2014 Volleyball 101 Dinner - Saturday, August 17th

[WuDrWu]

The academy award goes to Sam Sanders for her portrayal of Flo.
Rainbolt and his juggling.

I enjoyed Ashley Andrade's portrayal as Austin from the AT&T commercials, as well as her blowing up her friend who played for Arkansas. Good stuff.

[1972Shocker]

No kidding.... "bolt was good. What do you think @1972Shocker, it seemed to me that they down sized a bit with improved results? Fewer items in the silent auction, but they went for a lot of coin. I loved that Sweet 16 signed mural, but it went for at least 600. The trip to Tennessee was over 2k.

The 101 part was outstanding if you made it that far......Laser, kangaroo, koala bear!

The video was pretty good too (although a shade long) and I hope they sell it at some point.

I know people get tired of hearing me say this......I love basketball. I grew up playing it, I've coached it, it's been my love forever.

It's really, REALLY hard to beat Shocker Volleyball.

That's just an amazing group of people.

I didn't think they really downsized the silent auction any. In fact, I thougt it was bigger. But even with more tables and people in attendance then ever before it was more spread out since they used the entire PHC facility instead of only half of the facility and then moved the VB101 sessions to Koch Arena floor. But you are right in that the items in the auction seemed much nicer and were going for much more money than in the past. I bid $100 on the Volleyball Sweet 16 montage at the end of the table (mostly because I was shocked it was that low). After eating I went back and checked and it was up to $240. I then went on to check on the autogtraphed mural of the Sweet 16 team and I can confirm that it was up to $600. At that point I was in sticker Shock. They really did have many cool items including a basketaball autographed by the Final Four team which was up to $375 last I checked but probably went for closer to $500. I loved most of the framed photos. There was one item where the frame alone was worth a $100 bucks.

I really liked Emily surprise video as much or better than the prepared video. She was very grateful for her career at WSU and her donation of an autograph ball and jersey from this summers world championhsips in Russia where she finished 7th (in sand VB I think) was very nice and went for around $1,000 IIRC. The autographed VB Sweet 16 game ball was going pretty slow until Lambo explained it was only 1 of 4. One for the Shocker Hall of Fame, one for the locker room I think, one for him and that one. That got the bidding going and it also went from around a grand.

I did buy one of the 50 spots for Dinner For Two with the team on October 20th at Taste and See for $250. I was little surprised they did not sell all 50 of these last night so if anyone is interested in attending call the Volleyball office as there may still be some spots available. In the past I think they only sold around 15 spots so they really did try to expand this.

While the overall program seemed a little long a 7 minute Q&A session with Lambo is just too short. If they would have said Lambo will be available for a 1-hour Q&A at the end of the program I would have stayed another our.

And it is not just Lambo. His entire staff is sharp, sharp sharp. Jeff Sanders, now in his 10th year knows his stuff. Not sure how much longer Lambo will be able to hold on to Jeff. Matt Hoffman appears to be a good replacement for RJ and I was very impressed with the level of knowledge and poise shown by Student Assistant Brain Magbitang (B-Mag) and Volunteer Assisstant Marquis Clark. I had to laugh when Marquis told me that he had a 5-hour interview with Lambo for his non-paying volunteer position. I told him I think he will find it worth it and that it won't belong before he will be in a paying gig.

I have to give it up to this year's committee they really did great job stepping it up. The get an A+ from me.

[SpanglerFan316]

I have to give it up to this year's committee they really did great job stepping it up. They get an A+ from me.

The committee did a great job. I can't help noting, in humor, that a similar committee at Drake would have received their highest possible grade, a D+. :D

[1972Shocker]

Agree, fantastic evening, perhaps a tad long. Bet they easily raised 35K after expenses.

I'll bet they did substantially better than that. I am going to say closer to $50k after expenses. They don't really have many expenses. Facility staff primrily I think. The food, wine and beer is donated with no extra cost. The meal and drinks itself is worth $20 of your ticket cost.

I know the owner of the title sponsor and he pays in excess of $5k for that privilege. Including the title sponsor and various other sponsorships they sell $10k from various sponsors.

Not sure what the table sponsors pay, but they do receive a reserved table. I will just assume those are $40 per ticket (although I'm sure it is more). Assuming paid attendance of 450 x $40 is $18k.

I have to beleive the silent action raised $12k.

The Diamond Dig raffle and the Sweet Spot raffle probably made $5k combined.

The live aution items including the Taste & See Dinner probably raised $15k.

That totals to a gross take of $60k and while I am just guessing I don't that that will be too far off.

[1972Shocker]

No kidding.... "bolt was good.

Juggling aside, does anyone else think that some day Steve Rainbolt would make a very fine Athletic Director.

[pogo]

Juggling should be a pre requisite with as many balls you would have in the air as an AD.

[WuShock16]

Good track coach, but I don't see him as AD material. Just my opinion...

[1972Shocker]

In addition to the VB101 dinner the other significant non-ticket revenue source for the Shocker VB team is the Shocks Match Club. Just sent my 2013-14 membership in.

This is primarily promoted to season ticket holders which make sense. I doubt that non-season ticket holders would have any interest in this.

Here is the link from goShockers.com: http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=204964179.

However, the numbers on goShockers.com are from 2010 and aren't current. It is interesting to see how much the various membership levels have changed:

Diggers (2010 was $50-$99) - Diggers (2013 is $100-$299 + Opportunity to Reserve a Seat(s) Before Each Match)

Setters (2010 was $100-$249) - Setters (2013 is $300 -$499 + 2 Chalk Talks + Pre-Game Scouting Report & Hospitality)

Spikers (2010 was $250-$499) - Spikers (2013 is $500-$999 + Autographed Ball

Aces (2010 was $500+) - Aces (2013 is $1,000 - $4,999 + 2 Polos or 2 Sweatshirts + Virtual Media Guide)

Golden Aces (This is a new category for $5,000+ Opportunity to Travel with Team)

My guess is the Golden Aces as an additional benefit for the company or person who purchases the naming rights for the Volleyball 101 dinner, an obviously a very exclusive membership level, but one that doesn't add any revenues over and above the VB101 dinner.

I have no idea how many members they have or how much money they raise from the Match Club. A wild guess would be another 100 members at an average of $250 (excluding the Golden Ace category) would raise another $25,000. That may be a little optimistic.

[WuDrWu]

Thanks for the update @1972Shocker:. Embarrassingly so, I have to send in another check (gulp).