I also feel like they need to start utilizing WRJ as a concert venue...Just another way to add revenue...
Student Support
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Last: 4 yr ago by TallTexan
Yes and yes you still can!!!!!
Back in the day WRJ hosted concerts....Doobie Bros, Boston, Sammy Hagar, Linda Ronstadt, ELP, and others....even Bob Hope was once there.
( Don't worry young guys if none of these names ring a bell....I couldn't tell you any names of current "music" acts)
Those were all between 76-79, don't know if WRJ could draw any big names for shows now...worth asking about though.
( Don't worry young guys if none of these names ring a bell....I couldn't tell you any names of current "music" acts)
Those were all between 76-79, don't know if WRJ could draw any big names for shows now...worth asking about though.
In the late 80's I saw the Doobies and Heart there. In the 90's, Garth Brooks and Pearl Jam. Can't remember a concert there since Candlebox around 97 or so.
Also during that time were The Carpenters and Olivia Newton-John. They used to bring in some very big name acts. Guess Who was there in I believe 75.Ljacks&Longnecks said:
Back in the day WRJ hosted concerts....Doobie Bros, Boston, Sammy Hagar, Linda Ronstadt, ELP, and others....even Bob Hope was once there.
( Don't worry young guys if none of these names ring a bell....I couldn't tell you any names of current "music" acts)
Those were all between 76-79, don't know if WRJ could draw any big names for shows now...worth asking about though.
SFA, Class of 1979
Attended a Michael Martin Murphy concert there in 77.
I remember being a student walking on the other side of WRJ and seeing the line for Garth Brooks tickets, it went from the arena all the way up East College Street well past the cafeteria.
The last concert that I can remember there was Willie Nelson during homecoming of 2004.
We were at the same concert. I was a Masters student in 92 and 93 and saw Pearl Jam.
Cool. I was still in high school. My friend's mom ran the ticket office and we got floor tickets. At one point, I was getting crushed under Eddie Vedder's nose because so many people were pushing me into the front rail. Security had to drag me out. I was pretty happy even though I thought I was going to die.
Man, you guys are old. I was a toddler.nacluth said:
Cool. I was still in high school. My friend's mom ran the ticket office and we got floor tickets. At one point, I was getting crushed under Eddie Vedder's nose because so many people were pushing me into the front rail. Security had to drag me out. I was pretty happy even though I thought I was going to die.
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I've noticed for a while, at least since last season. I never brought it up because it's just another frustration around our overall student support.sfajack05 said:I didn't either. I noticed it at the game Saturday and then saw this on twitter last night.TallTexan said:Was not aware that we stopped.sfajack05 said:Apparently they stopped doing this because Dr. Patillo didn't like it.SFAJack_76 said:
First of all, I don't need to be reminded that I'm old! (LOL). My friends were all at my place and the phone rang, and this person wanted one of my friends who was a message therapist. Don't ask me how they got my number. Anyway, my friend got called to the Fredonia where Pearl Jam was staying to give Eddie Vedder a message. Wild!
I've said that for some time now. The purple barrier surrounding the court kills the environment. Long past time for a redesign for seating in WRJC.jboy93 said:
I also wished that our stands in WRJ came down that close to the floor!
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I don't know if it's fair to say it kills the environment, the WRJ is pretty intimate overall. Especially with our courtside seating now. The majority of basketball arenas still have media tables along the court, where the front row does not have a great view behind them.LUMBERJACK2005 said:I've said that for some time now. The purple barrier surrounding the court kills the environment. Long past time for a redesign for seating in WRJC.jboy93 said:
I also wished that our stands in WRJ came down that close to the floor!
The only part I think that could use some changing is the ends. We don't need all of that space for the cheer leaders and dance team to stand. Make the cheer team sit on the court closer to the action like most places. You could easily A) add temporary bleachers down there, at least on the opposite end of the current tunnel, B) bring that wall down and extend the seating down (hardest option), but also C) add more courtside seating (again especially on the side opposite of current tunnel. I think all of that is nitpicking right now, considering we need to first worry about getting people inside. Also will need to see how the new construction changes everything.
Side note, I do know they are thinking about some additional seating options. Which is all we can ask for right now. Ryan and his team are always thinking about ways to improve everything. But, nothing can be done overnight, and we still need more support $ wise.
If the students aren't going to pass the athletic fee, I really think charging for student athletic passes is the way to make up that revenue...
I came across something interesting...well at least to me.
According to a report I found on the SFA website there are 9,213 full time undergraduate students at SFA. 5,900 are females and 3,313 are males.
It was pointed out to me during the game that the majority of purple haze members are females (at least at the basketball games). Where I was sitting there was a group of students a row in front of us and it was 5-6 females and one male. Maybe the department needs to market more towards the female students with giveaways to get them out and then maybe others will follow. Have the players go to the sorority houses during their meetings and invite them out.
With 9,213 full time undergraduate students there is no reason there shouldn't be 2,000-3,000 at each game sitting in a student section.
Just trying to think outside of the box.
According to a report I found on the SFA website there are 9,213 full time undergraduate students at SFA. 5,900 are females and 3,313 are males.
It was pointed out to me during the game that the majority of purple haze members are females (at least at the basketball games). Where I was sitting there was a group of students a row in front of us and it was 5-6 females and one male. Maybe the department needs to market more towards the female students with giveaways to get them out and then maybe others will follow. Have the players go to the sorority houses during their meetings and invite them out.
With 9,213 full time undergraduate students there is no reason there shouldn't be 2,000-3,000 at each game sitting in a student section.
Just trying to think outside of the box.
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Agreed. We definitely need to do more overall to market to the students, but also to make them sit together.sfajack05 said:
I came across something interesting...well at least to me.
According to a report I found on the SFA website there are 9,213 full time undergraduate students at SFA. 5,900 are females and 3,313 are males.
It was pointed out to me during the game that the majority of purple haze members are females (at least at the basketball games). Where I was sitting there was a group of students a row in front of us and it was 5-6 females and one male. Maybe the department needs to market more towards the female students with giveaways to get them out and then maybe others will follow. Have the players go to the sorority houses during their meetings and invite them out.
With 9,213 full time undergraduate students there is no reason there shouldn't be 2,000-3,000 at each game sitting in a student section.
Just trying to think outside of the box.
cboothe09 said:
If the students aren't going to pass the athletic fee, I really think charging for student athletic passes is the way to make up that revenue...
If the students won't pass an athletic fee I doubt they buy tickets...
You sell the parents as part of the application process
They used to have a $100 drawing for students. Do that again and I guarantee numbers will increase.
I remember my freshman year (Kaspar's last year) that there wasn't a huge crowd at games other than sam and NSU and really even Underwood's first few games. It wasn't until mid way through conference play that I started to notice a big crowd. I think a lot of kids are still skeptical since the last few seasons have been so up and down. It also doesn't help (and I hope I don't get killed for this) but the PHA was like 10 kids at games back then and the student section acted on their own as a separate entity and it was a way better feel. I've been to a few games since graduation and even the larger crowds have a pretty boring outlook on how to cheer on the team. It's just not as fun of an environment anymore.
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There's definitely a disconnect between PHA and the general student population. Several years ago I had a conversation with them on Twitter, because they were actually saying that in order to sit in the PHA section...you had to be a PHA member. Which made no sense, and they got really upset that I would even bring up the topic. They've changed that somewhat, but there's still the disconnect. You don't really see them tweeting much other than directed tweets at PHA members, or posts about joining.Buzzsaw11 said:
I remember my freshman year (Kaspar's last year) that there wasn't a huge crowd at games other than sam and NSU and really even Underwood's first few games. It wasn't until mid way through conference play that I started to notice a big crowd. I think a lot of kids are still skeptical since the last few seasons have been so up and down. It also doesn't help (and I hope I don't get killed for this) but the PHA was like 10 kids at games back then and the student section acted on their own as a separate entity and it was a way better feel. I've been to a few games since graduation and even the larger crowds have a pretty boring outlook on how to cheer on the team. It's just not as fun of an environment anymore.
I remember those games you're talking about. We had a group of PHA, and then a group of general raucous students behind the basket.
I tried to get a movement going last year to try to have the students sit in the first 3-4 rows from the current student section all the around behind the basket to the other side. The section now is ok, but it puts the majority of the students (if the section is full) towards the top of the Coliseum and away from the court. I would LOVE if we could figure out a way to get the students closer to the court but also in a wider area like you see at lot of schools like Michigan State. Not totally feasible without major construction.
What if you move all of the season ticket holders over to the bench side. Which would allow you to move the students to the middle three sections. Then what I would do to push them down towards the court, is you take out the top 10 rows or so and add open air suites. You create enough space so the students can stand without obstructing views for the suites behind them. You also get rid of GA seating, or at least for the biggest end, and make it reserved seating with different tiered pricing. So the cost is the same but instead you give them a reserved seat closer to the court. All wishful thinking, that I probably put too much thinking in to.
I know there was a group of guys that would sit in the section to the left of the visiting bench (if you are facing the court from the stands) during the Kaspar years and I think during the first season of Underwood. They would get pretty rowdy and heckle the opposing players and coach throughout the game. I think it was Underwood's second season when they were told they couldn't sit there anymore because the other teams were complaining(my timing could be off). I don't think they ever crossed the line with what they said and even had a couple opposing player autograph their signs after the game.
The atmosphere is pretty tamed when it comes to a team that has 20 wins and nickname is the sawmill.
The atmosphere is pretty tamed when it comes to a team that has 20 wins and nickname is the sawmill.
I like the spirit CB, but I think it could reduce attendance even further. We need fewer roadblocks.
- I like the idea of having a few purple haze/regular students try out to be basically be ringleaders for the entire stadium like you mentioned for the student section. And I'd incentivize Purple Haze to do on campus promos on gameday, say holding sign boards outside of the cafeterias or big dorms.
- Move the student section/purple haze to directly behind the opponents bench. That's where noise/heckling is the most effective and we don't want opponents to get comfortable.
- Create a section for the more raucous alumni/fans. Letting us coordinate/raise heck would add to the gameday atmosphere.
- Consider options for having atleast one season ticket section be First Come First Serve. So many of our season ticket holders seem to do it as a way to support the university(which is great), but it leaves open seats all over the place.
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I noticed in the clips of the women's game, the few PHA students were standing the entire time. Maybe they actually are trying after all of our suggestions.
They did. Some decent, though intermitten heckling/cheering as well.PurpleOut said:
I noticed in the clips of the women's game, the few PHA students were standing the entire time. Maybe they actually are trying after all of our suggestions.
Think they're definitely working on it.
We could crowdfund them some cheer cones as well, just the small ones, if we think it'll help them keep it up.
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We need to have someone chat with the cheer teams too. They can help lead cheers, but they also need to be prepared to follow the crowd and understand the flow of a game.
The big step would be getting them and the students/crowd to make noise when we're on defense, like you see everywhere else in the country. There's been so many times where we go on a big run where most places would be going nuts constantly...but here we'll make noise after celebrating a basket and just go silent 5 seconds later when we get back on defense. THAT is the time to be loud at a proper college basketball game.
The big step would be getting them and the students/crowd to make noise when we're on defense, like you see everywhere else in the country. There's been so many times where we go on a big run where most places would be going nuts constantly...but here we'll make noise after celebrating a basket and just go silent 5 seconds later when we get back on defense. THAT is the time to be loud at a proper college basketball game.
Reading through this thread and I can't believe how much the PHA has changed in just a few years since I graduated. Granted I was never a member of the PHA, but I remember they were always loud, rowdy, and made a huge impact on every game for every sport.
They can't stand because other sections get mad? It's a college basketball game. STAND UP. If you don't like it because they're in front of you then you stand too.
They're tired? That one is the worst excuse I've ever seen them make!
When I was a student we had fans that went crazy for every single point. Football games had fans jumping out of the stands for wins. There was never a dull moment. Idk why these kids are suddenly so unenthusiastic.
They can't stand because other sections get mad? It's a college basketball game. STAND UP. If you don't like it because they're in front of you then you stand too.
They're tired? That one is the worst excuse I've ever seen them make!
When I was a student we had fans that went crazy for every single point. Football games had fans jumping out of the stands for wins. There was never a dull moment. Idk why these kids are suddenly so unenthusiastic.
I feel like we used the big screens, screens on the floor, and screens above each basket to display messages and such during play in the past, but I don't recall seeing any this season. That could help get everyone (cheerlearders, PHA, students, etc.) in sync to do certain cheers and heckle. Our coliseum is small enough that we really don't need live feed to the big screens all the time.
The same could be said for audio. Instead of just playing music before an in bounds play, maybe play something that will help initiate/lead the crowd.
The same could be said for audio. Instead of just playing music before an in bounds play, maybe play something that will help initiate/lead the crowd.
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Agreed. I don't really remember them using the board for fan engagement during the game, but they should.wahlwesle said:
I feel like we used the big screens, screens on the floor, and screens above each basket to display messages and such during play in the past, but I don't recall seeing any this season. That could help get everyone (cheerlearders, PHA, students, etc.) in sync to do certain cheers and heckle. Our coliseum is small enough that we really don't need live feed to the big screens all the time.
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