Richmond Rowdies prepare for basketball season

The Richmond Rowdies have big plans for the start of basketball season Friday, Nov. 8 against University of Delaware in the newly renovated Robins Center.

Buffalo Wild Wings will start serving free wings at 5 p.m. A wing-eating contest is planned for 5:45 p.m. before tip-off at 7 p.m. Other entertainment will include a DJ and the school's pep band, as well as a performance from the Embody Dance Team.

Diminishing turnouts at athletic events forced the Rowdies to come up with some fresh ideas.

"We decided that one of the major goals was to engage student groups-Greek and otherwise-and so that's where you get the wing-eating contest," said Vaughan Moss, director of marketing and sales for athletics, as well as advisor to the Rowdies. "Each person who participates in the contest is going to represent an organization, so hopefully you get people and all their friends in their organizations involved."

Moss said he knew the Rowdies were fighting an uphill battle in competing for college students' attention, but added that this was a nationwide problem, not isolated to the University of Richmond. "It happens at big schools where you'd never expect," he said. "It's a national trend of student involvement being down."

The National Collegiate Athletic Association's attendance numbers were down by about 2 percent in 2012, after record-breaking years in 2010 and 2011. But after an NCAA tournament appearance in 2010, Richmond saw the 13th highest increase in average attendance for men's basketball and also placed in the top 100 nationally for overall attendance. The next season, the team went all the way to the Sweet 16.

"At one point, there were tons of students within it," said junior Joe Gephart, the Richmond Rowdies executive board member in charge of the event. "Fraternities were a big part of it too. And then all of a sudden, it all just kind of died out." Gephart is now more concerned with how to fix this trend than how it started, although he is confident that the correct leadership is in place to do so, he said.

"[Senior] Josh Grice, our president, came in and he immediately turned things around," Gephart said. "He worked all summer to try to come up with these brand new ideas."

As the student leader of the Rowdies, Grice said he has placed particular emphasis on creating annual traditions for students to look forward to in the future. "The wing-eating challenge is aimed at establishing friendly competition and tradition for years to come," he said, adding that the "Mayhem Cup" will hopefully garner prestige over time as the prize for the top wing-eater. Grice also looks forward to adding new fight songs to the Spider repertoire, holding gatherings for students to learn cheers and make posters for game day and fostering stronger relationships between the players and other students, he said.

The Rowdies membership has also been revamped this year. In the past, membership was free and freshmen received Rowdies gear at the beginning of the year. Under the new rules, a one-time fee of $10 gives students a membership in the Richmond Rowdies for the remainder of their four years at the university. Members receive free game-day gear for the entire season, a membership card, floor seating at home games and even discounts on student bus rates for attending away games.

The Rowdies reiterated that they are not asking for much from the student body. Gephart said that commitment levels can vary at the member's discretion. "You can be as much of a member as you want to. You don't have to be at every single game, or do all these extra things. We just want you to be a sports fan.

"Just be rowdy," he said.

Contact reporter Jacob Steinfield at jacob.steinfield@richmond.edu