Sommer drinks a highball to rewards

Freshman Matthew Sommer is the biggest Penn sports fan on campus, and he has the points to prove it.

An enthusiastic participant in the Red and Blue Rewards program, Sommer has acquired 59 points - ten points more than the second-place contender. Having already amassed enough points to acquire a free Qdoba burrito, Famiglia pizza, Penn T-shirt and Penn hamper, Sommer is on the verge of redeeming the 60-point Penn pint-glass set.

Given that each sporting event is valued at two or three points on an average day, Sommer is also favored to win an iPod at the end of the semester for accumulating the most points this year.

But the prizes aren't what motivates this Quakers fanatic. Sommer and his hallmates are engaged in a friendly competition to see who can emerge victorious.

"The prizes are kind of lame . it's more a pride thing." Sommer said. "I went to gymnastics. I've gone to swimming, I've gone to soccer and I've gone to wrestling - things I would never have gone to if it weren't for the Red and Blue Rewards."

That attitude is music to the ears of Brian Head, the Penn Athletics coordinator of Marketing, Promotions and Community Affairs. Head said that the initial purpose of the promotion was to increase student attendance at all events, specifically non-ticketed ones, which include all sports except men's and women's basketball, football and wrestling.

It is unclear whether the goal of increased attendance has been achieved for ticketed games. Football attendance rose from 55,448 over the course of the 2007 season to 56,420 in 2008, while women's basketball, which tallied 586 fans per game last season, is now averaging 576 fans.

The increased attendance at non-ticketed events, however, is quite apparent.

"In our first year, we thought the response rate was pretty strong," senior associate director of Athletics Alanna Shanahan said. "When you have 40 or 50 students coming to the squash match as a part of this [program], that is a lot more students than we would have seen previously."

Because the program has shown early signs of success in its first year, the Penn Athletics Marketing Department is looking to continue the promotion next school year.

"To the extent to which we can give the Red and Blue Rewards program greater visibility through all of the marketing initiatives we have, we think it is just going to grow and grow every year," Shanahan said.

Sommer agreed, pointing out that more publicity should be dedicated to the less-attended events. He spoke to the poor quality of Penn Athletics' weekly e-mail updates and how he often finds himself checking the Penn Athletics website for the schedule of upcoming games.

"There are only three sports events on each e-mail, and there are definitely more than three sporting events going on each week," he said.

The Marketing Department is hoping to retain its freshman fanbase for future years.

Having already captured Sommer and his hallmates, Head hopes that even though the number of points acquired is reset each school year, the class of 2012 will hold onto their rewards cards and continue to develop a relationship with Penn Athletics.

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