West Gym will be renovated to become a basketball practice facility

[Brian Forster]

Adam,yes,I will give.
I hate to say this,but the team will have have to make a NCAA run or angel donor will have to come out of blue. Like Obadiah said once,you add up all the costs for athletic infrastructure needs,its mountainous at the current rate.
If you had a choice first which-charter flights or practice facility? Say same investment.

[Rhody83]

Adam,yes,I will give.
I hate to say this,but the team will have have to make a NCAA run or angel donor will have to come out of blue. Like Obadiah said once,you add up all the costs for athletic infrastructure needs,its mountainous at the current rate.
If you had a choice first which-charter flights or practice facility? Say same investment.

That choice is completely apples and oranges. One is an annual expense that can be modified (# of games) or cancelled before any year. The other requires $5 million upfront before you put a shovel in the ground.

[Rhody15]

Someone find me the Powerball numbers and I’ll give a blank check.

[adam914]

Adam,yes,I will give.
I hate to say this,but the team will have have to make a NCAA run or angel donor will have to come out of blue. Like Obadiah said once,you add up all the costs for athletic infrastructure needs,its mountainous at the current rate.
If you had a choice first which-charter flights or practice facility? Say same investment.

It's not a fair comparison, but I'll play along anyway. My choice there would be practice facility. When you bring in a recruit you don't take him to the airport to show him where the charters leave from. You sure as hell show him a dedicated basketball practice facility.

I don't think everyone truly understands how much time players spend in these dedicated facilities at schools that have them. It's not used for a couple hours a day during the official team practices. They basically live in there they spend so much time there. It's a huge part of their daily lives as student athletes. And we don't have one and there are no signs of that changing anytime soon anymore unfortunately.

[adam914]

Someone find me the Powerball numbers and I’ll give a blank check.

Same here, thats one of my first moves if I ever win the lottery. Just going to demand they put a gigantic picture of my face on the outside though.

[Taylor Swift]

Basketball practice facility > hockey

[Taylor Swift]

Someone find me the Powerball numbers and I’ll give a blank check.

Same here, thats one of my first moves if I ever win the lottery. Just going to demand they put a gigantic picture of my face on the outside though.

If you’re going to do something you have to do it right!

[Rhodymob05]

Yea basketball is the money maker, invest in the damn facility.

[rambone 78]

If only 1 million was earmarked for the BB practice facility out of the 60 million pledged, then it will be a LONG time before it ever gets done.

Needing 3 to 4 million more in smaller donations is a huge task.

[rjsuperfly66]

.......yes, I do go to hockey PC games, and their arena, after the upgrades, is miles ahead of a Boss, capacity comparison, no clue.....I like the level of play in Hockey East......Boss has the bones to house more than a Club......

It depends what you want to be ... If the team wants to play Atlantic hockey, and throw a D1 logo on it's chest, sure, Boss absolutely is sufficient.

If URI wants to be a quality Hockey East program, it's a high mountain to climb.

These are some of the issues at UCONN (this was from last spring):

“We take a lot of criticism because we recruit so many foreign kids,” Cavanaugh said. “It's not by design. The thing is, my friends in Boston will say ‘I've got a great kid at [a New England prep school].’ I say, ‘Why doesn't B.C. want him?’ They say, ‘Well, he's not B.C. good.’ If he's not B.C. good, how is he going to help me beat B.C.? Why do I want him? I'm being paid to beat Boston College and Boston University. I’ve got to find players who are as good as the guys they're getting.”

“There are guys in the state of Connecticut who won’t visit UConn,” Cavanaugh said. “When you come to UConn and you look at what we have for a facility, compared to what you’re going to train in at B.C. or B.U or even [UMass] Lowell or Providence, it doesn’t compare. So that’s why we recruit foreign players. They’re going in the top two rounds of the NHL draft. They’re good players. But there’s always an adjustment period for those players, too.”

UCONN currently plays their games at the XL Center, as their current on campus facilities is the Freitas Ice Forum, which looks very similar to what I can recall Boss being like, and it's considered "a dump." So what has UCONN done but planned a $56 million on-campus arena to try to keep up with the top of Hockey East.

Again, depends on what you want to be. Seems like URI brass realizes too expensive.

[Rhodymob05]

How can smaller schools like Maine and UNH support D1 hockey, basketball and football? Yet URI cannot?

[bigappleram]

How can smaller schools like Maine and UNH support D1 hockey, basketball and football? Yet URI cannot?

Do you really want to use Maine and UNH basketball as a barometer? They play in tiny gyms, don't pay their coaches the way we do and compete at a much much much lower level than URI. Let's put the hockey talk to bed and get our 2 marquee men's programs up to league standards before even revisiting.

[Rhodymob05]

How can smaller schools like Maine and UNH support D1 hockey, basketball and football? Yet URI cannot?

Do you really want to use Maine and UNH basketball as a barometer? They play in tiny gyms, don't pay their coaches the way we do and compete at a much much much lower level than URI. Let's put the hockey talk to bed and get our 2 marquee men's programs up to league standards before even revisiting.

I'd assume the money they spend on football and D1 hockey alone, would cancel out the extra we spend on basketball.

[Rhodyram]

How can smaller schools like Maine and UNH support D1 hockey, basketball and football? Yet URI cannot?

Do you really want to use Maine and UNH basketball as a barometer? They play in tiny gyms, don't pay their coaches the way we do and compete at a much much much lower level than URI. Let's put the hockey talk to bed and get our 2 marquee men's programs up to league standards before even revisiting.

I do not follow Rhody football- I had always just assumed that they were bad. Then I went and looked at the "recent history". Since 1986 they have had 4 winning seasons(apologies if I miscounted)- that is almost unbelievable.To call it one of the school's marquee programs is even more disheartening.

[bigappleram]

How can smaller schools like Maine and UNH support D1 hockey, basketball and football? Yet URI cannot?

Do you really want to use Maine and UNH basketball as a barometer? They play in tiny gyms, don't pay their coaches the way we do and compete at a much much much lower level than URI. Let's put the hockey talk to bed and get our 2 marquee men's programs up to league standards before even revisiting.

I do not follow Rhody football- I had always just assumed that they were bad. Then I went and looked at the "recent history". Since 1986 they have had 4 winning seasons(apologies if I miscounted)- that is almost unbelievable.To call it one of the school's marquee programs is even more disheartening.

Name another sport at URI, that despite its putrid record, can bring 6-8K people to campus on Saturdays in the Fall. People love football, imagine if we actually won some games. I'm old enough to remember 10-12K standing room only crowds in the 80s when we had a nationally ranked team. If you build it they will come.

[Rhodyram]

Do you really want to use Maine and UNH basketball as a barometer? They play in tiny gyms, don't pay their coaches the way we do and compete at a much much much lower level than URI. Let's put the hockey talk to bed and get our 2 marquee men's programs up to league standards before even revisiting.

I do not follow Rhody football- I had always just assumed that they were bad. Then I went and looked at the "recent history". Since 1986 they have had 4 winning seasons(apologies if I miscounted)- that is almost unbelievable.To call it one of the school's marquee programs is even more disheartening.

Name another sport at URI, that despite its putrid record, can bring 6-8K people to campus on Saturdays in the Fall. People love football, imagine if we actually won some games. I'm old enough to remember 10-12K standing room only crowds in the 80s when we had a nationally ranked team. If you build it they will come.

Right- if you build it they will come- they've had 35 years to build it and haven't even come close. The attendance this season was inflated by people going to look at the new lights/field on opening night(8,500), and 8,900 for homecoming. The other games drew 6100, 3000, 2800

[Rhody83]

[Rhodymob05]

Do you really want to use Maine and UNH basketball as a barometer? They play in tiny gyms, don't pay their coaches the way we do and compete at a much much much lower level than URI. Let's put the hockey talk to bed and get our 2 marquee men's programs up to league standards before even revisiting.

I do not follow Rhody football- I had always just assumed that they were bad. Then I went and looked at the "recent history". Since 1986 they have had 4 winning seasons(apologies if I miscounted)- that is almost unbelievable.To call it one of the school's marquee programs is even more disheartening.

Name another sport at URI, that despite its putrid record, can bring 6-8K people to campus on Saturdays in the Fall. People love football, imagine if we actually won some games. I'm old enough to remember 10-12K standing room only crowds in the 80s when we had a nationally ranked team. If you build it they will come.

I 100% agree and love that we have football. Just seems like the flagship university should be able to support hockey as well. I mean look at this picture, that's awesome, even for Northeast football.

m62lz2repq5jrzlg.jpg

[rjsuperfly66]

I do not follow Rhody football- I had always just assumed that they were bad. Then I went and looked at the "recent history". Since 1986 they have had 4 winning seasons(apologies if I miscounted)- that is almost unbelievable.To call it one of the school's marquee programs is even more disheartening.

Name another sport at URI, that despite its putrid record, can bring 6-8K people to campus on Saturdays in the Fall. People love football, imagine if we actually won some games. I'm old enough to remember 10-12K standing room only crowds in the 80s when we had a nationally ranked team. If you build it they will come.

I 100% agree and love that we have football. Just seems like the flagship university should be able to support hockey as well. I mean look at this picture, that's awesome, even for Northeast football.

m62lz2repq5jrzlg.jpg

Sure but again, it all depends what URI wants to be ... If the goal is "Hockey East or bust," it would require a known goal of a complete, substantial remodel or rebuild of Boss to be competitive in recruiting. Anything less is going to make it very challenging to recruit to URI, as was UCONN's issue in the quotes I put above and why they are investing in a $56 million facility.

If the goal is just "D1 hockey" and they would be cool with the Atlantic for a while (or forever), they could make due with the current infrastructure but would it invigorate the community? Is the URI community, who already isn't an overly excited bunch for hockey, going to rally behind playing conference games against Sacred Heart, Army, AIC, Robert Morris, RIT, Air Force, Bentley, Holy Cross, Niagara, Canisius, and Mercyhurst, in a conference that is lower-level and almost always a one-bid candidate?

I would think URI would only want to make the hockey jump if they could produce at the highest-level possible, but know there is no way to be competitive in Hockey East given the current athletic department infrastructure, not even factoring in Title IX, etc. The school can barely find high-end donors for established programs, forget trying to find the $30+ million to upgrade Boss to Hockey East recruiting standards.

[FDshoes]

Capacity is approximately 3k at Schneider and abt 2500 at Boss. And yes Schneider is currently light years ahead but that is due to recent upgrades. About 5 or 6 years ago they re did the whole arena and it is currently gorgeous.

And for entering the hockey east discussion is ludacris. There is no way a club team would ever make the jump to hockey east, one of if not the best conference in hockey.

And yes i also wonder how UNH and UMaine maintain both. And guarenteed there hockey costs offset the savings for lower level basketball programs that they have.

[Brian Forster]

The one thing that hockey has is built in following
Put 2 D1 teams together in R.I. @ PC and 600 people show up.
The mayors cup has almost 2K .
It’s amazing that URI donors want nothing to do with that.

[rjsuperfly66]

Capacity is approximately 3k at Schneider and abt 2500 at Boss. And yes Schneider is currently light years ahead but that is due to recent upgrades. About 5 or 6 years ago they re did the whole arena and it is currently gorgeous.

And for entering the hockey east discussion is ludacris. There is no way a club team would ever make the jump to hockey east, one of if not the best conference in hockey.

And yes i also wonder how UNH and UMaine maintain both. And guarenteed there hockey costs offset the savings for lower level basketball programs that they have.

I don't think URI would immediately go from club to HE, but more the UCONN model of going from MAAC/Atlantic to Hockey East. It took UCONN 15 years to make the jump, but when they did there were several ramifications. One was that they stopped playing their home games at the Freitas Ice Forum (similar to Boss), and starting playing their home games at the XL Center, and occasionally in Bridgeport at the Webster Bank Arena, because Freitas was not up to the standard of Hockey East. They really struggled with HE recruiting because their on-campus facilities, and have had to search Europe for for talent because they can't recruit locally. Now they are investing $56 million into a new on-campus venue, hoping it bridges the facilities gap and aides in recruiting. If URI were to ever become HE-eligible, it's going to require a significant investment into Boss, or playing games at the Dunk. That's at a bare minimum. That's a huge ask. That's why I think it's always been a non-starter, because the school knows it's unlikely there is ever going to be a point where they can reasonably expect to get URI to that level.

[Brian Forster]

RJ,good input,why is college hockey attendance so poor?

[FDshoes]

PC averages just shy of 2500 per game between 75 & 80% of capacity.

[Brian Forster]

Sure FD,Where were the other 1900 for last weeks UCONN game?
The mayors cup couldn’t draw 2500 people if you let them in for free.

[Brian Forster]

Less than 2500 people is a joke anyways.
Who would underwrite that crap?

[FDshoes]

http://www.hockeydb.com/stte/providence ... -7561.html

Since 01-02 they have done decent in attendance.

[rjsuperfly66]

RJ,good input,why is college hockey attendance so poor?

PC still draws very well (comparative to their venue size). Their disadvantage is that right down the road the P-Bruins play. Let's be honest, if you are a casual hockey fan, would you rather go see the P-Bruins and their soon to be Boston Bruins, or the PC Friars? If the P-Bruins were not local, PC bangs out Schneider almost every weekend.

College hockey drawing "poor" is one man's opinion. It's never going to outdraw basketball (at least for high-level basketball schools, perhaps BC would be the one exception). For many schools hockey is the main draw on campus. For others its the main winter draw on campus. UNH draws 4,500+ for hockey and 350+ for basketball.

If the logic is "we shouldn't have this because it won't draw well," the same argument would be made for any sport not named basketball or football (title IX considerations aside).

I'd bet hockey at URI becomes it's 3rd most popular sport. I've heard the club teams draws pretty well. But again, that doesn't mean it makes sense financially, if they don't want to be bare minimum D1.

[Brian Forster]

RJ-609 people very well? Vs. a traditional rival?
The P Bruins were not playing at home that night?
That’s a terrible excuse.
Anyways,let’s talk a positive. How is women’s attendance?

[FDshoes]

RJ-609 people very well? Vs. a traditional rival?
The P Bruins were not playing at home that night?
That’s a terrible excuse.
Anyways,let’s talk a positive. How is women’s attendance?

I work next door and judging by the traffic on PC hockey game nights 609 is an outlier. I gave a link of there yearly average attendances above.

As for drawing fans what does any sport draw besides MBB and FB?

[rjsuperfly66]

RJ-609 people very well? Vs. a traditional rival?
The P Bruins were not playing at home that night?
That’s a terrible excuse.
Anyways,let’s talk a positive. How is women’s attendance?

It’s great that you found a few games to sit your agenda. PC averaged over 2,300 last season, good for 77% attendance. The team has never traditionally marketed to P-Bruins customers due to proximity and interest. People aren't going to magically be interested in PC hockey because the P-Bruins aren't playing on a given night. Since 2012, the P-Bruins have averaged at least 8,000+ per game, and both teams often overlap home games on Friday nights. If the P-Bruins weren't local, I'd imagine PC would likely be able to capture a small portion of that hockey audience on a regular basis. I'm not making an excuse, just pointing out a reality.

Again, I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. If the goal of every college sport was to maximize attendance, and sports that didn't produce adequate attendance figures were all cut, then the only sports at most schools would be football and basketball. Cross country at URI has no listed attendance. Cut? Golf at URI has no listed attendance. Cut? Track and field at URI has no listed attendance. Cut? Baseball at URI last season had a listed attendance of 201. Cut? Soccer had a listed average attendance of 994. Cut? Those are just men's sports.

I know with URI it's not just attendance but financially (and Title IX, etc.) making sense, I'm just pointing out I just don't get the attendance argument to try to disparage hockey.

[phipsiGD'11]

So URI MBB practice facility Grand Opening Fall 2025?

[adam914]

So URI MBB practice facility Grand Opening Fall 2025?

It depends on if attendance for PC hockey improves I think...

[RF1]

So URI MBB practice facility Grand Opening Fall 2025?

You are being overly optimistic. My guess is more like 2030. The much smaller SADC project was a 10+ year process.

[Taylor Swift]

How can smaller schools like Maine and UNH support D1 hockey, basketball and football? Yet URI cannot?

Do you really want to use Maine and UNH basketball as a barometer? They play in tiny gyms, don't pay their coaches the way we do and compete at a much much much lower level than URI. Let's put the hockey talk to bed and get our 2 marquee men's programs up to league standards before even revisiting.

I do not follow Rhody football- I had always just assumed that they were bad. Then I went and looked at the "recent history". Since 1986 they have had 4 winning seasons(apologies if I miscounted)- that is almost unbelievable.To call it one of the school's marquee programs is even more disheartening.

But there’s still 6-8k people coming in per game.

[Taylor Swift]

I have zero desire to watch college hockey. Take hockey to its own thread. I want to talk about a basketball practice facility.

I actually was at a meeting earlier this evening at my high school, Prout. We are trying to finish raising funds for a lax/soccer field (artificial turf, lights) there are many donors as well as some support from the Diocese. It’s no easy feat to do this. You can’t just walk up to someone and say “hey by the way can you give $100k?” These people DO exist around here but maybe just maybe we can get this practice facility at URI a reality before the end of this new decade.

[ramster]

Agree TS. NCAA or Bust Is for Basketball

Hockey should be discussed under URI Athletics

Can the Hockey discussion be moved away from the Basketball Practice Facility Thread?

[Rhodyram]

Do you really want to use Maine and UNH basketball as a barometer? They play in tiny gyms, don't pay their coaches the way we do and compete at a much much much lower level than URI. Let's put the hockey talk to bed and get our 2 marquee men's programs up to league standards before even revisiting.

I do not follow Rhody football- I had always just assumed that they were bad. Then I went and looked at the "recent history". Since 1986 they have had 4 winning seasons(apologies if I miscounted)- that is almost unbelievable.To call it one of the school's marquee programs is even more disheartening.

But there’s still 6-8k people coming in per game.

3000 and 2800. Those were the attendance of 2 of the 5 home games this season

[R.Kelly150]

Agree TS. NCAA or Bust Is for Basketball

Hockey should be discussed under URI Athletics

Can the Hockey discussion be moved away from the Basketball Practice Facility Thread?

This topic has been discussed at length in the URI Athletics forum multiple times. If URI was going to develop a D1 Hockey program it would have happen already. Apparently URI is satisfied with Football as the second most popular sport in Kingston. Look Men’s BB is clearly #1 by leaps and bounds and #2 is a jumbled mess of a super popular sport that takes place during some of the most lovely months of the New England calendar.

[adam914]

Football also has the added benefit of only having like 5 home games a year to attend, almost always on a Saturday. One of which is also Alumni Family Homecoming Weekend or whatever it's called now.

[Taylor Swift]

Football also has the added benefit of only having like 5 home games a year to attend, almost always on a Saturday. One of which is also Alumni Family Homecoming Weekend or whatever it's called now.

Mmhmm. One of my favorite Saturdays of the fall/winter season is Homecoming.

[Taylor Swift]

I do not follow Rhody football- I had always just assumed that they were bad. Then I went and looked at the "recent history". Since 1986 they have had 4 winning seasons(apologies if I miscounted)- that is almost unbelievable.To call it one of the school's marquee programs is even more disheartening.

But there’s still 6-8k people coming in per game.

3000 and 2800. Those were the attendance of 2 of the 5 home games this season

https://www.gorhody.com/sports/m-footbl ... hodeisland

You’re calling out the two lowest attended games, clearly. The first game under the lights and Homecoming were largely attended. My estimate was off. Football isn’t going away.

[Rhodyram]

But there’s still 6-8k people coming in per game.

3000 and 2800. Those were the attendance of 2 of the 5 home games this season

https://www.gorhody.com/sports/m-footbl ... hodeisland

You’re calling out the two lowest attended games, clearly. The first game under the lights and Homecoming were largely attended. My estimate was off. Football isn’t going away.

No. Football is not going away. But a huge misconception is the amt of people going to these games.
In 2018 3 games drew 6500,6100 and 7300 the other two- 1600 and 3000
In 2017 5100, 3800, 7200, 3200 and 2800
In 2016 4500, 3600, 5100, 4000 and 2500

Generally speaking, people go to homecoming- and few go to the rest.

[rambone 78]

There's not a lot of revenue other than buy games concerning the football program.

Attendance one way or the other doesn't move the needle. One buy game payout of say 500K equals ticket sales for the entire home schedule, more or less.

Whether we draw 6000 per game or 3000, it's a money loser either way.

But the administration doesn't care. As long as the school doesn't lose millions every year on football, they will continue to field a team.

There's no priority on winning though. That much is obvious. URI is perfectly happy to go 2-10 every year.

[Taylor Swift]

You can’t skate across hardwoods nor throw into the end zone on the court. So back on track to talk about West Gym being converted into the Practice Facility.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Maybe the basketball team could practice at one end of the football field and the hockey team at the other?

[Taylor Swift]

Maybe the basketball team could practice at one end of the football field and the hockey team at the other?

That sounds like my 8th birthday party at Kid Zone

[Blue Man]

FYI D1 hockey would cost us $3M per year.

Football costs us $500k per year, net.

We need a bball practice facility to compete at the level we want (and the level of most of our conference).

We have like 1-3 legitimate, game changing donors.

Let's crawl before we can run the 110m hurdles.

[Taylor Swift]

FYI D1 hockey would cost us $3M per year.

Football costs us $500k per year, net.

We need a bball practice facility to compete at the level we want (and the level of most of our conference).

We have like 1-3 legitimate, game changing donors.

Let's crawl before we can run the 110m hurdles.

Kind of squashes the "we lose so much money on football" argument, eh?

[RhowdyRam02]

FYI D1 hockey would cost us $3M per year.

Football costs us $500k per year, net.

We need a bball practice facility to compete at the level we want (and the level of most of our conference).

We have like 1-3 legitimate, game changing donors.

Let's crawl before we can run the 110m hurdles.

Where are you getting the $3 million figure?