>>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

[apple2k]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Uh, did I just read that there are no seats at Ritter? I'm going to the Nov. 22 game . . . .

[Ed Trefzger]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Uh, did I just read that there are no seats at Ritter? I'm going to the Nov. 22 game . . . .

Wooden bleachers.

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Uh, did I just read that there are no seats at Ritter? I'm going to the Nov. 22 game . . . .

There are wooden benches that fit 1600 or so, and the rest is standing room only.

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Ritter only has 1600 "seats". Sure selling out should happen, but it doesn't easily because lots of people are tired of not having a seat.
(That "excuse" will go away next year ... but sellouts will still be rare.)

There are 1600 seats, but don't forget to take out a section for the band, season ticket holders, and the reserved seats it's really about 1200 - and that counts the Corner Crew section. This is why the new arena is a MUST. We need to get back the parents and kids so that they want to grow up playing for RIT. But parents aren't going to come to a game half hour early or more to POSSIBLY get a seat..

[lmg6841]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Not sure what type of ticket you got, but like others have said here, general admission seats are first come first serve. It's a habit that a lot of fans come 30-60 minutes early and block of large sections of benches for their friends. So, you may want to factor in getting to the rink a bit early to get a seat you'd like. That being said, the visitor side usually fills up a bit more slowly than behind the RIT bench.

Uh, did I just read that there are no seats at Ritter? I'm going to the Nov. 22 game . . . .

[SmallTown]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

I would say the fan support notion is somewhat of a misnomer anyway. How many times did we sell out Ritter last year? Even the year following the frozen four we didn't manage 100% capacity in our tiny little rink. RIT has like 20,000 enrolled, another few thousand employed, and resides in a city of almost a quarter million...and we can't fill a 2,100 seat barn every night. The season opener this year was a cool 500 seats short of a sellout.

Last year as I recall we only sold out a handful of games. So..if I'm a recruit looking for a good program, is RIT's fan support really going to win me over? Not unless I'm looking to go only to other AHA schools, at which point RIT's on-ice performance, facilities, and academics puts us ahead of most programs anyway.

Certainly most schools in all the other conferences enjoy at least as good if not better fan support than we do.

I don't know why more RIT students don't go to games, but I know that the Rochester community is tired of having to show up 30 -60 minutes before the doors open just to get a seat for their family and on top of that having to deal with the major parking issues at almost every game. What family with small children wants to walk half way across campus in the middle of winter because RIT has deemed the event that night at the fieldhouse more important than the hockey game thus blocking anyone going to the hockey game from parking in D lot? I think many community members have simply just given up trying to go to the games because they don't think they'll get a seat or a parking spot. The new rink will definitely solve the seating problem, but I'm concerned about what will be done with the parking situation? That little section that's left of U lot isn't going to cut it and the next closest lot outside of D (which gets blocked for fieldhouse events) is S lot. That's a bit of a hike for small children in winter.

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

I don't know why more RIT students don't go to games, but I know that the Rochester community is tired of having to show up 30 -60 minutes before the doors open just to get a seat for their family and on top of that having to deal with the major parking issues at almost every game. What family with small children wants to walk half way across campus in the middle of winter because RIT has deemed the event that night at the fieldhouse more important than the hockey game thus blocking anyone going to the hockey game from parking in D lot? I think many community members have simply just given up trying to go to the games because they don't think they'll get a seat or a parking spot. The new rink will definitely solve the seating problem, but I'm concerned about what will be done with the parking situation? That little section that's left of U lot isn't going to cut it and the next closest lot outside of D (which gets blocked for fieldhouse events) is S lot. That's a bit of a hike for small children in winter.

I also cannot explain the apathy the student body has towards the hockey team. With 17,000+ students enrolled (and maybe 10k to 12k on campus in any one quarter - co-ops, commuters, on-line excepted), you'd think they could convince 1500 of them to go to a hockey game now and then before going to the weekend's parties.
As far as the Rochester community (actually closer to 800,000 in the greater Monroe County area instead of the 250,000 in the city of Rochester as mentioned earlier) goes... From a hockey standpoint, Rochester is mostly (although certainly not exclusively) a Sabres/Amerks town. It's difficult to get the die-hard professional fans (myself excluded) to warm to college hockey for some reason. And even at Amerks games, the attendance has not been anywhere near what it used to be in recent years. I think the many other entertainment options around town as well as things like NHL Center Ice take attention away from live hockey games in general and especially from schlepping out to Henrietta so you can park a quarter of a mile from a cold arena where you'll have to either sit on a wooden bench or stand for 2.5 hours or more to watch a lower tier Division I opponent take on the Tigers. When the Amerks are winning and drawing well, the "casual" fans come out of the woodwork to go to Friday night games. Many of these fans aren't huge hockey fans necessarily, but enjoy being out somewhere with their friends drinking and taking in some entertainment before hitting the bars. The fact that the Amerks have been so bad has led many of these "fans" to fade back into the woodwork and nearly all of them are highly unlikely to be converted into Tigers fans (partially due to the reasons stated previously). So even though around 2010 when RIT was at their height of media attention and the Amerks were just a mess and at their lowest, I don't think RIT stole too many fans from them. For now, I think RIT needs to keep marketing hard to its own students, staff, and local alumni to fill their tiny arena. When the new arena is built, they will have to either find some way to get many more students to care or start marketing the team more to the rest of the general public. I don't know what the magic bullet will be to convince more folks to come (shiny new digs may help for a short time?) but at the current in-house (students, staff, alumni) level of support, without increased interest from outside the RIT community, we'll see lots of games where the arena will be half empty.

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

I see progress that RIT gets to host Michigan and BC on Brick City, and that they can get a couple home OOC games unlike most of the AHA.

Although the respect for the program is a factor, you have to admit that without the BCA these opponents wouldn't come here in a million years. And if the Tigers don't get themselves back into a regular top 2 or 3 position in the AHA, even the BCA may not be enough to get programs like UM or BC in here. I'll be interested to see how high up the chain of D-I programs the Tigers will be able to draw in here to play in the new arena. It's going to be a good size D-I arena, but still won't be anywhere near the earning potential of home arenas for the big boys like the B1G teams, Notre Dame, BC, or North Dakota.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if the Tigers still plan on playing the BCH game at BCA once the new arena is built?

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Although the respect for the program is a factor, you have to admit that without the BCA these opponents wouldn't come here in a million years. And if the Tigers don't get themselves back into a regular top 2 or 3 position in the AHA, even the BCA may not be enough to get programs like UM or BC in here. I'll be interested to see how high up the chain of D-I programs the Tigers will be able to draw in here to play in the new arena. It's going to be a good size D-I arena, but still won't be anywhere near the earning potential of home arenas for the big boys like the B1G teams, Notre Dame, BC, or North Dakota.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if the Tigers still plan on playing the BCH game at BCA once the new arena is built?

Yes, the plan is to stay at BCA for homecoming. RIT wouldn't give up 6,000 seats worth of dollars.

[dxk3355]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

The reason that RIT doesn't get students at the games is that it doesn't engage the student body about the hockey games on a daily basis. If you walk around campus you see posters for the anime club, juggling club, frats, and plenty of other events that are fun and nearly free. The hockey team isn't free and they don't do this day to day engagement. Also there is no beer at the games.

[lmg6841]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Perhaps RIT should do some sort of student appreciation game program? Free tickets to one game a month or something. Maybe buy a few kegs for those that are 21+ at the RITz?

I also cannot explain the apathy the student body has towards the hockey team. With 17,000+ students enrolled (and maybe 10k to 12k on campus in any one quarter - co-ops, commuters, on-line excepted), you'd think they could convince 1500 of them to go to a hockey game now and then before going to the weekend's parties.
As far as the Rochester community (actually closer to 800,000 in the greater Monroe County area instead of the 250,000 in the city of Rochester as mentioned earlier) goes... From a hockey standpoint, Rochester is mostly (although certainly not exclusively) a Sabres/Amerks town. It's difficult to get the die-hard professional fans (myself excluded) to warm to college hockey for some reason. And even at Amerks games, the attendance has not been anywhere near what it used to be in recent years. I think the many other entertainment options around town as well as things like NHL Center Ice take attention away from live hockey games in general and especially from schlepping out to Henrietta so you can park a quarter of a mile from a cold arena where you'll have to either sit on a wooden bench or stand for 2.5 hours or more to watch a lower tier Division I opponent take on the Tigers. When the Amerks are winning and drawing well, the "casual" fans come out of the woodwork to go to Friday night games. Many of these fans aren't huge hockey fans necessarily, but enjoy being out somewhere with their friends drinking and taking in some entertainment before hitting the bars. The fact that the Amerks have been so bad has led many of these "fans" to fade back into the woodwork and nearly all of them are highly unlikely to be converted into Tigers fans (partially due to the reasons stated previously). So even though around 2010 when RIT was at their height of media attention and the Amerks were just a mess and at their lowest, I don't think RIT stole too many fans from them. For now, I think RIT needs to keep marketing hard to its own students, staff, and local alumni to fill their tiny arena. When the new arena is built, they will have to either find some way to get many more students to care or start marketing the team more to the rest of the general public. I don't know what the magic bullet will be to convince more folks to come (shiny new digs may help for a short time?) but at the current in-house (students, staff, alumni) level of support, without increased interest from outside the RIT community, we'll see lots of games where the arena will be half empty.

[dxk3355]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Perhaps RIT should do some sort of student appreciation game program? Free tickets to one game a month or something. Maybe buy a few kegs for those that are 21+ at the RITz?

Free tickets wouldn't work, since once the free tickets are gone few will stay to buy them.

[mar7967]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Free tickets wouldn't work, since once the free tickets are gone few will stay to buy them.

They are already free ticket options too - bring a canned food item to RHA? Free ticket. You can buy that a corner store on food debit.

[apple2k]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Wooden Bleachers? Yikes! What sort of arena in the 21st century would still have wooden bleachers? Oh, wait . . . . Seriously, thanks for the info. As far as filling up the new arena goes, the new NCAA rules on the importance of "away" games to the PWR will help getting "big" schools, which will help with the AHA schools--not to mention really small schools--like SLU. Hope to meet a few of you in November--since my bud is getting the tix, I may be in hostile territory.

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Although the respect for the program is a factor, you have to admit that without the BCA these opponents wouldn't come here in a million years. And if the Tigers don't get themselves back into a regular top 2 or 3 position in the AHA, even the BCA may not be enough to get programs like UM or BC in here. I'll be interested to see how high up the chain of D-I programs the Tigers will be able to draw in here to play in the new arena. It's going to be a good size D-I arena, but still won't be anywhere near the earning potential of home arenas for the big boys like the B1G teams, Notre Dame, BC, or North Dakota.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if the Tigers still plan on playing the BCH game at BCA once the new arena is built?

It's very true that without the BCA, RIT does not get to host Michigan or Boston College. I think we could get mid-level HE teams like Vermont and Providence and possibly some WCHA teams. Granted, the sooner RIT gets back into consistent top 3 or 4 of the AHA the better the teams that would be willing to come to the new arena.