I think it's a disgraceful move by Hobbs as it was several years ago when they re-shuffled everyone in 118 with inadequate notice. Classless once again. Can't wait to see Hobbs schmoozing with other corporate donors who could care less about Basketball. Anything for a $ at the expense of loyal fans. Shameful!
Bye bye 118
- Thread starter jersey07080
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No ... that's not what they will do. To get to seats you will use stairs that will sit right behind basket. 3 rows of 8 seats on each side occupying the current space.
I moved out of 118 for a reason...this happens to be it, albeit a couple of years earlier than I expected.
I did the best I could to let people know that changes were coming, but it was hard to do without specific information to share.
I truly hope that Rutgers has a plan to justly accommodate the long time friends and season ticket holders this will no doubt impact.
While on the surface this feels like a straight cash grab, it's obviously deeper than that and plays into the long view approach the department is taking towards success in men's basketball.
It wasn't that long ago that I felt violated and disillusioned about the first time they made drastic changes to 118, but Rutgers made it right. I have faith that they will do so again.
None of that makes it better or easier to accept this move for those people impacted, many of whom I consider family. If there is anything I can personally do for any of them...I hope they reach out.
I did the best I could to let people know that changes were coming, but it was hard to do without specific information to share.
I truly hope that Rutgers has a plan to justly accommodate the long time friends and season ticket holders this will no doubt impact.
While on the surface this feels like a straight cash grab, it's obviously deeper than that and plays into the long view approach the department is taking towards success in men's basketball.
It wasn't that long ago that I felt violated and disillusioned about the first time they made drastic changes to 118, but Rutgers made it right. I have faith that they will do so again.
None of that makes it better or easier to accept this move for those people impacted, many of whom I consider family. If there is anything I can personally do for any of them...I hope they reach out.
Sorry can’t have it both ways here.
1. We want to be a big time program, hiring big time coaches, etc.
2. Allow loyal fans to stay close enough to smell sweat and here what players and coaches say without paying good $
This is prime real estate to a big time program that HAS to be monetized.
Sorry, I side with the athletic department here.
1. We want to be a big time program, hiring big time coaches, etc.
2. Allow loyal fans to stay close enough to smell sweat and here what players and coaches say without paying good $
This is prime real estate to a big time program that HAS to be monetized.
Sorry, I side with the athletic department here.
Add the fact that state of NJ gets downgraded to junk in the next 5-10 years and athletic department has to be self sufficient.......
Necessity here. Sorry to the loyal fans that are truly getting the RU screw.
Necessity here. Sorry to the loyal fans that are truly getting the RU screw.
We can't even fill our current prime time real estate seats around the floor. Why make more? I sit in the Spike Lee seats once a season and I'm alone with my son.
I have no problem with the change to big time, changing seats to premium etc. Just do it with class .. Don't toss 150 fans aside with 1 weeks notice and no reasonable alternative plan
The complaining ITT just confirms what I have felt about our longer term/older fans. It's just like the people who were complaining about a 15 million dollar donation to build a massive complex in the Blue lot months back. I feel like people rather have their tailgate space (or in this case bleacher seats behind the basket), have the AD have no money to compete with our peers, get our faces curb stomped year in and year out, rather than sacrifice a bit and be a competitive program.
Yes, I get RU could have communicated better (are you really suprised?) but if you want to pay nothing and watch a non-competitive product then checkout Princeton football or FDU hoops.
yes but there are other ways to do this while keeping the fans on the floor behind the basket. As posted just above, the seats already on the floor are empty and Hobbs has to use 2-3 of them to fill a few. we now have 3 sides of the court with little to no effect...and I'm including the student section except for the guys that stand down low..all 10-15 of them.
I felt Hobbs was on a roll with the decisions he has made but this makes no sense at all. Tabletop seating behind the basket is horrible view for TV. Simply, it doesn't fit with the RAC.
As a season ticket holder, I think we need to email Hobbs!! The funds received is chump change compared to messing with the RAC experience. Bad move Mr Hobbs!!!!
As a season ticket holder, I think we need to email Hobbs!! The funds received is chump change compared to messing with the RAC experience. Bad move Mr Hobbs!!!!
1. Prime Real Estate?? In the words of John McEnroe, “You can not be Serious!” Have you sat in 118 the last decade? Once they placed advertising stachions on the basket they have blocked at least a quarter of the floor. If the RAC were an old time baseball stadium these seats would be sold as obstructed views.
Not convinced any corporate buyers will return when they “see” what they get. Furthermore how many major college b ball arenas have luxury boxes on the baseline. I’ll wait for your response. It is not big time. It will look like a high school gym.
2. RU is messing with the footprint of the RAC. Architects have told RU not to mess with it, so what does RU do, they mess with it. The one thing the RAC is known for, an in your face close crowd, and now we are now going to have 48 wine and cheesers behind the basket? So much for atmosphere. Fans like Greene don’t get it. Sometimes the money isn’t worth destroying the intangibles.
3. The idea that the 30 year fans haven’t contributed or don’t donate is ludicrous. As loyal as any fans in the RAC. Greene and others: Can. Not. Be. More. Dead. Wrong.
4. The notice and communication has been non existent. Any good business takes care of loyal customers...and alumni.
Forshame any criticism. Think lots of bitterness by Greene and others.
Not convinced any corporate buyers will return when they “see” what they get. Furthermore how many major college b ball arenas have luxury boxes on the baseline. I’ll wait for your response. It is not big time. It will look like a high school gym.
2. RU is messing with the footprint of the RAC. Architects have told RU not to mess with it, so what does RU do, they mess with it. The one thing the RAC is known for, an in your face close crowd, and now we are now going to have 48 wine and cheesers behind the basket? So much for atmosphere. Fans like Greene don’t get it. Sometimes the money isn’t worth destroying the intangibles.
3. The idea that the 30 year fans haven’t contributed or don’t donate is ludicrous. As loyal as any fans in the RAC. Greene and others: Can. Not. Be. More. Dead. Wrong.
4. The notice and communication has been non existent. Any good business takes care of loyal customers...and alumni.
Forshame any criticism. Think lots of bitterness by Greene and others.
If communications have been bad there is NO EXCUSE because we aren't talking about a lot of fans.
It is so easy for fans to not let revenue be a factor in analyzing decisions. We are nearing an inflection point at Rutgers. Needing to balance an athletic budget changes EVERYTHING.
Compare the cost to a season ticket 10 feet from the court with a season ticket in a similar location to other sports that have ballpark coach salaries. It is a small fraction of what you would pay for Mets, Yankeees, Devils, Jets, Giants, Nets, Knicks, 76ers, Rutgers FB
It is so easy for fans to not let revenue be a factor in analyzing decisions. We are nearing an inflection point at Rutgers. Needing to balance an athletic budget changes EVERYTHING.
Compare the cost to a season ticket 10 feet from the court with a season ticket in a similar location to other sports that have ballpark coach salaries. It is a small fraction of what you would pay for Mets, Yankeees, Devils, Jets, Giants, Nets, Knicks, 76ers, Rutgers FB
Messing with the footprint of the RAC is not the way to do it.
Destroying the loyalty of your most loyal customers and alumni is not the way to do it.
It’s not professional athletics.
It’s so easy to argue revenue, revenue, revenue when destroying everything that makes the RAC inviting in the first place.
We have seen the corporate mausoleums that Yankee Stadium and Met Life have become.
Don’t destroy the RAC too.
Destroying the loyalty of your most loyal customers and alumni is not the way to do it.
It’s not professional athletics.
It’s so easy to argue revenue, revenue, revenue when destroying everything that makes the RAC inviting in the first place.
We have seen the corporate mausoleums that Yankee Stadium and Met Life have become.
Don’t destroy the RAC too.
Those bleachers in 118 looked so high school like. Maybe they should have just put in some regular seats there instead of premium seating?
Does any basketball facility in the country have tabletop seating next to the court? This sounds unprecedented and bizarre.
I’ve paid enough to the RU Build Fund to get my name on a plaque on the new facility, and was treated this way. So stop with your age-based discriminatory stereotyping. This was handled poorly and that is the bottom line. When your loyal three decade fans who are deemed major contributors (their designation not mine), who have asterisks and symbols by their name in the contribution logs that note continuous contributions over two decades and amounts that exceed a certain threshold...are complaining then you’ve done something wrong. Pick up the damn phone Hobbs, make some calls and run your thoughts and plans by those impacted and have a discussion on how to best handle. Don’t play God, and just bestow your decisions on the very customers who are the ones supporting your mission. Bad communications. Poor client service. Terrible business practice.
As for you, start writing some checks and hold your tickets for 3 decades before you cast a stone at the older fans. You are probably one of those fans who only contributes enough to get your points to a certain level and comes only if they are winning. Try supporting the program through the last three decades of mediocrity and then come talk to us older folks. Otherwise, go sit at the children’s table until you’ve earned a right to sit with the grownups.
Regards,
-CG
Are you OK paying our head coach what head coaches got paid in the Giants Stadium and Old Yankee Stadium era?
Money does not grow on trees
Not sure why you are sitting in 118.
Lack of communication is completely unacceptable and puts up MAJOR red flags to whether Hobbs is the right guy. If you are a big donor, and a 10+ year ticket holder in 118, and got no call or communications that would be royally messed up.
I am a Millenial and already endow a scholarship so you can stop right there. I greatly appreciate what you have done for RU but I am not wrong in my overall impression of our fanbase and their constant complaints. It does sound like this was 100% handled poorly but if people want to stop finishing last in the B1G, we need more money to compete with our peers and that will mean some people are inconvenienced.
The big takeaway from me though is the gradual reduction of communications from the athletic department to individuals. Social media and e-mail does NOT replace one on one conversations with people from the athletic department.
You can compare and contrast Pernetti, Mulcahy, Herman, and Hobbs......a long exercise and something I have ZERO interest in doing. You can say that the lack of touching (figuratively here) is certainly on Hobbs (and Herman) as leaders.
Others correct me if i am generalizing. i am taking my experience and what i am reading here as my sample size, which frankly may not be fair.
Again I'm all for changes and tapping into bigger donors/corporate sponsors but the idea of 48 bar stool seats directly behind that basket is just DUMB from a home court/environment/visual perspective.
Why not just raise the price of the current seats? 48 x $2,000 can't be a whole lot more then raising prices.
Why not just raise the price of the current seats? 48 x $2,000 can't be a whole lot more then raising prices.
My first seats were in 118. Sat there when I bought 20 seats there and max’d out my credit card to see Bob Wenzel’s team beat Penn State to make it into the NCAAs. Never left. Felt like home. My wrestling seats are on the side and my knees hit the seat in front of my forcing me to sit sideways. The 118 seats kill the back but not the knees. So a trade off. Plus liked be next to the players.
The whole thing was handled poorly. So much so that one of the people in my group (same loyalty/status level) is not renewing. They have seats in 100 but splits up our group. They have seats in 200 level together but not good ones. That is what they offered their loyal contributors.
Shame as we often have our seats away for games we could not make due to work/travel to get others interested in following the team. I even kept them when I was in Chicago for 4 years. So it goes beyond just those immediately impacted.
Could have been handled so much better.
CG-
You have 2 crowds complaining.
#1) The people who are directly impacted and sit in 118. Some of these people have been loyal ticket holders and donors for years and sounds like the AD dropped the ball on communication.
#2) The people who aren't impacted but think the concept of what thy are doing is stupid. They would be better off replacing the bleachers with more comfortable seats (I'm sure you could fit a lot more than 48) like those on the sidelines and then raising prices to at least keep some of the atmosphere intact. It sounds like the folks in 118 had a pretty good deal for years but unfortunately this is the price is playing in the BIG.
Philips Arena in Atlanta comes the closest. It doesn't have seats but has an area behind one of the baskets for fans to stand. The Hawks logo is a place for fans to place their drinks and snacks.
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What good deal did the people in 118 have exactly? ****** bleachers, an obstructed view, and full price admission. I am by no means a big donor but still contribute over 2k a year in donations. What exact good deal have I gotten again?
Inconvenienced? How about the mistreatment? Missing the point. I am supporting the expansion and the upgrading of our facilities and I’m talking with my wallet not just my mouth.
There were better ways to handled this (which I shared post-facto) and all I talked to in the donors and ticket office agreed. So a phone call to discuss the plans, some careful listening to fully understand how to mitigate the impact, and an open mind to possible alternatives that achieve the same result without all the hard feelings would have been more than appropriate. This is business 101 and basic customer service and, unfortunately, the way it was handled only fueled the age-ol RU Screw reputation that so many of us would like to shake. It’s pervasive and the risk Hobbs is taking is alienating his most loyal fan base in “hopes” that the b-ball and football teams will suddenly become successful. It was poorly handled, period. Has nothing to do with the age of the loyal fans and nothing to do with not wanting the teams And University to succeed and invest. I welcome all of that (and have been patiently waiting for three decades for the University to deliver).
Pick up the phone Hobbs.
CG-
Philips Arena in Atlanta comes the closest. It doesn't have seats but has an area behind one of the baskets for fans to stand. The Hawks logo is a place for fans to place their drinks and snacks.
So one professional arena out of 320 Division I Basketball arenas, all the NBA arenas and no P5 schools?
Who thinks this is a good idea?
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As I said before ... bad business decision. Just look at the math. Current revenue from existing tickets holders is probably around $70k. New revenue from premium seats is $96k. So for $25k they have sacrificed a lot of goodwill and they are putting in seats that that are of questionable strategic value. Every big time program has screaming fans behind the basket. We will have 48 people sitting at desks. How does $25k move the program forward ?
They could have put in seating similar to the sidelines, accommodated a lot more than 48 fans, generated a lot more revenue, kept the atmosphere the way its supposed to be and not pissed off a lot of long time fans.
They could have put in seating similar to the sidelines, accommodated a lot more than 48 fans, generated a lot more revenue, kept the atmosphere the way its supposed to be and not pissed off a lot of long time fans.
I kind of get all of this....except being entitled to something just because you have been a season ticket holder and should be above paying the value of your seat. Definitely entitled to good communication though.
My idea (or really a thought) about this RIGHT NOW (while we aren't a hot ticket). Take 1/2 of the 100s and make it a student section. Perhaps have your tickets contingent on an annual basis by attendance. The other 1/2 goes to people paying $! The rub is that the costs of the tickets and the donation required now doubles. You definitely lose some 100s in the short term. Perhaps there would be some spillover to the low rows of the 200s where eventually they become a seat that requires a donation. Obviously if we are decent the RAC rocks because students are right on top. All this reduces supply of seats which could boost revenues
If you were so close to the basket and home bench and paying a good deal less than those in the 100's (which I think was the case but correct me if I'm wrong) then it was a good deal.
If the AD can repurpose that space and make more $ (TBD) then it was a good deal.
Sitting in ****** bleachers with an obstructed view is the choice of ticket holders in that section.
The AD clearly botched the communication to long time fans and donors like yourself which sucks. Hopefully you can find new seats you'll like.
gary,
i think potential revenue from 118 is very open ended. Also how many of the displanted 118ers end up in 100s and pony up more money
i think potential revenue from 118 is very open ended. Also how many of the displanted 118ers end up in 100s and pony up more money
Amazed by the smugness of some RU fans. I loved being near the team and coach. Mike Rice alone was worthy of admission.
But a good deal? Rutgers realized and knew it was never a good deal.
The only real unobstructed views in the RAC. Stanchions were always in the way. Basket stanchions have gotten larger and larger. Can't see around or through them. Views have become significantly worse. Hobbs and his private seats now further block the view as well. Not really seeing revenue generation from those seats.
Lousy bleachers. Three decade pain for your back. Some of you old time fans may remember the big guy who looked like Hulk Hogan who roamed 118 for a decade. I have his knee prints forever carved in my aching back. Not complaining but just stating fact.
Have always contributed and supported the team for 30 plus years as a college basketball geek, RU alum and love the RAC. Despite no bells and whistles it is truly an amazing place to watch a college basketball game. Through all its faults, love 118, but it has never been a "good deal."
So yes I am one of those 118 fans who is justifiably angry that after thirty plus years of fandom and contributions, RU has informed us that in less than two weeks you have to quadruple your payment, or move. Then the double whammy if you do move, you and your loyal fellow fans and alums can no longer sit together.
Furthermore, even I were not sitting in 118 I would be annoyed. You are eliminating a whole section for 48 seats? The wine and cheese crowd? The additional revenue, assuming if it even works out, is not worth it if you destroy the very thing that makes the RAC a great experience.
Remember when Wayne Gretzky called the Devils a, " Mickey Mouse Organization." What is the RAC going to look like with bar tables and NJ MIke's subs on the baseline? So minor league. Why would you destroy a great home environment? If anything RU should be expanding 118, not making it smaller. As others have posted nobody else has done this. I repeat, the hypothetical gain in revenue is not worth it.
Finally, If this is such a brilliant idea why is Rutgers rushing this decision? Why was it never been made public? Why double secret probation? Where were the surveys? Where are the drawings? Where was the advance notice? It's still a public decision and the State University? Why weren't fans, alumni, donors, consulted? Why not any contingency plans for loyal fans displaced? Where was the communication? Did our AD really think you could just eliminate a whole section of the RAC and its decade’s long fans? SMH.
This decision is awful on so many levels..
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Very unfortunate if true that Pat and/or Sarah have not spoken to any of the season ticket holders from Sec. 118 up to this point on this matter.
Has anyone tried contacting him or her directly with any luck reaching them (either by phone or email)? Any response?
I wonder if they realize they appear to have dropped the ball here in terms of poor communication and treatment of loyal fans/donors, or are they tone deaf to this issue. Is there any reasonable way to salvage this situation at this point?
Has anyone tried contacting him or her directly with any luck reaching them (either by phone or email)? Any response?
I wonder if they realize they appear to have dropped the ball here in terms of poor communication and treatment of loyal fans/donors, or are they tone deaf to this issue. Is there any reasonable way to salvage this situation at this point?
Dude no offense but if those seats were THAT bad you would have moved a long time ago.
If you're willing to put up with 3 decades of bad back, crappy bleachers and obstructed views you were clearing getting other benefits.
Paying $500 per seat to be that close to the court of BIG action is a good deal.
Lol! So good of a deal that you could have come on down once in 30 years and sat right next to me. Why didn’t you?