By Morgan Van Wagoner
Superfans founder and president Adam Clark reformed his club this summer in an attempt to lead the group in the direction he has always imagined it going.
The cost to join will drop from $15 to $5, and the group will no longer sponsor tailgate parties before games, but members will still receive a T-shirt and exclusive Superfans opportunities. Clark hopes the drop in price will encourage more people to join, and make the club more service-oriented.
The tailgate parties took many hours to plan and execute, which took too much time away from the real purpose of the club, Clark said.
?I?ve always had this vision for what Superfans was going to be,? Clark said. ?It?s never gotten there.?
Clark wants the club to be a service organization, and plans on developing a rewards program for members. A Superfan would receive points for attending a BYU game, and would then get priority seating or another perk for his or her loyalty to BYU sports.
The club is currently a BYU athletics booster organization and Clark is working on a way to make his rewards program happen.
In the past, members of Superfans got front row seats at men?s basketball games in return for handing out fliers before and after the game. Some students who were not in Superfans expressed concern about the fairness of such a practice. Clark explained that if the club members did not have reserved seats, they would be in the very highest seats of the Marriott Center, or not in seats at all.
?We want people to be rewarded for being good fans, for being great fans. I don?t believe in equality,? Clark said. ?We do a lot of service. Every year since we?ve started we?ve run the finish lines at cross-country events.?
The club will be aimed at getting fans to interact more with teams and players, and not on just getting average fans to attend, Clark said.
Stacy Young, a senior from Salt Lake City, joined Superfans her freshman year with several of her friends.
?It was fun to go to the games in your (Superfans) shirt and cheer with everyone else,? Young said.
She admits she signed up mainly for a social reason, and was only a member for one year.
?I wasn?t the best Superfan,? she said.
Clark does not want social events like tailgate parties to depend on Superfans? sponsorship.
?I want BYUSA to do it,? Clark said.
BYUSA currently sponsors many of the Homecoming week activities, as well as Blue and White Week. BYUSA representatives were not available for comment about plans to join with Superfans for tailgate parties.
The burden of involving students has fallen on Superfans, Clark said, and he wants to refocus the club.
?I don?t represent student body fans. My club is for people that are really super fans,? Clark said. ?The tailgates were fun, but that?s where we spent all our time. This way we can spend our resources on people who help.?