On February, 20, 2009, in response to the need for budget cuts, the University of Vermont athletic department chose to eliminate the varsity baseball and softball programs after the 2008-2009 academic year.
Each of the programs has been a loyal mainstay on baseball and softball scenes within the state, as well in department lore. Baseball was the first program started at the university and consistently has one of the highest amount of native Vermonters on its roster.
UVM men's basketball had a band that played at some games at Patrick Gym a while back but the band hasn't been seen in a couple of years. UVM is battling it out with other tough schools like Binghamton and Albany and could use some support from a band.
Bands are a fairly cheap way to gain fan engagement. With the struggling economy, UVM could use a boost because the new basketball arena is being held up and other promotions are fairly pricy as well.
A band is an easy way to get fans involved in the game and would surely increase the energy at Patrick Gym to give the Catamounts that extra push to make it through the season. Even if it didn't help the team, it would still help fan attendence. For me personally, one of the major reasons why I go to the yearly America East Tournament is to see the great bands on display.
Defending America East Champion UMBC shows great pride in their band. I can remember even back when UMBC was playing to just get into the tournament (playing for the eighth seed out of nine teams) the UMBC band blew me away. They encouraged their team to fight on and got the few UMBC fans that were there to keep cheering. The UMBC Pep Band has a lot of enthusiasm that engages the fans and some could argue that the band helped UMBC win the America East championship with the help of their energy.
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