Emailed Scott Barnes/Zack Lassiter & got this reply:

Just got off the phone with the staff (Zack, Steve and a few others were in on it). Zack was very informative. Went over all my topics in depth and then some. They said that they definitely know that the "Sailor Benny" is popular which is why it is still offered. He did say it is not out of the question to have the be brought back some day (Zack mentioned the OSU practice helmets even had the Sailor Benny). The roof of Valley FBC Banner has "Run Its Course) he said. He said they found that that roof is a valued piece of real estate and may put a new sign up after this season. He reiterated that it is a great piece of real estate and will use it. He did say that he (Zack) did not feel comfortable talking about the state of the football program (Gary and the staff and what they are planning on doing to help with the success of the program directly). He addressed the game day experience and said it is like the logo deal...you are having to cater to 70 year old fans, and 17 year old fans. How do you cater to both demographics? He said that 60% of season tix holder live in PDX! WOAH! Thats crazy. Interesting: He said that they have been focusing HARD on the appearance of the stadium on TV and not as much in person. He said that MOST recruits and fans watch on TV and not in person and the problem is getting them to come so the TV appearance is important. The student attendance rate has been on the up for the last 3 years Zack said. He said there is NOT 1 pac12 team that sells out each game and it is not just a OSU problem. Not Oregon, UW, USC...not one. I found that surprising. He said the average student prefers night games and the average season tix holder prefers day games. The game day experience and on field success will show noticeable improvement over the next two years he said. He did acknowledge that for the every day fan, they just see that OSU has new academic buildings going up like crazy, the campus is getting more and more beautiful and wonder why not the athletics and he did say that they have been working hard lately to get plans for the next big push for boosters and donors to get the other side of Reser done and the rest of the Athletics facilities (softball and soccer fields etc.) He could not discuss the Nike contract but did say it was coming up to and end soon but would not hint at whether they plan on renewing or not.

Zack mentioned that the name of Reser has in fact been brought up in the past and they have talked to the Resers about the name (ultimately they have the choice to choose the name and can donate for the right to choose the name) and CURRENTLY he said there are no plans to change it but they did talk about it. (He said I was not the only fan who has asked that)

He said Oregon Athletics only has one Billboard (outside the Eugene Airport. OSU has one...HWY 34. Any others you see are funded by the academic side. That was interesting.

Lastly he ended with thanking me for taking the time to talk for 45 mins and said thank you for not going off about the staff, players etc. because he said he would not have relied to my email the way he did had I done that. I asked if he gets them often lately and he laughed and said "yes".

Sorry this is so quick/jumbled and not detailed but I was typing as they spoke and while I asked questions.

Sounds like a good conversation. It's very commendable of the athletics staff that they are willing to talk and go over things like this with fans. A few things:

The stadium does look nice on TV, provided nobody scores a touchdown and you see all the empty terrace seats. Bothers me to no end that seats that nice are unused. You could say the same for the club, but cameras rarely pan up that high. Part of the problem with premium seating areas is that the amenities that drive fans to buy them take them out of their seats. So what do you do? Take away the amenities and try to coax them back out into the stands? You do that and they're going to wonder what they're paying for. It's a tough gig.

As for selling advertising on the top of VFC, that makes a hell of a lot of sense. I like this idea a bunch. Anything that puts more money in the coffers is good in my opinion. As long as whatever gets put up there isn't obnoxiously colored, I'm totally in on this.

Wanting the stadium to have a name of historical significance is a nice idea, but we need money. If you ask me, the Reser name does have significance in this state and at this university. That's not a family that just threw some money at a stadium to get their company logo on the field. They are Beavers through and through. They care about this university with more than just their wallets. Who cares if they sell potato salad? It's not like they're pitching semi-automatic weapons or tampons or e-cigarettes or a million other embarrassing things. Some NBA team plays in the Smoothie King Center, I forget which one. Oakland's stadium was called O.co Coliseum for a while. Reser is the family name of a family of alums who put up money to get that thing built. I'm proud of that, not sure why other people aren't.

Did he really say that gameday experience and on field performance will show noticeable improvements over the next two years? Sounds like a promise that's not guaranteed. We've been talking about improving the gameday performance for fifteen years now. As for on field.....I'll reserve judgement on that until I see how many guys transfer and what our recruiting classes look like. We can quibble all we want about what is noticeable - is 4-8 with a couple conference wins and no 24 point losses noticeable? Is giving up fewer than 450 yards per game noticeable?

I too , wrote Zach and received this reply

Thanks for your email- I appreciate your candid feedback and more importantly your long time support of Beaver Football. I did speak with Jesse as well as many other Beaver fans. I would agree that this football season has been incredibly challenging and frustrating so far. We are committed to having an open dialogue with many members of Beaver Nation and do so on a regular basis via email, phone calls and in person meetings. Thanks again for your passion and desire to see our football program be successful on and off the field. We all have the same goals.

Go Beavs!

Zack

Zack Lassiter
Deputy Athletic Director- External Operations
Oregon State Athletics
137 Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, OR 97331
Cell: 541-250-6414
Zack.Lassiter@oregonstate.edu
Twitter: @zacklassiter


As a 30 plus year Beaver fan , I had to say something . I won't go into specifics or make suggestions as I do not have a football background . I write only as a concerned Beaver fan




The following letter was just posted on Benny'sHouse a fan board for us Beavers and Beaver fans . In reality , the issues that the letter writer points out were well intended I am sure but they are NOT the issues Beaver fans are worried about and if you read the reader comments following the football articles in the Oregonian and other newspapers online as well as Benny's House and other fan boards , you will see that many , many of us are concerned with the giant step back our football program has taken in year three of Gary Andersen . I don't know how many of us expected a bowl game this year but we did expect a step forward , not ten steps back . We are concerned that going by Gary's own quoted statements , he seems to quite literally not grasp what is happening or any idea how to fix it . It would also seem from those same quoted comments that there is little communication between him and the rest of the coaching staff in regards to the status of certain players . Rumor's abound of discontent among players and one can easily see the team not playing in the second half of games as players not buying into the game plan and or the coaching staff having lost the respect and will to play by the team.


There is too much to cover here so I would suggest if you haven't been , follow the fans boards and the online newspapers and I think you will see the many reasons Beaver fans are not in favor of this coaching staff and in favor of Oregon State actually putting forth the effort , time and money etc to find a quality coaching staff and recruit quality players . I would make an effort to reach out to Beaver Nation and hear what we have to say and before it is too late because if you don't , I think you can expect more and more empty seats at Reser and fewer ticket sales and revenue . GO BEAVERS !!

Nothing? What do you expect them to do, give us the same treatment as UofO? Nonsense. 
Do you think we could get a better deal from another sponsor, given the current condition of our football program? Nonsense. 

Money talks, and programs like Washington for example get big bucks from having Alaska Airlines pay for naming rights!  Why don't we get A big name for Gill and change that name?  As far as Reser goes, it needs to be Nike Coliseum or Intel Stadium.  I love the Intel Stadium idea, our stadium could be high tech and have Intel inside. Intel could set up massive Wifi and on our phones and tablets there could be real time stats, replays on demand, player bios etc.  During a game they could try and set a world record for people FaceTiming the game to friends...  We need to get the marketing, we need to finish Reser (Intel Stadium) and give a reason for the fans to want to attend the games instead of sitting on their couch. And after we score touchdowns we need something cooler than legal oregon sparklers and piccolo petes!

Don't slam devoted OSU benefactors because you don't think they are sufficiently cool.  That's about as dumb as it gets.

And BTW, the day that OSU plays football in "Nike Stadium" will be my last day as an OSU fan.

hey lax, I love the chainsaw. I think its very creative when there are sounds or images etc. that go with the mascot. That's just me.