@ LCC 12/13 ( not the day whiny patsos wanted)

[DanesRGood]

Mark Singelais @MarkSingelais · 14m14 minutes ago

On 980 AM, UAlbany's Will Brown on Albany Cup contract: "It's not you're going to dictate to us what happens. We've got to hold our ground."

Mark Singelais @MarkSingelais · 14m14 minutes ago

Brown sounded more adamant that if the UAlbany-Siena game is going to continue, it has to be played at SEFCU Arena every other year.

Mark Singelais @MarkSingelais · 12m12 minutes ago

Will Brown said on @foxsports980 that he'd like to see the Albany-Siena contract resolved by end of Jan. School ADs are meeting this week.

Mark Singelais @MarkSingelais · 11m11 minutes ago

UAlbany coach Will Brown said on Fox 980 he'll start looking at other scheduling options just in case the Albany-Siena rivalry ends.

[DanesRGood]

Also, do they post these interviews on the fooxsports980.com website? I'd love to listen tonight since I can't listen live at work.

[UA'08]

I believe they will post the interview on their website.

 

here it is...

http://www.foxsports980.com/onair/rodger-wyland-1777/will-brown-head-coach-ualbany-mens-13066830

Edited December 15, 2014 by UA'08

[UA'08]

How did this series never make it on ESPN3.

[TheLoudestTrumpet]

Of all the little things that can be done to make it even SLIGHTLY more fair, bring in a neutral announcer. Enough with the THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE POINT GOAL ROBBBIIIIEEEEEE POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLEEEEEE

 

and then when Hooley hits its just peter hooley. Even our guy at SEFCU isn't so incredibly biased towards away teams. The Siena announcer even completely missed some of the announcements for the women's game.

 

Also it might have had to do with the fact that Siena never went on a big run to grab a lead or any momentum, but there are ALWAYS students outside after the game to get into shouting matches with the band. This year there were non. We (I rejoined them for the game) were free to sing "Oh when the saints! Go marching out! Oh when the Saints go marching out! Oh how I'd hate to go to Siena, oh when the Saints go marching out!" all to ourselves. Such a great song.

[Big D]

The game is good for the area and should be continued if rational minds sit down to work out a solution. WB's arguments have less to do with money than with competitive fairness.

There are two equitable ways to continue this game. The first is to have a traditional home and home series the way it is done with most non-conference rivalries. One year at Siena’s home venue (TUC) with Siena keeping all the revenue. The next year at UA’s home venue (SEFCU) with UA keeping all the revenue. Those Siena fans who have suddenly become advocates for the “community interest” in having as many people as possible attend the game, should be honest with themselves…they're not using this line of argument because they care about the community, but rather as a pretext for not yielding on the current arrangement.

 

There are numerous examples of other local rivals agreeing on a home and home arrangement. Providence College and URI have a long standing home and home series, even though an extra 5000 get to see the game when it is in Providence (12,500 vs. 7500). Boston College and Harvard have been playing home and home (9000 seats at BC vs. 2100 seats at Harvard).

 

The other option is to have the teams alternate as the home team at the TUC. That’s the way Providence and URI used to do it in the 80s-90s. That’s the way Villanova, Penn and St. Joe’s used to do it (using the Palestra as the venue).

 

Any other proposal is based on a false narrative…that Siena and UAlbany are not competitive equals. That narrative was true 10 or 15 years ago but no longer. Losing 4 of the last 5 years should make this clear to even the most delusion Siena fan.

 

I personally prefer the traditional home and home arrangement, and think alternating sites would add energy and interest to the game. The rivalry is fun and the game gives the area sports fan something to look forward to each year. If the series is cancelled, both sides lose, but it should not continue on the current terms.

[bob87]

 

Mark Singelais @MarkSingelais · 14m14 minutes ago

On 980 AM, UAlbany's Will Brown on Albany Cup contract: "It's not you're going to dictate to us what happens. We've got to hold our ground."

Mark Singelais @MarkSingelais · 14m14 minutes ago

Brown sounded more adamant that if the UAlbany-Siena game is going to continue, it has to be played at SEFCU Arena every other year.

Mark Singelais @MarkSingelais · 12m12 minutes ago

Will Brown said on @foxsports980 that he'd like to see the Albany-Siena contract resolved by end of Jan. School ADs are meeting this week.

Mark Singelais @MarkSingelais · 11m11 minutes ago

UAlbany coach Will Brown said on Fox 980 he'll start looking at other scheduling options just in case the Albany-Siena rivalry ends.

 

 

 

 

Some things don't change.

Mark S is a hack who gets his information from the radio (or TV) just like a regular fan.

 

But good to hear some things might finally be changing : the subsidizing of LCC .

I look forward to listening to the interview later in the day whem I can

[UA'08]

Only thing is mark s is not on the UA basketball beat. So I guess he shouldn't be getting info from brown. Wilkin though.. Ya know

[godanesgo99]

Only thing is mark s is not on the UA basketball beat. So I guess he shouldn't be getting info from brown. Wilkin though.. Ya know

Wilkin needs to be fired. He is a sad excuse for a reporter. Although I like to argue with Mark, he does do his job - cover Siena. Wilkin needs a slap upside the head or a walk to the unemployment line. His coverage (or lack there of) is a pitiful for a newpaper that is supposed to be the main capital district rag.

[bob87]

Only thing is mark s is not on the UA basketball beat. So I guess he shouldn't be getting info from brown. Wilkin though.. Ya know

 

I am not going to argue with any of you guys about the lack of coverage from Wilkin.

Mark S when he covered us was always negative and with his "skill set" he is covering the right basketball team now

 

 

BTW , Shocking Wilkin had a tweet

 

Tim Wilkin@tjwilkin · 7m 7 minutes ago

"Let's wait until we talk before we start to speculate on it," D'Argenio said about the future of the Albany Cup.

[Zalman B]

From a money perspective, I want to see real numbers - both at the Knick and SEFCU - but I don't think those of us outside of UAlbany/Siena Athletic Departments will ever see those. That said, I'm pretty confident it is far more involved than people think.

 

Playing games off campus is - by its very nature - more involved and will almost always involve more parties getting a piece of the overall pie. Playing at SEFCU would have fewer, but don't assume that the Athletic Department just gets to pocket everything there also - somehow I doubt Sodexo's contract is especially favorable to the dep't in that regard.

 

For a community perspective, I'm calling BS a little bit. There are (at least) 2 aspects to the community perspective - interest and money for local businesses.

 

The interest may be legitimate, if overstated. The vast majority of interested parties are either tied to one of the two schools or closely tied to basketball otherwise. That said, they don't all come out to the games (clearly). The community interest can continue - without much harm, if any - by similar "newspaper" coverage and having the game available on television. If people don't get tickets to the game (really only a possibility if it is played at SEFCU) but want a social experience, viewing parties at local bars/restaurants would happen. Which brings me nicely to the second aspect - money for local businesses.

 

Those of you who have lived/worked in downtown Albany - below the plaza downtown, not Lark Street - know all too well that it becomes a ghost town on most evenings and nearly all weekends. Even on the night of the UAlbany-Siena game, it is hardly a hotbed of activity. The same night as the game, John Oliver was at the Palace Theatre. One of his jokes touched on how he likes to walk around the area right before his show and - on that game night - he was shocked by how dead it seemed. I joined some fellow UAlbany fans at a local establishment before the women's game and we were the only ones there leaving to go see basketball. Is there a benefit? I'm sure there's *some* for the businesses that are open, but I doubt it is much from an aggregate perspective (though it may well be a big deal to an individual business). After the game? No chance. If anyone honestly believes that the thousands of people who left with 4 minutes left were heading out to pump cash into the local economy, that person is beyond reason. I think a sold-out game at the SEFCU, however, would actually do more for the community economy - albeit not in as focused a geographic location. Of the 3,000 Siena ticket holders who don't get in, maybe 1/2 of them are actually fan enough to get together at the bars/restaurants/lodges of their choosing and eat a meal and watch the games. That'd be far more total cash put into businesses (throughout the capital region, not just downtown Albany) than there is now. If they were smart, Siena would set up a viewing party in the ARC and keep some of that cash for the athletic department even on the off years.

 

From a basketball perspective, this is a no-brainer. The TU Center is a poor place to watch basketball. Period. If we ever get to the upper echelon of D1 where we play home games there and draw 15,000 every game that may change (I hope we don't play there even at that point, but that's for a different post). We aren't there now or in the near future. Siena has never been there and never will be. There are some people on this board who have been in Albany a while, so I'm going to go back a few years - how many of you remember the Patroons? Not the nonsense from ~2005 but the real Albany Patroons from the late 80s?

 

The Patroons played in the Washington Avenue Armory - legal capacity of about 3,000. There was a stretch of multiple years where I don't think any game was played there were that legal capacity wasn't exceeded. It was a madhouse and the team responded to it. The support there was all community - no alumni or other affiliation - and it was as rabid as any big-time college atmosphere. It was so wildly successful that they moved it to the TU Center - which promptly killed it. Unless/until UAlbany is making a huge jump - not even just high D1, but single-flagship-level state support - the TU Center should be a place we visit once every 2 years to beat Siena.

 

n the meantime, the model should be the McCarthey Athletic Center. It's home to Gonzaga and is owned and operated by the University. Gonzaga has only about 7,500 students (less than 1/2 of UAlbany) but it sells out the 6,000 for every home game. Though the city proper of Spokane is larger than Albany proper, the metro region actually has fewer people. Benson's goal should be to build the fan base for UAlbany and use the UAlbany-Siena game at the SEFCU to show people in the area who never saw the Patroons what a packed house can look like for a basketball game and the environment it can create. That casual community fan probably won't get to see the Siena-UAlbany in person (at least at the start) but they may go to other UAlbany games if we put a good product on the floor and have a great atmosphere - it's been done in Albany before.

 

Play the game in alternating locations, like every other set of "rivals" in college sports today. I'm sure Siena doesn't want to give up the cash cow of hosting every year and paying $18k to Albany - but too bad, that's going to happen one way or another. The question becomes whether it's better to host alternating years at the TU center or whether it is better to have true home games.

 

From a basketball perspective, that's an easy one. From a community perspective, I don't think it's tough either. From a money perspective, it may actually benefit Siena to have the home game be at the SEFCU if the terms remain the same - if they can't host a viewing party at the ARC to draw in $18k from all the die-hards who can't get tickets, it's because they don't want to.

 

Might UAlbany take a financial hit short term? Sure, depending on what the real numbers are. But unless we're talking huge sums here, I think it's worth it to build the interest and program for the long run.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Zalman B

[Clickclack]

The game is good for the area and should be continued if rational minds sit down to work out a solution. WB's arguments have less to do with money than with competitive fairness.

There are two equitable ways to continue this game. The first is to have a traditional home and home series the way it is done with most non-conference rivalries. One year at Siena’s home venue (TUC) with Siena keeping all the revenue. The next year at UA’s home venue (SEFCU) with UA keeping all the revenue. Those Siena fans who have suddenly become advocates for the “community interest” in having as many people as possible attend the game, should be honest with themselves…they're not using this line of argument because they care about the community, but rather as a pretext for not yielding on the current arrangement.

 

There are numerous examples of other local rivals agreeing on a home and home arrangement. Providence College and URI have a long standing home and home series, even though an extra 5000 get to see the game when it is in Providence (12,500 vs. 7500). Boston College and Harvard have been playing home and home (9000 seats at BC vs. 2100 seats at Harvard).

 

The other option is to have the teams alternate as the home team at the TUC. That’s the way Providence and URI used to do it in the 80s-90s. That’s the way Villanova, Penn and St. Joe’s used to do it (using the Palestra as the venue).

 

Any other proposal is based on a false narrative…that Siena and UAlbany are not competitive equals. That narrative was true 10 or 15 years ago but no longer. Losing 4 of the last 5 years should make this clear to even the most delusion Siena fan.

 

I personally prefer the traditional home and home arrangement, and think alternating sites would add energy and interest to the game. The rivalry is fun and the game gives the area sports fan something to look forward to each year. If the series is cancelled, both sides lose, but it should not continue on the current terms.

 

This!!! This crap that it's a community event is just a steaming pile of BS. Have a viewing party in the TUC and monetize that. I have implored our leadership to hold-out for a true home and home or let it die. Siena can have a home and home withe everyone but UA. How many of those close OT games during the Jamar years would have been W's if we played at least a few of them in our building with our fans on top of the action?

 

I will join bob and no longer go if the new contract resembles anything like that old. If 2 or 3k UA fans stay home, they will get the message.

[dslyank]

I really do not know why anyone is worried about selling our allotment in a 50/50 neutral split. Do you really think the approx 7000 (10278-3200 $iena season ticket holders) fans are all $iena people. When this game drew almost 13000 a few years back, do you think the +7000 over $iena's average home attendance were WHAT? I have been boycotting this game the last 3 years, but when I was there the UA student section was ever bit as large and vocal as the opponents (and generally a lot more intelligent-for whatever that is worth).

 

On the years we are home @ the tu, or if it is played as a neutral site with 50/50 expectations each year; DO NOT FEAR Brown, Benson, Big Purple Fans will have NO trouble marketing and bring in our share and probably MORE. We more than ½ fill the place now when we get nothing (ok almost nothing) in return. If you are worried because we do not sell out the Sefcu as rule, you are talking a different animal when this game is concerned. {And by the way $iena does not sell out the tu even when ½ the seats are bagged}

[UA'08]

I was against having it at SEFCU, but after some realization, it needs to be true home and home alternating at thE TU and SEFCU

[Underpar]

Call me cantankerous but I like the idea of the women and men entering a hostile arena, as the underdogs, and then kicking the snot out of Siena. Lets straighten out the money and ticket allotment inequities and and keep in on the big stage.