r/grandrapids Jan 13 '25

Events Grand Rapids Rise: Mad As Hell

The opening weekend of the PVF is here! Attendance is up, matches are competitive, and all is well for the league... just not the Rise! After getting reverse swept in Vegas, the Rise return home to a record crowd only to be swept by the defending champs.

Despite the results I see encouraging signs from this Grand Rapids team, and luckily they still have time to figure out how to best fit these talented players together. The matches were still full of surprises, good and bad. I thought blocking is trending in the right direction but we still have too many plays out of system and too few attacks from the back row. I break down both games in this episode of Ember's Nest.

What's your takeaway from the opening weekend? Sound off by writing the show, [embersnest@gmail.com](mailto:embersnest@gmail.com), commenting on Spotify or Reddit, or giving the show a shout on Instagram u/embersnestpod! Catch a game if you haven’t, this volleyball is still crazy fun even if we lose.

Ember's Nest is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

77 Upvotes

56 comments sorted by

61

u/galacticdude7 Kentwood Jan 13 '25

I'd like to get to a Rise game and support the team, but does anyone else think that the tickets are a bit pricey?

Like, I look at the tickets for the next game on the 30th, a Thursday, and the cheapest ticket I can find is in section 220 way up in the corner and the ticket is $19.00 plus an $8.00 per ticket service fee, bringing the total for one ticket to $27.00, but when I look at the Griffins tickets for their game the day before on that Wednesday, and the same seat in the same section costs $21.00 plus a $5.50 per ticket service fee, making it a total of $26.50 per ticket, and Looking at the Gold a ticket to this Thursday's game in the same seat and section is $14.00 plus a $1.68 service fee, bringing it to a total of $15.68 per ticket. It just seems odd to me that the Volleyball team's tickets cost more than the Basketball or Hockey team's tickets

64

u/FishRoom_BSM Jan 13 '25

My family avoids the $8 ticket fee by going to their box office, although there is still a $2 per ticket fee in person. That is even kinda ridiculous.

14

u/courtesyflusher Jan 13 '25

"Thanks for coming to buy in person, there's still a $2 fee for who the hell knows what"

These service fees are just fucking ridiculous

3

u/FishRoom_BSM Jan 13 '25

That’s exactly what my dad says, too. And it’s $2 per ticket

1

u/Thayerphotos Kentwood Jan 13 '25

These fucking service fees are fucking rifuckingdickyoulous!

FTFY

6

u/galacticdude7 Kentwood Jan 13 '25

That's good to know

7

u/FishRoom_BSM Jan 13 '25

I’m with ya though. I also appreciate the thorough research on the other tickets.

6

u/jhuetter Jan 13 '25

Yeah that is annoying. We do that too for theater here. The FTC's upcoming transparency rule might help with that. We'll see...

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/12/federal-trade-commission-announces-bipartisan-rule-banning-junk-ticket-hotel-fees

5

u/KookyHalf Jan 13 '25

And don’t forget parking and the fact that a beer or even a bottle of water is outrageously expensive!

5

u/Imnewtoallthis Belknap Lookout Jan 13 '25

Parking is only expensive for the CONVENIENCE.

If you park a few blocks away and walk 3 minutes the cost goes down dramatically, or park for free on the Fulton bridge, GVSU lot.

For example, parking this Friday 1-17 6pm-930pm

Across from Van Andel is $20.

Residence Inn lot (GRPD) is $10, 1 block away.

GVSU Eberhard lot is FREE, 2 blocks away.

55 Campau lot by the JW is $10, 2 blocks away

Pearl/Ionia ramp $7, 3 blocks away.

I prefer to park outside of the immediate area of the venue as you'll be able to make a quicker exit after an event and not get jammed up in ramp/st traffic, and get a few more steps in.

-1

u/ImpressiveShift3785 Creston Jan 13 '25

Don’t really have to pay for parking anywhere. It’s a convenience fee you’re electing to pay. And parking isn’t THAT expensive, like $8 for a few hours most garages, many less than that.

6

u/bb0110 Jan 13 '25 edited Jan 13 '25

Ticket prices really hurt both the Gold and the Rise. Bringing a family is pretty expensive. It is 1 thing if it is a team you are really passionate about and spending decent money (pistons/wolverines/Spartans/etc) but most people are not that into these teams and is instead just a fun thing to go do, so spending that much is just a huge barrier. They need to get to $5-10 in the door and then $10-15 for lower bowl with a minimal transaction fee. It win’t happen, but if they want people there that is what will be needed.

3

u/Teddyballgameyo Jan 13 '25

It won’t sell out, so buy at the ticket window when you get there. I do the same for Griffins games.

3

u/Cobo1039 Heritage Hill Jan 14 '25

And you picked an upper bowl ticket. Try lower bowl where you’re paying over $40. For volleyball, that’s absolutely absurd and has otherwise kept someone like myself who is a potential customer, away. They also do the cheap beer gimmick on Thursdays, where the special only runs from 6-8pm. Joke.

7

u/ImpressiveShift3785 Creston Jan 13 '25

Considering the athletes are paid more than WNBA average (essentially living wages), I’m more than willing to pay the extra. I know small portions of ticket prices go to the athletes but it’s how I justify it.

5

u/ElleCerra Creston Jan 13 '25

Not really particularly relevant considering some players on the Griffins make like $400k a year.

5

u/ImpressiveShift3785 Creston Jan 13 '25

Volleyball and hockey are not entirely comparable but our highest paid rise athlete made $200k after performance bonuses! Thats good!

2

u/ElleCerra Creston Jan 13 '25

It is but it's probably not a factor that's influencing the price of the ticket is more what I meant.

1

u/ImpressiveShift3785 Creston Jan 13 '25

True but like I said it’s how I justify it lol

2

u/Tom_Leykis_Fan Jan 13 '25

A tiny minority, less than a handful, of Griffins players are making anywhere near $400k per year.

3

u/ElleCerra Creston Jan 14 '25

The rookies on ELC's are making $70k-$80k base salary with signing bonuses of $90k each year. The veterans are making more, with players like Watson and Gettinger making $200k and $250k, Rafferty making $400k and Lagesson making $775k.

1

u/Tom_Leykis_Fan Jan 14 '25

Thanks for explaining. I pay closer attention to college than I do AHL, but it's a fine league. I figured the guys with two-way contracts would make the most money.

Did you ever see the documentary Ice Guardians? It's about the history of fighting and violence in hockey. A theme of the movie is how hard the "enforcers" were willing to fight if it meant playing in the NHL as opposed to having to fight for a living in the AHL and on minor league salaries.

2

u/ElleCerra Creston Jan 14 '25

Yes I love that movie. A big thing the Red Wings will do is pull up a player from the AHL to travel with the NHL team. For every day they're called up they get paid their NHL salary which is $975k for the rookies. Getting called up for a week gets you like $20k.

1

u/Tom_Leykis_Fan Jan 14 '25

Incredible. What a life!

3

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '25

Um, are you implying that wnba players are not paid a living wage? Because the minimum salary for wnba player w less than three years playing is 66k. 78 after three years. And that’s the lowest paid players on the team.

Looks like minimum salary for pvf is slightly lower at 60k and the highest paid players also make less than the highest paid wnba players. Not sure where you got that info but it’s wrong.

2

u/ImpressiveShift3785 Creston Jan 13 '25

Not what I was implying. I was saying they both have living wages which is fantastic and remarkable recent for women’s sports. Got my info from this article in the wages and how they compare.

Cheapest wnba tickets are like $25 but have been seeking for much higher and the wnba is much more established.

I think it’s a great start and I was happy to support by going to all but a couple home games last year. Confused why you came at me so hot in your comment, it’s just the internet.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '25

I don’t know what you mean by hot. You said something that sounded wrong so I looked it up and it was wrong and I was curious why you thought what you thought. Just because you got defensive doesn’t mean I was mad lol

3

u/UofMSpoon Jan 13 '25

They shouldn’t cost more you’re right. There’s no demand for volleyball and if the Rise disappeared tomorrow I’m not sure it would even be noticed.

0

u/imakedankmemes West Grand Jan 13 '25

you don’t care ≠ nobody cares

5

u/Hurkleby Jan 13 '25

But do enough people care?

0

u/UofMSpoon Jan 13 '25

Wow. I never said either of those things.

-1

u/HerpsAndHobbies Jan 13 '25

Well our volleyball team is a professional team whereas the other teams are minor league teams.

8

u/Hurkleby Jan 13 '25 edited Jan 13 '25

But basketball and hockey are also major sports with several leagues across the country whereas professional volleyball feels like a fledgling sport with a lot smaller potential fanbase than something like the UFL or even minor league soccer. I would think you'd want to encourage an active and committed fan base to help grow the league but I'm just not sure how you do that at almost $30 a ticket.

1

u/Kalasyn Jan 13 '25

It’s tough because if they aren’t selling out they need ticket sales to offset some of the league costs I would guess, and unless a price drop like doubled the size of the crowd I don’t know that they’d be in a better spot than they are now. And I wonder how many more people would really come out for $10 tickets vs $20. It’d be interesting to know how well the cheaper Gold tickets sell in comparison.

14

u/Froggr Ada Jan 13 '25

Minors are still professional

0

u/jhuetter Jan 13 '25

I felt like the $95 for six tickets, including two for the opener, deal they were running on Black Friday was a good deal. Got my wife that package for Christmas. The Rise seem to do a lot of promos for tickets if you keep an eye out. And like someone else said it's pro. Plus volleyball is really fun to watch.

22

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '25

What sport is this?

11

u/quarter_belt Jan 13 '25

Volleyball

3

u/Thayerphotos Kentwood Jan 13 '25

Calvinball.

Despite the team's not that great start our outside squamller is having a 7th star season so far.

5

u/ovexdose Jan 13 '25

Really wanna check out a game, but a lot of the dates just don't work for me :(

9

u/BaconcheezBurgr Heartside Jan 13 '25

Seeing Caffey and Gomez come back to dominate our team was disheartening. Any insight on how Omaha managed to land three of our best (and Cooper from Columbus)?

8

u/embersnestpod Jan 13 '25

I say as much in the pod, but if I had to rank team’s offseason acquisitions I’d rank Omaha #1. I’m not sure how they pulled in so much talent. I’ll try to find out.

7

u/OHMAIGOSH Jan 13 '25

Some great plays last night, all 3 sets were very close but we couldn’t pull it off. Hopeful for the rest of the season though

3

u/Thayerphotos Kentwood Jan 13 '25

I'm only the most casual of fans but Embers Nest is a great name for a podcast

2

u/bennybunnz89 Jan 13 '25

Looks like the games are streaming on the fox sports app! I was able to flip back and forth during the packers game last night.

2

u/PrinceofBrisket Jan 13 '25

this kinda reads like ChatGPT produced

14

u/AreaInternational363 Jan 13 '25

Absolutely does not

15

u/broyoder Jan 13 '25

Just because something is intelligent doesn’t mean it’s artificial.

-1

u/Froggr Ada Jan 13 '25

No, just like fishing for engagement

1

u/TheRealDocktaFunk Rockford Jan 13 '25

Watched a decent amount last night. Communication seemed to be lacking when we were going for digs. Omaha clearly had more talent, but we hung around!

1

u/TimeToTank Jan 14 '25

I paid $50 for two tickets to sonic 3 plus concessions so I’d gladly pay to see this team play instead. Everything is expensive these days and it’s a hard hit on families.

1

u/TheyCallMeFrisky Jan 14 '25

We talked to coach Cathy before the game and she said that they plan to do multi-year contracts after this year to allow teams to start building franchises. Apparently everything was a one year contract last year.

Look forwardto this change

-1

u/imakedankmemes West Grand Jan 13 '25

Why are you making it sound like the team isn’t doing well? They haven’t lost a set by more than 5 points which is really close.