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Gameday Experience

CH_Spider

Assistant Coach
Nov 11, 2019
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693
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Colonial Heights, VA
I've seen a few of you talk about the gameday experience at the Robins Center this year which is what inspired me to make this thread. What is it that we're missing? It just doesn't have a great feel to it pre-game, concessions are slow, beer choices limited, etc. What would Richmond have to do to improve this?
 
What happened to the animated long haired dude in overalls from a couple of years ago? He injected some energy that was contagious.

Many years ago used to play Dueling Banjos. That as well got the fans stoked and rocking.

This isn't rocket science.
 
Cheerleaders used to run leading players onto court when they entered under student basket through inflated Spider. Band playing pregame. Mentioned in Toledo thread about standing until Spiders' first points. Lethargy is the name of the pregame now......
 
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Bring back the rowdy run! Let the students stand behind the court like back in the old days. Have athletes throw random prizes into the stand instead of the cheerleaders and dance team. Have Baseball players chuck the papajohns balls, tennis players hit the papa johns balls, lax players chuck them from there sticks etc.

Announce who that team is playing next and encourage fans to go to that game. There is so many low hanging fruits this lazy, entitled athletic department refuses to do to make the game day experience better. And that’s exactly what most of them are. A bunch of comfortable schleps collecting paychecks they don’t deserve. Not all of them mind you, but way too many to count.

Did our gameday operations people previously work at a morgue or a funeral home? Because they sure bring the energy of those. Managerial mediocrity turns to incompetence real fast.
 
I love the idea of incorporating the other teams into it. But, would that require too much for someone to send an email asking if the baseball/football/soccer/etc teams could come?
 
Have Baseball players chuck the papajohns balls, tennis players hit the papa johns balls, lax players chuck them from there sticks etc.

Announce who that team is playing next and encourage fans to go to that game.
do any of those teams play in winter???
 
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do any of those teams play in winter???
Bring back the rowdy run! Let the students stand behind the court like back in the old days. Have athletes throw random prizes into the stand instead of the cheerleaders and dance team. Have Baseball players chuck the papajohns balls, tennis players hit the papa johns balls, lax players chuck them from there sticks etc.

Announce who that team is playing next and encourage fans to go to that game. There is so many low hanging fruits this lazy, entitled athletic department refuses to do to make the game day experience better. And that’s exactly what most of them are. A bunch of comfortable schleps collecting paychecks they don’t deserve. Not all of them mind you, but way too many to count.

Did our gameday operations people previously work at a morgue or a funeral home? Because they sure bring the energy of those. Managerial mediocrity turns to incompetence real fast.
As long as the golf team doesn't use drivers and drill people, I think it would work.
 
Here is an idea...win. Make the NCAA tournament. This will draw in more fans that will buy season tickets and have a vested interest in the team. This is instead of running the games like a minor league baseball team and giving away tickets. Use VCU as an example. They had no one at their games. Then they started winning consistently. It became the ticket to have in Richmond. It's not that hard to figure out. Of course this will require serious change in Athletic department, so don't hold your breath.
 
The concessions are pretty poor and the lines are long and slow. Basically the entire concourse is tied up at half time with the lines and I know many people did not get back to there seats by the end of halftime because of the lines. That is unacceptable. I do think the layout of the concessions needs to be redesigned. They are much too small for the crowd and obviously the lack of cooking equipment means that any food served is just held in a heater and not fresh. Not sure what they can do about that until an investment is made into overhauling the concession area.

But to me that is all window dressing, I'm there for the product on the court.
 
Concessions and concourse are in phase 2 of the RC renovation project, though things have been curiously silent in that regard.
Yes SF that has morphed into the "eternal"question - when is the expansion toward Robins Stadium going to take place? That would improve the concourse "experience". After the renovation wasn't that scheduled for the next year - haha?
 
do any of those teams play in winter???
If football was still good, yes.
Baseball opens 2/18
Tennis has already started but first spring match is against UVA 1/20
Lax first game 2/11

Last mens regular season basketball home game is 3/1 and in years past has been much later.
 
What happened to the animated long haired dude in overalls from a couple of years ago? He injected some energy that was contagious.

Many years ago used to play Dueling Banjos. That as well got the fans stoked and rocking.

This isn't rocket science.
Ha! what happened to that crazy speedo Spider Man that would run from the upper reaches of the north end zone across the court and into the student section to be mobbed by his girlfriends?...usually at the under four minutes TV timeout

Whoever controls the musical playlist needs to take a look at the demographics of the crowd...little ones don't care about music...teenagers and young adults scarce...need some classic rock and roll to get the >40 crowd stomping their feet

Go Spiders!
 
What happened to the animated long haired dude in overalls from a couple of years ago? He injected some energy that was contagious.

Many years ago used to play Dueling Banjos. That as well got the fans stoked and rocking.

This isn't rocket science.
Yeah. Pretty sure you are talking about Tyler Hart who was a UR grad and assistant principal in Henrico, He was great in his role - moved to Houston last summer.
 
I think he's talking about the dude from our NIT run, who apparently was the father of a prospective student at the time or maybe a freshman. Happened to be at one of those late-season games and the camera caught him during a timeout and he really got into it, then they started comping him tickets for the rest of our run. He was fun.
 
The basketball practice facility jumped the line of projects, so who knows when phase 2 will happen, especially if a disgruntled Queally isn't going to pay for it.

I don't believe it involved any expansion toward Robins Stadium. The main addition was to be a new grand entrance on the opposite side toward Pitt Field.

Probably no money left after we spent $20+M for the first phase, $17+M for the practice facility, $17+M for Mooney's salary, untold amounts for chartering flights to and from everywhere, and whatever we are paying Mooney's assistants. All in all, it amounts to close to $60M in the past decade for the major elements of the basketball program, but with little to no financial return. Frankly, I wouldn't blame Hardt for not wanting to spend any more money on this program right now, except that he has had multiple chances to do something about it and has failed.
 
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Probably no money left after we spent $20+M for the first phase, $17+M for the practice facility, $17+M for Mooney's salary, untold amounts for chartering flights to and from everywhere, and whatever we are paying Mooney's assistants. All in all, it amounts to close to $60M in the past decade for the major elements of the basketball program, but with little to no financial return. Frankly, I wouldn't blame Hardt for not wanting to spend any more money on this program right now, except that he has had multiple chances to do something about it and has failed.
The serving of crappy concessions to the loyal fan base is kind of on par as to what they really think about us.
 
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Hardt's certainly not the decision-maker on that...he has to get money from daddy for things like that.
 
Well we are the only team I’ve seen that has a funeral ad on the backboard support. I know it’s all about money but that’s depressing. 💀
Fits the demographic - Figure WE might need those services....................since you mentioned it Spiders winning the National Championship in men's basketball is on my bucket list...before anyone comments ...to cover all the bases .....that includes eternity in heaven for reaching that goal..................
 
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For students the concessions really increased around my senior year (2015-2016 season) due to the ability to use dining dollars to purchase them. Definitely noticed an uptick in students with food at the game.

Never really paid attention to any alcohol sales at game, don’t tell Queally or Hardt but we used to sneak our own in every game. It was alarmingly easy.
 
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I haven't been to a game yet this year. If you have better promotions and more action. Usually you get a better response. UR has a whole marketing and sales department? I guess they answer all the phone calls? Come on. Get some entertainment and music. Maybe stop scheduling Hofstra and opponents no one cares about. In-state rivalries make a whole lot sense.
 
It doesn't happen often, but look at UVa-JMU. They went to Harrisonburg and the Dukes beat them. It's tough to get a team like Virginia or Virginia Tech to agree to play because there really isn't anything to gain for them. If they win, they were supposed to, if they lose then its an embarrassment factor. Sign me up for William & Mary, ODU, Liberty, & even Longwood each year.
 
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All of this aside, the crowd the other night was really good once we started coming back. Like really good. The last minute or so was as organically loud and excited as I remember hearing since the Oakland NIT game and generally that whole NIT run.
 
All of this aside, the crowd the other night was really good once we started coming back. Like really good. The last minute or so was as organically loud and excited as I remember hearing since the Oakland NIT game and generally that whole NIT run.
True - the change in how loud the RC can get with a good crowd post renovation is really remarkable. There was one foul called while Toledo was on offense late in the game where the players just kept playing b/c they didn't hear the whistle - don't recall seeing that happen a whole lot.
 
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All of this aside, the crowd the other night was really good once we started coming back. Like really good. The last minute or so was as organically loud and excited as I remember hearing since the Oakland NIT game and generally that whole NIT run.
Very true. The crowd in the second half was amazing and that was without many students in attendance.
 
True - the change in how loud the RC can get with a good crowd post renovation is really remarkable. There was one foul called while Toledo was on offense late in the game where the players just kept playing b/c they didn't hear the whistle - don't recall seeing that happen a whole lot.
This is what annoys me about the lack of admin support for high level hoops. As much as there are a few naysayers on here, we do have some things in place that could allow us to be one of those VCU, St. Mary, Dayton, SDSU type of programs that are going to NCAA's regularly. Renovated RC, practice facility, some tradition, nice area, could have fan support, top 3 non p6 league, etc. But lack of caring from Hardt, or PQ factor seems to holding us back.
 
This thread amazes me. I am so proud of our game day atmosphere now, and I want to bring fans/alumni that aren't able to make it often because I want them to see how awesome it is! Years ago it was a big problem. Now it feels big time. I feel such pride when I walk in the Robin's Center. I love the pre-game hype, videos, player intros, in game entertainment - all of it now. We are not lacking in this area anymore. I don't think anything would make many of your happy.
 
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