ODU Tickets

[VCU Finance 2008]

are you trying to use common sense?

I try not to make a habit out of it, but it does slip out sometimes.

 

[VCUPepBandRules]

Heck... there's one guy in Athletics (not gonna throw his name out there cause I actually like the guy)... but under the previous AD (Norwood)... the guy used to talk to me, and a lot of the Rowdies... as well as people like @fmrick & others. heck he worked directly with the Rowdy Rams when it came to the 6th man rewards & Rowdy Bus Trips. And the dude was cool as heck, the year we went to the final four... I stopped being a student at VCU after the fall semester... so I couldn't use my Student ID anymore to attend games... the end of the season when students went to claim their rewards...., I went up there to get mine, and despite not officially attending all the games as a student.... he saw me at the games & gave me all the rewards including the Gold #12 Jersey which was the final 6th man reward that season.

I still see the guy around games all the time.... but I couldn't tell you the last time I talked to the dude.

I know who you're talking about, and he's still a very chill guy to talk to, but ever since he changed positions in the AD his responsibilities have shot way up and doesn't have the free time he once had before, during, and after games.

I think one of the many problems surrounding the perks and stuff that the Rowdies used to have is that his former position is on its 4th person since I started at VCU in 2010, and a lot of the ideas that existed seem to have been lost during the transitions, plus that position has absorbed a great deal of additional responsibilities that didn't exist before. The person currently holding that position is doing their best and I think is doing a good job with what they have to work with. Additionally, this seems to be compounded by the evolution of the student body, they just don't seem to have the same interest in sports and school spirit that they once did, and that's a trend I've noticed on other college campuses as well. I have no idea what ultimately is causing this lack of interest; it could be the evolution of the smart phone and how they are focused on that as a form of entertainment (think about it, 10 years ago only 472 million were sold compared to 1.5 billion so far this year), perhaps the shifts and changes in the political environment, who knows?...

 

[fmrick]

The latest.

They cancelled all of the donor hospitality at games. Their reasoning was COVID (this is getting stupid throughout our society, the latest was a guy on the news saying there is a Christmas Tree shortage due to COVID, trying to explain price increases). While I can see the reasoning, I can't put together the fact that somehow they think a person is more at risk standing in the Commonwealth Room then they are sitting in the SC?

Now we learn that NOT ALL hostility has been cancelled. They are still taking high donors to away games as a group. First, it was a trip on the TEAM charter to Nashville, and now we hear they are doing a bus trip, including a "nice dinner prior to the game" to Norfolk.

So it is OK to put donors on an aircraft WITH PLAYERS, putting the players at additional risk, at a time when college basketball games are being cancelled across the country due to COVID problems (best and closest example- Wagner). One would think that the #1 priority for an AD would be player safety. Period. I'm sure adequate steps were taken to protect the players as much as possible, but what perceptions does this create?

So we are left to think it is not really COVID for the cancelled hospitality, but something else. Money? Just lazy? Just don't care?

 

[Ramaholic]

The latest.

They cancelled all of the donor hospitality at games. Their reasoning was COVID (this is getting stupid throughout our society, the latest was a guy on the news saying there is a Christmas Tree shortage due to COVID, trying to explain price increases). While I can see the reasoning, I can't put together the fact that somehow they think a person is more at risk standing in the Commonwealth Room then they are sitting in the SC?

Now we learn that NOT ALL hostility has been cancelled. They are still taking high donors to away games as a group. First, it was a trip on the TEAM charter to Nashville, and now we hear they are doing a bus trip, including a "nice dinner prior to the game" to Norfolk.

So it is OK to put donors on an aircraft WITH PLAYERS, putting the players at additional risk, at a time when college basketball games are being cancelled across the country due to COVID problems (best and closest example- Wagner). One would think that the #1 priority for an AD would be player safety. Period. I'm sure adequate steps were taken to protect the players as much as possible, but what perceptions does this create?

So we are left to think it is not really COVID for the cancelled hospitality, but something else. Money? Just lazy? Just don't care?

Don't get your name cancelled off the casual fans mailing list quite yet Rick. If you buy tickets from VCU online, you also get a free gift and a voucher for beer/ wine at the games. They cancelled free gifts off the donor perks. If you are a donor/ season ticket holder and want to buy a drink, you get to wait behind the non donors in the concession line getting free beer.

 

[fmrick]

We have officially become UR.

 

[LLLeopold]

We have officially become UR.

That may be the saddest remark ever posted on any site.
As long as we strive for basketball excellence we won’t sink that low.

 

[DisplacedRam]

heck hath no fury like a VCU season ticket holder scorned apparently.

who gives a fudge what promotions they put together to sell tickets? Ya'll are the same people that will also be complaining when tickets aren't sold so make up your darn mind do you want them to sell tickets or not?

 

[Ramaholic]

heck hath no fury like a VCU season ticket holder scorned apparently.

who gives a fudge what promotions they put together to sell tickets? Ya'll are the same people that will also be complaining when tickets aren't sold so make up your darn mind do you want them to sell tickets or not?

I just think some people are feeling under-appreciated. There is a complete void of appreciation for donors going on for 2 years now. Seriously, how hard would it be for VCU to send out some free swag to people that gave last year? Or maybe lower there prices this past year. A free t-shirt(s) or open the hospitality rooms or some vouchers for refreshments. I don't walk over existing customers by offering new customers better pricing. Yeah, I know some places like phone, cable companies, gyms... do that. But as a consumer, it rubs me the wrong way.

 

[fmrick]

That may be the saddest remark ever posted on any site.
As long as we strive for basketball excellence we won’t sink that low.

Most fans, and people inside the program, have always acknowledged that it is the PROGRAM that is successful. It's the entire package. It is the Band, the Dance Team, the fans in the stands, that created an atmosphere that helped the basketball team become, and stay, successful. It is the entire package. Ask a coach how much it helps for the SC to be as engaged as we have been when they are trying to recruit high level players. You want basketball excellence? It starts with have a PROGRAM that players want to play for.

UR did not become what they are overnight. It was a slow chipping away at the PROGRAM. A program that was once in a much better place. It is the drip drip drip of slight changes, made here and there, that lead to the decline they have seen. It is not just wins and losses. That is not just the basketball. The end result. It is about creating something that other programs seek to emulate. They look at VCU as a place to look to and try to figure out how we sold out the building. How we travel so well. What are we are doing right.

These are symptoms, not the result. The result is yet to be determined. But we are on a path. And sorry, but I (and many others) don't like the path we seem to be on.

 

[RowdyPkunk]

I just think some people are feeling under-appreciated. There is a complete void of appreciation for donors going on for 2 years now. Seriously, how hard would it be for VCU to send out some free swag to people that gave last year? Or maybe lower there prices this past year. A free t-shirt(s) or open the hospitality rooms or some vouchers for refreshments. I don't walk over existing customers by offering new customers better pricing. Yeah, I know some places like phone, cable companies, gyms... do that. But as a consumer, it rubs me the wrong way.

Forget the free Swag..... How about NOT DOING A RE-SEATING DURING A COVID YEAR? Knowing full & darn well we were not going to have a full crowd last season... if we had any crowd whatsoever. MADE ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE.

At least, if you actually give a $#!t about your donor base.

Some people were already getting priced out or were gonna not renew their season tickets to begin with.... then they do a re-seating & even more people opted not to renew.

 

[fmrick]

Forget the free Swag..... How about NOT DOING A RE-SEATING DURING A COVID YEAR? Knowing full & darn well we were not going to have a full crowd last season... if we had any crowd whatsoever. MADE ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE.

At least, if you actually give a $#!t about your donor base.

Some people were already getting priced out or were gonna not renew their season tickets to begin with.... then they do a re-seating & even more people opted not to renew.

And it looks like we may go down that path again, very soon.

 

[RowdyPkunk]

And it looks like we may go down that path again, very soon.

smh....

 

[AlienAiden]

It is not just wins and losses. That is not just the basketball.

Do you really believe that? I used to cover state sports in the mid-80s to mid-90s and UR got good crowds when Tarrant was winning games. VCU was in a dark hole at that time. Winning and good basketball has everything to do with it. Die hards that support the program go to games no matter what. By this way, VCU lost fans when they built the Stu. Fans got mad when they winning but then got unhappy with Shaka and the CBI year and called for his ouster at the end of the 2011 season. They left and new fans jumped onboard after the Final Four and rode it out. When he left the crowds went up and down according to how the team was doing. Game day atmosphere will not pick up again until they put wins together. Just look at the 2018-19 season when the team was 25-7. Crowds were coming and they were into it. The following year the senior laden team fell apart and then COVID kept us away from Bones' senior season. Now that we can go to watch the team is offensively deficient and the pandemic still has things in a tizzy for various reasons. I received an email from Ed yesterday about the COVID tough times to end last season and about masks/support this season. Hopefully next year we will begin getting fans engaged with a winning team.

 

[mike7842]

We have officially become UR.

Are you Rick Lewis?

 

[fmrick]

Do you really believe that? I used to cover state sports in the mid-80s to mid-90s and UR got good crowds when Tarrant was winning games. VCU was in a dark hole at that time. Winning and good basketball has everything to do with it. Die hards that support the program go to games no matter what. By this way, VCU lost fans when they built the Stu. Fans got mad when they winning but then got unhappy with Shaka and the CBI year and called for his ouster at the end of the 2011 season. They left and new fans jumped onboard after the Final Four and rode it out. When he left the crowds went up and down according to how the team was doing. Game day atmosphere will not pick up again until they put wins together. Just look at the 2018-19 season when the team was 25-7. Crowds were coming and they were into it. The following year the senior laden team fell apart and then COVID kept us away from Bones' senior season. Now that we can go to watch the team is offensively deficient and the pandemic still has things in a tizzy for various reasons. I received an email for Ed yesterday about the COVID tough times to end last season and about masks/support this season. Hopefully next year we will begin getting fans engaged with a winning team.

Yes, I do believe that. It is a process. One thing leads to another. We can debate Chicken or Egg all day, but in the end it is about having a process in place that promotes the program.

This process started with Mack. I've posted about this before, many might not have read things that far back. But I was told by the AD that when Mack agreed to come here he had demands that they had to agree to. He was all about the PROGRAM being successful. He want improvements in the building, as well as in the ancillary programs like Cheerleading, the band and a new Dance Team. He felt that those were all things that successful PROGRAMS had to have. Putting all those things in place started a general improvement in the program itself. They built from there. Slowly more fans started coming, better players started signing, we moved from one successful team to another, and the rest is history. It did not happen overnight.

Sure, a successful run to the sweet-sixteen would surely help this program. But if you keep trashing the fans who supported this program in the 70's, 80's and 90s, just to placate the new kids on the block, you will face the same types of declines as we are seeing now. A couple average years is all it will take. And if we have those average years without COVID to blame, will those new kids stick around?