RPI 2025–26: Off the Critical List and In Recovery

[25+years]

Having reviewed the comments on attendance, I need to remind folks that this is not an RPI centric issue. Certainly the prior regime led us to the depths we're at now, both on the ice and off, but times have changed. Union's new barn was only about 3/4 full for the "crosstown rivalry" game. Colgate's struggles to fill their barn are well documented. In my last several trips to the north country, SLU is barely half full and CCT is also not much above 1/2 full. Add in the near absence of anything resembling promotion for the RPI program, the attendance we're seeing is not a surprise. The casual fan is just not going to attend if there isn't a buzz with the team.

Several years ago after the Devils AHL team left Albany, I had a conversation with someone who pointed out that it is very hard to , for lack of a better term, recruit sports fans to hockey. You either like hockey or you don’t. Granted winning helps, but people that are fans of other sports aren’t likely to convert to hockey fans. The area had players with the Devils who became big stars in the NHL and the team left because this area didn’t want to support the team.

Compare that to Minnesota where the state high school championship game sells out an NHL arena.