Ryan Center resorting to reserve fund to cover deficit
Jeff Sullivan
Issue date: 2/19/09 Section: News
Butler also said the Ryan Center is reaching out to garner more advertising and sponsorships for more events.
"To increase revenue, we recently partnered with the athletic department to hire a business development director," he said. "[This is] to secure increased advertising and sponsorships for both the Ryan Center and department of athletics."
Gregory Burke, the deputy director of the athletic department at URI, said while times are tough, URI will not start charging students for admission to URI basketball games.
"We reserve 1,500 free tickets to every home basketball game for the exclusive use of students," Burke said. "Over the past five years, we have allowed as many as 2,500 students in without a charge. There have been three times in the past five years that we have charged interested students for tickets, when we've gone over 2,000 free tickets."
Meg Couture, president of URI's Student Entertainment Committee, said there has been little to no noticeable drop in attendance for their events at the Ryan Center.
But senior wildlife conservation major Case Santos said that some of the concerts she has been to don't take advantage of the entire arena, and that could be the problem. "They put the stage in the middle of the venue to make it seem fuller, but it's just not," she said.
"We pretty much sold out Jason Mraz and we're doing really well with Brand New," she said. "This allows us to bring a few more concerts to the Ryan Center before the end of the semester. I really haven't seen a drop in [attendance,] because I think it's the bands that we bring instead of the economy [that draws students in]."
When asked for the dollar amount the SEC rents out the center for, Couture said the SEC contract does not allow her to reveal it.
The Ryan Center was intended to become a central venue for the Eastern Connecticut and Southern Rhode Island regions, akin to the Dunkin Donuts Civic Center in Providence.
"To increase revenue, we recently partnered with the athletic department to hire a business development director," he said. "[This is] to secure increased advertising and sponsorships for both the Ryan Center and department of athletics."
Gregory Burke, the deputy director of the athletic department at URI, said while times are tough, URI will not start charging students for admission to URI basketball games.
"We reserve 1,500 free tickets to every home basketball game for the exclusive use of students," Burke said. "Over the past five years, we have allowed as many as 2,500 students in without a charge. There have been three times in the past five years that we have charged interested students for tickets, when we've gone over 2,000 free tickets."
Meg Couture, president of URI's Student Entertainment Committee, said there has been little to no noticeable drop in attendance for their events at the Ryan Center.
But senior wildlife conservation major Case Santos said that some of the concerts she has been to don't take advantage of the entire arena, and that could be the problem. "They put the stage in the middle of the venue to make it seem fuller, but it's just not," she said.
"We pretty much sold out Jason Mraz and we're doing really well with Brand New," she said. "This allows us to bring a few more concerts to the Ryan Center before the end of the semester. I really haven't seen a drop in [attendance,] because I think it's the bands that we bring instead of the economy [that draws students in]."
When asked for the dollar amount the SEC rents out the center for, Couture said the SEC contract does not allow her to reveal it.
The Ryan Center was intended to become a central venue for the Eastern Connecticut and Southern Rhode Island regions, akin to the Dunkin Donuts Civic Center in Providence.
