University of Richmond Athletics
Ask The AD!
02/06/2005 | General
Nov. 26, 2004
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. -
Updated November 26, 2004
Jim:
There have been several notes in the Times-Dispatch about the CAA taking over A-10 football in the future. Is the A-10 doing anything to counter this or just let it happen to preserve the league? Also is there a large difference in the student attendance @ football vs basketball games? Could you provide the numbers?
Thanks,
Ned
Richmond
Ned:
This has become a very popular question - thanks for asking. Although it has been several months since we last addressed this issue, not much has changed.
I expect to continue competing against our local rivals regardless of the conference name. The 12 schools that currently comprise the Atlantic 10 have stated that staying together is a priority. We continue to explore the best avenue to meet that goal.
The Atlantic 10 does an excellent job of administering I-AA's best conference and we feel very confident in their leadership. We are proud that the league has sent four teams to the 16-team I-AA football playoffs this year.
We are pleased with our overall attendance numbers. Our basketball numbers have been excellent, and we expect football to be even better when we are more successful on the field. In addition, an on-campus stadium would enhance attendance, as well. While exact student numbers are not readily available, we again are pleased with their support. Our homecoming/parents weekend crowd of 10,000+ was obviously due in large part to our student attendance.
Thank you for the questions. Please enjoy two tickets to a Spider athletic home contest courtesy of Ask The AD.
The Sports Annual Report I received was really a very professionally done brochure. Do we use an advertising agency to put these together or are they done internally? I was really impressed.
Charlie
Annapolis, MD
Charlie:
Thanks for taking the time to read through our Athletics Annual Report and for the compliments regarding the publication.
We have produced an Athletics Annual Report for the past four years. It is primarily a function of our Marketing/Public Relations Department, which is known as Spider Communications, or SpiderComm, for short. In addition, a local design firm, pixelworks, assists in the layout and artwork. Finally, another local company, Colonial Printing, handles the production of the brochure.
We are very proud not only of the brochure and the local entities that produce it, but more importantly, our student-athletes and coaches who give us its quality content!
Mr. Miller:
I play lacrosse and I am looking to play in college. At the same time I have a real interest in Richmond and I was wondering if it was possible for Richmond to gain a men's lacrosse team in the near future. If you could respond it would be great and I look foward to hearing from you.
Chris
Manhasset, NY
Chris:
Thanks for your interest in the Unversity of Richmond - both athletically and academically.
At this time, men's lacrosse is played at the club sport level, but not at the intercollegiate varsity level. Right now, we have no plans to add any additional varsity sports. We currently sponsor 19 varsity sports, and for a school our size, that number appears to be the right fit for our student body.
I do hope you will consider Richmond and if you do, hope you will participate in our men's lacrosse club team.
Jim:
Is there any way to change the music that is played at the football and basketball games? Music change would have an impact on the crowd and get them more pumped up and involved in the game. I have heard a lot of people complaining about it this year at the football games so I thought I would inquire as it bothers me also.
Scott
Richmond
Scott:
Our event management staff, along with SpiderComm (Marketing/Public Relations) is constantly working to improve the gameday atmosphere at both UR Stadium and the Robins Center.
Although music selection is obviously a very subjective issue, this group is trying hard to change and improve what you hear at the stadium and at the arena. Their ultimate goal is to find the right mix that will pump up the crowd and the team.
Having said that, even more importantly, we are moving forward with plans for a new scoreboard and sound system at the Robins Center - not this year, but in the very near future. This will have a major impact on what you see and hear on game night.
We are always interested in what our fans are thinking about the atmosphere at games. As you attend basketball games this winter, please feel free to let us know your thoughts. We're listening!
Special note from Jim Miller:
Spider Fans: Many of you in the past couple of months have asked for a progress update regarding an on-campus football facility.
We are moving forward with this project. We continue to meet with design engineers and construction companies regarding styles and costs.
Our fund-raising efforts are also moving forward. This is obviously the critical element to the actual building of an on-campus facility. Quite frankly, we will build it when the appropriate funds become available to us.
If you are interested in viewing some of the preliminary artists' renditions, please contact our Spider Club office at (804) 289-8759 and ask for our Athletics Annual Report and/or our Spider Athletic Initiative brochure. Both publications include sketches of the proposed on-campus facility.
We are excited about the progress we're making - but we're not there yet.
