@ South Carolina State (11/20)

[Underpar]

As Alums we have some responsibility to get out support for the team. Has the student body ever been "questioned" about why it doesn't support the teams more? Watching terrific sporting events is a nice part of the college experience. Program success and strong student and community support would make UA more visible.

[GreatDane87]

Underpar...at least basketball and football get some type of advertising on the web etc. For basketball, they are even sending emails to the student body proding them to come out and support the team. Do they do that for baseball, track, tennis, softball......no! Some of these sports don't even get a media guide with the players names and bios in it. Recruiting wise, what do we know about who is coming in next year except for a few sports. There are some sports that have little support, where the crowds would be non-existent if not for the parents of the players and a few friends. As I have said many times before, all of the sports at UA need a little kick in the rear......not just basketball and football. Heck, football doesn't even need it anymore since 25 million was spent on the stadium. Fairness across the board.....in funding, attempts to raise student and area awareness and facilities is what I am talking about. I don't believe that UAlbany Sports is tweeting minute by minute scores in many sports other then basketball and football....why is that? I know for a fact that there are some major differences in these areas across the UA sports landscape.

Edited December 13, 2012 by GreatDane87

[UA'08]

Underpar...at least basketball and football get some type of advertising on the web etc. For basketball, they are even sending emails to the student body proding them to come out and support the team. Do they do that for baseball, track, tennis, softball......no! Some of these sports don't even get a media guide with the players names and bios in it. Recruiting wise, what do we know about who is coming in next year except for a few sports. There are some sports that have little support, where the crowds would be non-existent if not for the parents of the players and a few friends. As I have said many times before, all of the sports at UA need a little kick in the rear......not just basketball and football. Heck, football doesn't even need it anymore since 25 million was spent on the stadium. Fairness across the board.....in funding, attempts to raise student and area awareness and facilities is what I am talking about. I don't believe that UAlbany Sports is tweeting minute by minute scores in many sports other then basketball and football....why is that? I know for a fact that there are some major differences in these areas across the UA sports landscape.

Agree, but I think that's how it is everywhere. Football and basketball are the money makers in college sports.

[Phoenix]

There are no track/field events on the campus for students to watch. That will change with the new track and field facilities.

 

I believe Athletics puts out the same new signee/recruiting info for every sport. In fact..I just read yesterday that the volleyball team signed three new student-athletes. Obviously the media focuses more on basketball and football..just as us fans here on the board do.

 

Attendance (goes back to 06-07 on the team's 'Statistics' page):

 

12-13 - 2612 (without the benefit of BPG..and bigger AE games like UVM and Stony Brook)

11-12 - 2480

10-11 - 2163

09-10 - 2646

08-09 - 2826

07-08 - 3031

06-07 - 3175

[dslyank]

There are no track/field events on the campus for students to watch. That will change with the new track and field facilities.

 

I believe Athletics puts out the same new signee/recruiting info for every sport. In fact..I just read yesterday that the volleyball team signed three new student-athletes. Obviously the media focuses more on basketball and football..just as us fans here on the board do.

 

Attendance (goes back to 06-07 on the team's 'Statistics' page):

 

12-13 - 2612 (without the benefit of BPG..and bigger AE games like UVM and Stony Brook)

11-12 - 2480

10-11 - 2163

09-10 - 2646

08-09 - 2826

07-08 - 3031

06-07 - 3175

Good job Phoenix. It looks like we are on track to break our all time season ticket average. The holiday and pre-conference attendance is always less. I can probably count on two hands the number of home games I have missed in 40 years, and I am actually pretty impressed with the crowds so far. With conference play and purple growl and the increased marketing that HAS been going on, I expect a huge second half. Charlie Voelker and his staff have been doing a great job of marketing the team, and if some people are not seeing this they are not paying attention.

[UA'08]

There are no track/field events on the campus for students to watch. That will change with the new track and field facilities.

 

I believe Athletics puts out the same new signee/recruiting info for every sport. In fact..I just read yesterday that the volleyball team signed three new student-athletes. Obviously the media focuses more on basketball and football..just as us fans here on the board do.

 

Attendance (goes back to 06-07 on the team's 'Statistics' page):

 

12-13 - 2612 (without the benefit of BPG..and bigger AE games like UVM and Stony Brook)

11-12 - 2480

10-11 - 2163

09-10 - 2646

08-09 - 2826

07-08 - 3031

06-07 - 3175

 

Thanks for the stats. I guess we aren't too far off.

[dslyank]

Also, like Phoenix I read the web posting on volleyball. Even though it was a little hard to figure out, if the second player mentioned was the #1 ranked girl in the country or just an individual from the #1 team in the country {either way looks like a great find and good class of recruits}, I think the site does a good job overall on reporting on ALL UA teams.

In addition to basketball and football, I have season tickets to volleyball and Lacrosse, and believe me the attendance for those is SAD. But, I do not think you can blame UA marketing/web. I recently made a post on THIS blog concerning the Lacrosse schedule being on the UA web site; and did not get a single reply from the hundreds of "fans", who follow this blog. Now,I am not really trying to be critical, the interest is just not there for these other sports. So to complain about attendance for basketball and football {"the money sports"}, and to complain about UA marketing efforts, shows a lack of understanding of the Albany sports [or lack thereof] market.

[madDOG]

Also, like Phoenix I read the web posting on volleyball. Even though it was a little hard to figure out, if the second player mentioned was the #1 ranked girl in the country or just an individual from the #1 team in the country {either way looks like a great find and good class of recruits}, I think the site does a good job overall on reporting on ALL UA teams.

In addition to basketball and football, I have season tickets to volleyball and Lacrosse, and believe me the attendance for those is SAD. But, I do not think you can blame UA marketing/web. I recently made a post on THIS blog concerning the Lacrosse schedule being on the UA web site; and did not get a single reply from the hundreds of "fans", who follow this blog. Now,I am not really trying to be critical, the interest is just not there for these other sports. So to complain about attendance for basketball and football {"the money sports"}, and to complain about UA marketing efforts, shows a lack of understanding of the Albany sports [or lack thereof] market.

 

with all due respect, it would have helped if you included the schedule in that post or at least provided a link to it. you just said "Lacrosse schedule released" and that was it.

[GreatDane87]

A number of good points have been made. I can say this, I have started blogs under the "spring" section and I noticed that they are now off the site. Lets be frank, football and basketball are really not money sports for UA as they really don't do anything to support the other programs like they do in schools with well known, successful and high level basketball and football programs. If anything, they are able to take care of the bills for their respective programs. No other UA sports team even comes close to doing that. Therefore, the other programs mainly exist with funding that is given to them by the athletics department. With that being said, the promotion of all student athletes and athletics teams should be consistent and fair across the board. If a team is not successful, the athletics department should be asking why and making changes to ensure competitiveness. Albany is a great institution for higher learning and athletes from around the country should not hesitate when making the decision on where to attend. The perfect balance between academics and athletics can be found there. I am just suggesting that we need to catch up on facilities, promotion of the teams and athletes etc.

[Patch]

This S Carolina St thread has been officially hijacked!!!!

[GreatDane87]

Not many things to talk about as it goes for South Carolina State....so why not discuss something else?

[Patch]

Why not start a new thread then????

[Eli]

Regardless of what's goin on, speaking as a student, the problem lies in that there isn't sports related posters/flyers plastered all over the school. Meaning, there is no school spirit.

 

If they would put up visual representation of our athletic programs ALL OVER THE PLACE, we'd see a bigger turn out. Basic marketing...the more you see something, typically speaking, the more you want it.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Ilko

[GreatDane87]

Ilko...I agree.....there is ability to get that done, the effort is lacking.....plus, when basketball season ends, any student involvement will also go away since there is basically no marketing of the spring sports with the possible exception of lacrosse.

[UAalum72]

How many colleges really rely on students for the bulk of their attendance? This isn't high school - there are 1,000 students for every basketball player, almost none of them will have a class with, or personally know, more than one or two players. Plus any marketing to students has to be repeated every year as the population turns over. Until we start playing power conference teams, when the games practically sell themselves, I doubt non-conference games will ever be big draws.

 

I think there's more potential in the rest of the population. For all the praise That Team We Always Play On The Road across town gets for their fan support, they get 1 out of every 150 people in this metro region (~5,500 out of 837,000).

 

 

BTW re yesterday's student attendance, final exams began today. They finish the day before our next game, so there won't be any students there at all.