so what is your solution lefty?
Well, it's not my problem to solve, since I'm not being paid to do it like MB, but I won't cop out.
MB is in an untenable position. It was pretty clear to everyone paying attention that the fan base no longer believed in Hawk, sure you have DBt and a few others, but most gave up. Hawk was as good as gone according to many. I don't have any great inside sources, but I heard from a few folks who know more than I about the AD (admittedly that isn't saying a whole lot) the deal was essentially doen, then got changed by either Benson or DiStephano. If I were MB, I would have resigned. I said so at the time.
In short, the solution was to do what everybody not named Phil or Bruce expected, fire Hawk, start over. That ship has sailed and now they have no choice but to ride out the storm. If they had any sense, they would have given a 5% discount on the season tickets if renewed before April 1, 2010. They would have had some kind of promotions other than a one in 20,000 chance to win a Buff jersey to renew. They really haven't given anybody an incentive to stay the course. It's the same old same old, "Hey, you guys aren't loyal if you don't keep buying tickets, even though we haven't listened to the massses". I truly believe these guys have little business sense. People who work in the public sector can begin to get those blinders that make them think the revenue will always be there, no matter what.
Of course, the one incentive they can't give, is a promise they will get rid of Hawk, which is what is driving the lion's share of the dissatisfaction.
The best I can do is to suggest you will have to spend money to get a return on this one. That money spent is incentivizing the purchase of tickets, in advance. But they'll never do that. They see the $$$$ as a one way street, from the fans to the AD. They could buy a ton of goodwill, it is a question of doing the math. The AD is going to lose $$$ this year because of the massive cluster caused by NOT firing Hawk. Figuring out how to spend their way out of some of that loss thorugh incentivizing is a job for the bean counters. Every business I've been involved with has had loss leaders, especially when it was a start up, or some huge snafu was being corrected. And brother, they have a HUGE snafu on their hands now.....