By Laura Sanicola

In an effort to increase attendance for Fordham football and basketball games, Fordham cancelled Ram Town 2016 in favor of alternative programming.

Resources formerly allocated for the seven-year-old event, which was traditionally held on a Friday night two weeks before the start of the men’s and women’s basketball seasons, will be funneled into smaller events on two separate game days, according to Scott Donnelly, Athletic Director of Marketing, Promotions and Ticketing.

“We will try to drive some students in there to see our teams in action instead of on an off night in October,” Donnelly said at a Student Life Council meeting on Wednesday.

The change is designed to increase attendance at both the football games and the basketball games. The first event will be held at the Women’s Basketball home opener on Nov. 11, the night before Fordham Football plays Holy Cross at Yankee Stadium.

“We are going to try to tie that together as a mini pep rally [for that game],” Donnelly said.

Fordham athletic events see underwhelming attendance at home games, according NCAA data. Fordham enrolled 15,286 students in 2015 and averaged 6,499 attendees at home football games in that year. By comparison, Holy Cross enrolled 2,912 students and averaged 6,523 attendees at home games in that year.

Men’s Basketball saw even worse attendance last year. The team averaged 2,140 attendees at home games in the Rose Hill Gym, which has a capacity of 3,200. The female Rams averaged a mere 930 attendees per home game.

According to Donnelly, “energy and excitement in the gym” for Ram Town, which was often held the night before a football game, did not produce the same results at the non-conference home games.

“It’s been very hard to replicate that environment resources wise,” he said, referencing the food and prizes provided by sponsors. “We wanted to make sure the experience on game night in the gym is what students come to expect when they come out in the first time.”

The Nov. 8 event is set to host a DJ, contests and catering from Michelangelo’s Restaurant. Promotional shirts have also been designed for the event. The second event will be held on Nov. 18 at the Men’s Basketball game.

“We want to make those two nights as student-centric as possible,” Donnelly said.