight and it's a great opportunity.
So we're excited about that. And then, outside of that, your standard, games across Flo Sports we're all aware of.
Flo Sports
Dan C: One of the things I like about that is, is, I'm my YouTube TV I cut the cord this year and what I learned with NBC Sports Philly is that I can get it when I travel anywhere, which is awesome. So even around the holiday time, I'll still be able to get my Drexel games, which is great. So, we'll, that leads us into, Nate's favorite, Nate, my favorite part of the debate.
But, Flo Sports is here. It's here for at least another year. And it sounds like it might be here further than that. Talking to some folks around the conference, I've gotten some pretty, pretty confident, replies, put it that way, that Flo is here for a while to be, Leon Gun to your head Drexel plays at William and Mary in February. What's got more viewership, The Flo Sports Feed, or our podcast following that.
Leon M: That's a good question. I think we might beat out Flo Sports on that one if I was a betting man. But, but we jest about this just because, at least initially some of the subscription costs for those games or pretty, if you're going for a fan base, that maybe is, let's say, still trying to get interested in a program sometimes it was a little cost prohibitive, right? Like you, you'd go in, you'd be like, Oh, I wanna watch this game because they're playing maybe a team that. Your buddy went to school for so you wanted to throw the game on and you tried to put the game on. It's 30 bucks for a game. , I think we had that initial experience with Flo Sports that we didn't, get out of that bad taste in her mouth hasn't left.
Dan C: And I think Leon, to your point, it's a, we spent this entire conversation talking about growing the brand and the growth of getting people back, right? And it's just, it's tough. That's a tough come see this team, but also, you've gotta jump through these hoops, right? To get somebody who could be excited about the program.
A friend of yours or whatever else is another alumni, right? Excited about this. Greg, I'm looking for you to make the case, right? What does Flo Sports bring with it that makes it attractive to the university? Cuz it can't be the 30 people watching the William & Mary game
Greg Cusick: Yeah, sure. No, I think I obviously relationship has been, a priority for the conference. And I can't really speak to the future, but what are the positives? I think it's unique. It's, there's a growth potential. And as anything, in the earlier stages, there's always gonna be hiccups, right?
And as you continue to grow and develop in a relationship, you would anticipate that both sides will continue to improve, right? So I think the quality of the streams and maybe the user experience and all those things will be, continue to grow and improve across the board. I haven't got a chance to look at every single CAA conference member streams on Flo Sports, my I'd venture guests to say, there's probably differentiating factors between them. And there's probably not the same quality every single time you log in. If I'm wrong, correct me if I'm wrong. But I think that's something that over time you'll definitely see, improvement on and this, this year as well.
You'll see improvement there. And, as far as the brand and I think there has to be a focus on maybe a co-partnership and a co-branding effort and a messaging improvement in regards to how to watch the games and, how to get the subscriptions and, frame it in a way that this is unique, and go about it in that matter.
Nate H: I think the point, Greg, what you said something about, you, I think the first thing you said, like you can't predict the future and that's been my thing with this whole thing. I just think with streaming it's all very much in the up of the air and we don't know where this is gonna go.
So I, it's, I'm taking a wait and see approach. And I guess, and I'll throw out there too, we talked about field hockey. I think I put a Drexel field hockey game on one night last week. And I'll be honest, I try to watch field hockey. It's so different from ice hockey. It's, it's just not my thing necessarily, but I think the game went to overtime and, saw us get an overtime game winner.
So I'm like, that was pretty cool. And how else would I see a Drexel field hockey game? And then am I trying to avoid any college football yesterday? So I didn't know who won so I could watch all the games today. I knew I could check on Delaware, Towson, one game I was a little interested in, and we were on the metro coming back from the Phillies game.
So I pulled up the Delaware Towson game and just saw Delaware was winning. Again, I don't know what happened as far as pulling up one game and getting charged $30. I don't, I forget what it is for a year, what I pay. I mean if, for me, I use it for, and obviously racing is one I really hammer, but, it, So that's what I like about it.
And then the last thing, I think my biggest point of this, I guess I'm like an underdog guy. I feel like sometimes we like perseverate and jump on certain things and I, to be honest, I got tired of hearing all the complaining about Flo so me, it's so I got your back and I'm just gonna throw out here too, another thing that like people like to pile on is James Madison, who I, and I, not that I'm a James Madison fan, but I'm pulling up their schedule right now, they're 4-0.
And they've won at, Appalachian State. Again, I'm not a, I got sick of them complaining too about leaving the conference. But that's my other thing. I just, I get going back to what Greg said, I think this is all gonna play out in the future. We'll see where it goes. So that's just so I'm clear on my position on Flo Sports
Greg Cusick: I think I've heard Nate say this before and he is right. You know Flo is unique because, in the racing community and the wrestling community and the track and field community, it is one of the heavy hitters. And it is very readily used across the board.
There has been inroads, in those areas and just, which means that it can be done in others, right?
Dan C: So I want to backpedal on two things here real quick. One, Nate said that he didn't wanna watch college football, so he turned on Flo college football. All right, I'm just gonna leave that one alone for a moment. But, the bigger one for me is, you talked to touch on production qualities, Greg and whatnot, and it's not consistent around the conference.
I know the standards are lower than like an ESPN+ would be. I'm actually less concerned about that. If you give me a feed, I'm just happy to have a Drexel feed and before Flo it was individual schools producing their own, and it was really every man for himself, right? So I actually think that in some ways, at least there's some standards
I don't mind that. I guess my, my, again, I look at it strictly from an eyeballs perspective, and especially outta conference, right? Out conference always drove me crazy because, even when Drexel went to, whatever Flo Sports sponsored tournament they went to, and I wanna catch those games because I had other ways to catch most of the other out of conference games.
I'd either be at the DAC or it'd be on a road teams, ESPN+, which I could actually see, paying 30 bucks for the tournament weekend would drive me a little bit nutsy right? So the price point is a thing. I'll acknowledge all of that. My, my question I guess is by being on Flo rather than an ESPN+ or, I don't even know what other linear services and I know mls, just went to a national Apple+ deal, which I think is fascinating and terrible at the same time, is I think the only thing the Philadelphia Union have done rights in day one is the broadcast booth, and with the Apple+ deal, they lose local broadcast. Which is, and we've seen that less of that too, right?
We're saving money by not sending teams on the road to, to broadcast games, doing it from a studio and, there is real cost cutting in that production area. So I get why from a broader, a global view Flo is attractive, but what other opportunities do you get outside of Flo? What is, what does Flo create for the conference?
Greg Cusick: Yeah, no, I, obviously, There is flexibility in the current agreement, as you can see with how many games are on NBC Sports Philadelphia, which is an intriguing opportunity with the current agreement, and how things operate. There are opportunities for carve outs and, to be, on those local channels which do have a lot of reach and, there's some uniqueness in the opportunities and the way the contract and agreement is currently stated that allow that, which is intriguing and can maybe address some of the concerns about the, maybe the eyeballs.
But, I think, as Nate said, and and as I've said from the beginning, it's, being involved in something at the earlier stages and trying to be, on something that can hopefully continue to grow and pop over time and, grow with those number of eyeballs on year to year basis.
Dan C: All right, we'll look forward to seeing that growth. You've got on that one, I think you've got your work cut out for you. I think on all of them. You have your work cut out for you, but on that one, I wish you luck. All Bill, Nate, Leon, any, anything else before we let Greg, get out the door.
Leon M: No, we do appreciate it a lot, Greg, for you making the time, not only talking to some of us on an individual basis, but also coming on here because, to Bill's earlier point about the DAC Pack being like the sole responsible unit for making sure there were enough students at the games. I'm glad to see them getting some well needed, help. And hopefully a partnership could grow from that.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, I appreciate it. Appreciate, as I said, I was really, excited that the opportunity to be on the podcast and anytime we can, speak to alumni and individuals that have an affinity for Drexel, it's exciting for me. And now I'm just fired up to be here and can't wait to, be at the DAC, for the unveiling of the video board and I hope to see everybody there
Dan C: Thanks Greg. And yeah, again, I know a lot of us here, and some folks who are not with us today have had the opportunity to speak with you individually before this, and I can tell you that the feedback's been overwhelmingly positive. But, even if it wasn't, I'd be thankful for the fact that you're taking the time to speak to all of us, right?
It's, continued conversations. It's not just one, not just a touchpoint, but, keeping these, communications open. It's great to see and we really appreciate it.
Greg Cusick: I appreciate as Yeah, and like I said, wanna be a connector and I'm just, that's not just words to me that's important. And I think that's, one of the large responsibilities of somebody in my role is to be a connector. So you'll definitely, will have these continued conversations and, want to use me as a resource to connect with other people and hopefully, that's something we can continue to grow and gain on.
Dan C: All right. When should we be looking for kind of the promotions to drop when should be looking for the schedule updates and everything else? Season's about a month away now.
Greg Cusick: Yeah, single game promotions are gonna drop sometime between, October 10th and 12th. So very soon, just in the final finalization of a one or two that there. So just wanna make sure everything's good to go before we announce it publicly. So that's around the corner and, yeah, after that we'll be pushing and you'll see some more creative items coming out and marketing initiatives and, welcome the feedback from everybody on thought and opinion as those continue to evolve and, develop over time.
Dan C: All right, everybody. On behalf of Nate, Bill Leon, myself, thank you for listening to Dragonscast tonight. Everybody have a great evening, afternoon, whenever you're listening to this.