Ryan Center In-Game Experience - Issues and Upgrades

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 9 years ago

Fraud team. Results showed that to be true.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

I guess the counterpoint would be: show me all the teams whose games aren't on TV who are really successful. You dismiss every example anyone has tried to give using a ton of different rationales, but I think your underlying point is still that they should take the games off of TV. Where are the examples of that working to make teams more popular?

My thoughts for why we need to have as many games on TV as possible:

1. Purposely keeping your games off TV is like kicking your fans in the shins. I don't understand why you'd want to prevent someone who wants to watch your team from doing so.

2. It is helpful for recruiting to play as many games on TV as possible. Kids want to be on TV, and they want to play for programs who matter enough to be on TV.

3. As I think we can all agree, winning is the best way to drive fan interest - both on TV and in the seats. When the team wins, playing on TV won't stop people from wanting to be at the game (see ATP's figures on this, above).

4. As a general rule, the program wants to get in front of as many eyeballs as possible. When you are on TV, you get people who maybe would have liked to have gone to the game but can't, and you also get random viewers who find there is "nothing on" and happen catch a game that they didn't even know you were playing. That is an opportunity to introduce your product to a new audience, grow your fan base, etc.

Is it likely that a guy will happen to catch the end of the first half of a game against St. Bonaventure on a Wednesday night in February and go buy season tickets the next day? Probably not. But what if he happens to see EC throw a lob to Hassan for a big dunk on a fastbreak, and suddenly those two guys go from two guys he'd never really heard of to two guys he may decide to take his son to see the next Saturday. Then, who knows? That is what people mean by "exposure." It gives you a chance to establish a relationship with the public.

The alternative is, in my view, to force people who really didn't want to go out to a game to do so in order to follow the team. Might that boost attendance by 200 active fans who follow the team but otherwise would have watched from home for any particular game? Sure. But in the long run I think you are bullying your fans into going to games, which doesn't give people the warm and fuzzies, and in the process you are limiting your chances to get in front of other people who you could potentially convert to fans.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:Fraud team. Results showed that to be true.

Don't think that is really fair. They did get cornholed by an Alabama team that could have won the AFC South that year, no doubt. Saban is miles better as a tactician than Brian Kelly, so the month to prepare really benefited Bama. ND was also dealing with the Manti Teo thing behind the scenes, which obviously nobody knew about at the time.

That ND team beat some really good teams - including a top-5 Stanford team and a top-10 Oklahoma team on the road, plus wins against quality Michigan State and Michigan teams, and a win at preseason #1 USC. Bama was clearly the better team, but they would have crushed anyone they played that night. ND was probably legitimately the #2 team in the country, and if not they were definitely top-5.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 9 years ago

First of all I NEVER said take all the games off TV.
Does PC have every game on TV? They had a select number of home games
on TV.
So, every game? Why.
As for kids being on local TV, are you serious? Like EC gives a crap about being seen
on Cox Cable, when so many don't even get Cox Cable.
Oh, someone can stream it. Ever wonder how big an audience streams bring in?
It's not like being on ESPN almost every game like Duke.
Being on national TV, sure. Everyone can get stoked on that.
"Bullying"? "Forced"? Little melodamatic here?
As for ND, as a livelong follower, I don't recall ONE pundit giving them a prayer
vs. Alabama.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

I feel like you're trying to start an argument where there isn't one. I don't totally disagree with anything you just said. I know Cox isn't ESPN, but it is definitely better than nothing. You have people on this board who say not having names on jerseys is small time. To me, I would say not being on tv is small time. As a practical matter, maybe kids won't be wowed by being on Cox. But the perception does exist that having games on tv says something about your program. I'm not trying to emulate PC or use them as a measuring stick. I don't care how many times PC is on TV. I'd prefer all our games be on tv. That would be as sure a sign as any that the program is in good shape, because nobody is committing the resources to put every game on tv unless and until there is audience for the games.

As far as ND/Bama, I don't recall any experts picking ND, either. They'd have been crazy to. Bama was a NFL team. On their best day and on Bama's worst, maybe they could have pulled an upset; unfortunately it was Bama's best day and ND's worst and they gotten taken to the woodshed. But that doesn't take away the fact that they legitimately went 12-0 again a very hard schedule and were either the 2nd or 3rd best team in the country. They just ran into a buzz saw in the NCG. No shame in that. Doesn't make them frauds.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 9 years ago

"I feel like you're trying to start an argument where there isn't one."
Really, buddy boy? You've got more posts than I do in this thread.
You seem as if you'd like to keep this crap going, like some other threads where you follow me around.
I have two dogs for that.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

Can't take this stuff so personally, Rod. We can have a difference of opinion without getting bent out of shape about it. Every discussion doesn't have to be an argument.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

I would think that being on a local cable station would have zero impact on a recruit. Who sees these games outside of RI? And only hardcore URI fans like the several out of staters from here are going to pay to stream it. Being on national TV is a different story. That's where the winning comes in. We become more relevant in the A10, we get more A10 games on CBS and NBC. We become nationally relevant, we get some games on ESPN. I think that's where the argument is. How beneficial is it to have games on Cox Cable in an area saturated with PC fans? I say very little. How beneficial is it to have games on national TV? Huge.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

Do you think players care whether they play in an empty building or a full building? Guys don't care about being on local TV because of who will see them play, but they like being on TV because they like playing in front of people. If you let the players decide whether a game would be televised, 100% of them would want the game to be shown on TV.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

I'd love to see the ratings for our games on Cox Cable.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

I just don't think Jarred Reuter will come here because 112 people are watching him on TV.

rjsuperfly66 · Unread post by **rjsuperfly66** » 9 years ago

TruePoint wrote:Do you think players care whether they play in an empty building or a full building?

Yes. If a kid visits an elite program, and then comes to a half-empty, quiet arena, he is going to notice a significant difference. National TV is clearly important. Local cable network? Meh. Good for road games for fans, don't think it makes a huge difference for home games that everyone should be at anyway.

rhodylaw · Unread post by **rhodylaw** » 9 years ago

You want to know why they need to stay on Cox, because when I go to doherty's after work in the winter the game is on. Good enough for me. I freakin hate cox cable and wish we had more games on Nesn or comcast (local channels that will actually draw casual fans) but you do what you can for the fans who are doing what they can to support the team.

Rhody Guy · Unread post by **Rhody Guy** » 9 years ago

In my experience when a game is on TV more students come. I don't know if that is because the schools campaigns more for those games or because students want to be on TV.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

Rhody Guy wrote:In my experience when a game is on TV more students come. I don't know if that is because the schools campaigns more for those games or because students want to be on TV.

If you're talking about national TV, I agree. If you're talking about Cox, no.

BFC · Unread post by **BFC** » 9 years ago

I think the games should be televised, there probably is some ticket revenue being lost but I still think long-term its the right thing to do for the program. I think there's a better chance that potential customers outside of South County become TV watching fans before they become ticket buying fans. And ultimately building the brand and promoting the program to potential young fans is way more important than the short-term revenue loss. Obviously, there's no proof that televising games on Cox has helped brand awareness or converted young fans but it still beats doing nothing and resting on the unproven theory that the masses will flock when we win.

URI_05 · Unread post by **URI_05** » 9 years ago

As an out of state fan (CT), I'd be pretty annoyed if they decided to stop broadcasting games in an effort to get more people to the arena. That type of thinking is small time and backwards.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

Any thought that URI should reduce its tv games is ridiculous. While it probably would be better if more road games were televised than home games, it isn't likely to happen. It costs Cox substantially less to do games from Kingston. URI, as the home team, owns the tv rights and likely allows Cox to televise games for no fee. Another school would not do the same as they gain nothing. The cost to send a production crew down to Kingston for a few hours pales in comparison to sending a crew for a day+ hundreds of miles away. Cox is therefore not going to produce its own games elsewhere. The best chance for Cox to pick up road games is for them to get another team's production. Cox has done this for some road games, notably games at Dayton. The other team however must be having its games televised somewhere and few of Rhody's opponents have their own tv deals.

The biggest argument people have to Cox doing Ryan Center games is centered around attendance. The assumption is that people would travel to Kingston for the game if it were not on local tv. I don't think that is true. You would probably get a range of tens to a few hundred fans more. It would however not be a significant increase in my opinion. People do not stay away from the Ryan Center due to tv. It is the lack of winning and its associated excitement that keeps them away. Reducing the number of tv games would only further reduce exposure and make even less follow Rhody hoops.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

I didn't say I don't think they should be on Cox. Like I said, it'd good for the several hardcore fans that are not in the area that want to stream. But I think having games on Cox does nothing for recruiting and does very little for gaining new fans. Do you think that brainwashed PC fans are going to suddenly switch allegiances because URI games are on Cox? And that's what most basketball fans are in RI, brainwashed PC fans. Good luck in changing that.

BFC · Unread post by **BFC** » 9 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:I didn't say I don't think they should be on Cox. Like I said, it'd good for the several hardcore fans that are not in the area that want to stream. But I think having games on Cox does nothing for recruiting and does very little for gaining new fans. Do you think that brainwashed PC fans are going to suddenly switch allegiances because URI games are on Cox? And that's what most basketball fans are in RI, brainwashed PC fans. Good luck in changing that.

This may have been true 20 years ago, but most basketball fans in RI who are under 40 have little allegiance to PC or URI. There's the kids who grew up going to games and the catholic school loyalists but other than that this idea of indoctrinated generations with PC basketball convictions is a thing of the past. PC does have media advantages and uses them, I don't think that's a reason for URI to tap out however.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

The media are one of the main brainwashers. With McNamara leading the charge and other long time media people like Reynolds, Carpano and Bell constantly pushing the Big East and PC, I still think the young fan follows their lead.

BFC · Unread post by **BFC** » 9 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:The media are one of the main brainwashers. With McNamara leading the charge and other long time media people like Reynolds, Carpano and Bell constantly pushing the Big East and PC, I still think the young fan follows their lead.

The young fan doesn't know who any of those people are.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 9 years ago

I'd like to think that some young people watch the news
and read newspapers, if only online.
There is a trickle down from the constant PC bandwagon
coming from the media. Not to mention all those
Friartown billboards, the Cooley show being on TV10, not
some station few can get.
Now, there's a Heart and Soul series with Cooley on Cox5.
They bury us with all of these. Winning is the only thing to
combat the media attention gap.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

BFC wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:The media are one of the main brainwashers. With McNamara leading the charge and other long time media people like Reynolds, Carpano and Bell constantly pushing the Big East and PC, I still think the young fan follows their lead.
The young fan doesn't know who any of those people are.

So, if a local kid is a basketball fan, what does he read/watch to get information about the local teams? I realize Koch is helping URI's cause, but if they read a newspaper or read online,they most likely read the Projo, and if they watch news, it's 6,10 and 12. If they use twitter, they certainly read McNmara in addition to Koch.

BFC · Unread post by **BFC** » 9 years ago

I'm almost 40 years old, I don't read the Projo now that its behind a paywall (even when I did, I never read Reynolds). I also usually change the channel after the weather when I watch the local news. Local TV sports news is useless to me, they report the night before's results during the 6 PM broadcast, who doesn't know what happened by that point? I didn't even know Ken Bell was still around. PC has superior marketing, better business relationships, much better political relationships, and the perception of being at a higher level of college basketball, all of those things help them and therefore hurt us. But newspaper and local TV people are in antiquated mediums, I'll give you KMac's twitter presence might give him some access to a younger audience but I still don't think he has the amount of influence your suggesting.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

I'm 57, so I'll admit that I'm a bit antiquated myself. I'd like to hear from the younger generation, college age, high school and even younger. Where do you go for local college basketball information. Maybe it is here? If it is here, we need to push this site on twitter, facebook and other popular social media sites. Could that be a way of getting young fans attention?

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 9 years ago

I can't believe people think that having the games on Cox doesn't help recruiting. Kids that don't come from the Southern New England area can come play at URI and all their friends and family can stream their games. While it's not the exposure that a Duke recruit would get, the fact that the people closest to E.C. Matthews from his hometown can watch the vast majority of his games certainly puts us in a better position than a similar school that doesn't have the extensive streaming option that we offer. And it's not worth Cox' time to stream our games if they can't also broadcast them locally. Between helping in recruiting, keeping URI fans that don't live in Southern New England close to the team, potentially introducing people who aren't fans to our team, and giving people who simply can't make certain games an option to still watch the game, it's a no brainer to broadcast the games the way we have. Anybody who's a fan that isn't going to the games now because they are on TV won't go to the games if you take them off the air. They'll just listen to the radio call or not bother with the team at all.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 9 years ago

Furthermore, looking at last year's schedule, Cox aired the following road games that couldn't be found elsewhere on TV in the RI market: George Mason, LSU, LaSalle, St. Joe's, Fordham, and UMass. Do you think Cox looks to air those 6 road games, 6 games we wouldn't have been able to watch otherwise, if they weren't already partners with us on our home schedule?

TexRam · Unread post by **TexRam** » 9 years ago

RhowdyRam02 wrote:I can't believe people think that having the games on Cox doesn't help recruiting. Kids that don't come from the Southern New England area can come play at URI and all their friends and family can stream their games. While it's not the exposure that a Duke recruit would get, the fact that the people closest to E.C. Matthews from his hometown can watch the vast majority of his games certainly puts us in a better position than a similar school that doesn't have the extensive streaming option that we offer. And it's not worth Cox' time to stream our games if they can't also broadcast them locally. Between helping in recruiting, keeping URI fans that don't live in Southern New England close to the team, potentially introducing people who aren't fans to our team, and giving people who simply can't make certain games an option to still watch the game, it's a no brainer to broadcast the games the way we have. Anybody who's a fan that isn't going to the games now because they are on TV won't go to the games if you take them off the air. They'll just listen to the radio call or not bother with the team at all.

+1 was just going to point this out. Can't imagine the family and friends of recruits wouldn't want to see them play. With parents involved in recruiting decisions, would they be more willing to positively reinforce uri if they knew they could watch their kid play no matter the distance from home? I'd bet yes.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

Aren't almost all schools games available on one stream or another?

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

And if the type of recruit we're hoping to be involved with in the near future, competing with the Big East for recruits and the BCS schools, you think Cox Cable gives us an advantage? C'mon...

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 9 years ago

It doesn't hurt.

Unread post by **SGreenwell** » 9 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:And if the type of recruit we're hoping to be involved with in the near future, competing with the Big East for recruits and the BCS schools, you think Cox Cable gives us an advantage? C'mon...

It might not close the deal, but it doesn't hurt matters, and it's better than the alternative being no TV. I mean, it seems like most people are talking about degrees here. ESPN > Cox > no TV.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

But that's my point. The type of recruit we hope to be involved with will also be being recruited to schools who will be on ESPN. So, if we're going by TV exposure with these types of recruits, we have no chance!

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 9 years ago

Sure it will come up more, but as URI gets better we'll have more games taken by national TV outlets, which means fewer games will be broadcast by Cox. They only take the ones that are not already being shown on another outlet such as the NBC Sports Network. It's not that we're choosing Cox over ESPN or other national coverage, we're choosing Cox over nothing and that puts us in a better position than schools that don't have a partner that works with them like we have.

Mostly in response to a post that doesn't seem to be there anymore.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

RhowdyRam02 wrote:Sure it will come up more, but as URI gets better we'll have more games taken by national TV outlets, which means fewer games will be broadcast by Cox. They only take the ones that are not already being shown on another outlet such as the NBC Sports Network. It's not that we're choosing Cox over ESPN or other national coverage, we're choosing Cox over nothing and that puts us in a better position than schools that don't have a partner that works with them like we have.

Mostly in response to a post that doesn't seem to be there anymore.

If we're talking about 2 star recruits, fine. Maybe other schools that are recruiting them don't have local TV. I'm setting my goals for higher level recruits now.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

This is the ultimate moving goalpost argument. This discussion started with people saying we shouldn't be on TV so we can force people go to games in order to boost attendance. Now we are saying what we have isn't good enough because it isn't ESPN. That doesn't even seem remotely connected to the initial premise.

BFC · Unread post by **BFC** » 9 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:But that's my point. The type of recruit we hope to be involved with will also be being recruited to schools who will be on ESPN. So, if we're going by TV exposure with these types of recruits, we have no chance!

This is like saying our facilities can't be as nice as BCS schools so why bother upgrading them, or we can't have charter flights to all games so don't have any, no one is saying our recruits are basing their decisions soley on local tv/internet availability but it could be one of many factors that helps sway a recruit.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 9 years ago

To change the topic a bit...I saw the screens and banner in person today. I was so pumped I called ATP. They weren't even turned on. That's how sweet they are. Much bigger than you think, and the pics don't do it justice.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

BFC wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:But that's my point. The type of recruit we hope to be involved with will also be being recruited to schools who will be on ESPN. So, if we're going by TV exposure with these types of recruits, we have no chance!
This is like saying our facilities can't be as nice as BCS schools so why bother upgrading them, or we can't have charter flights to all games so don't have any, no one is saying our recruits are basing their decisions soley on local tv/internet availability but it could be one of many factors that helps sway a recruit.

Plus being on national TV occasionally and local TV frequently could help mitigate the advantage another program could have in a recruiting battle. It won't trump their national TV advantage, but it can narrow the gap and keep us in it so we can win on other factors. If a recruitment comes down to the sole issue of TV, we probably won't win those against major conference programs anyway. Even if you don't think it is a big factor, I know that not being on TV isn't going to help you at all.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 9 years ago

This is an odd conversation. In one respect certain posters are saying we get no media coverage, the journalists hate us, the whole state is brainwashed by PC.....but then the only media company that shows us some love you want to shut out or minimize our involvement with them. WHAT? TV exposure, be it local or national, is MARKETING. We need more marketing not less. Sorry, but the take some games off Cox crowd couldn't be more wrong in this conversation. College hoops fans in RI are broken down into 3 factions, die hard PC, die hard URI and the swing vote. Marketing and winning gets you the swing fans, the ones that want to see a winner, the ones who want to see an exciting product and dont necessarily have an allegiance to one school or another. Yes their are older folks that lived through the 60s/70s and built an allegiance to PC that will be hard to undo. But there are also a ton of folks under 40 who didnt grow up with that David v Goliath syndrome and will bring their money and rooting interest to the more exciting and winning environment. Local games on Cox at least give us a chance to reach the swing fans, and if what they see excites them it will make them more likely to actually attend a game. There is not one positive that comes from taking some games off TV.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

Once again. I've never said anything about taking games off of Cox. I just don't think that being on Cox is a factor in recruiting the type of recruits we are hopefully trying to sign. The small exposure that Cox does give us obviously doesn't hurt, so I see no reason to abandon them.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 9 years ago

Billyboy, Cox's impact on our recruiting was not what this conversation was about. This started as a convo as to whether we should pull games off Cox to increase attendance at the RC. It went off on weird tangents like Cox vs ESPN and Cox as an asset in recruiting, but that was not the original argument.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 9 years ago

bigappleram wrote:Billyboy, Cox's impact on our recruiting was not what this conversation was about. This started as a convo as to whether we should pull games off Cox to increase attendance at the RC. It went off on weird tangents like Cox vs ESPN and Cox as an asset in recruiting, but that was not the original argument.

Exactly BAR.

Bottom line is that more and more games will be telivised in the future, and not watched in the traditional living room approach.
Games will be on IPADS, Laptops, Smart Phones......
Even the low level D1 Teams are getting more and more games on Television.
There will come a day when every single one of URI's games will be Televised - just a matter of time. We have more games accessibile to viewing on TV or Internet than ever before.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 9 years ago

Blue Man wrote:To change the topic a bit...I saw the screens and banner in person today. I was so pumped I called ATP. They weren't even turned on. That's how sweet they are. Much bigger than you think, and the pics don't do it justice.

I can vouch for how excited Blue Man was.... I can't wait to see these upgrades in person!

ElmCityRhody · Unread post by **ElmCityRhody** » 9 years ago

Good stuff blue man.. Now lets get our uni's back to being originals and keaney blue.. Then I might even call ATP..

rhodyrob · Unread post by **rhodyrob** » 9 years ago

Some of you mention the under 40s, how about the very gray beards that maybe shouldn't or can't any longer drive to see their schools team play. I know a few that have cox just because they can see Rhody games. The 70+ fan from Northern RI appreciate the games on Cox.

Rhody Guy · Unread post by **Rhody Guy** » 9 years ago

I was there the other day, watched a few minutes of the girls scrimmaging, and didn't even think to look up at the upgrades! Doh!

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 9 years ago

Rhody Guy wrote:I was there the other day, watched a few minutes of the girls scrimmaging, and didn't even think to look up at the upgrades! Doh!

I didn't think to watch the girl's scrimmaging - together we had a complete visit!

They also relocated the sound board from out of the closet, and into 210, so the sound engineer will actually get to hear the noise and edit in real time.

The RC staff is getting extensive daktronics training, and we'll even be getting outside help for all the production work and delivery.

This is the same exact stuff that's in the Garden - it's nice to see that everything we're doing under this new administration is top of the class.

Andrew · Unread post by **Andrew** » 9 years ago

Just got a call from someone in the RC offices, asking how my season ticket experience was last year, and if there's any improvements to be made. I told them that I enjoyed it, and that an improvement could be made in fan involvement, whether that's moving the mob (or at least organizing them), have certain sections do different things, etc. Just a heads up for last year's season tickets holders, you may get a call.

Should we have a poll to represent a more unified board in what improvements can be made? Seems the marketing/sales teams are gathering tons of data, which is good.

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