Ryan Center In-Game Experience - Issues and Upgrades

[rhodyblue12]

All legit comments. So frustrating

[RF1]

Before my trip to the Ryan Center yesterday, I went to a college hockey game in Lowell Friday night. I saw UMass-Lowell host nationally ranked BC (BC won 3-2). The game was played at Tsongas Arena in downtown Lowell. Construction of the arena which opened in 1998 was paid for with $4 million in funding from both the city and the university, plus another $20 million contributed from the state. The city owned and managed the arena in its first decade before transferring it to the university in 2010 for a $1 sales transaction. The arena in its early years hosted an AHL team, UMass-Lowell hockey, and many concerts in the heart of the downtown of Lowell (population: 111,000). Since its takeover by the university, it is more school oriented today with the hockey program being its principal tenant. It however still does concerts and other events with the Harlem Globetrotters coming soon.

The arena is close to the city's minor league baseball park and all the downtown's major attractions. UMass-Lowell does not have a traditional campus as it has various buildings spread out within a mile of the arena. Part of this is due to the fact that it was once was two separate schools with their own campuses that merged back in 1975 as the University of Lowell. It became part of the UMass university system in 1991 and today has a total enrollment of some 18,000 students. It is primarily still a commuter school although several new dorms have been built in recent years as enrollment increased.

The relatively new and modern arena seats 6,000 for hockey in a 360 degree bowl and is multi purpose. While it can be configured for basketball, it rarely ever is done since the UMass-Lowell men's basketball team draws poorly and instead plays in a much smaller gym on campus. There is only one level of seating which goes up from the ice to the concourse which is open to the arena along much of its perimeter. There is a open lounge in one corner that is set up as a pub with a traditional style bar and pub tables that overlook the action. A number of private suites were on the concourse level on one sideline. The concourse has restrooms and plentiful concessions that sell food and drink, including beer (which can be brought back to your seats). In addition to the permanent stands, there are several temp pop up stands (beer included) along the concourse as well. I also noticed that there were some private rooms at one end of the arena that were hosting private corp events. There is nearby parking provided via surface lots and a parking garage which both cost $10/event.

Despite students still being on break, I was told that crowd of near 5k was one of their larger turnouts given it being a Friday versus a locally ranked opponent. Even though it was a college athletics event, the crowd did not really reflect this. It may have been somewhat due to it being break, but the crowd did not appear to be all that tied to the college. It very much seemed to me that the great bulk of attendees were locals and it included many under the age of 18. I did not get the impression that many had any ties to the school being neither students or alumni. It was more as if the this college team was the CITY'S team.

The event was similarly managed much like a game at the Ryan Center. There was a pep band in one corner and they had an emcee that would appear on the video scoreboard screen. They had promotions during the breaks and many things geared toward young kids. The River Hawk mascot was there and also roamed the concourse stopping to chat with youngsters and pose for photos.

I did not try to access the WiFi so I cannot comment on that. I was however able to send and receive text messages with no issue. There seemed to be more concessions throughout the venue and people seemed to be patronizing them much more than at the Ryan Center. Beers ran from $8-9 and I did sample a can of Harpoon IPA. A rather large slice of pizza also was in the $8-9 range depending on if you got pepperoni or not. Tickets for the game went from $18-25 with all seats being chair back. While UMass-Lowell probably takes in less ticket revenue than at a URI basketball game, I would guess it makes much more money from other sources such as parking and concessions (especially with beer being sold all over the arena).

Getting in and out of the area was not bad. It is not located near any highway so the only access is via city surface roads. There were however many parking attendants by the arena directing people and policemen at most major intersections for several blocks distance from the arena. We just got into our car and easily departed with little stop and go or lines of cars. It was a much faster exit than the Ryan Center north lot and had no nearby SK intersection type backups. Walking out of the actual arena was worse than the Ryan Center as everyone seemingly had to traverse the concourse to the corner to all exit at the one lobby.

Arena Lounge Bar

Seating Bowl

600-TsongasCenter_tcm18-254006.jpg (38.1 KiB) Viewed 3378 times

Lobby Exterior

[Taylor Swift]

Between the years this thread has been talking about the WiFi and the feedback on social media....wtf is the problem of having WORKING WiFi in the RC?

I got a text message that was sent to me BEFORE the game about 25 minutes after the game ended. This is 2020.

CUT CUE BAIT. It’s emBARONsing.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Between the years this thread has been talking about the WiFi and the feedback on social media....wtf is the problem of having WORKING WiFi in the RC?

I got a text message that was sent to me BEFORE the game about 25 minutes after the game ended. This is 2020.

CUT CUE BAIT. It’s emBARONsing.

I bet it would work better if people could take beer to their seats. In fact, I will wager anyone a sixer on that, right now.

[ElmCityRhody]

Between the years this thread has been talking about the WiFi and the feedback on social media....wtf is the problem of having WORKING WiFi in the RC?

I got a text message that was sent to me BEFORE the game about 25 minutes after the game ended. This is 2020.

CUT CUE BAIT. It’s emBARONsing.

I like this

[theblueram]

I try cue every game and hold my phone up so everyone can see it says Waiting to Sync. Just a joke.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I try cue every game and hold my phone up so everyone can see it says Waiting to Sync. Just a joke.

And I bet you a sixpack that, if we could take beers to our seats...it would work.

[Taylor Swift]

Between the years this thread has been talking about the WiFi and the feedback on social media....wtf is the problem of having WORKING WiFi in the RC?

I got a text message that was sent to me BEFORE the game about 25 minutes after the game ended. This is 2020.

CUT CUE BAIT. It’s emBARONsing.

I like this

ECR for the rest of my life, I will think of you when anyone says “CUT BAIT”

[Taylor Swift]

I try cue every game and hold my phone up so everyone can see it says Waiting to Sync. Just a joke.

I am sitting on my couch and opened the CUE app and did the demo and it worked. It doesn’t work when I need it to.

[Rhody74]

Actually I had no trouble with WiFi Saturday. I guess it was my lucky day.

[Rhody72]

I go to games because I like to watch the actions particularly away from the ball - something you don't get watching a game on TV. When there is a stoppage in play I like to look at the score board. Unfortunately, during time outs the stats disappear for some reason. Is it too much to ask to keep the stats up and dispense with using this space for other purposes?

[theblueram]

I go to games because I like to watch the actions particularly away from the ball - something you don't get watching a game on TV. When there is a stoppage in play I like to look at the score board. Unfortunately, during time outs the stats disappear for some reason. Is it too much to ask to keep the stats up and dispense with using this space for other purposes?

This is probably my biggest beef. LEAVE THE STATS UP WHEN A FREE THROW IS BEING MADE!!!!!!!!!! Drives me up the wall. In my section, I can not see the main board. And when will we for the love of god get replays on the jumbotron?????????

[bigappleram]

Agree with all of this. Never understand why the stats go away at precisely the time you can check the stats (timeouts). Realize some valuable ads needs to be shown as well but find a healthy medium. This isn’t that hard.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I go to games because I like to watch the actions particularly away from the ball - something you don't get watching a game on TV. When there is a stoppage in play I like to look at the score board. Unfortunately, during time outs the stats disappear for some reason. Is it too much to ask to keep the stats up and dispense with using this space for other purposes?

This is probably my biggest beef. LEAVE THE STATS UP WHEN A FREE THROW IS BEING MADE!!!!!!!!!! Drives me up the wall. In my section, I can not see the main board. And when will we for the love of god get replays on the jumbotron?????????

Effective use of replay could be used to serious (serious) crowd-stoking advantage...(#whatarewewaitingfor)

On the stats...I've actually almost trained myself to try to get a look while one team is bring it up after a made basket. The only time the stats are up there is during play so....altho, I do think you get about 1.8 seconds after a whistle to take a quick look, too.

[phipsiGD'11]

Whomever runs the RC must be reading our board, although not very successfully.
Tried to go to one of the pubs during half time on Saturday (of course I was an idiot and didn't leave my seat when a timeout was called with 17 seconds left) and they were already packed so the wife and I were probably about 15 people deep in line. Someone from the RC, must have been a manager, came up to the group behind us and said he can show us to the concourse bar where there was no crowd. Voila, I'm drinking under the stands. While there was no line or crowd, there was also no TV, no audio. I always joke about certain things being "so Rhode Island", but this may take the cake.
I dont even mind being under the stands (maybe because I'm just happy to have a beer at this point), but you gotta do something. How hard is it to put a couple TVs in there with a live feed from directly on the other side of the wall?

[phipsiGD'11]

And that post isnt even about beer in the seats. Just if you're going to do something, do it right. If you half ass things you will get half ass results.
Idk if it is fair to relate the program as a whole to how the RC is run, but if we cant even get things to run functionally like concessions, pubs, beer, jumbotron, scoreboard, how can we expect our team to compete at the highest level year in and year out?
Maybe they aren't as related as I think, but it's more about being able to manage at a high level. Think Big!

[Taylor Swift]

Whomever runs the RC must be reading our board, although not very successfully.
Tried to go to one of the pubs during half time on Saturday (of course I was an idiot and didn't leave my seat when a timeout was called with 17 seconds left) and they were already packed so the wife and I were probably about 15 people deep in line. Someone from the RC, must have been a manager, came up to the group behind us and said he can show us to the concourse bar where there was no crowd. Voila, I'm drinking under the stands. While there was no line or crowd, there was also no TV, no audio. I always joke about certain things being "so Rhode Island", but this may take the cake.
I dont even mind being under the stands (maybe because I'm just happy to have a beer at this point), but you gotta do something. How hard is it to put a couple TVs in there with a live feed from directly on the other side of the wall?

That area used to be storage for the hoops they put up at practice and also used to be where the band warmed up prior to games. Beginning of last season they put beer and wine sales in there. It is traditionally for court-side seats and family/friends of the team ticket holders. I believe it was input from someone close to the team to have adult beverages sold there.

There have been vast improvements at the RC (granted I was a freshman the year or opened) but concessions and WiFi seems to be where most of the lack of improvement stands.

[UCH21377]

It wasn't that long ago we had no beer/wine so I will take what we have, for now.

[Obadiah]

My understanding is to correct the WiFi situation in Ryan will require a seven figure investment!

[Rhody15]

My understanding is to correct the WiFi situation in Ryan will require a seven figure investment!

I’ll gladly sacrifice WiFi if that seven figure amount goes towards a practice facility.

[theblueram]

My understanding is to correct the WiFi situation in Ryan will require a seven figure investment!

sell more beer then. Suggestion, have beer at all concessions. I can't understand this is even a discussion when I can drive to Fall River and legally by an ounce of pot.

[NYGFan_Section208]

My understanding is to correct the WiFi situation in Ryan will require a seven figure investment!

sell more beer then. Suggestion, have beer at all concessions. I can't understand this is even a discussion when I can drive to Fall River and legally by an ounce of pot.

PS They have good wi-fi in Fall River, too. According to a friend...

[phipsiGD'11]

I believe someone did math on the mark ups on alcohol prices earlier (way too lazy to go back and look). I'm sure someone in supply chain or finance world can figure relatively quickly how many cans of beer we'd have to sell to pay for our own practice facility.
If each can=$8...
And out of $8 the profit is $2...
And the practice facility costs $4million...
2 million cans need to be sold...
14 home games...
2,000 cans a game...

Obviously I was neither a supply chain or finance major so my numbers are probably WAY off, but you get the point

[Taylor Swift]

My understanding is to correct the WiFi situation in Ryan will require a seven figure investment!

sell more beer then. Suggestion, have beer at all concessions. I can't understand this is even a discussion when I can drive to Fall River and legally by an ounce of pot.

But you’d still have to smoke it in MA and not travel across state borders, right? Gina needs to get her slimy hands on that too.

They have the infrastructure in there for WiFi but I guess it would be outdated and completely redesigned. URI students are in there and they’re connected via URI Secure? URI Open never works for me either in there.

There’s got to be some work around. I am not asking for much. I had a few business related texts on Saturday and the person who was sending me texts thought I was choosing not to respond- I had to explain “hi I was at the game and didn’t have service for over 2 hours”

[Taylor Swift]

I believe someone did math on the mark ups on alcohol prices earlier (way too lazy to go back and look). I'm sure someone in supply chain or finance world can figure relatively quickly how many cans of beer we'd have to sell to pay for our own practice facility.
If each can=$8...
And out of $8 the profit is $2...
And the practice facility costs $4million...
2 million cans need to be sold...
14 home games...
2,000 cans a game...

Obviously I was neither a supply chain or finance major so my numbers are probably WAY off, but you get the point

2,000 * 14 is 28,000.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I believe someone did math on the mark ups on alcohol prices earlier (way too lazy to go back and look). I'm sure someone in supply chain or finance world can figure relatively quickly how many cans of beer we'd have to sell to pay for our own practice facility.
If each can=$8...
And out of $8 the profit is $2...
And the practice facility costs $4million...
2 million cans need to be sold...
14 home games...
2,000 cans a game...

Obviously I was neither a supply chain or finance major so my numbers are probably WAY off, but you get the point

Pretty close...to sell the 2M cans over one 14-15 game sked would be about 133,000 cans per game, or just about 2000, like you said.
So, if 4000 people in the crowd were to do their fair share, they'd each buy 33 beers each per game. #whatstheholdup

[phipsiGD'11]

Haha that math I can do.
So you're saying we're only about 20 seasons away (adjusting for inflation, naturally) from a practice facility AFTER we allow alcohol sales...

[phipsiGD'11]

I believe someone did math on the mark ups on alcohol prices earlier (way too lazy to go back and look). I'm sure someone in supply chain or finance world can figure relatively quickly how many cans of beer we'd have to sell to pay for our own practice facility.
If each can=$8...
And out of $8 the profit is $2...
And the practice facility costs $4million...
2 million cans need to be sold...
14 home games...
2,000 cans a game...

Obviously I was neither a supply chain or finance major so my numbers are probably WAY off, but you get the point

Pretty close...to sell the 2M cans over one 14-15 game sked would be about 133,000 cans per game, or just about 2000, like you said.
So, if 4000 people in the crowd were to do their fair share, they'd each buy 33 beers each per game. #whatstheholdup

If we can get Gina to lower the drinking age to 18, the students will more than easily make up the difference.
That is starting to sound more realistic than any of our other discussions

[NYGFan_Section208]

I believe someone did math on the mark ups on alcohol prices earlier (way too lazy to go back and look). I'm sure someone in supply chain or finance world can figure relatively quickly how many cans of beer we'd have to sell to pay for our own practice facility.
If each can=$8...
And out of $8 the profit is $2...
And the practice facility costs $4million...
2 million cans need to be sold...
14 home games...
2,000 cans a game...

Obviously I was neither a supply chain or finance major so my numbers are probably WAY off, but you get the point

Pretty close...to sell the 2M cans over one 14-15 game sked would be about 133,000 cans per game, or just about 2000, like you said.
So, if 4000 people in the crowd were to do their fair share, they'd each buy 33 beers each per game. #whatstheholdup

If we can get Gina to lower the drinking age to 18, the students will more than easily make up the difference.
That is starting to sound more realistic than any of our other discussions

There will be legal recreational here long before that happens...

[theblueram]

I believe someone did math on the mark ups on alcohol prices earlier (way too lazy to go back and look). I'm sure someone in supply chain or finance world can figure relatively quickly how many cans of beer we'd have to sell to pay for our own practice facility.
If each can=$8...
And out of $8 the profit is $2...
And the practice facility costs $4million...
2 million cans need to be sold...
14 home games...
2,000 cans a game...

Obviously I was neither a supply chain or finance major so my numbers are probably WAY off, but you get the point

As a phi psi finance person, your math is a bit off. If we made $4 a can, with 14 home games we would need to sell about 70,000 cans a game to make $4 mill a year. I can drink, but not that much.

[Taylor Swift]

Pretty close...to sell the 2M cans over one 14-15 game sked would be about 133,000 cans per game, or just about 2000, like you said.
So, if 4000 people in the crowd were to do their fair share, they'd each buy 33 beers each per game. #whatstheholdup

If we can get Gina to lower the drinking age to 18, the students will more than easily make up the difference.
That is starting to sound more realistic than any of our other discussions

There will be legal recreational here long before that happens...

Gina isn’t going to do anything that doesn’t provide her with any personal gain.

Hah! Arenas and weed reminds me of the Justin/JayZ concert at Fenway and everyone around me was lighting up. All security and cops just turned away from it.

[gazakaza]

My understanding is to correct the WiFi situation in Ryan will require a seven figure investment!

sell more beer then. Suggestion, have beer at all concessions. I can't understand this is even a discussion when I can drive to Fall River and legally by an ounce of pot.

But you’d still have to smoke it in MA and not travel across state borders, right? Gina needs to get her slimy hands on that too.

They have the infrastructure in there for WiFi but I guess it would be outdated and completely redesigned. URI students are in there and they’re connected via URI Secure? URI Open never works for me either in there.

There’s got to be some work around. I am not asking for much. I had a few business related texts on Saturday and the person who was sending me texts thought I was choosing not to respond- I had to explain “hi I was at the game and didn’t have service for over 2 hours”

Even on URI Secure since I remember my credentials, it still doesn’t work. Seems as though that’s fallen through the last couple of years too.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Replay...man, oh man...replays.

Fatts dunks it off the fast break...followed by a whistle and a time out. There is absolutely NOTHING that would have pumped up the crowd more at that time...than a replay of Fatts' dunk.

[Rhody15]

Students were turned away tonight.

With half the 300 sections empty, absolutely inexcusable for students to be turned away.

Pathetic.

Everyone involved in that situation should be embarrassed.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Students were turned away tonight.

With half the 300 sections empty, absolutely inexcusable for students to be turned away.

Pathetic.

Everyone involved in that situation should be embarrassed.

Wow...that is seriously embarrassing...to turn away students with 1500+ empty seats. Wow...

[UCH21377]

I noticed they were lined up for at least 100 yards, had to be 500 kids. Surprised we couldn't let them up into the 300's.

[Billyboy78]

Students were turned away tonight.

With half the 300 sections empty, absolutely inexcusable for students to be turned away.

Pathetic.

Everyone involved in that situation should be embarrassed.

Wow...that is seriously embarrassing...to turn away students with 1500+ empty seats. Wow...

And for PC, we got over 8000 in the place. We could have fit 2000 more students in there tonight.

[Taylor Swift]

Students were turned away tonight.

With half the 300 sections empty, absolutely inexcusable for students to be turned away.

Pathetic.

Everyone involved in that situation should be embarrassed.

Wow...that is seriously embarrassing...to turn away students with 1500+ empty seats. Wow...

Wth happened to make them not able to get in?

[urirx]

Just an observation... but the pregame TV stations probably should not be showing a PC basketball special in the Rhody Pubs.

[thatRamBand]

Just an observation... but the pregame TV stations probably should not be showing a PC basketball special in the Rhody Pubs.

I noticed that too, Yurview get your priorities straight...My dad saw it and said "why the fuck is marvin barnes on the TV in the RHODY PUB?"

[RhowdyRam02]

Just an observation... but the pregame TV stations probably should not be showing a PC basketball special in the Rhody Pubs.

I noticed that too, Yurview get your priorities straight...My dad saw it and said "why the fuck is marvin barnes on the TV in the RHODY PUB?"

As Friar Frank was on the court doing a live shot. What the hell was going on in there pregame!

[ElmCityRhody]

Students were turned away tonight.

With half the 300 sections empty, absolutely inexcusable for students to be turned away.

Pathetic.

Everyone involved in that situation should be embarrassed.

WTF is going ono over there in Rhody Land

WTF

emBARONsing

these losers really need to get their heads out of their arses

PATHETIC

buy an effin vowel already cas you are CLUELESS

b/t the pub and other issues you really have no effin clue

CLEAN HOUSE

CUT BAIT

[EZBuckets]

Students were turned away tonight.

With half the 300 sections empty, absolutely inexcusable for students to be turned away.

Pathetic.

Everyone involved in that situation should be embarrassed.

Where on earth are you getting this information???

NO students were turned away last night.

I was informed that almost 500 students showed up simultaneously JUST before tip-off. It took quite a bit of time for the Ryan Center staff to get them all checked in and in the doors - but there was NO student turned away at last night's game. NONE. ZERO. ZIP.

I have no earthly idea how this started but it's absolutely ridiculous to spread such nonsense here with zero evidence on what should've been a night of nothing but positives.

I can assure you anyone who saw a student turn around and leave the line to the Ryan Center did so on their own accord. I even saw additional students make their way into the crowd WELL into the 1st half.

Let's put away the pitchforks and think before spreading such negative, false information.

[Obadiah]

Thanks EZ for bringing some logic to the discourse. There is no excuse ever for not being "fact based". Never make wild accusations until you have the facts, otherwise you run the risk of coming off as foolish!

[Rhodysk]

Good to hear ez!!!!!

[ElmCityRhody]

CUT THE BAD INFO POST BAIT !

and along with it CUT SHOWER CURTAINS BAIT

[Rhody15]

Students were turned away tonight.

With half the 300 sections empty, absolutely inexcusable for students to be turned away.

Pathetic.

Everyone involved in that situation should be embarrassed.

Where on earth are you getting this information???

NO students were turned away last night.

I was informed that almost 500 students showed up simultaneously JUST before tip-off. It took quite a bit of time for the Ryan Center staff to get them all checked in and in the doors - but there was NO student turned away at last night's game. NONE. ZERO. ZIP.

I have no earthly idea how this started but it's absolutely ridiculous to spread such nonsense here with zero evidence on what should've been a night of nothing but positives.

I can assure you anyone who saw a student turn around and leave the line to the Ryan Center did so on their own accord. I even saw additional students make their way into the crowd WELL into the 1st half.

Let's put away the pitchforks and think before spreading such negative, false information.

Walked past the student entrance, kids turned away and heard whoever at the door say "No more allowed in."

[EZBuckets]

Students were turned away tonight.

With half the 300 sections empty, absolutely inexcusable for students to be turned away.

Pathetic.

Everyone involved in that situation should be embarrassed.

Where on earth are you getting this information???

NO students were turned away last night.

I was informed that almost 500 students showed up simultaneously JUST before tip-off. It took quite a bit of time for the Ryan Center staff to get them all checked in and in the doors - but there was NO student turned away at last night's game. NONE. ZERO. ZIP.

I have no earthly idea how this started but it's absolutely ridiculous to spread such nonsense here with zero evidence on what should've been a night of nothing but positives.

I can assure you anyone who saw a student turn around and leave the line to the Ryan Center did so on their own accord. I even saw additional students make their way into the crowd WELL into the 1st half.

Let's put away the pitchforks and think before spreading such negative, false information.

Walked past the student entrance, kids turned away and heard whoever at the door say "No more allowed in."

I’m not sure at what time it was you heard this - but they also stagger the amount of students who are let in at a time so there isn’t a massive bum rush to the seats. I’ve been assured by my contacts that no student was turned away that arrived before doors closed.

[PeteRI]

I try cue every game and hold my phone up so everyone can see it says Waiting to Sync. Just a joke.

Didn't you hear? They changed the name of the app to Fu-CUE.

[Obadiah]

Maybe EZ Buckets can explain why the Cue Live app is not working for so many people!!