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Robins Center Review

RCSGA

RCSGA

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May 6, 2003
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Stadium Journey has updated their review of the Robins Center, with one of their regional reviewers having attended the recent GW game.. Overall the experience rated a 4.1 out of 5 for Food & Beverage, Atmosphere, Neighborhood, Fans, Access, Return on Investment and Extras. Some great pictures of the Arena too.


http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/robins-center-s675
 
Interesting read, thanks for sharing. For those spiders that don't get back for games, I would've thought the atmosphere was much worse based on what I read here. Very refreshing! Wish I could fly back more!
 
Good summary but "the student section is almost always full and rocking". Yeah, Ok.
 
Originally posted by 97spiderfan:

Good summary but "the student section is almost always full and rocking". Yeah, Ok.
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When we're winning and we're playing someone good it is... It's never empty during a VCU game.

They just caught us on a good night. Better than catch us during an IUPUI game in November when you're lucky to have 3K there.
 
Four of the last 5 games have been sold out at the Robins Center. It is a great venue for basketball; easily the nicest venue and environs in the A10.
smile.r191677.gif
 
Originally posted by jrspider:
Does anyone know how this review compares to reviews of other arenas?
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Here is a selection of schools and their scores according to the site...

La Salle: 2.7
UNC: 3.3
Davidson: 3.7
VCU: 3.9
Duke: 4.1
Richmond: 4.1
Kansas: 4.4
Kentucky: 4.6



This post was edited on 3/11 2:13 PM by fan2011
 
Virginia has a 3.1 at JPJ Arena, same builders that we used. The difference is that some of the higher level seats as well as entry and exit leave much to be desired. Robins is a terrific venue for ease of access getting in and out of the arena as well as access to your seats plus good sight lines from any seat in the house.
 
Lets be cautious on the "sold out" tag line too. I started laughing when I saw the picture on the UR Athletics website from the GW game - which I attended. I believe this game was a sellout and I loved the RED OUT idea and believe they should do it for more games. Maybe even a WHITE OUT game too. Since we sometimes where WHITE unis at home.

But just look at the picture and how many seats are unused - you can tell by the t-shirts just laying there. Now granted - some people may have been late getting to their seats, but I was at this game, and there were a lot of empty seats. By "a lot" I would say at least 500 seats were empty.

Similar to the earlier post about the student section always rockin. We all know that is not true either.

But nonetheless - the article is right on in that with the improvements, this is now a great venue.






IABMJQVJKXBKRLY.20150310180513.jpg
 
Trap - you got to admit - the red tshirts covering the blue seats made it look fuller. We were unable to attend because Charlottesville got slammed with snow so there were our empty seats...............
 
Agree Spider Fan - the red shirts help mask the empty seats and make for a cool picture, like the one I posted above. It looks pretty cool at first glance, but then you blink once or twice and look closely and your like - wait a minute, a lot of those red shirts are empty.
 
A sellout is a sellout. I've never been to a sold out game of any type in any sport at any venue in which every single seat was occupied for the entirety of the event. There are always empty seats at sellouts. People are getting food, in the bathroom, walking around, late to arrive, taking their kids to the kids' section, and a few people don't show up.

In our case, a bunch (as many as 500 or more) also are hanging out in the suites at any given time.
 
Originally posted by Eight Legger:
A sellout is a sellout. I've never been to a sold out game of any type in any sport at any venue in which every single seat was occupied for the entirety of the event. There are always empty seats at sellouts. People are getting food, in the bathroom, walking around, late to arrive, taking their kids to the kids' section, and a few people don't show up.

In our case, a bunch (as many as 500 or more) also are hanging out in the suites at any given time.
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But that doesn't fit the narrative if you want to throw a wet blanket on the topic. I'd like to know how any team would be able to sell additional tickets if all of the existing tickets have been sold or given-way or otherwise have been spoken for? Especially when you don't have areas that are conducive to SRO tickets, like say a giant Costco warehouse with a walkway (aisle) all around it.
 
Same game the reviewer was at, and it looks like it got a lot more crowded later into the game

675_Richmond_Spiders_Game_Action_at_Robins_Center.jpg

Originally posted by SpiderTrap:

But just look at the picture and how many seats are unused - you can tell by the t-shirts just laying there. Now granted - some people may have been late getting to their seats, but I was at this game, and there were a lot of empty seats. By "a lot" I would say at least 500 seats were empty.
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This post was edited on 3/11 4:58 PM by RCSGA
 
Originally posted by spider fan:

Virginia has a 3.1 at JPJ Arena, same builders that we used. The difference is that some of the higher level seats as well as entry and exit leave much to be desired. Robins is a terrific venue for ease of access getting in and out of the arena as well as access to your seats plus good sight lines from any seat in the house.
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JPJs upper level seats are awful. We got freebies for the GW game this year. The seats are narrow, the legroom is pathetic, and good luck getting up unless you want to get up at halftime. Love that the Robins Center is easy to move about.
 
I remember parkng and traffic were a mess that day for the GW game. Fender bender near College and River road. It was 10 minutes into the game before everyone was in their seat. It did finally fill up though.

This post was edited on 3/11 9:09 PM by SpiderK
 
Briefly stated, what the heck is wrong with you guys. The Robins Center is beautiful, comfortable and fan friendly. Our fans are GREAT. What is there not to like? Doggone it! Be proud and enjoy it!
 
The renovations have made our building a top 50 building, IMO. We're as good as Dayton in the league when it comes to atmosphere.
 
RCSGA - still a lot of empty seats in that picture in my opinion.

And this is not a knock on the Robins Center - I agree with everything being said. The renovations have probably made it a top 50 venue based just on the arena alone. I can't speak for the behind the scenes stuff - like locker rooms, film rooms, weight rooms, etc. That is a whole other list in my mind. But the renovations are great and they did a good job.

I was just pointing out the "sell out" along with the "students show up" is not very true. And yes - any sell out is going to have empty seats, people who buy the ticket and then don't show up. Agreed with you. But I frequent both VCU and UR games and have attended a couple UVA games and have been to "sell out" games at all three arenas this year. And I would put us at #3 in terms of empty seats for those sell outs. Is that a big deal - not really. I just though it was funny the picture they used on the UR website to promote this great review of the Robins Center shows a lot of empty seats. They could have at least picked a better photo.
 
Getting in and out of the RC and parking is about as easy as it gets for any venue I have ever been to. I park over in the lot by Ryland Hall, walk past Jepson and Robins Halls, and up the ramp to the RC. Takes 10 minutes on a bad day. Getting to and in and out of seats is a breeze, even for sell-out games.

I don't see how anyone can complain about the parking situation for home games.

I think we have one of the better college hoops venues since the renovations. The RC was a very good venue before, now I think it's great.
 
Good Point Keef - I always laugh when people complain about the parking and traffic at the Robins Center. You are going to run into those problems at any venue with 5000 + people in attendance. There is just no way around it other than building a 6 lane road through campus and 10 more exits and entrances to campus from neighborhood streets. But by far - our parking and traffic problems and less worse than other places - especially VCU (where you will wait just as long, if not longer to park in their parking decks and have to pay like $10 for parking). Same with UVA - traffic is an issue there as well.

Our parking and traffic is fine. It would be nice to have more spaces available closer to the Robins Center for general public, but the school does a good job providing shuttle services.
 
You are right about the parking. I sat in the JPJ parking deck for 40 minutes. I can get out of Lot 5 at the RC in a few minutes. I have parked in lots 5 or 6 for many years, so I am not aware of how the parking works for a sold out crowd. I did notice and comment at the time of the GW game (Red Out) that the seats 25 to 30 percent filled for the singing of the National Anthem. The seats were not totally filled in until 10 full minutes of game time had gone by.

All in all it is a very nice, clean, safe and fun environment at the RC. Everyone I bring is impressed.
 
Also we've had this discussion before, and this issue applies not to us but everyone. A "sell out" is when all the tickets are sold, not when every seat has a warm body in it.
 
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