Robins Center Attendance Watch

[SpiderTrap]

I would say our atmosphere hurts a little bit as well.

College games are fun because of the student sections that can usually get the rest of the crowd going. And if you have a band to go with that - even better. We have no band and a very poor student turnout. I know the excuse - we are a small school so you can't expect students to walk 10 minutes to the on-campus arena.
Our upgrades to the Robins Center are great - which help feeds the atmosphere, but I think if we could get the students involved, and get a good following that way as well - that would draw fans as well because it would increase the game day experience.

We have the perfect setup in terms of name for the student section - could be the Richmond Rowdies in the Spider Web or something along those lines. Duke has the Cameron Crazies, KU reads the newspaper and rips it up during opposing team player intros, Gonzaga has the kennel club for their students, and even VCU gained some fame as their band leader and band makes it way to New York on the Today show every A10 tourney time.

Winning helps attendance - no doubt. But I think the overall atmosphere - led by the students is right behind it.

 

[Captain Anderson]

I disagree a bit. I think we are picking up the casual fans with our very cheap ticket prices and free kids games. I know of several families who go to UR games with no allegiance and they do so because it is cheap family entertainment.

I think our drop off has been more loyal fans, alumni, season ticket holders who are tired of the Mooney show and feeling like the admin just let the program go and buried their head in the sand. So, now we are playing well, but do these fans come back, maybe, but quite obviously not right away.

Redskins face the same issue, their fan base has lost complete faith in the organization and now their stadium is half empty of good days and taken over by opposing teams fan bases on bad days. We do all of these schemes to keep out VCU fans for our one sold out game a year and yet half of the RC will be VCU fans anyway.

I can see your point. It's certainly not a rowdy atmosphere full of folks who are living and dying on each spider possession. As has been mentioned on this board before it's become more of a Flying Squirrels atmosphere where folks are going to be entertained and get the kids out of the house for a few hours of cheap entertainment.

 

[urmite]

I can see your point. It's certainly not a rowdy atmosphere full of folks who are living and dying on each spider possession. As has been mentioned on this board before it's become more of a Flying Squirrels atmosphere where folks are going to be entertained and get the kids out of the house for a few hours of cheap entertainment.

So you are saying...the Flying Squirrels and the Yankees have a different atmosphere?

 

[ur2K]

Did I just get an email offering alumni seats for $50 a piece?

I got 4 tickets for $10 for this Saturday with an elementary school offering.

 

[3genspider]

I hope the email campaign this morning for the VCU game tix worked well. It worked on me as i picked up the 2 vacant seats next to me.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

I expect attendance to be a little disappointing tonight. We are playing during the 2nd half of an NFL Divisional playoff game.

 

[KWeaver]

Pay $50 and the seats are non transferable. I didn’t like the offer. I did not pay a lot for that muffler.

 

[GKiller]

Best crowd of the year. Lost momentum to keep attendance up in 2nd of half of the year. Of course Dayton and VCU will be highly attended, but just an opportunity missed. Any chance we have for validation it's like no thanks why do we need that.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Best crowd of the year. Lost momentum to keep attendance up in 2nd of half of the year. Of course Dayton and VCU will be highly attended, but just an opportunity missed. Any chance we have for validation it's like no thanks why do we need that.

I'm pleasantly surprised to hear about the crowd.

If I was a betting man (which I very clearly am not), I would have plunked the money I would have spent on going to the game on the St. Louis ML at +210 and watched it at home alongside playoff football. Tripling up eases the pain, and it saves you the disappointing drive home!

 

[ur2K]

End of Year Average from the last few years:
2017-18 - 6,491
2018-19 - 5,730
2019-20 - 6,001 (up 4.7% from last year, 4 sell-outs vs. 1 last year)

2019-20

SFU - 6,602
Vanderbilt- 5,602
CSUN - 4,604
McNeese - 4,765
Boston College - 5,531
USA - 5,056
Charleston - 5,804
SJU - 5,016
SLU - 7,004
La Salle - 5,073
Dayton (Sell out) - 7,201
GW (Sell out) - 7,201
VCU (Sell out) - 7,201
Goo Moo - 5,651
Umass (Sell out) - 7,201
Davidson - 6,501

 

[Ferrum Spider]

End of Year Average from the last few years:
2017-18 - 6,491
2018-19 - 5,730
2019-20 - 6,001 (up 4.7% from last year, 4 sell-outs vs. 1 last year)

2019-20

SFU - 6,602
Vanderbilt- 5,602
CSUN - 4,604
McNeese - 4,765
Boston College - 5,531
USA - 5,056
Charleston - 5,804
SJU - 5,016
SLU - 7,004
La Salle - 5,073
Dayton (Sell out) - 7,201
GW (Sell out) - 7,201
VCU (Sell out) - 7,201
Goo Moo - 5,651
Umass (Sell out) - 7,201
Davidson - 6,501

about 4500 more per game than football.

 

[nathanw19]

End of Year Average from the last few years:
2017-18 - 6,491
2018-19 - 5,730
2019-20 - 6,001 (up 4.7% from last year, 4 sell-outs vs. 1 last year)

2019-20

SFU - 6,602
Vanderbilt- 5,602
CSUN - 4,604
McNeese - 4,765
Boston College - 5,531
USA - 5,056
Charleston - 5,804
SJU - 5,016
SLU - 7,004
La Salle - 5,073
Dayton (Sell out) - 7,201
GW (Sell out) - 7,201
VCU (Sell out) - 7,201
Goo Moo - 5,651
Umass (Sell out) - 7,201
Davidson - 6,501

Shows how damaging the previous 2 years were to attendance. Early year attendance was way down, with packed houses for much of the second half.

I would expect, regardless of how this year ends, for attendance to be way up next year due to an early season bump.