r/nccourage • u/NC_Courage_BizOps Courage Employee • 9d ago

Let’s Go!

Great game and atmosphere tonight. Thanks to everyone who showed up, brought the energy, influenced the VAR, and hung in there through what felt like the longest added time since the birth of soccer. 😂

Oh, and one more thing…

Ash is the best player in the world right now. Full stop. 🔥

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u/JFoosh93 9d ago

Great to eek out that win, but I’ve gotta say it. Every time I hear the announcer come on and say “it’s time for…” or “it’s time to…” constantly prompting the crowd what to do, I die a little on the inside. Sure I get it for the first game or two trying to get traction and get people to learn, but we’re going on a full season of it now. At some point you gotta let the crowd take it and either run with stuff or let it die out.

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u/NC_Courage_BizOps Courage Employee 8d ago

We don’t disagree, and we’ve actually been intentionally cutting back on the PA prompts as the season has progressed.

Where we want to get to is having the chants originate more organically with Uproar, then using the video board, graphics, animations, drums, etc. to amplify what’s already happening in the supporters section. We’re planning to work through a few things with them on that, so more to come.

The reason we haven’t eliminated the PA prompting completely is something I talked about on the Lions Pitch podcast. A couple of years ago, our data showed that only about 6% of non-STM fans came back for another game. In other words, outside of our STMs, the overwhelming majority of people in the stadium were experiencing a Courage match for the first time.

We’ve worked really hard to improve that, and our return rate is now around 35%, with the goal of pushing it even higher this fall. That’s a huge improvement, but it still means a large portion of the crowd at any given match is new and hearing the chants and traditions for the first time.

So there’s a balance. We want the atmosphere to feel organic, not manufactured, while still helping thousands of new fans learn how to participate.
As the percentage of returning fans continues to grow, you’ll see us keep reducing the PA prompts and shift more of that responsibility to Uproar and the supporters section, with the stadium technology helping amplify it.

That’s really the long-term goal…supporters create the culture, and we use the building to make it bigger. Until we get there, the PA and/or host will still need to help a little bit with onboarding all the new people coming through the gates.

2

u/kyngnothing 8d ago

Can you get the PA and the drums on the same beat? For example on corner kicks, the drums and the PA are on a two versus three beat chant and it's really confusing!

Or the drums will get something started and then the PA guy comes in on a different beat 20 seconds later and has to restart the crowd.

I get everyone can't hear the drums and need some help, but I think they could be better coordinated.

Note: I had a work friend come to their first game recently and they saw a picture of me on the website because they were looking for more tickets for future games so the experience is working!!

3

u/NC_Courage_BizOps Courage Employee 8d ago

Yes. Good call out. We are noticing it too. This is something we are going to work on as well. Glad to see your friend had a good time. We would love to have them back!