Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Talk about the men's team, upcoming opponents and news from around college hoop.
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RhowdyRam02
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Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

Just got an email from the alumni association saying today is the last day to register for Thursday's event with Thorr Bjorn. It's scheduled to run from 6-8 at Gillette Stadium and is $40 to attend. Sounds like all Rhody sports topics are on the table, but football will be the main focus.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by SmartyBarrett »

Link: http://www.alumni.uri.edu/s/1638/02-alu ... alcid=1040

It specifically says "news about the upcoming football season". Interesting.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

Hopefully someone from the board is going and report back. Honestly I think the news is going to be a preview of the season rather than real news. I've been trying to think of news they'd announce at this point that would be relevant to the upcoming season that would be announced in a two hour meet the AD type session held at Gillette Stadium instead of on campus where the football coach isn't scheduled to be present and I can't think of anything that seems right.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

Online registration for this is closed, but if you call 401.874.4853 you might still be able to attend. I know someone going, so hopefully if anything interesting comes up I'll be able to report back.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by Rhodymob05 »

Hopefully you'll walk in and see a beautiful rendering of a proposed Meade Stadium renovation!
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

I had the same hope, but even if Kraft was a major donor I don't see why it would be announced in this format, off campus, without the football coach. Hopefully my first thought was right and I'm wrong now though. And hopefully it's not just a rendering, but an actual plan to get it done in the next 2-3 years. I mean, while we're dreaming, why go only half way?
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

If anyone is going to this, try and ask about the Meade Stadium/outdoor track/pool info I found in the budget yesterday.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by ramster »

Anybody go?
Any insight as to how things went?
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by rhodyrudder »

maybe 30 people...
There was a tour of Gillette.
Thorr talked mostly about how Rhody is a
basketball school and how much money a
couple of consecutive trips to the sweet 16
would bring in.
He talked about how they want to put turf
and lights at Meade, and how that would
benefit the entire student body and let the
facility be used on hundreds of days per
year by lots of different groups.
They need to get permission from Student
Life (?) to allow a $100 fee per year per
student to help pay for it.
He also mentioned that there are maybe
$40M worth of projects, including the East
stands, the track and the pool, and that
there is likely to be a bond soon.
(IMO it will not pass but that's another issue.)
All in all a good time, but it needed to be
marketed (and attended) better. I only found
out about it at the last minute from this thread.
One last item: One of the development people,
John May, I'm sure lots of you know him, he's
a young guy who is at just about every game,
well he's off to tackle another position someplace
else. Wish I had more info, but...that's all.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by Ramblinrose »

Why Gillette? Am I missing something?
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by TruePoint »

Ramblinrose wrote:Why Gillette? Am I missing something?
I'm going to say probably.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by rhodyrudder »

Ramblinrose wrote:Why Gillette?
Not really sure...maybe to get alumni from the Boston/Attleboro area who might be interested in touring Gillette and seeing one of the suites there...Pats fans maybe?...to show up and donate and take an interest in the University and Athletic Dept.
Was a kinda cool night...maybe next year promote it better, bring coaches Hurley and Fleming, maybe some athletes, and charge more...
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by thatRamBand »

With a student body already disinterested in football, I can't imagine $100 per student will go over well.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

rhodyrudder wrote:
Ramblinrose wrote:Why Gillette?
Not really sure...maybe to get alumni from the Boston/Attleboro area who might be interested in touring Gillette and seeing one of the suites there...Pats fans maybe?...to show up and donate and take an interest in the University and Athletic Dept.
Was a kinda cool night...maybe next year promote it better, bring coaches Hurley and Fleming, maybe some athletes, and charge more...
It seems like if you promote it better, if you charge even more you'd still end up with light attendance. I was happy to see them run an event like this north of Providence, but when you charge $40 you discourage people from going.

I will say that I like that there's been more interaction from the athletic department with this board, but they could use even more, and you could argue all parts of the university could use this board more. I'd think in general they'd get more attendance to these types of events if they used this board for its free advertising as opposed to hoping someone here finds it and then decides to post about it.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by Hal Kopp »

That is too bad about John May.
He really tried.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by rhodyrudder »

thatRamBand wrote:With a student body already disinterested in football, I can't imagine $100 per student will go over well.
Thorr is aware that students are pissed about the fees for the RC,
and was careful to say the time limit would be firm, 5 years IIRC.
He said the hook is the students will be able to use the facility
themselves...intramurals, rugby tournaments, whatever.
Now, nobody but FB can use it.
With turf and lights, the sky is the limit.
He also spoke of how important it is to get as many
HS championships held on campus.
He also addressed hockey directly, saying there
is a draw with FB, getting as many people as it
does to come to campus for as many hours (5 or 6)
as frequently (5 or 6 times per year) and the level
of interest that it has, and that hockey simply can't
provide any of that.
He also said directly that if FB gets axed, their scholarships
will not just be handed back to athletics, but rather will
go back into the university-wide financial aid pool.
So you can't just say, "We'd do better with sport X and
are going to make the switch."
Lastly, he said they have got to win more games.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by rhodyrudder »

RhowdyRam02 wrote: It seems like if you promote it better, if you charge even more you'd still end up with light attendance. I was happy to see them run an event like this north of Providence, but when you charge $40 you discourage people from going.

I will say that I like that there's been more interaction from the athletic department with this board, but they could use even more, and you could argue all parts of the university could use this board more. I'd think in general they'd get more attendance to these types of events if they used this board for its free advertising as opposed to hoping someone here finds it and then decides to post about it.
I didn't think 40 was too much.
The hors d'oeuvres were awesome.
The tour was really cool.
And the goal is to generate donations.
How much would UGA charge to meet
Herschel Walker and some of their current
coaches and athletes while touring the new
Braves ballpark?
Guarantee if it were only 40, they would have
more people than could fit in a suite.
Think big.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by ramster »

rhodyrudder wrote:
RhowdyRam02 wrote: It seems like if you promote it better, if you charge even more you'd still end up with light attendance. I was happy to see them run an event like this north of Providence, but when you charge $40 you discourage people from going.

I will say that I like that there's been more interaction from the athletic department with this board, but they could use even more, and you could argue all parts of the university could use this board more. I'd think in general they'd get more attendance to these types of events if they used this board for its free advertising as opposed to hoping someone here finds it and then decides to post about it.
I didn't think 40 was too much.
The hors d'oeuvres were awesome.
The tour was really cool.
And the goal is to generate donations.
How much would UGA charge to meet
Herschel Walker and some of their current
coaches and athletes while touring the new
Braves ballpark?
Guarantee if it were only 40, they would have
more people than could fit in a suite.
Think big.
Rudder,
Glad to hear Thor directly and clearly state that the scholarship money would not go back into Athletics for other sports but back into the general pool.
What were your biggest takeaways from the visit to Gillette from the tour standpoint? What is it that you think we all missed the most by not going? Wish now I had been able to fit it in.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

rhodyrudder wrote:
thatRamBand wrote:With a student body already disinterested in football, I can't imagine $100 per student will go over well.
Thorr is aware that students are pissed about the fees for the RC,
and was careful to say the time limit would be firm, 5 years IIRC.
He said the hook is the students will be able to use the facility
themselves...intramurals, rugby tournaments, whatever.
Now, nobody but FB can use it.
With turf and lights, the sky is the limit.
He also spoke of how important it is to get as many
HS championships held on campus.
He also addressed hockey directly, saying there
is a draw with FB, getting as many people as it
does to come to campus for as many hours (5 or 6)
as frequently (5 or 6 times per year) and the level
of interest that it has, and that hockey simply can't
provide any of that.
He also said directly that if FB gets axed, their scholarships
will not just be handed back to athletics, but rather will
go back into the university-wide financial aid pool.
So you can't just say, "We'd do better with sport X and
are going to make the switch."
Lastly, he said they have got to win more games.
Maybe the students wouldn't be so pissed at the Ryan Center fees if they still had the courtside seats they were promised for allowing the fees to be put in place.

I agree with him about HS championships. It should be every high school student athlete's goal to play at the University as the pinnacle of their high school career, and hopefully that kind of thing could lead to more of those qualified athletes to come here as college students.

It sounds like he's lying about football scholarships or we were given bad information before. When we were dropping down from the CAA to the NEC, other sports such as baseball were promised extra scholarships. Why the discrepancy now?

Also it sounds like he's not particularly great at math. Football plays 5 games a year, so even being generous and saying it gives people 6 hours, that only equals 30 hours a year. Hockey plays around 18 games year. Even if you give football all the extra tailgating time and assume hockey fans are only on campus for not one more second then the game, that's still 45 hours a year. So hockey gives 50% more time on campus under the least advantageous accounting.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

rhodyrudder wrote:
RhowdyRam02 wrote: It seems like if you promote it better, if you charge even more you'd still end up with light attendance. I was happy to see them run an event like this north of Providence, but when you charge $40 you discourage people from going.

I will say that I like that there's been more interaction from the athletic department with this board, but they could use even more, and you could argue all parts of the university could use this board more. I'd think in general they'd get more attendance to these types of events if they used this board for its free advertising as opposed to hoping someone here finds it and then decides to post about it.
I didn't think 40 was too much.
The hors d'oeuvres were awesome.
The tour was really cool.
And the goal is to generate donations.
How much would UGA charge to meet
Herschel Walker and some of their current
coaches and athletes while touring the new
Braves ballpark?
Guarantee if it were only 40, they would have
more people than could fit in a suite.
Think big.
$40 wasn't too much for you, but I know multiple people who couldn't go because of the $40 entrance fee, especially considering the late and inadequate notice. Is only having 30 people in attendance really thinking big? I'd say no. It sounds to me like their cost/benefit analysis was off if only 30 people went.

Comparing us to UGA is just absolutely absurd. And who is our Herschel Walker?
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by URI96 »

RhowdyRam02 wrote:
rhodyrudder wrote:
thatRamBand wrote:With a student body already disinterested in football, I can't imagine $100 per student will go over well.
Thorr is aware that students are pissed about the fees for the RC,
and was careful to say the time limit would be firm, 5 years IIRC.
He said the hook is the students will be able to use the facility
themselves...intramurals, rugby tournaments, whatever.
Now, nobody but FB can use it.
With turf and lights, the sky is the limit.
He also spoke of how important it is to get as many
HS championships held on campus.
He also addressed hockey directly, saying there
is a draw with FB, getting as many people as it
does to come to campus for as many hours (5 or 6)
as frequently (5 or 6 times per year) and the level
of interest that it has, and that hockey simply can't
provide any of that.
He also said directly that if FB gets axed, their scholarships
will not just be handed back to athletics, but rather will
go back into the university-wide financial aid pool.
So you can't just say, "We'd do better with sport X and
are going to make the switch."
Lastly, he said they have got to win more games.
Maybe the students wouldn't be so pissed at the Ryan Center fees if they still had the courtside seats they were promised for allowing the fees to be put in place.

I agree with him about HS championships. It should be every high school student athlete's goal to play at the University as the pinnacle of their high school career, and hopefully that kind of thing could lead to more of those qualified athletes to come here as college students.

It sounds like he's lying about football scholarships or we were given bad information before. When we were dropping down from the CAA to the NEC, other sports such as baseball were promised extra scholarships. Why the discrepancy now?

Also it sounds like he's not particularly great at math. Football plays 5 games a year, so even being generous and saying it gives people 6 hours, that only equals 30 hours a year. Hockey plays around 18 games year. Even if you give football all the extra tailgating time and assume hockey fans are only on campus for not one more second then the game, that's still 45 hours a year. So hockey gives 50% more time on campus under the least advantageous accounting.
FB: 5000 X 6 Hrs X 5 Games= 150,000 hours
Hockey: 2000 (generous) X 2 hrs X 18 Games = 72,000 hours
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by adam914 »

URI96 wrote: FB: 5000 X 6 Hrs X 5 Games= 150,000 hours
Hockey: 2000 (generous) X 2 hrs X 18 Games = 72,000 hours
Just out of curiosity, what is your rational in this equation for having football fans spend double the amount of time of a game on campus and hockey fans spending less than the amount of time of a game on campus? Just tailgating?
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

URI96 wrote:
RhowdyRam02 wrote:Also it sounds like he's not particularly great at math. Football plays 5 games a year, so even being generous and saying it gives people 6 hours, that only equals 30 hours a year. Hockey plays around 18 games year. Even if you give football all the extra tailgating time and assume hockey fans are only on campus for not one more second then the game, that's still 45 hours a year. So hockey gives 50% more time on campus under the least advantageous accounting.
FB: 5000 X 6 Hrs X 5 Games= 150,000 hours
Hockey: 2000 (generous) X 2 hrs X 18 Games = 72,000 hours
FB: 5000 (generous) X 6 Hrs (very generous) X 5 games = not what you think it does
Hockey: 2000 (no one knows what it would be) X 2 hrs (totally made up number that doesn't match how long a game even takes) X 18 games = not what you think it does

Fixed it for you
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by josephski »

RhowdyRam02 wrote:
URI96 wrote:
RhowdyRam02 wrote:Also it sounds like he's not particularly great at math. Football plays 5 games a year, so even being generous and saying it gives people 6 hours, that only equals 30 hours a year. Hockey plays around 18 games year. Even if you give football all the extra tailgating time and assume hockey fans are only on campus for not one more second then the game, that's still 45 hours a year. So hockey gives 50% more time on campus under the least advantageous accounting.
FB: 5000 X 6 Hrs X 5 Games= 150,000 hours
Hockey: 2000 (generous) X 2 hrs X 18 Games = 72,000 hours
FB: 5000 (generous) X 6 Hrs (very generous) X 5 games = not what you think it does
Hockey: 2000 (no one knows what it would be) X 2 hrs (totally made up number that doesn't match how long a game even takes) X 18 games = not what you think it does

Fixed it for you
The numbers posted by URI96 are just flat out wrong. I posted the attendance for football the past 10 years with the record in another thread and here they are:

2015 : 4753 : 1-10
2014 : 5317 : 1-11
2013 : 5627 : 3-9
2012 : 4150 : 0-11
2011 : 4715 : 3-8
2010 : 4614 : 5-6
2009 : 3786 : 1-10
2008 : 4853 : 3-9
2007 : 3436 : 3-8
2006 : 3171 : 4-7

If you actually do the math it'd probably be:

Football: 4500 x 5 hrs x 5 games = 112,500
Hockey: 2000 (even though we have no idea) x 3 hrs x 18 games = 108,000

I love football but the northeast is a hockey area, not football. Obviously it would take a while for hockey to ever be competitive but at least we're in an area where it's possible to have a top 25 hockey program. We will never have a top 25 football program.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by Rhodymob05 »

Students go to football games, if you've been there you know what I mean. Especially the event games like parents day homecoming ect. The good thing about college students is that they come and go before new classes come in. If you create a winning season, it builds along with the fans/current students. The class that saw losing seasons is no longer the there.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by ramster »

I think the 5000 is a solid number, and could prove conservative!!
Last 3 seasons have averaged 5232
Last two seasons have had only 1 win
Honestly there is no place to go but up ^^^^
URI just had the #2 ranked CAA recruiting class by 247 - highest ever!
2 Quarterbacks battling it out either one I would be very happy with!

Thor answered the key question at Gillette - if URI drops football those scholarships will not go to other sports - they would go back into the overall student pool. Like it or not - straight from the horses mouth just last week
It has been said URI has no plan for football. Thor said just last week they want lighting, they want to fix the stands, they want the football field to host state HS championships, they want the field available for the students and not limited only for football as it is today, they want to add $100 to the student activity fee. Sounds like a plan to me versus nothing.


If you want Hockey go for it, push for it. You have the arena, you have the students. It's not either / or and doesn't have to be either / or. Football is moving ahead and will be improved over the last two years. We are recovering from the unfortunate NEC downgrade decision.
No reason URI can't have hockey too.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by rhodyrudder »

ramster wrote:
Rudder,
Glad to hear Thorr directly and clearly state that the scholarship money would not go back into Athletics for other sports but back into the general pool.
What were your biggest takeaways from the visit to Gillette from the tour standpoint? What is it that you think we all missed the most by not going? Wish now I had been able to fit it in.
Eating in the suite level, then walking down to the press box, then going down to the field through the lounge in the end zone, then going in the visitors locker room...all very cool.

Talking about Rhody sports with alums and development people and the AD...very cool.

He is incredibly excited about hoops! Just saying.

Rhowdy, I would think our Herschel is Hurley. Could we get Cat, Tommy, Sly and/or Lamar? I don't know...just thinking out loud on the internet. I was going to use UCLA, but then remembered about the new Braves park opening next year... Who should I have used instead, Delaware? William and Mary? I felt like going for it all. We are a top-25 program.

And no disrespect intended about the cost, it just felt like a fund-raising event kind-of, so I was thinking about maximizing the outcome.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by MARhody »

Was also at the Gillette event, was a very good time. Thought it was well worth the $40 for the location (one of the new suites) and the food provided. Stadium tour was also very cool, took us through the press box, visitor's locker room, new lounge area that is field level behind the end zone, Patriots cafeteria, "drunk tank" area - which is basically two benches with a pole on the wall behind it with handcuffs (interesting note was that Country Fest and Jets/Pats the two events that use this area the most). They were laying down new turf, which was cool to watch, I wasn't sure if it was because of Monster Truck jam the week before, or just regularly scheduled. I believe the location at Gillette was to try something new for those that might live closer in that direction?

To add on to what has already been said, student fee for turf and lights not necessarily just for football. Though there might be an evening game or two (ie. 6pm kickoff), there would be a direct benefit to students in that from 2/3-ish until 9pm on most days it can be used for intramural sports, etc. State not providing funding so it would have to come from within. Lights and turf would allow them to host HS state championship games, great PR for the school, getting people on campus, etc.

Also regarding football, was mentioned that the team is getting $500K to travel to Kansas for game. No other sport can generate this kind of revenue for a single game. Even outside of this, the football program brings in a lot of donations - which makes sense that given the size of the roster, they'd have a significant alumni base to draw from.

Push is to get the men's basketball budget into top 4 for a-10 schools, which hopefully translates into being a perennial top 4 (or better) team to get into the NCAA tournament. Rough numbers URI gets $250K from NCAA hoop tourney while VCU gets $1.9Mil. Just getting in is around $250K per year for six years; if get in a second year in a row, pushes to $500K/yr x 6, etc.

Was also mentioned that they'd like to win championships in other sports as well.

Overall a worthwhile evening. I got email invite plenty in advance, not sure how they can better advertise events like this that are not on the email list.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by URI96 »

adam914 wrote:
URI96 wrote: FB: 5000 X 6 Hrs X 5 Games= 150,000 hours
Hockey: 2000 (generous) X 2 hrs X 18 Games = 72,000 hours
Just out of curiosity, what is your rational in this equation for having football fans spend double the amount of time of a game on campus and hockey fans spending less than the amount of time of a game on campus? Just tailgating?

Tailgating for sure. Since all of the games are on a Saturday afternoon you'll have people just generally milling around. You won't have that for hockey where most of the games will be at night. It will be the same as basketball. They'll be in and out.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by URI96 »

FB: 5000 X 6 Hrs X 5 Games= 150,000 hours
Hockey: 2000 (generous) X 2 hrs X 18 Games = 72,000 hours
FB: 5000 (generous) X 6 Hrs (very generous) X 5 games = not what you think it does
Hockey: 2000 (no one knows what it would be) X 2 hrs (totally made up number that doesn't match how long a game even takes) X 18 games = not what you think it does

Fixed it for you
The numbers posted by URI96 are just flat out wrong. I posted the attendance for football the past 10 years with the record in another thread and here they are:

2015 : 4753 : 1-10
2014 : 5317 : 1-11
2013 : 5627 : 3-9
2012 : 4150 : 0-11
2011 : 4715 : 3-8
2010 : 4614 : 5-6
2009 : 3786 : 1-10
2008 : 4853 : 3-9
2007 : 3436 : 3-8
2006 : 3171 : 4-7

If you actually do the math it'd probably be:

Football: 4500 x 5 hrs x 5 games = 112,500
Hockey: 2000 (even though we have no idea) x 3 hrs x 18 games = 108,000

I love football but the northeast is a hockey area, not football. Obviously it would take a while for hockey to ever be competitive but at least we're in an area where it's possible to have a top 25 hockey program. We will never have a top 25 football program.
Flat out wrong? Over the last 3 seasons the average is over 5k!
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RhowdyRam02
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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And for the last ten it's under 4500
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ramster
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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5232 average last 3 seasons and that's with 5 total wins
No way possible that this year is below 5200 never mind 4500
Think we need a prediction contest for football attendance like Obadiah does for basketball
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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Shouldn't this be in the URI Athletics section?
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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I had originally put it here for more people to see it and because of the thought basketball might be a bigger part of the event. I would certainly have no issues if the moderators thought it was more appropriate elsewhere on the board.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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Thor spoke about the basketball team a lot. Top 4 year after year in the A10
Striving to make the NCAA tournament year after year - plus mentioning the money that Basketball can bring to the school
Plus clearing up the misconception that eliminating the football program would mean more money for basketball and more scholarships for other sports - glad that is now kaput
Plus confirming $500k for the Kansas visit is good to confirm officially
Good information and interesting information with a good portion related to basketball and the overall health of the athletic department
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

Unread post by josephski »

ramster wrote:5232 average last 3 seasons and that's with 5 total wins
No way possible that this year is below 5200 never mind 4500
Think we need a prediction contest for football attendance like Obadiah does for basketball
Yea and over the last 2 years attendance has dropped an average of almost 450 per year so that would put us around 4300. The only reason I posted the attendance with record is to show how random it seems to be when comparing attendance to our record. I don't think you can look at the past 3 years and make any assumptions from those numbers, too small of a sample size.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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Without looking at game by game and year by year, I'd imagine football attendance more closely matches weather on game day and if we play any home games on holiday weekends then any other factor, because as you point out, it doesn't seem to track with the record.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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Here are the past 3 years and the schedule for this year:

Last home game of 2013 season was Nov 9 with 4138
Last home game of 2014 season was Nov 22 with only 2501
Last home game of 2015 season was Nov 14 with only 2643
So the last games of the past 2 seasons really brought down the average.

Looking further at the weather for each game the two coldest games were the last games of the past two seasons
Both games were Cloudy and the Temperature at Kick Off was only 42 degrees and it was windy. Those two games were the coldest and the poorest attendance by far of the 15 Home Games with 2501 and 2643.
The next worst game of the past 15 was last year, Oct 10, against Delaware with 4015.

For this 2016 Season we have 3 games with very nice weather potential. Earliest games of the past 4 seasons:
Albany Sept 10
UNH Sept 24
Brown Oct 1

2013 Final Record (3-9) Weather
Stony Brook 7-Sep 1pm 4302 S-74
Central Conn St 28-Sep 1pm 5223 S-73
Richmond 19-Oct 1pm 7936 PC-65
Delaware 26-Oct 12pm 6536 PC-55
Villanova 9-Nov 12:30pm 4138 C-46
Ave 5627

2014 Final Record (1-11)
Albany 20-Sep 1pm 6351 S-70
Brown 4-Oct 1pm 4205 C-62
Maine 25-Oct 12pm 6316 S-63
UNH 8-Nov 12:30pm 7210 S-47
Towson 22-Nov 12:30pm 2501 PC-42
Ave 5317

2015 Final Record (1-10)
Harvard 19-Sep 1pm 4843 S-78
Delaware 10-Oct 12pm 4015 S-60
Richmond 17-Oct 12pm 6143 S-53
Villanova 7-Nov 12:30pm 6122 C-61
Stony Brook 14-Nov 12:30pm 2643 PC-42
Ave 4753

2016 Final Record (0-0)
Albany 10-Sep 1pm 0
UNH 24-Sep 1pm 0
Brown 1-Oct 12pm 0
Maine 22-Oct 12pm 0
Towson 19-Nov TBA 0
Last edited by ramster 7 years ago, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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It's so tough to predict football attendance because it's so weather dependent ... For example, the temperature on November 7th (family weekend) was 62 degrees and the game drew over 6K. The next weekend its 48 degrees and a little windy and draws under 3K. If you have two bad weather games, it's going to have an adverse impact on attendance. To figure out how fair the attendance average estimate is, you almost have to figure out how many poor weather games there were in comparison to the last few years.
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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rjsuperfly66 wrote:It's so tough to predict football attendance because it's so weather dependent ... For example, the temperature on November 7th (family weekend) was 62 degrees and the game drew over 6K. The next weekend its 48 degrees and a little windy and draws under 3K. If you have two bad weather games, it's going to have an adverse impact on attendance. To figure out how fair the attendance average estimate is, you almost have to figure out how many poor weather games there were in comparison to the last few years.
Note I have included the weather conditions and the temperature at kick off for all 15 games

The worst two games were 42 degrees at kick off with only about 2500 people.

The worst game after that was 4015 people so the bad weather impacted the past two seasons the most.

This year we have games Sept 10, Sept 24 and Oct 1 - the best potential weather schedule - much earlier dates than the past 3 seasons
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Re: Rhody sports talk with Thorr Bjorn on Thursday

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Further proof of how much weather impacts attendance, look at the Brown game from 2014. October 4th against an instate rival, but only got 4205 fans, seems like it should have drawn more. It was pouring that day.
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