The Univ. of Pittsburgh in April hired Scott Barnes as its new AD, and he said there was an "absolute improvement" in attendance for home football games this year at Heinz Field, according to a Q&A with Sam Werner of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. Barnes: "Our season ticket base grew. Our fan attendance grew. ... We have a chance to really move the needle again. ... We made progress, we beat our numbers in revenue and tickets, number of tickets and what our goal was. Our budget number, we beat our number." More excerpts are below:
Q: What does it mean to you when you hear Temple say, "Well, if we could just have the same (stadium) deal that Pitt has, that would be great for us?"
Barnes: It starts with the relationship with the Rooney family and the openness of that partnership, it's been special. So, then the things that we're able to do there, turn it over in one day to become a Pitt facility and do those things. It's a really solid relationship, in terms of what we get and what we're doing with them and working together, open dialogue about what our needs are.
Q: What improvements are you making at the South Side practice facility?
Barnes: Football is multifaceted. Part of it is the front entrance to the South Side, the Duratz Center security area. ... When you walk up, "I'm here to see Pitt," "I'm here to see the Steelers," peel off to the Steelers, peel off to Pitt. It'll push it out a little bit, open up a lobby area to do some branding. ... There's nothing there that tells you it's a practice facility. It looks like a warehouse. There could be a bunch of trucks in there, you wouldn't know it. So, branding that on the outside, co-branding (with the Steelers). ... Basketball, short-term, is really the venue. ... We'll have a new basketball floor. We're exploring an opportunity for an LED ribbon all the way, 360 degrees, whereas now there's just a section of it. The practice facility that's connected to the Petersen, again, the same thing I talked about with football, to brand it, to create an entrance that tells you where you're going.
Q: Is it tough to keep up with the SEC in the gap analysis?
Barnes: The SEC, in football in particular, it's crazy. The one good piece is that everybody's looking for something a little different. Money's important, but there's other pieces to it, and a quality program that's on the right trajectory, the right coach to hitch your wagon to as a coordinator is critical. Quality of life, there's a lot of pieces to that. Our gap analysis is going to tell us some things that we don't know and there's a bunch we already do know. Football, we're going to be competitive.
Q: How do you walk the line between competitive and crazy?
Barnes: It's hard, it really is. I think it goes back to knowing who you are as an institution and being fiscally responsible and understanding that -- believe me, compensation, salary is really important -- there's also some other things that are really important (POST-GAZETTE.com, 12/17).
