If you've been following
my twitter feed, you'd know that I spent the weekend in Tennessee with some friends and am a bit out of the hockey loop. Fortunately, I was able to keep tabs on what was going on through the twitter feeds that I subscribe to and was most impressed with the "Money on the Board" twitter campaign started by Tyler Schweinfurth, a season ticket holder of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Wanting to find a way to show the team the fans were behind them, Schweinfurth thought of the common practice of players putting money on the board when a game is important to them (example: going up against a former team). Whoever gets the game winning goal gets the money.
With the help of several media members retweeting information about the campaign and how to donate, 66 business and numerous individuals and families were able to raise more than $5200 to put on the board for a Blue Jackets win and up to $1800 in incentives (a shutout, a hat trick, a fight, etc) for their game against Detroit on Friday night.
The team took notice and after pulling out a 3-2 victory over the Red Wings in a shootout, decided to match the monies raised by the fans to total over $10,000 in donations for the Blue Jackets Foundation.
I loved everything about this twitter campaign. I love that it was initiated by a fan who simply loves the team and wanted to see them win. I love that major media outlets in Columbus got behind it. I love that the
Blue Jackets twitter feed publicized it and I love that the players decided to get involved as well.
In all it was a wonderful effort and I'm curious to see how many other teams will initiate a similar campaign and possibly make it a regular occurrence. While it is sure to be a great way to raise funds for charity, I'm not sure it will have the same level of warm and fuzzies that surrounded this particular campaign.
That said, a league wide campaign could be a lot of fun especially when you start adding in incentives...Besides a win, what would you put money on the board for?
Personally, I'd put extra money on the board for a goal that was scored and assisted by former college players and any goals scored by players that call New Jersey home. ;)
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@JulieRobenhymer
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