On eve of PC game, URI Athletics aims to increase student attendance

12/04/07 - Thousands of University of Rhode Island basketball fans will pack the Thomas M. Ryan Center tonight because they want to see their exciting 8-1 men's basketball team take on state rival Providence College. There is no question that the team's success is helping to fill the arena, but the university is doing all it can to help fill every last seat.When newly appointed Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn first took the job in August, one of his goals was to increase fan interest in athletic programs.

"The best opportunity to increase the overall experience of games is to increase fan support, starting with students," Bjorn said. "They are the ones who create the most excitement at games. Certainly a lot of our efforts are to attract students and create the college atmosphere."

That college atmosphere is coming together, as attendance at men's basketball games is way up from last year. The Nov. 28 game against Northeastern University attracted 1,200 more fans than last year's game on the same day. Overall, the Ryan Center has attracted 3,004 more students through the first four home games this year than last.

Deputy Director of Athletics Gregg Burke was happy with the attendance numbers and expects the program to set an attendance record this year.

"We'll take as many students as we can," Burke said. "Students do two things: They bring enthusiasm to their seat and when students get enthusiastic and boisterous and are really having fun, they bring up a nostalgic view from non-students. The more students get into [the game], the more the other fans get into it. I love having students come to the game."

Working along with a group of dedicated students, Burke has put in a lot of time in getting the student body excited about the university's sports. Burke met a group of six dedicated fans at last year's Atlantic 10 basketball tournament and asked the students to help him reach out to the rest of the student body.

They met six times last year and now, as a group of 16 students, meet nearly every Friday with Burke, who is the only non-student in the room.

"All of the leaflets that go up on campus, that's the group that puts them up. The signs that are around campus, that group puts them up," Burke said. "They are 16 of the best kids on Earth, not just URI, but on Earth. We have a lot of fun doing it."

The impact of the group of students and their help to the administration has not gone unnoticed by Bjorn.

"What I think is most special about what is being done at URI is the group of students working directly with Gregg Burke who have been working on reaching out with a grass-roots campaign to let people know when things are taking place," Bjorn said. "We've never had anything like that before. Students are the most difficult group to reach, but when you bring in a group of students, they can educate us on a way to reach out to students."

The group is also behind the recent prize offering at men's basketball games where a student is randomly chosen from the student directory and if they are in attendance, they receive a $25 gift card. If the student isn't there, the selection takes place again at the next game and the prize doubles to $50.

"It's just a fun way to get the students more involved," Burke said. "We want to get people to just try the games. Just go to one game because if you don't go to any URI basketball games, you are missing out."

URI Athletics and the Fast Break Club are sponsoring a bus trip to the basketball game at Syracuse University, an idea proposed by the group.

"We went to them and said, 'Here are the game that we are considering going to,'" Burke said. "And then we discussed the times and the dates of possible games."

Burke's ultimate goal is to create a system where each sports program will have its own intern that will conduct marketing for each individual team.

"Last year I had one intern and this year I have six. I want to get to the point where we have 20 or 30 interns every semester," Burke said. "So volleyball would have an intern and they would market for volleyball and we would do it sport by sport by sport. It takes time but we can do it and we proved that right now."

Although the focus is on basketball right now, the plan is to use the success from the larger sports to help all of the teams.

"We really want to push men's and women's basketball, football and soccer because they are revenue-generating sports for us," Burke said. "The more students who come to those games, the more the public will come to those games and buy tickets.