Quote from: rscl70 on December 12, 2021, 12:01:08 PM
I saw nothing on the HOF ticketing site about areas reserved for fans of the participating teams.  Can anyone from NC or UMHB tell me if they sent special ticketing instructions to the respective schools?  Just curious.

The UMHB Stagg Bowl communications haven't stated which team is home and which is away as they have for previous Stagg Bowl games.  I didn't see anything on the HOF ticketing site either.  I purchased a Club Level seat.  Hopefully, it's worth it!

I'm looking forward to a great Stagg Bowl next Friday in Canton!

Quote from: wally_wabash on December 05, 2021, 06:23:59 PM

Quote from: BSCpanthers on December 05, 2021, 10:36:40 AM
It's cool that the teams get to play at HoF stadium and all, but northern Ohio in late December can be a miserable place.  Why not put the game inside or at a better climate location???  I know Florida has no D3 football, but put it in Orlando, destination city with lots to do and easy to get there by plane.  And the weather should be much better than Canton Ohio.

All of these things were selling points to having the Stagg Bowl in the Houston area in 2018/19.  Things that happened:
2018 - cold and windy, really wasn't much different than a Salem Stagg Bowl, tbh; super limited attendance from Mount Union
2019 - cold and rainy, super limited attendance by both teams- yes, airports are abundant in the Houston area, but week-of tickets during Christmas week are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive, even for fans traveling from another major travel hub (Chicago)

We learned that we can't guarantee good weather no matter where you go, the idea of convenient and accessible travel is pretty much a myth, and if there isn't a local-ish team involved in an area that is not a D3-heavy area, you can't count on walk up at the gate.  It might be cold in Canton on 12/17, but that game attendance is going to be over 1362 no matter which two of these four remaining teams advance because there are plenty of fans in the region that can and will get there.

Perhaps naively, I expected the same for the 2019 Stagg Bowl regarding attendance by D-III football fans in Texas.  How many times do you get an NCAA National Championship event in your back yard?  Even though UMHB didn't make it to the 2019 championship game, my wife and I went.  We sat on the home side, and rooted for North Central.  What a great game!  We saw just a few other UMHB fans on the North Central side.

It was our 4th Stagg Bowl in a row - two road trips to Salem and two road trips to Shenandoah.

For me, it's not just about supporting your team, it's about supporting the event.  We found this to be true at the 2017 Stagg Bowl in Salem.  Local folks sitting behind us were there supporting the event, not because of the teams playing.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on December 21, 2019, 04:13:36 PM

Quote from: jdlenzD3 on December 21, 2019, 02:25:17 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on December 21, 2019, 11:58:24 AM

Quote from: raiderpa on December 21, 2019, 10:47:50 AM
It appears to me that the Gagliardi Award was disrespected.  No dinner?  No ceremony?  Just an announcement before the game?  This is wrong on so many levels.  Salem did a wonderful job making this a priority. Did Shenandoah just skip it? 

In a word, yes. This is definitely one of the disappointments of the Shenandoah experience.

The 2019 Stagg Bowl made it 4 in a row for my wife and me.  Being UMHB fans, it was a no brainer to go to the previous 3 Stagg Bowls.  And even though the Cru didn't make it this year, we still went to the game, and had a great time.  It was just 215 miles from our home in Arlington, TX, so it was an easy drive.  We sat on the home side, and rooted for NCC.  We saw a few other UMHB fans at the game last night, and it would have been nice to have see more.  How many times do you get to go to an NCAA National Championship event basically in your our back yard?

My thoughts on the Stagg Bowl experience are good and bad.  Good from the standpoint of going to see an NCAA National Championship game.  Bad from the standpoint of lack of marketing of the game itself from both Salem and Shenandoah.  Finding information about the game from either location was difficult - there was very little on any websites.  Hotels we stayed at just outside of Salem and just outside of Shenandoah had no clue about the Stagg Bowl.  We stayed in the same hotel this year in Spring, TX, less than 5 miles south of Woodforest Bank Stadium, and it was disappointing that the hotel staff knew nothing about the event.  In my opinion, Shenandoah did a poor job marketing the game.  I hope the game doesn't return to Shenandoah because they don't deserve it.  I can't say that Salem did much better.  The Gagliardi Award dinner in Salem was not publicized as far as I could tell - no information on any website.  We would have enjoyed attending such an event if they made it known for the fans.

It was great to see the turnout of fans for NCC in Shenandoah!  The NCC fans around us were great.  Someone definitely made the wrong choice of NCC as the home team from a TV viewing perspective.  There were way more NCC fans at the game than UWW fans from what I saw.  We met a few NCC fans at the hotel Friday afternoon before the game, and a few more at the hotel Saturday.  We enjoyed talking with them.

Best sign of the night in the home stands...  Red is the new purple!

Congratulations North Central Cardinals on winning the 2019 Stagg Bowl!

Boy, I just don't see the lack of marketing claim for Salem as being accurate. They got thousands of locals to show up for the game as well as volunteer, and anyone could have found out about the Gagliardi ceremony through their advertising on our site, for example.

Can confirm Shenandoah did not demonstrate any interest in advertising on D3football.com.

My lack of marketing claim is based on my view of the information that I was able to find.  For the Gagliardi ceremony in 2017, I didn't find any information on that event on any website, including the D3football.com website.  If it was on the D3football.com website, it certainly wasn't easy to find.  Where would that have been advertised?  I did send you an email in December 2017, and you replied stating since the NCAA took over websites for these things, it's not as easy to find the info.  You suggested I contact the Salem Civic Center.  When I contacted the Civic Center, the event was sold out.  My comments are based on my perception of what was advertised for a fan coming from Texas.  From my point of view, it wasn't advertised well because the information wasn't available.  Marketing is only successful if it reaches the intended audience.  In my opinion, it was unsuccessful.

It's disappointing to learn that Shenandoah didn't demonstrate any interest in advertising on D3football.com.  Do you have any insight as to what the NCAA expects from a venue awarded with the Stagg Bowl?

By the way, I'm watching the Texas UIL football championship games from AT&T Stadium here in Arlington.  Today, there are 3 games.  Wouldn't it be great if the Stagg Bowl was played at an indoor venue?  That would be awesome!

Quote from: Pat Coleman on December 21, 2019, 11:58:24 AM

Quote from: raiderpa on December 21, 2019, 10:47:50 AM
It appears to me that the Gagliardi Award was disrespected.  No dinner?  No ceremony?  Just an announcement before the game?  This is wrong on so many levels.  Salem did a wonderful job making this a priority. Did Shenandoah just skip it? 

In a word, yes. This is definitely one of the disappointments of the Shenandoah experience.

The 2019 Stagg Bowl made it 4 in a row for my wife and me.  Being UMHB fans, it was a no brainer to go to the previous 3 Stagg Bowls.  And even though the Cru didn't make it this year, we still went to the game, and had a great time.  It was just 215 miles from our home in Arlington, TX, so it was an easy drive.  We sat on the home side, and rooted for NCC.  We saw a few other UMHB fans at the game last night, and it would have been nice to have see more.  How many times do you get to go to an NCAA National Championship event basically in your our back yard?

My thoughts on the Stagg Bowl experience are good and bad.  Good from the standpoint of going to see an NCAA National Championship game.  Bad from the standpoint of lack of marketing of the game itself from both Salem and Shenandoah.  Finding information about the game from either location was difficult - there was very little on any websites.  Hotels we stayed at just outside of Salem and just outside of Shenandoah had no clue about the Stagg Bowl.  We stayed in the same hotel this year in Spring, TX, less than 5 miles south of Woodforest Bank Stadium, and it was disappointing that the hotel staff knew nothing about the event.  In my opinion, Shenandoah did a poor job marketing the game.  I hope the game doesn't return to Shenandoah because they don't deserve it.  I can't say that Salem did much better.  The Gagliardi Award dinner in Salem was not publicized as far as I could tell - no information on any website.  We would have enjoyed attending such an event if they made it known for the fans.

It was great to see the turnout of fans for NCC in Shenandoah!  The NCC fans around us were great.  Someone definitely made the wrong choice of NCC as the home team from a TV viewing perspective.  There were way more NCC fans at the game than UWW fans from what I saw.  We met a few NCC fans at the hotel Friday afternoon before the game, and a few more at the hotel Saturday.  We enjoyed talking with them.

Best sign of the night in the home stands...  Red is the new purple!

Congratulations North Central Cardinals on winning the 2019 Stagg Bowl!

North Central has been designated as the home team for this year's Stagg Bowl.

North Central has been designated as the home team for this year's Stagg Bowl.

North Central has been designated as the home team for this year's Stagg Bowl.

Quote from: Ron Boerger on December 10, 2019, 09:30:02 AM
It's going to be interesting to see what the crowd will be like in Shenandoah without a "local" team involved.   Dare say it won't be 6,800 again.

While I hope your wrong, it won't surprise me if it turns out that way.

Last week we booked the same hotel in Spring, TX as we did for last year's Stagg Bowl.  We had a great time that weekend with friends enjoying several BBQ joints in the area prior to game.  We're driving down Friday morning from the Fort Worth, TX, and spending one night. 

We're going to support the NCAA D-III Football Championship Game in Shenandoah, TX, and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor as the host school.  This will be our fourth time in a row to attend the Stagg Bowl - all road trips.

This is the last year for the Stagg Bowl in Texas for who knows how long.  For my wife and me, it's not just about supporting your team, it's about supporting the event, especially with UMHB as the host school.  We found this to be true at the 2017 Stagg Bowl in Salem, VA.  Local folks sitting behind us were there supporting the event, and not because of the teams playing.

It won't be the same without the Cru, but we will enjoy the trip anyways.  We'll be fans of the 2019 Stagg Bowl representing UMHB!

Quote from: TheChucker on November 22, 2019, 10:03:43 PM

Quote from: Etchglow on November 22, 2019, 09:59:50 PM

Quote from: TheChucker on November 22, 2019, 09:52:03 PM
For all you Belton experts, what barbeque places do you recommend? I've visted Belton several times as my kid goes to UMHB, but am still a relatively newbie. I've been to:

Miller's BBQ: seemed high quality and a very good lunch scene. nice traditional downtown location.
Clem Mikeska's: good family style place with easy access in a busy retail area
Backyard BBQ: maybe favorite for some reason. hole in the wall. sticky picnic table seating. but great casual atmosphere.
The Gin at Nolan Creek: had fried catfish which was awesome and really liked the place, but not a pure BBQ joint.

Miller's is pretty good as you've mentioned. I actually don't like Clem's but that is personal preference. Schoepf's is decent and is usually worth the trip just for the cheesy potatoes lol. We don't eat BBQ much there anymore since we live down near Austin and there are so many great places down this way. Instead, we go to jaliscos for the cheap hole in the wall tex mex lol.

Yeah, I want to try Schoepf's. I didn't even notice it when searching for BBQ places my first few times there. I've seen Jalisco's mentioned on some UMHB twitter feeds so I might need to try that out. I likes me some tex mex too!

Miller's Smokehouse in Belton is the best BBQ in the area in my opinion.  They're a Texas Monthly Magazine Top 50 BBQ Joint on the 2017 and 2013 lists.  TMM publishes their list every 4 years or so.  I've never been impressed with Schoepf's Bar-B-Que.  We go to Clem Mikeska's Bar-B-Q in Belton for their Crusader Burger, Belton Tiger Burger, and White Wings (pieces of chicken breast, wrapped in bacon with a juicy center of jack cheese & jalapeño).  I don't care much for Clem's BBQ.  I've been to Backyard Bar-B-Q Bar and Grill once, and it was good.