Siena Game

[MIKEDANES04]

I love that this game was scheduled on November 23rd. The tuesday night before thanksgiving. After the being out numbered by UAlbany students and fans last year they put the game on this day to make sure that doesnt happen again. Most students go home tuesday night and skip wensenday's day of classes or most classes are cancelled that day. So last years larger student congergation wont be around come this year unfortunatlyey when we have a shot to knock off these jerks.

[Dane Pound]

Certainly not the best date for this game. I'm sure the $iena/Pepsi people would give you a scheduling conflict reason but you might be right about the reason for this game date. I know the Albany students have been louder the last few years.

 

Press releases on the new contract follows from the UA and Siena sites:

 

 Siena and UAlbany Renew Basketball Contracts (Siena)

 

Men and Women Will Continue Series at Pepsi Arena

 

 

Aug. 17, 2004

 

Siena College and the University at Albany have agreed to continue their men's and women's basketball series at Pepsi Arena, officials from the institutions announced today. Both series will continue through the 2006-2007 season. The men will play again November 23, 2004 at 7 p.m., while the women's series commences during the 2005-2006 season following a one-year hiatus this season.

 

"This is the Capital Region's greatest sports rivalry," County Executive Michael Breslin said. "Each year, the community embraces these games, and we are thrilled to see the series continue."

 

The contract extension follows a three-year agreement that brought the two programs together on the same court November 27, 2001 for the first time in 25 years. An average of 11,251 fans attended the three doubleheaders contested between the schools at Pepsi Arena, with attendance increasing each season. Siena won all six games and holds a 26-17 edge in the men's series and a 7-2 advantage on the women's side.

 

"This is a game for the community," Siena College Director of Athletics John D'Argenio said. "The fans have turned out in great force the past three seasons, and we hope the support will grow along with the rivalry. Our goal is to sell out the Pepsi Arena."

 

Following this season's men's only game, the two school's will again play men's and women's doubleheaders to complete the following two years of the new agreement. Exact dates have not been set for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 season.

 

"I believe this truly is a rivalry," Head Men's Basketball Coach Rob Lanier said. "From the media coverage, to the fan and community support, to the games themselves, it has become an event both sides look forward to every season,

 

 

UALBANY AND SIENA AGREE TO CONTINUE BASKETBALL SERIES AT PEPSI ARENA(UA)

     Albany, N.Y. – University at Albany and Siena College have agreed to continue their men's and women's basketball series at Pepsi Arena, as announced on Tuesday, Aug. 17 at the downtown facility.  Both series will continue through the 2006-07 season.  The men will play again on Nov. 23, 2004 at 7:00 p.m., while the women's series commences in 2005-06 following a one-year hiatus this season.

     "This is a great event in the development of both school's men's and women's basketball programs, UAlbany Director of Athletics Lee McElroy said.  "The series also represents the values and qualities of both institutions.  The athletes, coaches and community look forward to the playing of this series each year."

     The contract extension follows a three-year agreement that brought the two programs together on the same court for the first time in 25 years.  An average of 11,251 fans have attended the three doubleheaders between the schools at Pepsi Arena since Nov. 27, 2001.  Siena leads the men's series, 26-17, while winning seven of nine meetings between the women's programs.

     "This is tremendous for basketball fans, especially those in the Capital District," UAlbany men's head coach Will Brown stated.  "With two Division I programs in such close proximity, I am hopeful that one day this event can rival a great crosstown series, like Cincinnati and Xavier."

     Following this season's men's only game, the schools will again play men's and women's doubleheaders to complete the following two years of the new agreement.  Exact dates have not been set for 2005-06 and 2006-07.

[UAalum72]

Since there's no word, I assume $iena season-ticket holders keep their seats no matter who the 'home' team is. Just once I'd like to make THEM sit behind the baselines.

[Patch]

You would think that moving the game back one day to Nov 22 would benefit the student bodies at both schools and make more a more collegiate atmosphere at the game.

 

A rivalry is wanted and needed and they schedule the game when the students will be bailing out to go home for Thanksgiving - real smart move on the part of the ADs and Coaches........

 

But then again who would ever consider the students when scheduling COLLEGE HOOP games

[DaneFan2k3]

Since there's no word, I assume $iena season-ticket holders keep their seats no matter who the 'home' team is.

Considering its their home arena, I dont see any problem with that actually. It's not UAlbany's home arena now, and probably never will be. (Which is good in my opinion since it's too far from the campus).

 

The real question should be, why wouldn't they ever play one at the RACC? Even if you have to go to Pepsi 2 or 3 times for every RACC game, it would be worth it.

 

The simple answer is money, since the RACC can't hold what Pepsi can.

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If kids are bailing out to go home early, they can't really take that into account when scheduling the game. There are no guarantees that the students are going to go home or stay.

 

And let's get real here for a second- if they were REAL college hoop fans, they would stay an extra day and go home Wednesday morning. They'd still be home in time to go out with all their high school friends the night before Thanksgiving, and they get to stay with the family all weekend. With classes Tuesday, they won't close the dorms until Wednesday.

 

So maybe it's time for the UA student body to MAN UP and stick around to show their support. Get a BPF representative on campus to tell the student body to COWBOY UP BABY, GET OFF YOUR FAT DUFFS AND GET TO THE PEPSI, SCREW LONGISLAND FOR A DAY

[Patch]

DaneFan2K3

 

I agree with most of what you say except..............

 

The real question should be, why wouldn't they ever play one at the RACC? Even if you have to go to Pepsi 2 or 3 times for every RACC game, it would be worth it.

 

The simple answer is money, since the RACC can't hold what Pepsi can. - 2K3

 

If one out of the three games were a home game for the Danes - we would keep the rvenue and we would have a sellout at the RACC. Right now we just guarantee $iena their biggest payday of the season.

 

I believe right now we have no leverage to bargain with.

 

If we were to win atleast one game out of the next three then maybe we'll see a game at the RACC, in the next deal - and this will be a hard series for $iena to backout of.

[UAalum72]

Since there's no word, I assume $iena season-ticket holders keep their seats no matter who the 'home' team is.

Considering its their home arena, I dont see any problem with that actually. It's not UAlbany's home arena now, and probably never will be.

But there IS no other arena around that can handle the crowd, and the Pepsi is a PUBLIC facility, not Siena-owned. If Albany is designated the home team, their fans should be able to sit at mid-court on the lower level. Siena fans can sit wherever they would at any other road game. If they think there will be prime seats left over, Aints fans can buy them as walk-ups.

[MIKEDANES04]

Its not the fact that people arent really college hoops fans or not the best time to have this game is a friday nite, that would generate the most interest. Im sure the game could have been played the friday before or after. I really think this is an attempt to limit the number of Ualbany students. Im not sure but I would think that they're more Sienna students from the Albany area than Ualbany students from the area.

[DaneFan2k3]

The fact remains, if UAlbany students want to stay on the last day of classes they can. Remains to be seen if they will. Again, I say it's a challenge to them.

 

I agree the Pepsi is a public arena, but you wouldn't expect another AHL team to move into the area and then bump the River Rats. Or the Adirondack team wouldn't want to be the home team in the Rats' arena, even though they are from the same "area". The fact is, the Pepsi has contracts with tenants, and so they have to honor those contracts. And I'm fine with that. I consider it "their" arena. If we played there concurrently with them, and they were always the home team, you'd have a point. But we don't, so to me it's a moot point.

 

Why would UAlbany fans want to sit midcourt at the Pepsi, versus having their own season ticket chairbacks at the RACC? To me, it's no comparison. Let the Siena fans sit in the upper corners of the RACC on the hard bleacher seats.

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"If one out of the three games were a home game for the Danes - we would keep the revenue and we would have a sellout at the RACC. Right now we just guarantee $iena their biggest payday of the season." - Patch

 

I agree with that. However, we do get money from the Siena series. How much, I'm not sure. Every road team gets a monetary payout from the visiting team.

 

Percentage of gate, set amount, I don't know. But if you take 4,500 RACC tickets x $17 apiece (what we charge now for the Siena tickets at Pepsi) that is $76,500.

 

Obviously you'd have to pay Siena some money for coming to the RACC, and with the leverage of the Pepsi to play against us, you'd probably have to make it a substantial amount to make it worth it for them. Myabe $25,000?

 

So is what is left over from a RACC sellout worth more than the money we get at Pepsi? It probably is. Then it comes down to the bargaining power as you said Patch. (Which we don't have any right now).

 

My point is that instead of pushing for a "home" contest at the Pepsi, the emphasis should be on getting a home game at the RACC in exchange for X number of visitor games at the Pepsi. Syracuse came to play us at the Pepsi in exchange for three or four trips to Syracuse. While it doesn't have to be on that level, right now the game means more to UAlbany than it does to Siena and so a concession of something like that on Siena's part takes a pre-concession (IMO) from UAlbany.

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I personally would pitch it to Siena in terms of monetary value. They probably think that any old opponent would draw for them, but the fact is that we bring a larger crowd than any non-big-name team (which they would have to pay a larger guarantee to, and it wouldn't be a long-term deal in all likelihood).

 

So you pitch it to them as "look, in the year you play at the RACC you take $25,000 and we take the remaining $50,000 or whatever it happens to be. Then you get two trips from us to the Pepsi, where we take the $25,000 and you keep the remaining X" (10,000 fans x $15 apiece is $150,000 - minus any fees they pay Pepsi for the larger crowd, marketing, etc.).

 

I think if you pitch it to them like "look, overall you're making a lot of money and we can make more playing at Syracuse or at (insert team that would pay us a big guarantee to crush us)", then I think they would come to the RACC.

 

You have to basically say to them, financially we are losing money playing you vs. playing a big-name guarantee team every year. So come to the RACC or this ends after the new contract.

[alumni '92']

If we were to win at least one game out of the next three then maybe we'll see a game at the RACC, in the next deal - and this will be a hard series for $iena to backout of. -Patch

one win changes the whole dynamic ... an upset alters local public opinion, creating "leverage"

The real question should be, why wouldn't they ever play one at the RACC? - DaneFan2k3

while i recognize the rationale for keeping the games between the men at the pepsi ($, etc.), i would like to have seen the UA administration insist on future games between the women being played as stand-alone matchups at the RACC ... they would still get the 11k+ for the men downtown and get the bonus of 5k at the RACC ... we should have enough leverage for such a reasonable compromise ...

Since there's no word, I assume $iena season-ticket holders keep their seats no matter who the 'home' team is. Just once I'd like to make THEM sit behind the baselines. - UAalum72

the seating for UA tickets has sucked ... we need a win to change that fact ... Go Danes

Edited August 18, 2004 by alumni '92'