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Stadium Special
Sept. 22, 2001
Comcast SportsNet will air
Elon-produced football show
Jessica Rivelli
Reporter
Stadium makes headlines
Jessica Rivelli
Reporter
Are we ready for some foot
ball? “Touchdown Thursday
Night” is back with a new name,
new set and a new audience. In
the past, the Elon community has
spent its Thursday nights watch
ing highlights of Elpn’s football
games on “Touchdown Thursday
Night.” This season, the show has
been renamed, “Touchdown
Phoenix Football” and will be
available to more than 5 million
homes.
“Touchdown Phoenix Foot
ball” is airing on Comcast
SportsNet, a network that reaches
5.1 million homes through 345
stations from Pennsylvania to
North Carolina,
“Touchdown Phoenix Foot
ball,” a student-run production,
highlights last week’s game and
previews the upcoming Saturday.
The shows features Trip Durham,
Elon assistant director of athlet
ics and Phoenix Coach A1
Seagraves. During the Sunday
taping, both critique the game-
using tools, such as graphics.
Last year, “Touchdown Thursday
Night” picked up a bronze Telly
Award and a Communicator
Award.
The show is produced and di
rected by Elon students. “There
are about 20 students doing ev
erything from producing to di
recting to camera to editing to for
the show,” said J. McMerty, Elon
coordinator of student television.
“The experience they are getting
is immeasurable.”
Students working on the show
have the opportunity to earn class
credit for their work. Senior
Steve Jeffries, the show’s pro
ducer, worked on the production
and interned for Comcast over
the summer.
“It gives us a chance to pro
duce real television and use what
we have learned in the classroom
combined with our creativity to
put our final product together,”
Jeffries said. “This show has al
lowed me to leave a legacy at
Elon, which is extremely grati
fying because I have had such a
great experience at this school.”
Elon Athletics is paying
Comcast to air the show, but
McMerty insists the money is
worth the experience and the na
tional recognition. “We will be
going out to 5.1 million viewers
every week,” said McMerty.
“What other university TV sta
tion can say that?”
Comcast viewers can watch
the show at 2 p.m. on Wednes
days. Local fans can see it at its
original time and date, 7 p.m. on
Thursday nights on cable chan
nels 5 in Alamance and 10 in
Mebane.
In print and on television, the con
struction of Rhodes Stadium has be
come a headline here in the Pied
mont. Over the summer, reporters
and photographers from area papers
and television stations covered the
stadium from its infancy to its fin
ishing touches. Today, they will cap
ture history at its opening.
The construction made headlines
in the Greensboro News and Record,
Raleigh News and Observer, The
Daily Reflector, a Greenville news
paper and the Burlington Times News.
Each newspaper offered at least one
full-length story along with pictures.
The Burlington Times-News, the
hometown paper, has continuously
covered the construction over the
year, according to David Hibbard,
Elon News Bureau Director. The
stadium’s pictures have covered the
front page of the Times-News sev
eral times, Hibbard explained.
Crews from four area television
stations visited Elon a handful of
times over the summer. Matt
Eviston, assistant director of athlet
ics for sports information and media
relations said. More than 30 televi
sion stories on the stadium and the
football team aired over the three-
month period, said Eviston.
The University Relations staff
worked to coordinate the media cov
erage. They supplied reporters with
much of the material used in the
newspaper articles and television sto
ries. They also pitched the Rhodes
Stadium story to several national
media outlets, including the Associ
ated Press, which plans to cover the
opening today.
“I think football and athletics is a
great ambassador for the school,”
Dan Anderson, director of university
relations said. “We received a lot of
great exposure and free publicity
from the stadium.”
Director of Athletics, Dr. Alan
White said he is also impressed with
media coverage of the stadium. “The
publicity and media attention have
been tremendous over the last few
months,” he said. “I think having a
stadium of this stature will continue
to generate a lot of interest in Elon.”
Tailgating before games to become new tradition
Catch the Phoenix
9/29
Gardner-Webb
University, 2 p.m.
10/6
at Western Kentucky
University
10/13
Northwestern State
University, 2 p.m.
10/20
at Hofstra University
10/27
Charleston Southern
University, 7 p.m.
n/3
at Samford University
n/10
Georgia Southern
University, 2 p.m.
n/24
Possible rescheduled
game with Eastern
Kentucky University
Jessica Vitak
Copy Editor
For many football fanatics, tail-
gating before a game is as impor
tant as the game itself. And in true
football fashion, Elon is offering
Phoenix fans the opportunity to
have a great time before they even
reach their seats at Rhodes Stadium.
Tailgating is a tradition in both
college and professional football,
where fans get together before a
game to catch up, eat good food and
get pumped' for the impending
game. This season, tailgating will
be held “on the green,” the grassy
area behind Moseley Center and in
its adjacent parking lots. Official
tailgating will run from 11:30 a.m.
to 1:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Student Life and
the Student Government Associa
tion (SGA), Elon hopes to make
tailgating a Phoenix tradition for
students, faculty and staff, alumni
and community members. Jana
Lynn Patterson, dean of student
life, says that the school recognizes
what an important role tailgating
plays in raising team spirit.
“We are providing this oppor
tunity for everyone, but especially
for the students, to have fun be
fore home games,” Patterson said.
“It is a great way to enjoy the
spirit surrounding the team and
the new stadium.”
SGA is also playing an active role
in organizing tailgating, having co
ordinated the tailgating at Williams
High School in previous years. The
precedent SGA set then is the basis
for current practices. SGA president
Trey Bolton is excited that the event
will now be held on campus and said
he believes it will be even more suc
cessful than in the past.
“The SGA hopes this will pro
vide a fun and safe environment
for all those who attend,” Bolton
said. We believe this new alterna
tive will be well received and ev
eryone will have a good time.”
Student Life and SGA have
worked together to develop a set of
guidelines to make tailgating as easy
as possible for those attending. Stu
dents, faculty and alumni groups
may register before each game, al
though registration is not necessary
to attend. Patterson says that regis
tering can make the experience more
enjoyable.
“If a group of friends wants to
register for tailgating, they will be
provided with a table and a parking
pass,” Patterson said. “But they
don’t have to get a table. We just
want everyone to have a good time.”
Huey’s Bar-be-que of Burlington
will be at all games selling sand
wiches and box lunches. Groups can
also grill on the green, provided they
bring their own equipment. Drinking
is allowed for those of age as long as
the drinks are in plastic cups.
Patterson stresses that Elon and
campus police will not be actively
patrolling the tailgating, but all par
ticipants are held to the school’s
guidelines on drinking. Students
will be held to the honor system and
are expected to abide by school
rules. Drinking is also limited to
the area designated for tailgating
and fans should not walk around
campus with open drinks.
“There is an open container law
in the town of Elon, and we do not
want to see any fans receiving tick
ets for having open drinks,”
Patterson said. “We will be hand
ing out information at the tailgat
ing to remind all fans of the town
policy.”
Tailgating will also include an
appearance by the school’s mascot
and live music by the school’s ra
dio station, WSOE.
To register a group for the next
Elon home game, contact the of
fice of student life by calling 278-
7200. Student, faculty and staff
groups must register by 5 p.m. on
the Wednesday prior to a game in
order to be guaranteed a spot.
Alumni groups must register at
least 10 days prion to a game and
can complete the registration pro
cess over the phone.