Bye bye 118

[Greene Rice FIG]

Didn’t Rutgers have focus groups and studies that specifically said not to mess with the floor/ foot print? The very thing that makes the RAC special.

Wouldn’t converting the press boxes to luxuy boxes for the affluent customer rather than visually obstructed seats on the baseline be wiser?

Hasn’t Rutgers already created front row seats for VIPs?

It’s a college arena. It’s not the pros. How many of us have complained that it’s turning into a minor league baseball game?

Although nobody gets seats in perpetuity(Easy to pontificate when not your seats) the RAC has been here since 1977. Some of these seats holders are now approaching 30 years. RU begs the same fans to remember them in their wills. Can’t have Coach calling you to buy season tickets and then have Athletic Department pull the tickets away from you. It’s a two way street.

This is 2018. You can't pay a coach $300,000 and assistants $60,000 and expect to win any more. The RAC is special to you and me and the other 5,000 or so die hard Rutgers basketball fans, but not to most everyone else.

I agree 100% that it's turning in to a minor league baseball game, but that is not Rutgers specific. This is what the average fan wants. [sick]

The current business model of catering to the existing 3,000 fans that have season tickets is not the way to go. The athletic department needs to expand to bring more fans and perhaps a crowd that is willing to add more revenue to the department.

This is all minor stuff. We all know what is really needed to bring in more revenue, boat loads of revenue.

 

[G- RUnit]

We will have to agree to disagree.
B1G money is coming. Ripping up Section 118 for a glorified food court is not the answer.

 

[Upstream]

Didn’t Rutgers have focus groups and studies that specifically said not to mess with the floor/ foot print? The very thing that makes the RAC special.

Wouldn’t converting the press boxes to luxury boxes for the affluent high end customer rather than visually obstructed seats on the baseline be wiser?

Hasn’t Rutgers already created front row seats for VIPs?

It’s a college arena. It’s not the pros. How many of us have complained that the RAC is losing its collegiate feel and turning into a minor league baseball game?

Although nobody gets seats in perpetuity(Easy to pontificate when not your seats) the RAC has been here since 1977. Some of these seats holders are now approaching 30 years. RU begs the same fans to remember them in their wills. Can’t have Coach calling you to buy season tickets and then have Athletic Department pull the tickets away from you. It’s a two way street.

I get that it is easier to say, when it is not your seats being taken away. When Pernetti released the conceptual drawings for his RAC renovation, I noticed that the drawings reduced the 100-level sideline seats by about 10%. If that plan went into effect, I may have lost my seats, and certainly 10% of the people who sit near me would have lost their seats. I wasn't happy about that, and I also thought Rutgers would be better served by increasing the number of 100-level seats, not decreasing them.

As arenas get renovated, seating configurations change. Someone is always going to be unhappy.

Maybe the plans for Sec 118 are good, or maybe they're bad. Regardless, the way Rutgers handled the communications is part of a broad pattern of really poor fan communications that only results in a pissed-off fan base.

 

[RUnTeX]

I wonder if anyone in the ticket office is really thinking through all of the options ??

Not really in the ticket office's purview as they just handles sales. It's the athletic dept that must have a committee who discusses and strategizes on what options to put on the table and which to implement. And the communications are also handled (and in this case, bungled) by the athletic dept.

 

[Tango Two]

Has anyone sent a strongly worded email and received a reply?


I sent off my opinion but no reply yet.

 

[PaKnight]

There are great views, but other than on the floor I don't think there are any comfortable seats in the RAC

Even when I was young and in school, going to multiple games in a week would leave you with a case of Rac Back.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

We will have to agree to disagree.
B1G money is coming. Ripping up Section 118 for a glorified food court is not the answer.

B1G money alone is not enough.

What would your feelings be like if they required an annual $500 per seat donation for your old 118 seats?

 

[G- RUnit]

Lay all the options on the table. Have an open dialogue. Why, how, and who decided ripping up #118 is the best option? RAC has been standing since 1977... why now? Shouldn’t we be increasing the size of the RAC? Why not expand 118? Were there are other options? Press boxes look like a pretty smart option? Upstairs offices as in the past?? How will this effect our home court advantage? Shooting background? Crowd noise? Fan Experience? TV optics and visuals? Didn’t the Rutgers focus groups recommend doing the exact opposite, namely don’t mess with the footprint? Why did Rutgers ignore? As other posts have noted doesn’t the math seem a little wacky and for what purpose? Where are the sample drawings of what this is even going to look like? Why the rush? Why only two weeks? Why are we suddenly paying for hoops tickets in May?
Better question is whether every season ticket holder should donate another $500.00?
These are just some of the questions you should be asking RU rather than skewering fellow long suffering, loyal, contributing fans.

 

[Upstream]

Lay all the options on the table. Have an open dialogue. Why, how, and who decided ripping up #118 is the best option? RAC has been standing since 1977... why now? Shouldn’t we be increasing the size of the RAC? Why not expand 118? Were there are other options? Press boxes look like a pretty smart option? Upstairs offices as in the past?? How will this effect our home court advantage? Shooting background? Crowd noise? Fan Experience? TV optics and visuals? Didn’t the Rutgers focus groups recommend doing the exact opposite, namely don’t mess with the footprint? Why did Rutgers ignore? As other posts have noted doesn’t the math seem a little wacky and for what purpose? Where are the sample drawings of what this is even going to look like? Why the rush? Why only two weeks? Why are we suddenly paying for hoops tickets in May?
Better question is whether every season ticket holder should donate another $500.00?
These are just some of the questions you should be asking RU rather than skewering fellow long suffering, loyal, contributing fans.

Why, how, and who decided ripping up #118 is the best option?

I'm guessing the Athletic Director or someone on his staff determined that this was the best option. Because, ultimately he gets paid to make these decisions. I don't know if it was the right decision or wrong decision. But I assume like most of these types of decisions there are pluses and minuses to each option. For every focus group or data point that says to leave section 118 alone, there is probably another focus group or data point saying that this change is a positive.

And while I don't expect Rutgers to share every detail that went into the decision, I agree with you that they should provide more than a superficial explanation to affected fans, and they should have engaged those fans earlier.

 

[G- RUnit]

I dont know but taking away a section of the RAC... that’s a pretty big decision. We know one focus group was adamant to not change the RAC footprint. Many fans feel the same. We know the crowd, noise and closeness is what makes the RAC unique.

Kicking out fans for decades... pretty important decision.

Rushing both decisions in two weeks?

Not RU or Athletic Department’s finest movement. Think the pushback is more than justified.

 

[Silvers88]

As a Sec 118 ticket holder for 25 years all I can say is this blows. This section certainly has it warts as many have described here but the proximity to the court and the access to the refs made the section kind of special. Just this last year I had a quick back and forth w/ Teddy V about social media in what I believe was his first game back after his troubles. Not to kill Hobbs, but he really screwed up the section when he moved the section back and put in the Spike Lee seats. Part of the problem is that they lopped off the back bleachers leaving the front rows on the ground instead of lopping off the front rows and leaving the remaining rows elevated off the floor to see over the cushy court side seats.

It is amazing how 25 years fly by. It seems like just yesterday that I was frustrated by the "Wenzel Weave". His tenure gave way to the failed promise of Kevin Bannon, not to mention naked free throws. Then there was "Waters Pressure" that never materialized, but at least he got us to the NIT. Next was the on court fiasco of Freddy Hill Jr and his fiasco getting fired for piping off at a baseball game! The tragic hero that was Mike Rice, over achieving in year one and showing so much class in the BE tournament farce only to be ousted in shame two short years later. Ah, Eddie Jordan, what most of us consider the absolute nadir for the program made all the more heart breaking as he is a Loyal Son. An now we have Coach Pike, hope springs eternal that he will be our phoenix wings and not another pretender to the throne. Oh, how 25 years can go by so fast.

 

[PeteGiam07]

Wonder if they will move the handicap section at all. Would love to see plans/rendering before breaking out an opinion.

 

[gary-from-motown]

B1G money alone is not enough.

What would your feelings be like if they required an annual $500 per seat donation for your old 118 seats?

Adding a reasonable seat fee would have been ok ( seat fees in center court are 525

As a Sec 118 ticket holder for 25 years all I can say is this blows. This section certainly has it warts as many have described here but the proximity to the court and the access to the refs made the section kind of special. Just this last year I had a quick back and forth w/ Teddy V about social media in what I believe was his first game back after his troubles. Not to kill Hobbs, but he really screwed up the section when he moved the section back and put in the Spike Lee seats. Part of the problem is that they lopped off the back bleachers leaving the front rows on the ground instead of lopping off the front rows and leaving the remaining rows elevated off the floor to see over the cushy court side seats.

It is amazing how 25 years fly by. It seems like just yesterday that I was frustrated by the "Wenzel Weave". His tenure gave way to the failed promise of Kevin Bannon, not to mention naked free throws. Then there was "Waters Pressure" that never materialized, but at least he got us to the NIT. Next was the on court fiasco of Freddy Hill Jr and his fiasco getting fired for piping off at a baseball game! The tragic hero that was Mike Rice, over achieving in year one and showing so much class in the BE tournament farce only to be ousted in shame two short years later. Ah, Eddie Jordan, what most of us consider the absolute nadir for the program made all the more heart breaking as he is a Loyal Son. An now we have Coach Pike, hope springs eternal that he will be our phoenix wings and not another pretender to the throne. Oh, how 25 years can go by so fast.

Yeesh ... nice ( but painful ) walk down memory lane. Amazing how we have hung in there ....

 

[fischy5000]

upstream nails it. 1 thing people miss is how an affluent non Rutgers basketball fan is accustomed to watching a game. Now I don't expect Rutgers to pull it off, but there is no where other than on the floor where someone can take a high end client to a game.

They could also add cushion floor seats on the side next to the scorers table and just shift the teams further to the corners similar to what they do in the NBA nowadays.

 

[fischy5000]

. I think the driver for these seats is to provide the floor seating perk to corporate/professional customers who provide the real money elsewhere.

Seems like a solid theory...
I can’t imagine (and giving the benefit of the doubt here) that they would make this change purely for the ever so slight and not guaranteed rev increase between current 118 season tix and new plan as seen by math in this thread.

 

[e5fdny]

@Upstream nails it. 1 thing people miss is how an affluent non Rutgers basketball fan is accustomed to watching a game. Now I don't expect Rutgers to pull it off, but there is no where other than on the floor where someone can take a high end client to a game.

He usually does.

 

[King of S]

Was there also any need to do what occurred in Sec 118 several years ago pushing back the seats 6 rows so that Hobbs could plant his butt on a cushy seat next to the Rutgers bench? That seemed odd to me as he could have simply sat courtside. He disrupted the entire 118 Section once again for the purpose of 10 cushy seats. To me, it simply shows lack of respect / loyalty to those that have stuck it out for many awful years - especially with the lack of communication that occurred several years ago from the Athletic Department and as it appears the same lack of communication happened again this year to the holdovers in 118.

Your statements above are 100% correct. No regard for the loyal fans.

 

[RUFBBB]

Your statements above are 100% correct. No regard for the loyal fans.

As a loyal fan and (Loyal Son) of Rutgers its time to stop the insanity. We've seen the the Rutgers Athletic department make blunder after blunder; bad coaches, incompetent AD's and losing seasons year after year. There has been so many missteps it would take me a week to list them here. But this section 118 plan simply amazes me.

1) Section 118 should be a student section or expanded if it even should be changed at all. You need fans close to the floor and especially behind the basket for home court advantage. In the opposite basket didn't they move the students closer to the action? Yes.

2) It will be horrible optics on TV to see empty seats in the end court. We don't need tables behind our basket we need fans. Basketball isn't for the Tea and Crumpet crowd.

3) We barely have a full house in the premium seats now.

4) It's akin to Gentrification a displacement and total disregard for the fans that have been sitting there for the past four decades.

5) Let's stop catering to some non existent high end fans that don"t exist.

Ruhoops Forever!!!

 

[PeteGiam07]

As a loyal fan and (Loyal Son) of Rutgers its time to stop the insanity. We've seen the the Rutgers Athletic department make blunder after blunder; bad coaches, incompetent AD's and losing seasons year after year. There has been so many missteps it would take me a week to list them here. But this section 118 plan simply amazes me.

1) Section 118 should be a student section or expanded if it even should be changed at all. You need fans close to the floor and especially behind the basket for home court advantage. In the opposite basket didn't they move the students closer to the action? Yes.

2) It will be horrible optics on TV to see empty seats in the end court. We don't need tables behind our basket we need fans. Basketball isn't for the Tea and Crumpet crowd.

3) We barely have a full house in the premium seats now.

4) It's akin to Gentrification a displacement and total disregard for the fans that have been sitting there for the past four decades.

5) Let's stop catering to some non existent high end fans that don"t exist.

Ruhoops Forever!!!

They actually moved the student section back on the opposite end of the floor. When I was at RU (grad in 07) we would literally be standing on the floor because the bleachers went all the way out as far as they could. Now they start about 5 rows up and gave more room to the cheerleaders/dance team.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

5) Let's stop catering to some non existent high end fans that don"t exist.

Ruhoops Forever!!!

That's the big debate. If you build it will they come? I am not sure. I do know if we start to turn things around and we have the proper facility they will and $ will flow.

 

[bowlgoal]

Things change and if we had the money I would be all in for tearing down the RAC and building something updated and much nicer. I’ve been a fan for 30 years and the RAC has been patched up but still isn’t an attractive facility. I’ll admit that during the Wenzel years i thought it was the greatest facility but it went downhill and just started to recover with some of the changes. But it’s below par compared to other big time programs. Look at Wisconsin’s stadium as example of attractive.

I don’t sit in 118 and I’d probably be selfishly pissed if I did. But working with what we have, 118 is a section that makes it look like a high school court. Put permanent seats in instead of the bleachers and make it a bowl. That might be the next patch job until one day a new arena is built.

 

[Scarletwoman]

I have retired and now live in almost paradise which we call it here. To all the people that have lambasted me on this thread, here s my story about my time as an RU fan sth.

I had been a season ticket holder since 1994 in wbb, football, mbb when I came to do my graduate studies. I fell in love with all these teams. Years later I added wrestling and gymnastics to my tickets.

At the Texas. Bowl Bob Mulcahy told me about his vision for the Audi Club, I told him right there I am in. I was fortunate enough to get good seats. My contribution to Rutgers still goes on even though I am benefiting with points I can’t use. So please I have a history with RU athletics and University. Many here can attest that I’m not grandstanding. Which is why I wooud support this action in 118. Don’t Judge me if you don’t know me.

 

[Groz]

B1G money alone is not enough.

What would your feelings be like if they required an annual $500 per seat donation for your old 118 seats?

I sit in 114 as many people know, but I was curious about this 118 change and asked my ticket rep about it. As far as I was told by my ticket rep for the $2000, there is NO food available this YEAR to BRING or BE SERVED to your seat. What you get for the $2000 is access to the hospitality area before the games and at halftime(which any season ticket holder can purchase for $600 per ticket and is really not worth the $30-$34 per game/per person this year if you go to EVERY game). (The seats on the floor get the hospitality included in their ticket prices)

So in essence, section 118 is now paying a $500 personal seat license fee(or whatever you want to call it, as people in the lower level middle pay 525 per seat), $600 for the pre & halftime food and $900 for the tickets which equals the $2000.

If there was constant food available like at Yankee Stadium in the legend seats, it might be worth it. But, the way they are pricing it right now, does not seem like a very good deal considering what the seats in 118 used to cost.

Best of Luck,
Groz