Gotnext Women's Basketball Boards

oddball8450 · Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Posts: 101

Anyone on the boards go? I was there. Heard a lot of grumbling about how it was handled. Any comments?

1carol · Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 1043 Location: Phoenix AZ

Last year we had the same party, handled the same way, & it was terrific. The players mingled among the fans and whoever wanted an autograph or picture just asked & it was done. This year so many fans showed up without RSVP that it caught Mercury personnel off guard. They weren't prepared to handle the volume. All those lines for autographs, going every which way, were very confusing & took up too much room. A lesson will have been learned so they will do better next year.
Our fans who complain should be grateful for any opportunity. We get more than most teams give their fans. For the Conn. fan appreciation party, it was announced ahead of time that there would be no autographs or pictures taken with players at all - that sucks! :(

Mercurymaniac · Joined: 04 Aug 2002 Posts: 1197 Location: Scottsdale

The art of the RSVP. I remember last year it looked like some lame cocktail party with a few fans and the team.

Glad there was a good turnout. Now next year we can plan for having 8K in fans showing up. :D

SportsFan48 · Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 1136

I had a feeling that they would have some problems this year even before the event happened. The main reason was the advanced warning. Typically the Mercury keep events like this a secret until the last minute and fans don't have time to plan. This year they sent a notice out a full week in advance.

It was nice to get the advanced warning but it did help create the problems. They have had smaller turnouts in the past because most people didn't know about it.

I was actually approached by some people in charge of the event and they asked me for feedback. I told them their biggest mistake was not starting on time. People were there to see the team. If they say they are starting at 12:30, the crowd expect to have the team there and available at 12:30. Bringing the team in after 1:00 and then spending so much time on the stage put them in a situation where they could not accomodate the crowd. That extra half hour would haved done a lot to take care of the problems people were complaining about.

I liked the program on the stage. It gave us a little insight to the team and their individual personalities. The only thing I would have changed would be to have ALL the players involved. We didn't hear much from the rookies.

I do think they did some good things and reacted well in getting people inside...especially when they saw the numbers they had and that the system of checking them in would have taken a very long time.

I know most of the people who have more access to the players choose not to get in the autograph lines to allow others with less access an opportunity to get in.

All in all, I thought they did okay under the circumstances.

potd41 · Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:34 pm Post subject:

1carol wrote: Last year we had the same party, handled the same way, & it was terrific. The players mingled among the fans and whoever wanted an autograph or picture just asked & it was done. This year so many fans showed up without RSVP that it caught Mercury personnel off guard. They weren't prepared to handle the volume. All those lines for autographs, going every which way, were very confusing & took up too much room. A lesson will have been learned so they will do better next year.
Our fans who complain should be grateful for any opportunity. We get more than most teams give their fans. For the Conn. fan appreciation party, it was announced ahead of time that there would be no autographs or pictures taken with players at all - that sucks! :(

AMEN 1 Carol!!!!!

heythere · Joined: 20 Aug 2002 Posts: 200 Location: Phx

I thought the event went extremely well, considering the staff was not prepared for such a turnout. Changing the check-in process to aoccommodate helped tremendously to get everyone in.

I'll post pictures this afternoon, for those interested.

gillomfan · Joined: 16 Jun 2002 Posts: 259

I really enjoyed the party. It was a lot of fun. I am not really into getting autographs. I enjoyed soaking in all the excitement. There has not been this much enthusiasm in a long time. Our Mighty Mercury are going to make the playoffs and we will do well. Go Mercury!

oddball8450 · Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Posts: 101

thanks... I had fun, would have liked some things to be different, but Iappreciate that we can even get close to the players. And its good to know that management asked for opinions!