Marketing & Fan Engagement Failures

[Taylor Swift]

Of course, this season (and probably last season and the season before) = completely immemorable.

There is a severe problem with marketing for this program and it seems to have completely stumbled to hardly having a pulse this season. I believe I read on an earlier comment today that the Season Ticket Holders were giving a gift of a towel?? One towel per account, not a towel for each season ticket holder? Not every block of season ticket holders lives in the same household. How does that even work? Do you split time with the towel? Do you flip a coin for the towel? Do you split the towel into pieces? I have an entire drawer filled with random tshirts I've gotten at games through the years. What gives? Is there a leadership problem, a lack of effort, a secure job where no one is going to can you? There's something extremely concerning going on. You used to be able to find magnets with the schedule on it at a random local store here and there.

I'm watching the PC game and they had the students there early -- I'm sure they were all lit by the time they arrived, but you could tell they were all pumped to be there even without the Trulys. A local friend of mine whose son is a senior in high school mentioned to his mom that "none of the URI students even want to go to the game because they don't care about the team". The team is still above .500 and they can't get anyone to show up? Sure, it's not a stellar product, but you go out and support your classmates on the court?

Again, I'd like to give some pointers to whoever is in charge of the marketing bang-up that the boosters and students deserve a way better effort. We are the state flagship university and all we do is give balloons to the students to wave for the second half when the opponent is at the line? Complete joke. Where are these dollars being spent?

I sincerely want this marketing program to be held accountable for the lack of effort and presence that is now 100% apparent. The crowd was that bad at the Ryan Center last night that I'm surprised we couldn't hear individual conversations while watching the broadcast.


Students, athletes, coaches, faculty/staff, boosters, donors, alums, community members, etc. deserve WAY better than this parochial hogwash.

[PeteRI]

It's almost like our team is so lame that marketing doesn't want to draw any attention to it.

[RhowdyRam02]

No matter where you stand on the new logo, the rollout of it was maybe the biggest flop I've ever seen. A new logo should be seen as a huge event and it was only mentioned in passing in the 12 or so hours leading up to the game.

Imagine how engaged the fans would be if we used our scoreboards for replays and video packages the way literally every other entity with a video board uses their equipment.

Imagine if we had students near the court creating a home court advantage instead of trying to push as many of them into the 200 and 300's as possible.

Imagine if you heard advertisements about games on the radio or saw them on TV

[Rhody15]

This thread has the potential to go longer that the Terrell recruiting thread.

No more T shirt giveaways, season ticket holder gift severely lacking, nobody knew about a new logo till literally game day. A schools logo is one of the most important parts of an athletic program, and you debut it mid season against a shitty opponent? No build up? No nothing?

Now yes, the team stinks, so attendance will suffer.

But it’s so so much more than that.

[Rhode_Island_Red]

Imagine if our players wore Keaney Blue and not mental-hospital colors.

[Taylor Swift]

Imagine if our players wore Keaney Blue and not mental-hospital colors.

Institutional gray but hey it says “Ocean State” in some weird font.

[Rhodymob05]

Jerseys suck, ocean state jersey sucks. New logo sucks. It’s not a good year for them.

[Taylor Swift]

No matter where you stand on the new logo, the rollout of it was maybe the biggest flop I've ever seen. A new logo should be seen as a huge event and it was only mentioned in passing in the 12 or so hours leading up to the game.

Imagine how engaged the fans would be if we used our scoreboards for replays and video packages the way literally every other entity with a video board uses their equipment.

Imagine if we had students near the court creating a home court advantage instead of trying to push as many of them into the 200 and 300's as possible.

Imagine if you heard advertisements about games on the radio or saw them on TV

The release of the new logo was the tipping point for me really questioning how inept the marketing staff is. This isn’t high school.

The students should never be in the 300s!

[Taylor Swift]

This thread has the potential to go longer that the Terrell recruiting thread.

No more T shirt giveaways, season ticket holder gift severely lacking, nobody knew about a new logo till literally game day. A schools logo is one of the most important parts of an athletic program, and you debut it mid season against a shitty opponent? No build up? No nothing?

Now yes, the team stinks, so attendance will suffer.

But it’s so so much more than that.

“Here’s a towel for you - there’s like 4 games left in the regular season. Thanks for your support”

[Obadiah]

There may be problems with the marketing effort, but no supreme effort would resurrect a season marked by one poorly played game after another. No amount of advertising is going turn around a team who has slowly disintegrated as it met better teams outside the weak OOC schedule, losing seven of the last eight games in the process. Any marketing problems are secondary to the sad situation with this team and future prospects. Lets blow steam off about that rather deflecting anger towards the marketing effort or where the students sit.

[Rhody15]

Imagine if our players wore Keaney Blue and not mental-hospital colors.

Stop this nonsense.

Please
Show me a black and white jersey we’ve worn.

If not, stop the bullshit.

I know it’s now a “secondary” color, but come post when we actually wear a black and white jersey.

[reef]

Jerseys suck, ocean state jersey sucks. New logo sucks. It’s not a good year for them.

I don’t mind the ocean state them for a game or 2 but that’s about it

[STC]

Just win and the marketing will take care of itself.

[section(105)]

…….for me the marketing and fan engagement failures are just another example of the overall URI across the board failures to Think Big We Do…….as for the students, it looked to me PC, as an example, uses school buses to the Dump, so our kids can’t short walk to the RC?…….the student following needs to cultivated, grown on campus, example; pizza in dorms, coaches visible on campus, etc etc……let’s remember many under grads did not grow up URI fans, no connection to Rhody hoops……winning is necessary to make students part of the actual RC game day day culture……examples move their seats etc etc……as for the local buzz, winning helps……season ticket holders appreciation is a joke, I could not believe the towel deal…….URI acts second rate, or worse, in every aspect of a basketball program……awful…….common concept, just build an across the board winner, that does not happen by itself…….no?

[Sweep The Leg]

This thread has the potential to go longer that the Terrell recruiting thread.

No more T shirt giveaways, season ticket holder gift severely lacking, nobody knew about a new logo till literally game day. A schools logo is one of the most important parts of an athletic program, and you debut it mid season against a shitty opponent? No build up? No nothing?

Now yes, the team stinks, so attendance will suffer.

But it’s so so much more than that.

“Here’s a towel for you - there’s like 4 games left in the regular season. Thanks for your support”

The towel is for our tears watching this team play.

[section(105)]

….it is like the NY Giants giving away a medium Pepsi to season ticket holders…….even the alumni lounge does not get a coach giving short pre game and Q&A before games(unless I leave early)

[LoveThoseRams]

….it is like the NY Giants giving away a medium Pepsi to season ticket holders…….even the alumni lounge does not get a coach giving short pre game and Q&A before games(unless I leave early)

105, I was thinking the same about the coaches in the lounge. Say what you want about Sutton, but he was always engaging in the lounge and he would preview the game.

I can’t remember the last time a coach was there, Thor only once or twice this year.

[section(105)]

……..I guess we can go on and on here, but while we are piling on cause the team is losing and the coach evaluation will run its course……what I feel will remain missing is the opportunity for a total Athletic Department evaluation of all aspects of the University commitment to building an A-10 leading basketball program, a tweak here tweak there is not gonna get it done…….show me the money…….

[Cameron_Dollar]

Imagine if our players wore Keaney Blue and not mental-hospital colors.

Another typical lazy anti PC comment. For what it's worth they have done miraculous things with the limited space that they were able to develop. And continue to call the Dunkin Donut Center "The Dump", but it looked pretty dam good on TV last night. Jay Wright stated at halftime that it's one of the toughest places in the league for a visiting team. They have a coach in place that is going nowhere and although he won't win is in contention for National COY. They played a tough game against a pre season top 5 team; and if not for Villanova"s best player having a career game probably would have won the game. The game presentation on CBS Sports was a two hour recruiting video for the school itself. Their program is light years ahead of ours right now. To criticize them while our program is in shambles and in need of another total rebuild is beyond ridiculous. While I've never cared for their fan base (remind me of Yankee Fans), it's there time to enjoy the amazing job done by their past president and their former AD, both of whom were very much aware that when everything is said and done, athletics drives the bus. Continue to hate on them if you choose but I would much prefer to get our program back to winning ways. And for what it's worth, most of the major programs in college and the NBA have a black alternate jersey and a black uniform with Keaney Blue lettering wound be a major step up from that grey jersey they've rolled out.

[KeaneyBluBallz]

from gorhody.com -
MARKETING & PROMOTIONS
Matt Moeller Associate AD, Marketing & Fan Engagement 401-788-3230 mmoeller@theryancenter.com
Nick DiStasio Assistant Director of Marketing and Fan Engagement ndistasio@uri.edu
Tyler Hastedt Creative Content Producer 248-974-0820 tylerhastedt@uri.edu

Their bios are unimpressive.

Granted, they're young and relatively inexperienced but their efforts here are suspect at best. do they not have a budget? are they not out in the community developing relationships with businesses, schools, and community organizations? is Kingston a step along the way and just a resume builder? - this one is a rhetorical question.

'what is it exactly you would say it is that you do here?'

[section(105)]

…….maybe a couple of focus groups, examples; students, local alums, season ticket holders etc, etc…….or whatever the currents trends are in getting consumer inputs are these days……RC experience “reviews” surveys……..anything like this…….no?

[RhowdyRam02]

There may be problems with the marketing effort, but no supreme effort would resurrect a season marked by one poorly played game after another. No amount of advertising is going turn around a team who has slowly disintegrated as it met better teams outside the weak OOC schedule, losing seven of the last eight games in the process. Any marketing problems are secondary to the sad situation with this team and future prospects. Lets blow steam off about that rather deflecting anger towards the marketing effort or where the students sit.

I agree that marketing wouldn't really have an effect on attendance this year, but I don't think we're deflecting anger toward marketing, there have been serious issues with it which many people have brought up. Also, one phrase stood out to me from the fan engagement forums they had between Hurley's second and third year. "We're preparing to win." Basically, they didn't want to wait for the attendance to pick up to find out where the weaknesses were, they wanted to know beforehand so that way they could attack things when they had more resources available. They were trying to be proactive where they could instead of reactive. The time for these conversations is now, not when things are better.

I think this offseason is especially the perfect time to address the shoddy handling of the students, with their seating being the primary topic. One of the big talking points about moving students out of the seats they're paying for is "it doesn't look good when they don't go to games," with the assumption being that non-students would fill the coveted seats more often. This season has shown that to be wrong, so this offseason we should go back to the drawing board, give them back the seats they're already paying for, and get back to having a real student led homecourt advantage

[RhowdyRam02]

Imagine if our players wore Keaney Blue and not mental-hospital colors.

Another typical lazy anti PC comment. For what it's worth they have done miraculous things with the limited space that they were able to develop. And continue to call the Dunkin Donut Center "The Dump", but it looked pretty dam good on TV last night. Jay Wright stated at halftime that it's one of the toughest places in the league for a visiting team. They have a coach in place that is going nowhere and although he won't win is in contention for National COY. They played a tough game against a pre season top 5 team; and if not for Villanova"s best player having a career game probably would have won the game. The game presentation on CBS Sports was a two hour recruiting video for the school itself. Their program is light years ahead of ours right now. To criticize them while our program is in shambles and in need of another total rebuild is beyond ridiculous. While I've never cared for their fan base (remind me of Yankee Fans), it's there time to enjoy the amazing job done by their past president and their former AD, both of whom were very much aware that when everything is said and done, athletics drives the bus. Continue to hate on them if you choose but I would much prefer to get our program back to winning ways. And for what it's worth, most of the major programs in college and the NBA have a black alternate jersey and a black uniform with Keaney Blue lettering wound be a major step up from that grey jersey they've rolled out.

I'm sorry, the Dunkin Donuts Center still is a shitty venue, it's just a shitty venue with new seats. Also, I'm glad you said "for what it's worth" in regards to most teams having black alternate jerseys, because to me it's worth nothing. We should be looking to stand out instead of blending in, so black jerseys should be avoided at all costs

[RI_Bred]

do they not have a budget?

Guaranteed this is a huge part of the problem.

[KeaneyBluBallz]

do they not have a budget?

Guaranteed this is a huge part of the problem.

100% agree. however that is not an excuse to not leave your office and get out and about in south county and make yourself known.

that's just lazy.

[PeteRI]

Imagine if our players wore Keaney Blue and not mental-hospital colors.

Another typical lazy anti PC comment. For what it's worth they have done miraculous things with the limited space that they were able to develop. And continue to call the Dunkin Donut Center "The Dump", but it looked pretty dam good on TV last night. Jay Wright stated at halftime that it's one of the toughest places in the league for a visiting team. They have a coach in place that is going nowhere and although he won't win is in contention for National COY. They played a tough game against a pre season top 5 team; and if not for Villanova"s best player having a career game probably would have won the game. The game presentation on CBS Sports was a two hour recruiting video for the school itself. Their program is light years ahead of ours right now. To criticize them while our program is in shambles and in need of another total rebuild is beyond ridiculous. While I've never cared for their fan base (remind me of Yankee Fans), it's there time to enjoy the amazing job done by their past president and their former AD, both of whom were very much aware that when everything is said and done, athletics drives the bus. Continue to hate on them if you choose but I would much prefer to get our program back to winning ways. And for what it's worth, most of the major programs in college and the NBA have a black alternate jersey and a black uniform with Keaney Blue lettering wound be a major step up from that grey jersey they've rolled out.

This. 1,000 times this. Right now URI MBB is the redheaded stepchild and laughingstock of the state while PC is basking in the glow of national attention. Let's keep the focus on what we need to do to fix this.

[RI_Bred]

do they not have a budget?

Guaranteed this is a huge part of the problem.

100% agree. however that is not an excuse to not leave your office and get out and about in south county and make yourself known.

that's just lazy.

What sticks with me is when Hurley and the team would get out on campus to the dorms, cafeterias and student center and ask fans to attend the games and support the team. I think Baron even did this. Does that happen now? Any student feedback on that?

[Rhode_Island_Red]

Imagine if our players wore Keaney Blue and not mental-hospital colors.

Stop this nonsense.

Please
Show me a black and white jersey we’ve worn.

If not, stop the bullshit.

I know it’s now a “secondary” color, but come post when we actually wear a black and white jersey.

Look at the bench. Look at the warmups they're wearing. Every game.

[section(105)]

…..back to beach towels……..Marketing staff meeting………OK we need ideas for season ticket holder appreciation nite……any ideas….anyone…….sure how about beach towel give-away……..great idea……how many individual season tickets do we have?…….we have “X” season tickets…….OK, how much does each towel cost?…….in bulk each cost “Y”………mmmmmmm, we can’t afford that X times Y……how many individual season ticket accounts do we have?………mmmmmm let’s give one towel per season ticket account…….we can afford that……..

……..probably more complicated than that, but………

[Blue Man]

It all comes down to money.

Yeah everything is pretty Mickey Mouse, but all of the problems listed are things you can throw money at to fix.

Winning cures all, but in the absence of that, like Hurley said we need to prepare to win - top to bottom. Hurley coming and going showed us what’s capable with the right guy, but more importantly how bad everything is without. We need to build the infrastructure up to support any coach and not be completely dependent on team success.

Gameday experience is huge. Even with Hurley, there were days where we lacked asses in the seats. I honestly believe it’s because the product outside of basketball is so poor.

WiFi. Replays. Those are the most basic of things for an arena in 2021. I swear we are the only arena with a video board in the country that doesn’t do replays. Talk about a great tool to keep the crowd going after a big play or pressure the refs when they make a terrible call.

WiFi. You cannot expect anyone who is this connected today to go into an arena for 2.5 hours and disconnect from the outside world. Certainly not college kids. Adults who could normally go to a game and still respond to work emails might like the flexibility instead of needing to decide if they stay home or go.

Student seating. This terrible season and impending change gives them an opportunity for a reseating plan. If you go and get an exciting coach you can leverage that excitement into seat licenses to spurn new donations/offset the cost of a new coach. You can also put the students back next to the court. You can be lax about behavior and yelling.

Everyone wishes we had the environment and fanbase at PC and you’re lying if you saw last night and didn’t get insanely jealous.

But we can just keep doing the “family friendly” thing and see where that gets us. Pretty sick to see 6000 empty seats on National cable the other night. I’m sure Tom Ryan was beaming with pride.

[Sweep The Leg]

…..back to beach towels……..Marketing staff meeting………OK we need ideas for season ticket holder appreciation nite……any ideas….anyone…….sure how about beach towel give-away……..great idea……how many individual season tickets do we have?…….we have “X” season tickets…….OK, how much does each towel cost?…….in bulk each cost “Y”………mmmmmmm, we can’t afford that X times Y……how many individual season ticket accounts do we have?………mmmmmm let’s give one towel per season ticket account…….we can afford that……..

……..probably more complicated than that, but………

A beach towel in the middle of winter? I'm sure it will go to great use in the 12 degree weather we're having. I'm embarrassed to have majored in Marketing at URI. Should have stuck with Higgins and Vangermeersch in Accounting.

[Rhody15]

It all comes down to money.

Yeah everything is pretty Mickey Mouse, but all of the problems listed are things you can throw money at to fix.

Winning cures all, but in the absence of that, like Hurley said we need to prepare to win - top to bottom. Hurley coming and going showed us what’s capable with the right guy, but more importantly how bad everything is without. We need to build the infrastructure up to support any coach and not be completely dependent on team success.

Gameday experience is huge. Even with Hurley, there were days where we lacked asses in the seats. I honestly believe it’s because the product outside of basketball is so poor.

WiFi. Replays. Those are the most basic of things for an arena in 2021. I swear we are the only arena with a video board in the country that doesn’t do replays. Talk about a great tool to keep the crowd going after a big play or pressure the refs when they make a terrible call.

WiFi. You cannot expect anyone who is this connected today to go into an arena for 2.5 hours and disconnect from the outside world. Certainly not college kids. Adults who could normally go to a game and still respond to work emails might like the flexibility instead of needing to decide if they stay home or go.

Student seating. This terrible season and impending change gives them an opportunity for a reseating plan. If you go and get an exciting coach you can leverage that excitement into seat licenses to spurn new donations/offset the cost of a new coach. You can also put the students back next to the court. You can be lax about behavior and yelling.

Everyone wishes we had the environment and fanbase at PC and you’re lying if you saw last night and didn’t get insanely jealous.

But we can just keep doing the “family friendly” thing and see where that gets us. Pretty sick to see 6000 empty seats on National cable the other night. I’m sure Tom Ryan was beaming with pride.

PC sits students the same way we do.

Lower and upper section directly behind a hoop.

[Blue Man]

It all comes down to money.

Yeah everything is pretty Mickey Mouse, but all of the problems listed are things you can throw money at to fix.

Winning cures all, but in the absence of that, like Hurley said we need to prepare to win - top to bottom. Hurley coming and going showed us what’s capable with the right guy, but more importantly how bad everything is without. We need to build the infrastructure up to support any coach and not be completely dependent on team success.

Gameday experience is huge. Even with Hurley, there were days where we lacked asses in the seats. I honestly believe it’s because the product outside of basketball is so poor.

WiFi. Replays. Those are the most basic of things for an arena in 2021. I swear we are the only arena with a video board in the country that doesn’t do replays. Talk about a great tool to keep the crowd going after a big play or pressure the refs when they make a terrible call.

WiFi. You cannot expect anyone who is this connected today to go into an arena for 2.5 hours and disconnect from the outside world. Certainly not college kids. Adults who could normally go to a game and still respond to work emails might like the flexibility instead of needing to decide if they stay home or go.

Student seating. This terrible season and impending change gives them an opportunity for a reseating plan. If you go and get an exciting coach you can leverage that excitement into seat licenses to spurn new donations/offset the cost of a new coach. You can also put the students back next to the court. You can be lax about behavior and yelling.

Everyone wishes we had the environment and fanbase at PC and you’re lying if you saw last night and didn’t get insanely jealous.

But we can just keep doing the “family friendly” thing and see where that gets us. Pretty sick to see 6000 empty seats on National cable the other night. I’m sure Tom Ryan was beaming with pride.

PC sits students the same way we do.

Lower and upper section directly behind a hoop.

Fair - but PC's fanbase is about 20 years younger on average than ours, and the people that sit near the court are boozed up and loud.

We need the students to make up for what most of our fanbase lacks.

[Rhodymob05]

Imagine if our players wore Keaney Blue and not mental-hospital colors.

Stop this nonsense.

Please
Show me a black and white jersey we’ve worn.

If not, stop the bullshit.

I know it’s now a “secondary” color, but come post when we actually wear a black and white jersey.

Look at the bench. Look at the warmups they're wearing. Every game.

Hes right, I did notice the coaching staff wears black now.

[bigappleram]

It all comes down to money.

Yeah everything is pretty Mickey Mouse, but all of the problems listed are things you can throw money at to fix.

Winning cures all, but in the absence of that, like Hurley said we need to prepare to win - top to bottom. Hurley coming and going showed us what’s capable with the right guy, but more importantly how bad everything is without. We need to build the infrastructure up to support any coach and not be completely dependent on team success.

Gameday experience is huge. Even with Hurley, there were days where we lacked asses in the seats. I honestly believe it’s because the product outside of basketball is so poor.

WiFi. Replays. Those are the most basic of things for an arena in 2021. I swear we are the only arena with a video board in the country that doesn’t do replays. Talk about a great tool to keep the crowd going after a big play or pressure the refs when they make a terrible call.

WiFi. You cannot expect anyone who is this connected today to go into an arena for 2.5 hours and disconnect from the outside world. Certainly not college kids. Adults who could normally go to a game and still respond to work emails might like the flexibility instead of needing to decide if they stay home or go.

Student seating. This terrible season and impending change gives them an opportunity for a reseating plan. If you go and get an exciting coach you can leverage that excitement into seat licenses to spurn new donations/offset the cost of a new coach. You can also put the students back next to the court. You can be lax about behavior and yelling.

Everyone wishes we had the environment and fanbase at PC and you’re lying if you saw last night and didn’t get insanely jealous.

But we can just keep doing the “family friendly” thing and see where that gets us. Pretty sick to see 6000 empty seats on National cable the other night. I’m sure Tom Ryan was beaming with pride.

Net net you dress for the job you want. You want to be a solid program you have to do everything right besides just the players on the court. Of course winning cures all and money can overcome things. And great marketing is only going to do so much if the product is subpar. But it all matters.

Building the brand makes the job more attractive. Makes games an event. So yes things like replays and game day experience, dynamic always on social media content, working Wi-Fi for a connected society and paid professionals doing the TV play by play matters. Add them all up and the lack thereof screams small time. And as has been pointed out a lot of these things we are listing out are not big ticket items. All can be done with a little money and a lot of creativity and ambition.

How you do anything is how you do everything.

[Rhody15]

It all comes down to money.

Yeah everything is pretty Mickey Mouse, but all of the problems listed are things you can throw money at to fix.

Winning cures all, but in the absence of that, like Hurley said we need to prepare to win - top to bottom. Hurley coming and going showed us what’s capable with the right guy, but more importantly how bad everything is without. We need to build the infrastructure up to support any coach and not be completely dependent on team success.

Gameday experience is huge. Even with Hurley, there were days where we lacked asses in the seats. I honestly believe it’s because the product outside of basketball is so poor.

WiFi. Replays. Those are the most basic of things for an arena in 2021. I swear we are the only arena with a video board in the country that doesn’t do replays. Talk about a great tool to keep the crowd going after a big play or pressure the refs when they make a terrible call.

WiFi. You cannot expect anyone who is this connected today to go into an arena for 2.5 hours and disconnect from the outside world. Certainly not college kids. Adults who could normally go to a game and still respond to work emails might like the flexibility instead of needing to decide if they stay home or go.

Student seating. This terrible season and impending change gives them an opportunity for a reseating plan. If you go and get an exciting coach you can leverage that excitement into seat licenses to spurn new donations/offset the cost of a new coach. You can also put the students back next to the court. You can be lax about behavior and yelling.

Everyone wishes we had the environment and fanbase at PC and you’re lying if you saw last night and didn’t get insanely jealous.

But we can just keep doing the “family friendly” thing and see where that gets us. Pretty sick to see 6000 empty seats on National cable the other night. I’m sure Tom Ryan was beaming with pride.

PC sits students the same way we do.

Lower and upper section directly behind a hoop.

Fair - but PC's fanbase is about 20 years younger on average than ours, and the people that sit near the court are boozed up and loud.

We need the students to make up for what most of our fanbase lacks.

The media on twitter (Fanta, Goodman, Norlander, Barstool college basketball account, and others) are acting like The Dunk is the first arena to ever hold a big game with a sold out, loud student section, with Fanta saying it's currently the best environment in the COUNTRY.

Talk about getting caught up in the moment. Time to pump the brakes a bit I'd say.

[SmartyBarrett]

There's this thread, Blue Man's "it doesn't matter who's in the coaches chair" thread, and another thread about URI official social media account issues all active within the past month.

That's not a complaint. It just highlights a host of problems / areas of improvement for the program.

[Billyboy78]

Speaking of how far ahead PC is ahead of us right now, guess who was at their game last night? The best RI prospect in years. They probably have a legit shot to get him now. I wonder how many of our games he's been to and tweeted about.....

[BleedBlue87]

Speaking of how far ahead PC is ahead of us right now, guess who was at their game last night? The best RI prospect in years. They probably have a legit shot to get him now. I wonder how many of our games he's been to and tweeted about.....

PC also spends in the top 20 of all college basketball programs. We are not anywhere close to that. They are spending 11 million. We are around 4.7 last I read.

[Blue Man]

It’s sad because when the Ryan center is sold out (the few times it happens) it’s probably one of the best environments in college basketball. But you’re only getting that when the team has been really good for a year or two.

You can lower the threshold for what it takes casual fans to go to games with the improvements discussed. Otherwise we just have to wait for the next coach to build us back into a winner.

And then when we still don’t fix all these problems we can be right back here when that coach leaves complaining about the same issues.

[section(105)]

……let’s remember PC Is the “pro” team in RI………we are not, neva will be…….

[RI_Bred]

…..back to beach towels……..Marketing staff meeting………OK we need ideas for season ticket holder appreciation nite……any ideas….anyone…….sure how about beach towel give-away……..great idea……how many individual season tickets do we have?…….we have “X” season tickets…….OK, how much does each towel cost?…….in bulk each cost “Y”………mmmmmmm, we can’t afford that X times Y……how many individual season ticket accounts do we have?………mmmmmm let’s give one towel per season ticket account…….we can afford that……..

……..probably more complicated than that, but………

Vangermeersch

Still see him riding his bicycle up and down 1A in Gansett from time to time. Classic!

[Billyboy78]

I know PC will always be the top team in our state in the minds of the fans and the media. I'm not sure the gap has ever been this wide.

[Rhodymob05]

The Ryan Center is absolutely an amazing environment when hyped up and sold out. The last good one was when top 5 ranked Dayton came to town. Students and fans were great. I still miss the light show that started around 2015/2016. Most lights would go out followed by an awesome light show simultaneously during the intro video. Then we had the phone thing which didn't work 100% but was a good idea. That has all slowly withered away. Someone fell asleep behind the wheel.

[RamStock]

It's almost like our team is so lame that marketing doesn't want to draw any attention to it.

This is great. So true

[Rhodymob05]

[Rhodyram]

PC sits students the same way we do.

Lower and upper section directly behind a hoop.

Fair - but PC's fanbase is about 20 years younger on average than ours, and the people that sit near the court are boozed up and loud.

We need the students to make up for what most of our fanbase lacks.

The media on twitter (Fanta, Goodman, Norlander, Barstool college basketball account, and others) are acting like The Dunk is the first arena to ever hold a big game with a sold out, loud student section, with Fanta saying it's currently the best environment in the COUNTRY.

Talk about getting caught up in the moment. Time to pump the brakes a bit I'd say.

The reality doesn't matter- its what they say and what ends up on social media that does matter- people think its crazy/cool and interest is grown.

[Rhodyram]

The Ryan Center is absolutely an amazing environment when hyped up and sold out. The last good one was when top 5 ranked Dayton came to town. Students and fans were great. I still miss the light show that started around 2015/2016. Most lights would go out followed by an awesome light show simultaneously during the intro video. Then we had the phone thing which didn't work 100% but was a good idea. That has all slowly withered away. Someone fell asleep behind the wheel.

The light thing worked 0% and was an embarrassment

[RhowdyRam02]

PC sits students the same way we do.

Lower and upper section directly behind a hoop.

Fair - but PC's fanbase is about 20 years younger on average than ours, and the people that sit near the court are boozed up and loud.

We need the students to make up for what most of our fanbase lacks.

The media on twitter (Fanta, Goodman, Norlander, Barstool college basketball account, and others) are acting like The Dunk is the first arena to ever hold a big game with a sold out, loud student section, with Fanta saying it's currently the best environment in the COUNTRY.

Talk about getting caught up in the moment. Time to pump the brakes a bit I'd say.

Fanta is a Big East shill and his opinion is about as worthwhile as a conference press release, but the others talking about the atmosphere does show how far behind we are

[LoveThoseRams]

PC sits students the same way we do.

Lower and upper section directly behind a hoop.

Fair - but PC's fanbase is about 20 years younger on average than ours, and the people that sit near the court are boozed up and loud.

We need the students to make up for what most of our fanbase lacks.

The media on twitter (Fanta, Goodman, Norlander, Barstool college basketball account, and others) are acting like The Dunk is the first arena to ever hold a big game with a sold out, loud student section, with Fanta saying it's currently the best environment in the COUNTRY.

Talk about getting caught up in the moment. Time to pump the brakes a bit I'd say.

I totally disagree with this statement. Look at the size of the student body at Pee CEE compared to URI...there wasn't a seat in the student section, and they got there about 2 1/2 hours before the game began to get good seats. The announcer is LOUD, the music is LOUD. We have a liberal talk radio host, trying to sound exciting with his articulation...Our PA system is so bad, I can hardly make out what anyone is saying...and no replays, just advertisements.

The students and fans at the Dunk are so loud that your head rattles. They actually watch the game and respond positively or negatively to plays. Our students are looking down on their phones, disinterested. JV has the toughest job!

Even in our Hurley heyday I do not ever recall that electric of an atmosphere, to that degree. I have seen Big East games at Madison Square that wouldn't come close to the Dunk last night. Even Nova commented about the atmosphere.