KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

RoadyJay wrote:I think many of the points by posters explaining 4300 against Holy Cross have some validity, but for me it boils down to this....

Are we doing the best we can with the marketing dollars we have? Are we even spending sufficient dollars on marketing? Are we doing everything single thing we can to get butts in seats? What is our brand? Do we have a brand?

I believe the answer to these questions are NO, NO, NO, WE DON'T KNOW, and NO.

Rhody Jay for the win. And for what it's worth, there are a few supporters of the program who do it for a living and offered their services for free in the offseason. And it went nowhere. Banners ads and emails are the marketing plan. A massive opportunity was missed in this off season and preseason to win hearts and minds.

Not sure how much of a part Dan has in all this....but he's probably not too happy about what's been done [or more likely NOT done] when it comes to marketing the program.

The small time mentality at URI still lives in some places there......

I am in all agreement with ace regarding the status quo. Unfortunately, that is URI's biggest problem in many areas; especially regarding personnel hiring, policies, and procedures. It's great that the university does, in fact, have a progressive, forward-thinking approach when it comes to educating the student body.

In my experiences (professionally, and as a Rhody Athletics Booster) is that there are a LOT of people out there with the mentality: "This is the way we've always done it!" - That sets you up for failure. The program is relevant again. The last time it was, I was in Junior High/High School. This was before Social Media and Digital Marketing existed. Just spend a little on advertising. How many times have I watched Channel 10 in recent weeks and had to watch the "Friartown" commercial. Also, on my drive up to that Providence every day for work, there's that gigantic "Friartown" billboard on 95N right before Exit 16.

Speaking of Social Media, it seems the Rhody Tickets account DOES, in fact, try to put in more effort. This is probably why there is a drawer in my kitchen with about 5 A10 Champion Koozies.

Taylor Swift wrote:I am in all agreement with ace regarding the status quo. Unfortunately, that is URI's biggest problem in many areas; especially regarding personnel hiring, policies, and procedures. It's great that the university does, in fact, have a progressive, forward-thinking approach when it comes to educating the student body.

In my experiences (professionally, and as a Rhody Athletics Booster) is that there are a LOT of people out there with the mentality: "This is the way we've always done it!" - That sets you up for failure. The program is relevant again. The last time it was, I was in Junior High/High School. This was before Social Media and Digital Marketing existed. Just spend a little on advertising. How many times have I watched Channel 10 in recent weeks and had to watch the "Friartown" commercial. Also, on my drive up to that Providence every day for work, there's that gigantic "Friartown" billboard on 95N right before Exit 16.

Speaking of Social Media, it seems the Rhody Tickets account DOES, in fact, try to put in more effort. This is probably why there is a drawer in my kitchen with about 5 A10 Champion Koozies.

So, YOU'RE the one who keeps winning those!

It's likely going to take time to weed out those that refuse to get with the times.....

Just like Rome wasn't built in a day, neither are the athletic programs at URI and the perception thereof.

From Ace and spot on.

"there are way too many people in potential change-making positions at your school who are fine with the status quo"

You can list the reasons why; but its either a lack of vision or lack of ambition or both.

You don't need a PhD to know you have Jared Terrell, EC Matthews and Dan Hurley as 3 great marketing assets to use for 1 period of time.
A stud AAU kid who was locally groomed, a Cousy nominee and a nationally recognized name brand coach. Lets do more than banner ads

Billyboy78 wrote:

Taylor Swift wrote:I am in all agreement with ace regarding the status quo. Unfortunately, that is URI's biggest problem in many areas; especially regarding personnel hiring, policies, and procedures. It's great that the university does, in fact, have a progressive, forward-thinking approach when it comes to educating the student body.

In my experiences (professionally, and as a Rhody Athletics Booster) is that there are a LOT of people out there with the mentality: "This is the way we've always done it!" - That sets you up for failure. The program is relevant again. The last time it was, I was in Junior High/High School. This was before Social Media and Digital Marketing existed. Just spend a little on advertising. How many times have I watched Channel 10 in recent weeks and had to watch the "Friartown" commercial. Also, on my drive up to that Providence every day for work, there's that gigantic "Friartown" billboard on 95N right before Exit 16.

Speaking of Social Media, it seems the Rhody Tickets account DOES, in fact, try to put in more effort. This is probably why there is a drawer in my kitchen with about 5 A10 Champion Koozies.

So, YOU'RE the one who keeps winning those!

Bahahaha! I got two from the recent DH Coaches Shows (Mews and Two Ten). I got another 3-4 in the mail because I "retweeted" Rhody Tickets and won a contest.

Taylor Swift wrote:

Billyboy78 wrote:

Taylor Swift wrote:I am in all agreement with ace regarding the status quo. Unfortunately, that is URI's biggest problem in many areas; especially regarding personnel hiring, policies, and procedures. It's great that the university does, in fact, have a progressive, forward-thinking approach when it comes to educating the student body.

In my experiences (professionally, and as a Rhody Athletics Booster) is that there are a LOT of people out there with the mentality: "This is the way we've always done it!" - That sets you up for failure. The program is relevant again. The last time it was, I was in Junior High/High School. This was before Social Media and Digital Marketing existed. Just spend a little on advertising. How many times have I watched Channel 10 in recent weeks and had to watch the "Friartown" commercial. Also, on my drive up to that Providence every day for work, there's that gigantic "Friartown" billboard on 95N right before Exit 16.

Speaking of Social Media, it seems the Rhody Tickets account DOES, in fact, try to put in more effort. This is probably why there is a drawer in my kitchen with about 5 A10 Champion Koozies.

So, YOU'RE the one who keeps winning those!

Bahahaha! I got two from the recent DH Coaches Shows (Mews and Two Ten). I got another 3-4 in the mail because I "retweeted" Rhody Tickets and won a contest.

I've retweeted about 10 times, some of them are autographed......nothing.

ace wrote:Roady Jay is right, and anyone who doesn’t see his point is not paying attention, IMO. I’m well aware I’m an interloper here. This isn’t necessarily my team or school but what I’ve gathered from watching and listening to those involved is that, in addition to the normal budgetary things, there are way too many people in potential change-making positions at your school who are fine with the status quo, which handcuffs a lot of others. The stuff that Roady Jay is talking about would go a long way in making all the tedious have to be in the top 25, have to beat a top 20 team without your best player and best front court player, don’t slip or you lose it all, etc. talk lessen. If you consider yourself to be a good fan and are doing what you can to support the program in a way that fits your life situation- great, that’s tremendous. Don’t get your feelings all hurt because the discussion doesn’t apply to you. No need to go all #notallmen on this. If you’re on a stupid message board (like me! I’m stupid, too!) we can probably assume you’re all in, with notable exceptions who need not be named, of course.

Well said.
I also agree with Roady Jay completely.

I can tell you this, as I sat there during the game and looked around I felt embarrassed. Honestly, it is just how I felt. As I looked at Bob Hurley Sr., I wondered what was going through his mind as he looked at the "crowd". I wondered what Dan Hurley thought. I was embarrassed. I did not expect that small a crowd on Sunday. Maybe I should have, but I was shocked to be honest with all of you.

Students were basically a no show. I brought this up here and a poster said they went home for the Holiday - like that justifies their not attending. Huh? There are 3 more days of school left!! You really think their parents are expecting them to come home with 3 days of classes left?

Lot's of justifications being made for why the 4300 occurred but I am most intrigued by RJ's statement about the offers made this summer that were turned down.

VCU has over 100 straight sell outs to all levels of opponents. If we can't do better than 4300 for Holy Cross on a Sunny Sunday afternoon with the Partriots game at 4:30pm no less, then that is pretty sad - 6th year into Dan Hurley's Leadership, Top Recruiting Class of Mid Majors early in November, 1st A10 Championship this Century. 1st NCAA Tournament win this Century, picked to win the A10 Preseason, Top 25 Team, good grief. Stop with the justification and "it's a process", "it takes time". I heard that process stuff for 11 long years.

Fire those who are holding the proper marketing and advertising of this program now. Replace them. If you can't do that due to certain reasons then lay into them and tell them there are no excuses for 4300 on a Sunday afternoon at 1pm with a Basketball Organization the likes that URI has not seen since 1998.,

Give Tickets to the public schools, private schools, YMCA's, churches,,,,,,,

And let people in the building more than an hour before the game, especially for games expecting big attendance like for PC when doors open 1.5 hours ahead.

and it makes me sick to see that Friartown wall in the Airport

ramster wrote:

ace wrote:Roady Jay is right, and anyone who doesn’t see his point is not paying attention, IMO. I’m well aware I’m an interloper here. This isn’t necessarily my team or school but what I’ve gathered from watching and listening to those involved is that, in addition to the normal budgetary things, there are way too many people in potential change-making positions at your school who are fine with the status quo, which handcuffs a lot of others. The stuff that Roady Jay is talking about would go a long way in making all the tedious have to be in the top 25, have to beat a top 20 team without your best player and best front court player, don’t slip or you lose it all, etc. talk lessen. If you consider yourself to be a good fan and are doing what you can to support the program in a way that fits your life situation- great, that’s tremendous. Don’t get your feelings all hurt because the discussion doesn’t apply to you. No need to go all #notallmen on this. If you’re on a stupid message board (like me! I’m stupid, too!) we can probably assume you’re all in, with notable exceptions who need not be named, of course.

Well said.
I also agree with Roady Jay completely.

I can tell you this, as I sat there during the game and looked around I felt embarrassed. Honestly, it is just how I felt. As I looked at Bob Hurley Sr., I wondered what was going through his mind as he looked at the "crowd". I wondered what Dan Hurley thought. I was embarrassed. I did not expect that small a crowd on Sunday. Maybe I should have, but I was shocked to be honest with all of you.

Students were basically a no show. I brought this up here and a poster said they went home for the Holiday - like that justifies their not attending. Huh? There are 3 more days of school left!! You really think their parents are expecting them to come home with 3 days left?

Lot's of justifications being made for why the 4300 occurred but I am most intrigued by RJ's statement about the offers made this summer that were turned down.

VCU has over 100 straight sell outs to all kinds of opponents. If we can't do better than 4300 for Holy Cross on a Sunny Sunday afternoon with the Partriots game at 4:30pm no less then that is pretty sad - 6th year into Dan Hurley's Leadership, Top Recruiting Class of Mid Majors early in November, 1st A10 Championship this Century. 1st NCAA Tournament win this Century, picked to win the A10 Preseason, Top 25 Team, good grief. Stop with the justification and "it's a process", "it takes time". I heard that process stuff for 11 long years.

Fire those who are holding the proper marketing and advertising of this program now. Replace them. If you can't do that due to certain reasons then lay into them and tell them there are no excuses for 4300 on a Sunday afternoon at 1pm with a Basketball Organization the likes that URI has not seen since 1998.,

Give Tickets to the public schools, private schools, YMCA's,

And let people in the building more than an hour before the game, especially for games expecting big attendance like for PC when doors open 1.5 hours ahead.

and it makes me sick to see that Friartown wall in the Airport.

Try not to take any of it personal, bud

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:

ramster wrote:

ace wrote:Roady Jay is right, and anyone who doesn’t see his point is not paying attention, IMO. I’m well aware I’m an interloper here. This isn’t necessarily my team or school but what I’ve gathered from watching and listening to those involved is that, in addition to the normal budgetary things, there are way too many people in potential change-making positions at your school who are fine with the status quo, which handcuffs a lot of others. The stuff that Roady Jay is talking about would go a long way in making all the tedious have to be in the top 25, have to beat a top 20 team without your best player and best front court player, don’t slip or you lose it all, etc. talk lessen. If you consider yourself to be a good fan and are doing what you can to support the program in a way that fits your life situation- great, that’s tremendous. Don’t get your feelings all hurt because the discussion doesn’t apply to you. No need to go all #notallmen on this. If you’re on a stupid message board (like me! I’m stupid, too!) we can probably assume you’re all in, with notable exceptions who need not be named, of course.

Well said.
I also agree with Roady Jay completely.

I can tell you this, as I sat there during the game and looked around I felt embarrassed. Honestly, it is just how I felt. As I looked at Bob Hurley Sr., I wondered what was going through his mind as he looked at the "crowd". I wondered what Dan Hurley thought. I was embarrassed. I did not expect that small a crowd on Sunday. Maybe I should have, but I was shocked to be honest with all of you.

Students were basically a no show. I brought this up here and a poster said they went home for the Holiday - like that justifies their not attending. Huh? There are 3 more days of school left!! You really think their parents are expecting them to come home with 3 days left?

Lot's of justifications being made for why the 4300 occurred but I am most intrigued by RJ's statement about the offers made this summer that were turned down.

VCU has over 100 straight sell outs to all kinds of opponents. If we can't do better than 4300 for Holy Cross on a Sunny Sunday afternoon with the Partriots game at 4:30pm no less then that is pretty sad - 6th year into Dan Hurley's Leadership, Top Recruiting Class of Mid Majors early in November, 1st A10 Championship this Century. 1st NCAA Tournament win this Century, picked to win the A10 Preseason, Top 25 Team, good grief. Stop with the justification and "it's a process", "it takes time". I heard that process stuff for 11 long years.

Fire those who are holding the proper marketing and advertising of this program now. Replace them. If you can't do that due to certain reasons then lay into them and tell them there are no excuses for 4300 on a Sunday afternoon at 1pm with a Basketball Organization the likes that URI has not seen since 1998.,

Give Tickets to the public schools, private schools, YMCA's,

And let people in the building more than an hour before the game, especially for games expecting big attendance like for PC when doors open 1.5 hours ahead.

and it makes me sick to see that Friartown wall in the Airport.

Try not to take any of it personal, bud

Ha Ha

and while I'm ranting..............dang, do I ever miss that guy holding up the signs

ramster wrote:

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:

ramster wrote:
Try not to take any of it personal, bud

Ha Ha

and while I'm ranting..............dang, do I ever miss that guy holding up the signs

We all do...we all do....

Also 4309 was listed attendance but that's tickets sold and not rear ends in the seats ?? So I am guessing less than 4 k actually showed ??

PC and URI have the same issue.....

Students disinterested.

We have the on campus arena, the problem is easier to fix for us.

Find a way to get it done. Free stuff, especially food is huge.

theblueram wrote:Maybe let's get into the Top 25 for a few weeks before we have a discussion on attendance.

This is seriously the new bar now?

......OK, so how do we fix it....?

Win a big road OOC game for once, and maybe we'll see a bump in attendance the next home game.

A perspective from a person who became a Ram fan in September of 1974.....we are now light years ahead of marketing and the overall professionalism that existed since then until the late 2010's....

.....there were decades of nothing and incompetence in the Sports Dept., in many regards....

....there were high level administrators...both at the University and within the Athletic Dept....who didn't want to become professional in their approach to sports.....

...the State House could give a damn about the University.....unless it was trying to place one of their supporters in jobs in Kingston....

We have come very, very far......we still have very, very far to go......our fanbase will grow with wins and especially beating the friars occasionally....because the friar game is important to local, casual basketball fans...the core supports trump....er the Rams....no matter what we do....

The problem is, we have a small core......

We do have a small core base.....the job is to grow that base.....new grads who have followed the team through their time at the school have had nothing of substance since the turn of the century until last year..

Yes all ships rise, with unprecedented winning will come unprecedented support, the best sports marketing is winning on the court. All true...VCU's fan base probably doubled as the result of the remarkable Final Four run. However what they do around that on court success - the freakin A-list band, the ad campaign they launch in every A10 tourney city to take it over, the sea of yellow at games, right down to naming their defense - HAVOC.
That is all brand marketing. We have a way to go.

bigappleram wrote:Yes all ships rise, with unprecedented winning will come unprecedented support, the best sports marketing is winning on the court. All true...VCU's fan base probably doubled as the result of the remarkable Final Four run. However what they do around that on court success - the freakin A-list band, the ad campaign they launch in every A10 tourney city to take it over, the sea of yellow at games, right down to naming their defense - HAVOC.
That is all brand marketing. We have a way to go.

......included here are some specific examples I was hoping for in my question how to fix “it” other saying “it” needs fixing....

While the numbers for Holy Cross were disappointing, it should hardly be a big surprise. It was coming off a loss on an NFL Sunday against a Patriot League team. Besides, attendance is not just an issue at URI. Look across our local New England region. The PC numbers have already been noted. Check out four time national champion UConn. They have drawn 7,154 (Colgate), 5,431 (Stony Brook, and 6,308 (BU) for an average of 6,298. Their last two games were however at the 15,564 seat XLCenter (Hartford Civic Center) meaning they played in front of 37% capacity. Fans are very fickle these days and there are far many more competing interests than there used to be. At least we are doing better than the Massachusetts teams such as BC (averaged 3,585 for first three games) and UMass (averaged 2985 for first two games).

I would just point out that if a lot of you pay attention to what you're writing, these are things we absolutely kill other fan bases about, especially the blatant bandwagon aspect. So why are you surprised and offended when people point out the shortcomings when it comes to us?

bigappleram wrote:

RoadyJay wrote:I think many of the points by posters explaining 4300 against Holy Cross have some validity, but for me it boils down to this....

Are we doing the best we can with the marketing dollars we have? Are we even spending sufficient dollars on marketing? Are we doing everything single thing we can to get butts in seats? What is our brand? Do we have a brand?

I believe the answer to these questions are NO, NO, NO, WE DON'T KNOW, and NO.

Rhody Jay for the win. And for what it's worth, there are a few supporters of the program who do it for a living and offered their services for free in the offseason. And it went nowhere. Banners ads and emails are the marketing plan. A massive opportunity was missed in this off season and preseason to win hearts and minds.

I live in Texas now, but I thought the same thing. I've been in marketing for over 20 years, I'd be more than happy to contribute to the marketing efforts and expect nothing. In fact I will still donate monthly as I've been doing. With technology, I can help from another state. Anyone have a contact for me? I'd be thrilled to make that happen.

I tend to fall in line with many of the agreements listed above about the marketing of the program itself, but for this game I give a pass for attendance.

Sunday afternoon in the heart of football season, when all the out of state kids have gone home for Thanksgiving week, against a crap opponent - how can anyone be mad about 4300? Honestly it felt like more to me but I was impressed that we had that many in the building given the circumstances.

If it was a Friday/Saturday night not during Thanksgiving break I would get the pessimism, but really, that was a decent crowd all things considered.

I really think we will never get over 5 k for a similar situation NFL Sunday afternoon vs a similar opponent

Taylor Swift wrote:I am in all agreement with ace regarding the status quo. Unfortunately, that is URI's biggest problem in many areas; especially regarding personnel hiring, policies, and procedures. It's great that the university does, in fact, have a progressive, forward-thinking approach when it comes to educating the student body.

In my experiences (professionally, and as a Rhody Athletics Booster) is that there are a LOT of people out there with the mentality: "This is the way we've always done it!" - That sets you up for failure. The program is relevant again. The last time it was, I was in Junior High/High School. This was before Social Media and Digital Marketing existed. Just spend a little on advertising. How many times have I watched Channel 10 in recent weeks and had to watch the "Friartown" commercial. Also, on my drive up to that Providence every day for work, there's that gigantic "Friartown" billboard on 95N right before Exit 16.

Speaking of Social Media, it seems the Rhody Tickets account DOES, in fact, try to put in more effort. This is probably why there is a drawer in my kitchen with about 5 A10 Champion Koozies.

I was disgusted to see that Friartown sign on my way home from the game a couple of weeks ago. There is no good reason why we don't have any signs promoting URI basketball on 95!

Blue Man wrote:I tend to fall in line with many of the agreements listed above about the marketing of the program itself, but for this game I give a pass for attendance.

Sunday afternoon in the heart of football season, when all the out of state kids have gone home for Thanksgiving week, against a crap opponent - how can anyone be mad about 4300? Honestly it felt like more to me but I was impressed that we had that many in the building given the circumstances.

If it was a Friday/Saturday night not during Thanksgiving break I would get the pessimism, but really, that was a decent crowd all things considered.

I tend to disagree with this completely. First off, when I was at URI too many years ago to count, out of state kids do not go home and miss a half week of school. And while the Patriots may be a reason people stay away, that game wasn't until 4:25. I honestly don't think anyone that would be interested in URI basketball chose to stay home to see the Bills play the Chargers. People can make all the excuses they want, but this just comes down to a combination of lack of interest in the program and weak opponent. Some one posted earlier that there would have been the same crowd for St. Mary's. No way! There would have been a much better turnout for a top 25 team...even one without the a great name recognition for the average fan.

The Nevada return game next year how much does it draw ??

Highway billboards are expensive and don’t provide good return on investment. It does suck to see Friartown but they start with $4 Million of play money to burn.

Rhody needs to be more strategic.

Dunk is packed tonight. Place is so crowded nobody goes there......

reef wrote:The Nevada return game next year how much does it draw ??

.....5200.....

Yeah agree 105 somewhere in that range

RhodyRam86 wrote:

Blue Man wrote:I tend to fall in line with many of the agreements listed above about the marketing of the program itself, but for this game I give a pass for attendance.

Sunday afternoon in the heart of football season, when all the out of state kids have gone home for Thanksgiving week, against a crap opponent - how can anyone be mad about 4300? Honestly it felt like more to me but I was impressed that we had that many in the building given the circumstances.

If it was a Friday/Saturday night not during Thanksgiving break I would get the pessimism, but really, that was a decent crowd all things considered.

I tend to disagree with this completely. First off, when I was at URI too many years ago to count, out of state kids do not go home and miss a half week of school. And while the Patriots may be a reason people stay away, that game wasn't until 4:25. I honestly don't think anyone that would be interested in URI basketball chose to stay home to see the Bills play the Chargers. People can make all the excuses they want, but this just comes down to a combination of lack of interest in the program and weak opponent. Some one posted earlier that there would have been the same crowd for St. Mary's. No way! There would have been a much better turnout for a top 25 team...even one without the a great name recognition for the average fan.

It isn't just the Pats now. With the increased popularity in fantasy football, people watch football all day to keep tabs on their teams. Plus it's a day where underage kids can sit around all day drinking while they watch football. It's hard to compete for the attention of 19/20 year olds when Rhody is competing against drinking all day with their buddies.

VCU's last home game before heading to Maui
Next up at Home is Appalachian State Tuesday Nov 28

Score: Virginia 76, VCU 67
Location: Richmond, Va. (E.J. Wade Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center)
Records: VCU 2-1, Virginia 3-0
Attendance: 7,637 (102nd consecutive sellout)

I just don't think there are enough basketball fans left to fill up the Ryan on a regular basis. Too much competition, and the location is not optimal, like it or not. The only way we could would be to get 2500 students every game. We need a few more years of success before we can reasonably compare ourselves to VCU. It's not a fair comparison yet.

I don't think we will ever be like VCU with regards to attendance

UConn and PC can’t sell out every game and have <40% attendance for bad out of conference games, but URI will not have this problem? Right. VCU, Dayton are their city’s team (sorry Spiders).