
Alcohol sales ignite new era for Rider Athletics
By Benjamin Shinault
In search of a cold drink and some college basketball? Look no further than the Student Recreation Center atrium for a cold, locally brewed beer or a hand-crafted hard seltzer. Yes, you heard correctly, Rider Athletics, in conjunction with Rider Auxiliary Services, Rider Public Safety and Druery Brewery, are introducing alcohol sales in an effort to improve the Rider gameday experience for Rider men’s basketball home games.
Throughout the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the use of alcohol sales and enhanced dining options, are present in an effort to attract and maintain fan engagement and loyalty.
“What we are trying to do is create a better fan experience and to get people here early so they can eat, have a beer … we are trying to do it in our facility and create a more pre-game vibe, excitement and connection to the program and make the game more of a big-time event for people,” Rider’s Athletic Director Don Harnum said.
Rider is not alone in their introduction to alcohol sales to the fans of its basketball teams.
“The last couple years we have noticed that more and more schools in our league were enhancing their fan experience by adding alcohol sales to their games,” Karin Torchia, senior associate athletic director said, “we have certainly been kicking around the idea for a couple years and then it really found new life probably late last spring.”
Not only will the introduction of alcohol and enhanced concessions improve the fan experience, but it also improves the student experience as well.
“Another key element to it is that we also have the radio station that comes in and does a pregame show from the SRC atrium,” Torchia said.
“The Hype,” a pre-game show for Rider men’s basketball hosted by 107.7 The Bronc, Rider University’s student-run radio station, provides an audio element to the scene in the atrium. During the pre-game show, various Rider assistant coaches and ESPN broadcasters put on a headset, break down the keys to the game and recent trends in the Broncs on the court.
“The Hype,” hosted by senior radio and podcasting major Zach Jones and sophomore sports media major Kadie DiGiuseppe, were big fans of the addition.
“It seemed like a great opportunity for me, based on what I want to do in the future,” said DiGiuseppe.
Aside from the cold beverages, the Bronc Fan Zone is offering new and improved dining options as well. Options include the soft pretzel, the hot dog, various soft drinks and random assortments of candy. Now fans can pick up pizza and burgers.
“If it’s a 7 o’clock game maybe they can meet there at 5:30 and have something to eat and a beer,” Harnum said, “it’s nothing too elaborate but we are just trying to make it a friendly gathering place.”
A big part of putting the finishing touches on getting the Bronc Fan Zone to come to life was Druery Brewery, a locally-owned brewery located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
“It [The Bronc Fan Zone] was something that we could partner with a local brewery to do and we had some contacts there, we had a couple meetings, and figured out, ‘yeah, this is actually something we can do,’” Torchia said.
Druery Brewery, only five minutes away from campus, served as the perfect centerpiece to Rider’s latest gameday experience.
The Bronc Fan Zone is in action only for Rider men’s basketball home games but it could make its way to women’s sports home games as well as wrestling too, all depending on crowd size.
“Until we have some teams that are going to draw at least 1,000 it probably won’t be worth our vendors’ time to come and set up,” Harnum said.
As Rider looks to upgrade the facility of Alumni Gym as a whole, the Broncs Fan Zone is viewed as a springboard into some other potential additions to Rider Athletics in the future.
* Sports editor Kadie DiGiuseppe is part of “The Hype” hosted by 107.7 The Bronc. DiGiuseppe, had no part in writing this story.