Ask around campus, almost everyone knows when the first FIU football game of the year is, exactly where to be for that first tailgate, and who will be the on the field for the Panthers this upcoming season. Although what if we were to shift the focus in the direction of the other up and coming athletics on campus?
For example, when marketing major Santiago Reyes was asked about what his expectations were for men’s basketball coach Anthony Evans next season, the senior responded with how he had heard nothing about the men’s upcoming season.
“To be completely honest, I’ve heard nothing about the upcoming men’s basketball season”, said Reyes. “At least in my opinion, the exposure for the men’s basketball team has been extremely limited”.
Over the last three season the football team has posted a 13-23 record, a pretty lousy span for the Panthers. However, regardless of the record, the Football squad still receives the most exposure.
Both the FIU baseball and softball teams had winning records this season. the softball team went on to go 46-15, that’s a remarkable 75%, winning percentage. The baseball team, under first-year head coach Mervyl Melendez, had a 31-27 and also had six players drafted in the Major League Baseball draft. Regardless of the team’s success, the exposure for the teams was still lacking.
Senior and criminal justice major Joey Jimenez explained how he only has seen football posters around the campus, but has rarely seen any posters or banners for the other FIU athletics.
“I have only seen football posters around school, it’s almost as if we don’t even have any other teams”, said Jimenez. “In my opinion, the fact that the school does a poor job of spreading the word on the rest of these sports is the main reason we don’t recognize them”.
Senior Linnet Herrera talked about a few ideas on how to help create exposure for the other FIU sports.
“Emails, how many times during the week do we receive messages from the school in regard to just about everything”, said the biology major. “If the school were to send emails to raise awareness of these other sports, then it would be reaching just about every student on campus”.
Intercultural communication professor John Sotham discussed that he feels that the football team is taking over as the face of FIU sports and the other sports seem to be falling into the background.
“I don’t invest too much time in FIU athletics, however I will say the only FIU sport that I’m consistently exposed to is the Panthers football team”, said Professor Sotham. “It seems to me that the public face of FIU sports is the football squad and the rest of the other sports seem to fall into the background”.
Whether increasing the investment in advertising for these sport programs is the answer or if it simply comes down to giving the students more of an incentive to go to the games, the exposure of all FIU athletics needs to be addressed.
About Post Author
