The Ignited program wants students fired up about Auburn sports.
"The whole purpose of it is to try to entice students to come to as many athletic events as possible by rewarding them for how many they go to," said Eli Wilkerson, assistant athletic director for sales and marketing. "What we do is we set up scanners at almost every home athletic event and offer different point totals depending on the popularity of the sport."
The points range from one point for men's basketball and baseball to three points for tennis games or equestrian events.
Student can later redeem their points for prizes form Under Armour.
"We start with the 10 and 20 point totals which really aren't that hard to get to," Wilkerson said. "The prize for that is the Auburn prize bracelets or the wristbands. One hundred is a personalized football jersey, made for them with whatever they want on the back."
Wilkerson said the Ignited program has trouble attracting more than just the programs loyal members to sporting events.
"We always have a group of core people who come to the events and lead the way and we're real thankful for them," he said. "Our biggest challenge is trying to get to the general student, who may not be as interested in coming to the events. We want to get people interested so they can get these prizes, and there's really no investment for them except using their card."
One of the biggest boosts in attendance comes from the Student Govenment Association using the Ignited cards to track spirit points, Wilkerson said.
"The joy of the Ignited program and the Ignited card is that they have created a really easy way for us to track and record spirit points this year," said Gant Weeks, director of spirit. "Having spirit points attached to the Ignited points is nice for sports that might not be the most popular. The equestrians do a lot of cookout competitions and attendance has gotten much better."
Wilkerson said he has seen a tremendous jump in the popularity of the program over the past two years due to improvements in technology, such as the switch from handheld scanners.
"We're always looking for ways to improve," Wilkerson said. "For next year, we're looking into making it of a more GPS-based thing, like foursquare, where students can actually check in from their phone. The more student-friendly it is, the less work it is. We want to make it something they want to do so it isn't a hassle for them."
Logan Riley, sophomore in biochemistry, goes to several Ignited events every week. He said he went to more than 60 events last year.
"It definitely provides a positive incentive to get people to sporting events that they probably wouldn't go to otherwise," Riley said. "I know I normally wouldn't go to any of the baseball games or gymnastics meets. Through the Auburn Ignited program I have grown to enjoy going, and now I would go even if there weren't points assigned to them."
Riley said the program makes prize pickup convenient by doing it once a month at locations on campus. He said the prizes sparked interest in students that didn't know about the program.
"I would come back with three or four new prizes," Riley said. "I would go show them off and everyone would be like, 'Hey, where'd you get that?' A lot of people jumped on board when they saw how easy it was to get free gear."
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