On Monday, Feb. 5, several members of the University of Rhode Island pep band were left surprised when the athletics department informed them that they would no longer be accompanying the women’s basketball team to their postseason tournament in March.
Each year, URI’s athletic “spirit groups” – the pep band, cheerleaders and Ramettes dance team – travel to one or both of the tournaments with the team and accompany them in their postseason quest; last year’s group took the five-hour trip to Wilmington, Delaware for the Atlantic 10 women’s basketball tournament.
The year before, the groups took two trips: one to Wilmington, for the women’s tournament and one to Washington, D.C. for the men’s tournament. This year, the band will only travel to the men’s basketball tournament in Brooklyn, despite initial interest being measured for both trips.
“It was definitely shocking at first,” third-year saxophonist Noah Blake said. “It was just so unexpected, because we’re so used to traveling with the women’s basketball team.”
In an effort to adhere to the Atlantic 10’s minimum roster requirement for band members, an interest sheet is sent out to the band to gauge availability for each tournament. This year’s interest swayed heavily towards the women’s tournament, according to Blake, creating an expectation that the band would make the trip.
“I feel like a lot of the band members in particular enjoy going to the women’s tournament more, because we’re supporting a growing environment,” Blake said. “The pep band and the spirit squads in general are the main crowd at the women’s basketball games, and I feel like not going on that trip really affects our athletes.”
However, URI Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn said the decision was purely a budget decision made in the name of equity – since the school could only afford one trip, and the band went to the women’s tournament last year, he said it only made sense to send a band to the men’s tournament for this year.
“I get it, I would probably feel that way too, but that’s also why we hope that they’d feel some of that appreciation for a different experience, going to the Barclays Center this year,” Bjorn said. “We certainly won’t skip out on one of our teams two years in a row.”
According to Bjorn, the total cost of sending the URI spirit groups on a postseason trip is nearly $70,000. That, coupled with the competition site being moved nearly four hours further south from Wilmington, Delaware to Henrico, Virginia, made the possibility of a trip to both tournaments financially impossible.
“It comes down to dollars, and it’s so expensive,” Bjorn said. “We’ve been able to do it at times in the past and at times we haven’t been able to do it. This isn’t the first year we’re doing this.”
The main problem, according to Blake, did not lay in the decision itself, but rather the nature in which it was communicated. The band was informed of the verdict in early February – just north of a month removed from when their bus would’ve been set to depart to Virginia.
“One thing I wish that we had was more time to process this decision,” Blake said. “If it was an issue, we should have been exploring this issue back in the fall. I would be open to fundraising opportunities for us to travel…It’s on us to fundraise, but it’s on athletics to give us a little bit of a timeframe, and to see what they’re thinking.”
While athletics made the decision in conjunction with the A-10’s request for travel plans with the tournaments quickly approaching, Bjorn acknowledged these concerns, mentioning a desire to improve and expedite communication between band members and athletics staff in the future.
“There’s a two-way street that we have to look at, we have to do a better job with that, we have to make sure people know in advance,” Bjorn said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, as we go into November next year, let’s sit down and have a conversation internally within the department, and figure out what we can do to send a band.’”
Difficult budgetary decisions are made on a consistent basis across the athletics department, according to Bjorn. He took it upon himself to initiate direct communication with band members and officials at an earlier date, if necessary, going into next season.
“Give them credit for expressing their frustration,” Bjorn said. “They care, and I want them to know they’re appreciated. I don’t think I did a good enough job by any stretch, because I didn’t communicate with them.”
Blake said he ultimately understood the decision, citing the rapidly rising costs of housing, food and other travel expenses for an entire band. He said that while there may have been miscommunication present, athletics was not fully to blame.
“It’s also on us as a pep band, or just as athletic bands,” Blake said. “If you look at the past years, our numbers are down compared to pre-COVID numbers. It’s also our fault, we need to kind of increase our numbers as a pep band and a marching band, and that gives us a little pressure too to step up.”
Despite the initial disappointment with the women’s tournament cancellation, URI’s trip to the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn is set to go on as scheduled on March 12, following the conclusion of the regular season.
“They deserve it, just like the cheerleaders deserve it, the Ramettes deserve it,” Bjorn said. “They’re a big part of who we are as a department. We never want to come across as disrespectful, either to the band or the teams…That is never the intention, ever.”