ODU Tickets

WillWeaverRVA · Dec 3, 2021

fmrick said:
We have officially become UR.

Calm down, we're not trucking in residents from Cedarfield yet.

fmrick · Dec 3, 2021

WillWeaverRVA said:
Calm down, we're not trucking in residents from Cedarfield yet.

Well, that would not even be the last straw for me.

My last straw would be the band playing Sweet Caroline during a late game timeout when the game is on the line. :shock:

WillWeaverRVA · Dec 3, 2021

fmrick said:
Well, that would not even be the last straw for me.

My last straw would be the band playing Sweet Caroline during a late game timeout when the game is on the line.

Perish the thought!

AlienAiden · Dec 3, 2021

fmrick said:
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.

McCarthy was a disaster.

Wolfpack Ram · Dec 3, 2021

fmrick said:
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?

It's ALL about the "Benjamins". Always has been since he got here, always will be while he is here.

AlienAiden · Dec 3, 2021

Wolfpack Ram said:
It's ALL about the "Benjamins". Always has been since he got here, always will be while he is here.

Well, on the flip side of the Ed bashing, I think he is all about helping the athletes and sports infrastructure at VCU.

RowdyPkunk · Dec 3, 2021

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

yup.... I heard it could be a more annual or semi annual thing... instead of once every 5 or so years

Wolfpack Ram · Dec 3, 2021

AlienAiden said:
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.

People are being priced out of attending the games in person as a season ticket holder. Now, VCU is offering cheap deals/swag to sell tickets while season ticket holders are paying over $41 a ticket per game, not including their RAF donation. Every VCU basketball game is now on TV. Where is the economics in all of this? Don't be surprised if this administration drops the MASN package next year that picks up the remaining games that are not televised nationally or through the A-10 in order to try to increase attendance. This ship is sailing in the wrong direction fast. IF IT'S NOT BROKEN, DON'T TRY TO FIX IT!!!

fmrick · Dec 3, 2021

AlienAiden said:
McCarthy was a disaster.

Have to disagree on that. The program was already on a bad path. I think the things he insisted on being put into place for the PROGRAM are what turned us around. The process worked. If we had just hired another Sonny clone, I don't think we would be where we are today. It is easy to look at wins and losses and judge a coach. But if you look deeper, you will find his success. By the time Jeff took over, we were already in a much better place than we had been when Mack took over.

Wolfpack Ram · Dec 3, 2021

AlienAiden said:
Well, on the flip side of the Ed bashing, I think he is all about helping the athletes and sports infrastructure at VCU.

Can you honestly say that is the case across the board for all sports VCU sponsors? I think not.

AlienAiden · Dec 3, 2021

Wolfpack Ram said:
Can you honestly say that is the case across the board for all sports VCU sponsors? I think not.

Yes

Wolfpack Ram · Dec 3, 2021

AlienAiden said:
Yes

I know otherwise, and I'm going to leave it at that.

AlienAiden · Dec 3, 2021

fmrick said:
Have to disagree on that. The program was already on a bad path. I think the things he insisted on being put into place for the PROGRAM are what turned us around. The process worked. If we had just hired another Sonny clone, I don't think we would be where we are today. It is easy to look at wins and losses and judge a coach. But if you look deeper, you will find his success. By the time Jeff took over, we were already in a much better place than we had been when Mack took over.

OK we will disagree on McCarthy. Capel came in and recruited players like BA Walker, Jesse Pellot-Rosa, Jamal Shuler, Eric Maynor, etc. Those are the players and the coach that put VCU in a much better place.

fmrick · Dec 3, 2021

AlienAiden said:
OK we will disagree on McCarthy. Capel came in and recruited players like BA Walker, Jesse Pellot-Rosa, Jamal Shuler, Eric Maynor, etc. Those are the players and the coach that put VCU in a much better place.

But when Jeff got here we were in a new building, had a real Band, a Dance Team, and a lot better overall facilities. Mack is the reason much of that happened.

rvaram · Dec 3, 2021

Sounds like the ad’s office has trouble retaining talent. I would imagine salary is the driver here. This again puts us in the position of needing to raise MORE money to attract and retain top talent which requires kissing the rings of the few people at the top that can make big contributions.

I’d imagine it’s a bit like running an airline. You need all the people in coach but all your profit comes from the people sitting in first class.