It's So Much Nicer not to Have RU in the Expansion Talks

[buckley503]

USC East is mighty quiet compared to last year with all there posturing on how great a candidate they would be for the Big 10. I guess delivering the NYC market only gets you so far.

It is rather nice.

 

[huskypantz]

I believe that Boston College did some damage to the concept that a single northeast school can deliver a major northeast market to any conference.

 

[Murph]

Nothing is over until RutgersAl says it is.

 

[HuskyNan]

USC East is mighty quiet compared to last year with all there posturing on how great a candidate they would be for the Big 10. I guess delivering the NYC market only gets you so far.

I saw an article that argued for UConn to the ACC because the school could "bring the NYC AND New England markets".

 

[RS9999X]

The Red Dwarf isn't fooling anyone.....Adding a dwarf isn't expansion...it's a dwarf toss

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Red Dwarf isn't fooling anyone.....Adding a dwarf isn't expansion...it's a dwarf toss

One of the best posts ever.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

RU or not this is a wake up call. Our small 40K stadium will not cut it in this day and age. We need to expand and get more fans to the game. We also need to win some big games. If those things don't happen, we could very well be left behind. It is all about football and money at this point. It is every man for himself going forward.

 

[CL82]

I saw an article that argued for UConn to the ACC because the school could "bring the NYC AND New England markets".

Well, yeah but that's us. It is only other schools that can't deliver the NY market.

 

[uc1974]

RU is the mystery #14 to the SEC. You must have missed it.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Expanding right now would be a waste of money (that isn't there), there is no demand for it yet. Win the big games first, then expand.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Expanding right now would be a waste of money (that isn't there), there is no demand for it yet. Win the big games first, then expand.

I look at it differently. I think UCONN needs to spend more effort to get more students to the game. Because the stadium is not on campus, it is much harder for students to get there. UCONN should provide 10K to 10K season tickets for students if there are demand. It is less revenue, but students are future alums and the future season ticket holder base. Bigger stadium equals to more commitment to football. I like to see UCONN get to 55K ASAP and maybe 70K down the road. In order to have a big time football, you simply need a big stadium to go with it. As for bigger games, we just need to schedule more bigger OOC opponents. It would be a lot easier with a bigger stadium too. UL and RU both expanded, now it is our turn.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

You're putting the cart before the horse. The program is not good enough to draw people to fill those empty seats. To draw those people, we need to win big, plain and simple. We have not done that yet. Last year was a bit of a step, but the losses to Michigan and OU hurt the public perception of the football program as being top notch. Wins over marginal BCS teams and in whocares.com bowl games isn't going to cut it. We can't expand because two others did when the demand is not there. Expansion now would lead to empty seats. We have to build the program on the field first, that will build the program in the stands.

 

[businesslawyer]

1. They bus the students to games now. Is there any evidence that there is more they should be doing to get students there? I hadn't heard that being set forth as a problem.

2. Saying we should get better teams to come to the Rent is akin to saying we can cut the federal deficit by eliminating waste. Everyone says it, and some mean it, but it proves to be near impossible to do.

3. We're not selling out mens basketball games, despite 3 Final Four trips and 2 championships in the last 8 tournaments. You really think it has nothing to do with the enthusiasm and demographics of our fanbase, and that the blame for empty seats is not winning enough? Why don't you suggest that to Calhoun in a press conference and see how he reacts.

 

[Chin Diesel]

RU is the mystery #14 to the SEC. You must have missed it.

Rutgers would never subject itself to being the 14th team in the SEC.

Rutgers is going to invite the 13 SEC teams to join the Rutger's New York City Conference. That offer is more befitting a school of RU's stature.

 

[Mr.Phat]

Man this seems like a rotten time to be without an AD. Who's monitoring all of this? Herbst? Like she doesn't have enough going on.

 

[CTMike]

Man this seems like a rotten time to be without an AD. Who's monitoring all of this? Herbst? Like she doesn't have enough going on.

Maybe I have nothing to base this on, but I believe that both Herbst and Pendergrast are smart enough and have the right vision to be as engaged as necessary in all that's going on.

 

[uconNYC]

I feel Marketing can help boost attendance. In the JH years we really have not had any innovative marketing initiatives. I dont just mean TV ads and/or lower ticket prices, but proper campaigns to excite fans, create a sense of state pride, etc. With Andre Drummond and HCPP we have a golden opportunity to do some things.

There are so many little things we could be doing, things that don't even cost money - like why not report attendance as 40,011 (instead of the usual 40,000 which is not an exact figure anyway) for a sold out game and put out a PR stating "UConn Breaks Attendance Record". Things like that create media attention and good buzz for the program. Or if a game is sold out, sell an extra 100 standing room only tickets and challenge fans to "Help break attendance record".

 

[ZooCougar]

If you want a dose of some completely unmitigated Rutgers Retardation then read this blog. This idiot must continue.

http://www.onthebanks.com/

 

[Pudge]

1. They bus the students to games now. Is there any evidence that there is more they should be doing to get students there? I hadn't heard that being set forth as a problem.

2. Saying we should get better teams to come to the Rent is akin to saying we can cut the federal deficit by eliminating waste. Everyone says it, and some mean it, but it proves to be near impossible to do.

3. We're not selling out mens basketball games, despite 3 Final Four trips and 2 championships in the last 8 tournaments. You really think it has nothing to do with the enthusiasm and demographics of our fanbase, and that the blame for empty seats is not winning enough? Why don't you suggest that to Calhoun in a press conference and see how he reacts.

BLAME IT ON JEFF HATHAWAY. (*cause my friend Waquoit would want me too)

Look ... that guy didn't have a Compliance staff correct. He very definitely did not have an Athletic Development star after Pendergast left. And, I FIRMLY think he didn't know his Ass from his Elbow when it came to marketing.

Rutgers did expand the stadium (under the new guy Pernetti following the old guy Mulcahy). Tom Jurich did expand the Louisville home field. It was the right time to do it. The markets (debt/muni) gave them an opportune moment. YOU KNOW ... it is not always just all this crap of Big Games & whether we "are ready". We could have made a huge leap forward in the 2007-2010 period ... if we had gone to 53,000 or so. That, frankly, is are optimal size. NOT my friend West Coast Husky's 75k. At that point, we are beyond the MACs & beyond most all the lower tier BCS. And the right Marketing mix (with a clever AD) would fill it. The Students, imho, have really embraced the Program. The bus system is good ... but of course: it could be better. I think that not a lot of thought has gone into shipping kids from Storrs to the Rent. It definitely could be a whole lot more programmic.

We are still in our infancy. A Good AD, recognizing something WE have that RU didn't (a Public Authority funding mechanism in the Stadium facility) could have gotten it done. And still could. The PR perception game, now, as Malloy is going after State cuts is far more dicey. Rutgers did it; in spite of tremendous financial obstacles. Louisville (*the entire city) has transformed their downtown with BOTH an addition to the Cardinal football stadium PLUS a new Arena for their Big time HOOP etc etc.

Does anyone think that a Like attitude would have benefited downtown Hartford? A place where the Mall-Arena is stumbling bumbling along.

 

[Pudge]

Man this seems like a rotten time to be without an AD. Who's monitoring all of this? Herbst? Like she doesn't have enough going on.

We actually have 3 Athletic Directors at the MOMENT. Hathaway til 9/15; the Interim guy; and Pendergast is certainly working hard behind the scenes. Haha

 

[businesslawyer]

BLAME IT ON JEFF HATHAWAY. (*cause my friend Waquoit would want me too)

Look ... that guy didn't have a Compliance staff correct. He very definitely did not have an Athletic Development star after Pendergast left. And, I FIRMLY think he didn't know his Ass from his Elbow when it came to marketing.

Rutgers did expand the stadium (under the new guy Pernetti following the old guy Mulcahy). Tom Jurich did expand the Louisville home field. It was the right time to do it. The markets (debt/muni) gave them an opportune moment. YOU KNOW ... it is not always just all this crap of Big Games & whether we "are ready". We could have made a huge leap forward in the 2007-2010 period ... if we had gone to 53,000 or so. That, frankly, is are optimal size. NOT my friend West Coast Husky's 75k. At that point, we are beyond the MACs & beyond most all the lower tier BCS. And the right Marketing mix (with a clever AD) would fill it. The Students, imho, have really embraced the Program. The bus system is good ... but of course: it could be better. I think that not a lot of thought has gone into shipping kids from Storrs to the Rent. It definitely could be a whole lot more programmic.

We are still in our infancy. A Good AD, recognizing something WE have that RU didn't (a Public Authority funding mechanism in the Stadium facility) could have gotten it done. And still could. The PR perception game, now, as Malloy is going after State cuts is far more dicey. Rutgers did it; in spite of tremendous financial obstacles. Louisville (*the entire city) has transformed their downtown with BOTH an addition to the Cardinal football stadium PLUS a new Arena for their Big time HOOP etc etc.

Does anyone think that a Like attitude would have benefited downtown Hartford? A place where the Mall-Arena is stumbling bumbling along.

Pudge: it is quite possible that more can be done to sell football seats from a marketing perspective, and that might help. But there is another side to this as well. Which is mens basketball should not require marketing. Everyone in the state knows the men's team is there and what it does. And yet, attendance keeps slipping downwards at both Storrs and Hartford. Some of this is just on a fanbase that thinks it doesn't matter (or matter that much) whether or not you buy the marginal ticket and come to one or two extra games.

 

[mattp]

If you want a dose of some completely unmitigated Rutgers Retardation then read this blog. This idiot must continue.

http://www.onthebanks.com/

that is genuinely one of the dumber articles i've ever read. i mean, "we have top 40 talent, they have top 30 talent and we get 3 points at home so we should be a 6- 7 point line"? doesn't this writer ever actually watch football games?

one thing that helped RU build their fanbase so quickly was that a lot of recent graduates stay in the area, so when they do well, there's a lot of local alumni to jump on the bandwagon. they theoretically graduate 10k new potential season ticket holders every year, and most of them stay local. UConn graduates probably 6k or so a year, and i don't think nearly as many stay local. i know when i graduated a relatively small percentage of my job offers were in state, and most kid i graduated with that i've kept track of live out of state now.

i bet if we had the numbers for how many recent alumni live within an hour of the Rent, it'd probably be about 20% the number that RU has living within an hour of Piscataway.

 

[ZooCougar]

that is genuinely one of the dumber articles i've ever read. i mean, "we have top 40 talent, they have top 30 talent and we get 3 points at home so we should be a 6- 7 point line"? doesn't this writer ever actually watch football games?

one thing that helped RU build their fanbase so quickly was that a lot of recent graduates stay in the area, so when they do well, there's a lot of local alumni to jump on the bandwagon. they theoretically graduate 10k new potential season ticket holders every year, and most of them stay local. UConn graduates probably 6k or so a year, and i don't think nearly as many stay local. i know when i graduated a relatively small percentage of my job offers were in state, and most kid i graduated with that i've kept track of live out of state now.

i bet if we had the numbers for how many recent alumni live within an hour of the Rent, it'd probably be about 20% the number that RU has living within an hour of Piscataway.

The Big East bloggers on SBNation do a conference power ranking each week, After Week 1 this guy had Rutgers vault past USF in the power rankings based on the win against North Carolina Central.

I wonder what a blowout loss against North Carolina gives them according to this goober.

 

[UConn9604]

i bet if we had the numbers for how many recent alumni live within an hour of the Rent, it'd probably be about 20% the number that RU has living within an hour of Piscataway.

I'd say yes, but with an asterisk, due to the comparative size of the schools and their alumni bases, and Rutgers's proximity to New York City.

Rutgers has about 340,000 alumni, and we have about 200,000, so by definition they have more alumni to draw from. Also, New York is within a one-hour radius of Rutgers (but about 2 1/2 hours away from The Rent), and is obviously a magnet for many schools' alumni, not just Rutgers's. By comparison, about 70% of our alumni live in Connecticut, much of which is within an hour of The Rent.

Rutgers just brought in its largest freshman class in years -- about 7,000 students. UConn's freshman class this year had about 4,500 students overall, and about 3,500 at Storrs alone.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

BLAME IT ON JEFF HATHAWAY. (*cause my friend Waquoit would want me too)

Look ... that guy didn't have a Compliance staff correct. He very definitely did not have an Athletic Development star after Pendergast left. And, I FIRMLY think he didn't know his Ass from his Elbow when it came to marketing.

Rutgers did expand the stadium (under the new guy Pernetti following the old guy Mulcahy). Tom Jurich did expand the Louisville home field. It was the right time to do it. The markets (debt/muni) gave them an opportune moment. YOU KNOW ... it is not always just all this crap of Big Games & whether we "are ready". We could have made a huge leap forward in the 2007-2010 period ... if we had gone to 53,000 or so. That, frankly, is are optimal size. NOT my friend West Coast Husky's 75k. At that point, we are beyond the MACs & beyond most all the lower tier BCS. And the right Marketing mix (with a clever AD) would fill it. The Students, imho, have really embraced the Program. The bus system is good ... but of course: it could be better. I think that not a lot of thought has gone into shipping kids from Storrs to the Rent. It definitely could be a whole lot more programmic.

We are still in our infancy. A Good AD, recognizing something WE have that RU didn't (a Public Authority funding mechanism in the Stadium facility) could have gotten it done. And still could. The PR perception game, now, as Malloy is going after State cuts is far more dicey. Rutgers did it; in spite of tremendous financial obstacles. Louisville (*the entire city) has transformed their downtown with BOTH an addition to the Cardinal football stadium PLUS a new Arena for their Big time HOOP etc etc.

Does anyone think that a Like attitude would have benefited downtown Hartford? A place where the Mall-Arena is stumbling bumbling along.

I believe going to 53K to 55K is the first step. This is the chicken and egg thing. Do you expand the stadium before you sell out for multiple seasons? I say definitely because having a bigger stadium keeping up with rest of the BE is important. It increases the overall status of UCONN in the eyes of other BCS programs. Whether we like it or not, big time in many ways is attached attendance and stadium size.

Look at SMU, they average like 20K last year in their 32K stadium. They are looking at expanding the stadium to 51K. Houston is also in the process of expanding their stadium and already raised $100M out of $160M required. Why do they do this? Because they want to be in a BCS conference and butts in the seats is one major measurement. ECU just expanded their stadium to 58K.

Here is SMU's drawing for their stadium: http://www.smu2bcs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Ellerbe-Becket-Stadium-Expansion-Plans2.pdf

I think the biggest place to draw more fans is from our students. Right now our season ticket base is only 5K to students. I would like to see UCONN double that to 10K or even more. UCONN would get less revenue, but it will improve game day atomsphere by a ton. Since stadium is not on campus, it is important to have a great bus system to get these kids to the game. It would be nice if the stadium is on campus, but that's not happening so we work with what we got.