00:00:00
Speaker 1: This is ESPN 1530. Mo Agger, thanks so much for listening today. The 2026 UC football season begins on Saturday. The Bearcats hosting Boston College at historic Nippert Stadium. A 330 kick. Cannot wait. Cannot wait. There's lots of new stuff in and around Nippert Stadium for the upcoming season. And to talk about all of that and so much more with us is the director of athletics at the University of Cincinnati, our guy John Cunningham. John, awesome to have you. Good afternoon.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Mo.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm doing well. Start with this because it came down right when we went on the air. You've got a jersey patch partner for football and men's basketball.
00:00:41
Speaker 2: We do, yeah. That was a new asset that every college could now sell going into this year. We didn't have a huge runway to go out and shop it and sell it. So we're really fortunate. There's a lot of schools that haven't found a partner, but we found the best one we could possibly think of in Weiler Automotive. Been a Cincinnati staple for 50 years. Been a great partner with us for as long as we can remember. Huge, deep connections. And so it's just the perfect place patch to put on our uniform and we're really proud to have them on board. All right.
00:01:15
Speaker 1: Well notice that on, uh, on Saturday afternoon, tell me about the hop shops tunnel club at Nippert stadium. Yeah.
00:01:24
Speaker 2: We're, you know, a few years ago we did our, um, suites, the, the, the field suites there on the North side of the stadium. And so we had this presented to us as a possibility that we could expand that. And we're going to bring another field suite, uh, but raise it up and have it be what we call the tunnel club. So our football team runs down those stairs, runs out of that corner of the stadium, and they're going to run underneath this raised club. It's about a 35 seat club of, you know, that's been raised up and it's, sponsored by Hop Shops, which is a great partner of ours. And so it's just going to be a fun new addition, a really cool view of the field in that corner right there. And so we're really excited to add that to the repertoire of what we do down there.
00:02:11
Speaker 1: I'm excited for this. And it's my suggestion that this be extended to the home broadcast booth, but La Rosa's Pizza is back at UC.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: That was a popular one. Again, another staple of Cincinnati. It needs to be in Nippert Stadium, and it hasn't been for the last few years. So to bring that back is fantastic. People are really excited about that. And we've got a couple of different locations for that. One of them being right directly behind the Bearcat layer in the north end zone. We'll have a La Rosa stand back there. We're going to add 50 West back there. um lee's chicken back there so we really kind of expanded our our uh our offerings in terms of food in nippert and and so we're.
00:02:54
Speaker 1: Gonna have a lot of fun with that walk through for me some of the options available for folks who are bringing kids to nippert stadium this year.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: Yeah i think that's what we do really well in in my mind is it's such a great family atmosphere college athletics lends itself to that. And I think Nippert and the way we do things around Nippert, a few years ago, we expanded the footprint of Nippert Stadium to include Shakley Lawn, which is that big open lawn between the baseball stadium and the football stadium. So we'll have that again and really focus on family-friendly activities. I know a lot of people I talk to love to just kind of hang out there, let their kids run around, have some fun. We'll have inflatables. We've got a circus theme the first game that will be really fun, a magician and a juggler and all kinds of things like that. So we're going to lean into the best family football atmosphere in this city is at Nippert Stadium, and that's what I think we do really, really well.
00:03:49
Speaker 1: You had the August pancake breakfast, which led to an open practice. I know that was very well attended. Are you going to continue the pancake theme into the season? We are, yes.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: I mean, we're highlighting our offensive line. So if you know, when an offensive lineman knocks down another player, it's called a pancake. We feel like we've got some of the best offensive linemen in the country and in the Big 12. So that's going to be a highlight of our team. We opened up this pancake breakfast for a practice, and we had a huge group of our fans come out and enjoy that. So we're going to keep that going. We'll have a pancake breakfast available tomorrow. um, in actually in fifth, third arena that is available to anyone, $ 25, all you can eat pancakes plus breakfast items. Um, so if you got to get a little carb load done before the game, that's where you can stop in. And, uh, we're going to keep having fun with the pancake.
00:04:42
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like love pancakes. So 25 bucks, I would, I would get my money's worth. All you can eat pancakes. The student experience has been enhanced. Tell me about that.
00:04:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, one of the things we always look at is how we can make sure that our students are engaged in the game and staying at the game. And so we've tried to do a couple things there. Number one, we know it's kind of difficult. We've got to get a logjam of students coming into the game. So a few years ago, we started doing what we call a fast pass, which allows people, our fan base, to get their tickets scanned in a wristband so they can just go right into the game. And it was really kind of a unique idea. It worked really well. So we're going to do the same for our students, try to make sure that they can get into the game quicker and more easily. And then the other thing that we look at is in the fourth quarter, we're going to have discounted concessions for our students. We have this system that will send them a little notification on their phone, and they can get discounted concessions all throughout.
00:05:41
Speaker 1: The fourth quarter.
00:05:42
Speaker 2: And some fun things in that third, fourth quarter are, mix we've changed that up a little bit so something to look forward to as we go into the fourth quarter we've got a we've got a song and and some activities there so we'll lean into that as well.
00:05:55
Speaker 1: All right yeah i'm looking forward to that and then you know there's the game itself you're also you're putting on a show you're putting on this like three and a half four hour just completely immersive event and in order to do that you've got to upgrade your equipment do some more things on the video board and so what's being done in that regard.
00:06:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we do a really nice job of putting on a great show. We've got a lot of really talented videographers and people that work the games. And so we're going to keep looking to them to come up with creative things. And they have. And I've seen a few of them. They give me a little bit of a preview. It's going to be a lot of fun. But one of the things we just had to do is get better and more cameras. And so we really invested in all kinds of new cameras, handhelds. We'll be able to get behind the scenes a little bit more and do some of those fun things, follow the team out from the tunnel. Some of those things that you'll see in the NFL have now come down into our level, and it was a big investment for us. And so our fans should be able to enjoy that as well.
00:06:57
Speaker 1: Made already my favorite Cincinnati sports venue even better. GoBearCats.com slash tickets for tickets to any UC football game this year. Boston College here for the season opener Saturday at 3.30. Can't wait. John, thanks so much.
00:07:15
Speaker 2: Always good to talk to you. Thank you, Mo.
00:07:16
Speaker 1: You got it. John Cunningham, the director of athletics at the University of Cincinnati. Again, 3.30 on Saturday, UC hosting Cincinnati. Boston College. 29 from 4 o'clock. Tony Pike is going to join us in about 15 minutes. Speaking of college football, Brian Jones, CBS Sports Network in the 5 o'clock hour and looking forward to that. It was fun to watch week zero college football this weekend. While the games weren't necessarily great, it was fun to watch college football and not have to listen to anybody talk about injunctions. I've had my fill of injunctions for one life, although I'm sure we're going to get a lot more. 513-749-1530 is our number, though I have not given you anything to respond to. That's how you call the show.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: 866-702-3776.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: Sports headlines are coming up on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: Traffic. From the UC Health traffic station.
Speaker 1: This is ESPN 1530. Mo Agger, thanks so much for listening today. The 2026 UC football season begins on Saturday. The Bearcats hosting Boston College at historic Nippert Stadium. A 330 kick. Cannot wait. Cannot wait. There's lots of new stuff in and around Nippert Stadium for the upcoming season. And to talk about all of that and so much more with us is the director of athletics at the University of Cincinnati, our guy John Cunningham. John, awesome to have you. Good afternoon.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Mo.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm doing well. Start with this because it came down right when we went on the air. You've got a jersey patch partner for football and men's basketball.
00:00:41
Speaker 2: We do, yeah. That was a new asset that every college could now sell going into this year. We didn't have a huge runway to go out and shop it and sell it. So we're really fortunate. There's a lot of schools that haven't found a partner, but we found the best one we could possibly think of in Weiler Automotive. Been a Cincinnati staple for 50 years. Been a great partner with us for as long as we can remember. Huge, deep connections. And so it's just the perfect place patch to put on our uniform and we're really proud to have them on board. All right.
00:01:15
Speaker 1: Well notice that on, uh, on Saturday afternoon, tell me about the hop shops tunnel club at Nippert stadium. Yeah.
00:01:24
Speaker 2: We're, you know, a few years ago we did our, um, suites, the, the, the field suites there on the North side of the stadium. And so we had this presented to us as a possibility that we could expand that. And we're going to bring another field suite, uh, but raise it up and have it be what we call the tunnel club. So our football team runs down those stairs, runs out of that corner of the stadium, and they're going to run underneath this raised club. It's about a 35 seat club of, you know, that's been raised up and it's, sponsored by Hop Shops, which is a great partner of ours. And so it's just going to be a fun new addition, a really cool view of the field in that corner right there. And so we're really excited to add that to the repertoire of what we do down there.
00:02:11
Speaker 1: I'm excited for this. And it's my suggestion that this be extended to the home broadcast booth, but La Rosa's Pizza is back at UC.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: That was a popular one. Again, another staple of Cincinnati. It needs to be in Nippert Stadium, and it hasn't been for the last few years. So to bring that back is fantastic. People are really excited about that. And we've got a couple of different locations for that. One of them being right directly behind the Bearcat layer in the north end zone. We'll have a La Rosa stand back there. We're going to add 50 West back there. um lee's chicken back there so we really kind of expanded our our uh our offerings in terms of food in nippert and and so we're.
00:02:54
Speaker 1: Gonna have a lot of fun with that walk through for me some of the options available for folks who are bringing kids to nippert stadium this year.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: Yeah i think that's what we do really well in in my mind is it's such a great family atmosphere college athletics lends itself to that. And I think Nippert and the way we do things around Nippert, a few years ago, we expanded the footprint of Nippert Stadium to include Shakley Lawn, which is that big open lawn between the baseball stadium and the football stadium. So we'll have that again and really focus on family-friendly activities. I know a lot of people I talk to love to just kind of hang out there, let their kids run around, have some fun. We'll have inflatables. We've got a circus theme the first game that will be really fun, a magician and a juggler and all kinds of things like that. So we're going to lean into the best family football atmosphere in this city is at Nippert Stadium, and that's what I think we do really, really well.
00:03:49
Speaker 1: You had the August pancake breakfast, which led to an open practice. I know that was very well attended. Are you going to continue the pancake theme into the season? We are, yes.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: I mean, we're highlighting our offensive line. So if you know, when an offensive lineman knocks down another player, it's called a pancake. We feel like we've got some of the best offensive linemen in the country and in the Big 12. So that's going to be a highlight of our team. We opened up this pancake breakfast for a practice, and we had a huge group of our fans come out and enjoy that. So we're going to keep that going. We'll have a pancake breakfast available tomorrow. um, in actually in fifth, third arena that is available to anyone, $ 25, all you can eat pancakes plus breakfast items. Um, so if you got to get a little carb load done before the game, that's where you can stop in. And, uh, we're going to keep having fun with the pancake.
00:04:42
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like love pancakes. So 25 bucks, I would, I would get my money's worth. All you can eat pancakes. The student experience has been enhanced. Tell me about that.
00:04:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, one of the things we always look at is how we can make sure that our students are engaged in the game and staying at the game. And so we've tried to do a couple things there. Number one, we know it's kind of difficult. We've got to get a logjam of students coming into the game. So a few years ago, we started doing what we call a fast pass, which allows people, our fan base, to get their tickets scanned in a wristband so they can just go right into the game. And it was really kind of a unique idea. It worked really well. So we're going to do the same for our students, try to make sure that they can get into the game quicker and more easily. And then the other thing that we look at is in the fourth quarter, we're going to have discounted concessions for our students. We have this system that will send them a little notification on their phone, and they can get discounted concessions all throughout.
00:05:41
Speaker 1: The fourth quarter.
00:05:42
Speaker 2: And some fun things in that third, fourth quarter are, mix we've changed that up a little bit so something to look forward to as we go into the fourth quarter we've got a we've got a song and and some activities there so we'll lean into that as well.
00:05:55
Speaker 1: All right yeah i'm looking forward to that and then you know there's the game itself you're also you're putting on a show you're putting on this like three and a half four hour just completely immersive event and in order to do that you've got to upgrade your equipment do some more things on the video board and so what's being done in that regard.
00:06:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we do a really nice job of putting on a great show. We've got a lot of really talented videographers and people that work the games. And so we're going to keep looking to them to come up with creative things. And they have. And I've seen a few of them. They give me a little bit of a preview. It's going to be a lot of fun. But one of the things we just had to do is get better and more cameras. And so we really invested in all kinds of new cameras, handhelds. We'll be able to get behind the scenes a little bit more and do some of those fun things, follow the team out from the tunnel. Some of those things that you'll see in the NFL have now come down into our level, and it was a big investment for us. And so our fans should be able to enjoy that as well.
00:06:57
Speaker 1: Made already my favorite Cincinnati sports venue even better. GoBearCats.com slash tickets for tickets to any UC football game this year. Boston College here for the season opener Saturday at 3.30. Can't wait. John, thanks so much.
00:07:15
Speaker 2: Always good to talk to you. Thank you, Mo.
00:07:16
Speaker 1: You got it. John Cunningham, the director of athletics at the University of Cincinnati. Again, 3.30 on Saturday, UC hosting Cincinnati. Boston College. 29 from 4 o'clock. Tony Pike is going to join us in about 15 minutes. Speaking of college football, Brian Jones, CBS Sports Network in the 5 o'clock hour and looking forward to that. It was fun to watch week zero college football this weekend. While the games weren't necessarily great, it was fun to watch college football and not have to listen to anybody talk about injunctions. I've had my fill of injunctions for one life, although I'm sure we're going to get a lot more. 513-749-1530 is our number, though I have not given you anything to respond to. That's how you call the show.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: 866-702-3776.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: Sports headlines are coming up on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: Traffic. From the UC Health traffic station.
