The Stroh Center Environment is HORRID!

[Flipper]

Excellent 1st post fanatic13...if you're not in the habit of going to the games when you're a student...you won't make it a habit later.

What kind of outreach is needed... Other than wins?

[HoopsFan]

[quote="hammb"]The location of the Stroh is certainly something that will be used as an "excuse" by students for not going. Just as the location of offcampus venues is used as an excuse by students at other schools. At the same time, however, the location can be an asset for non-students. My grandmother, for instance, has season tickets again. She couldn't attend the games at Anderson due to being unable to walk from the remote parking lots to the arena. And the close parking lots were tied to large-ish Falcon Club donations. Now that is no longer an obstacle she's back to have season tickets and at nearly every game.

Alumni/Townies will attend more games at the Stroh than they ever would have at Anderson due to the pure convenience. Of course you still have to put a product on the court that makes people want to pay for games.

It'd be nice if they came up with a parking structure that didn't require a MENSA membership to figure out either. It is absolutely insane that they will let the good parking sit 80% empty and make the people paying $5/game park 1/4 mile away. In fact it's not just insane; it's among the stupidest things I've ever seen in my life. You're trying to build a fanbase and you don't let anybody that isn't willing to invest in a parking pass park in the actual lot that is connected to the building? Can somebody please explain any rationale to having the parking broken into 4 separate tiers? Again, when most of those tiers sit largely empty? I get having the premium parking reserved for highest donors. I kinda even get having multiple tiers of parking for differing donor levels, but to have that massive lot sit empty because it's only for "parking pass" holders is asinine. When you sell enough parking passes to have it anywhere near capacity, fine, but now it's just stupidity.

Sorry...a tangential rant there, but it's not like it doesn't play a part in the issue.

I gave up on parking and ranting about it. I have season tickets in the Anderson club, but they are not in my name, and for the last two years, they have been given to me. I'm a Falcon Club member, but not at a level to get "free parking" with my season ticket because I don't buy season tickets.
Simply, I park somewhere else, and I'll make a donation to the entity that lets me park. It's the best $50 to $100 that I'll spend and I might just forget to renew my Falcon Club membership next year.

HoopsFan

[hammb]

. Noon tip times are the white flag at getting students to show up.

I know that it seems to be polarizing, but I'm inclined to point out that noon start times on Saturday were commonplace back in the days of us having a fan following.

When I was in school we played at noon all the time. The sideline squad and kegs n eggs crew were there every week. The student section was packed. Because we were good.

It always comes down to winning. And when you've had 15 years of crap it's going to take several years of winning

[BGSU33]

First off, the root of the problem is the program itself. Whether you want you admit it or not, it has become irrelevant. And that's a fact, not an opinion. Few care about it any more. And that wasn't the case not too long ago. During the late 1990's to early 2000's, BG basketball was pretty damn good. The players were good, the teams were good, the crowds were good, and we were a factor and contender in the MAC. But since then, BG has fallen on hard times. Look at the last decade alone, we've had what, one good season? Every single year we are picked either dead last or next to last in the MAC, and often meet those expectations. Many years BG doesn't even advance to Cleveland let alone win there if it gets there. And hell, last year it actually did both but that was a year it finished dead last in the regular season standings after yet another bad season (go figure). BG is THE only school in the MAC to never, ever win the MAC Tournament, whereas every other MAC East team alone has done it at least once in the last decade. If you are under the age of 50, BG has never even been to the NCAA Tournament on your lifetime.

Bringing Orr back for that final year, for all the multiple reasons, just killed it for me. I was a season ticket holder and made home games and road trips from VIRGINIA! But I finally reached a breaking point and couldn't take the direction of the program, the poor results and the administrative decisions any longer. I stopped my season tickets and I stopped going to most games, and there's been little to make me want to invest or come back since. I'll change when things change - that's the stance I've taken, and I'm not caving in. I still want BG to win every time it takes the court, but I can't feed into the unsatisfactory state that things have become with the program. I just won't.

That all said, I 100% do believe BG can win again and become relevant again. I really like the class coming in next year and believe it could be "the" class to get us going. Basketball is the one sport where you can turn things around, and fast, if you figure it out and do it right. Obviously BG hasn't, but only needs to look as far as its peers in the MAC East. They've all shown and proven how to do it. Each and every one of them. Yet BG still manges to find a way, year after year after year, to fall drastically short.

[fanatic13]

The off campus shuttles don't stop at the Stroh, but there is a game-day shuttle that stops at the dorms. Location is a terrible excuse for students but it is one. There's shuttles, food, and cash given out every game for students, but nothing will change until people expect to go the games and watch us win consistently. Winning is the best way to solve the environment problem as a whole.

I never understood why they make fans park further away just to walk through an empty parking lot. Seems like a small change they could make to help fans.

[BGSU33]

My second point is, I agree with the title of this thread. While I don't believe it's the reason for why BG stinks (it was bad before even moving to the Stroh), the atmosphere is terrible. For starters, even when we opened the facility, instead of getting an opponent people could get excited about to open the building up with, even if simply to see the opponent itself, BG opened with Howard. I mean come on, Howard??? If that doesn't sum up a dud right out of the gate in your grand opening, then I don't know what does. BG chose Howard because what, Dr. Ribeau was president there after being instrumental in the Storh project? Well then you fly him and his family in for the opener, give them front row, center court seats and recognize him during the game. Big you don't open your new arena after closing the old one of over a half a century with Howard! SMH....

Aside from better restrooms and concession areas, there's very little else I like better about the Stroh Center over Anderson Arena several years into the facility from a spectator's standpoint. First off, the Stroh looks like a movie theater from outside. I bet half of the people who see it for the first time expect to see AMC or Regal Cinemas instead of Stroh Center on it. The seating has very little pitch to it. You hardly rise up above the people in front of you and instead you're more sloped back from the row in front of you, similar to the problem with the grandstands at the Doyt. I was very surprised to see this as even movie theaters have mastered theater-style seating in them well before the Stroh was ever built. AA actually had a really nice pitch to its seating in the upper section, it offered a way better viewpoint than the upper level of the Stroh. The two corner sections of seats in the Stroh face directly into the seating behind the basket. Horrible design and mistake! I had heard this was done in part to cut costs, while the project came in under budget. Even AA, which was built in 1960, avoided this design flaw. No way an error like the should have happen 50+ years later with the abilities of design and technology available. Unacceptable. One of the knocks on AA for years was it was too small - not for just basketball - but too small for everything. So what does BG do? It builds the Stroh with an even smaller capacity. WTH? Again, complete heads scratcher. The sound system was terrible in AA and is equally bad in the Stroh. For the love of God I wish someone would turn up the midrange and bass in the speakers, it's like all treble and screaming at you. The PA announcer sounds like he's speaking through his nose and the music screams at you in all treble when they try and play something loud. Adjust the levels, please! The camera filming area is a joke. Was this simply overlooked altogether or what? The cameras are roped off from the concourse by those dividers you see at movie theaters (again with the movies) and there are cords all over the place and workers sitting at what looks like a lunch table from my grade school cafeteria. I mean come on. Hell, AA at least had a plywood stand and area for that in it.

Yes AA was in need of a major renovation. It had been for years. But BG really dropped the ball and fell well short when it built the Stroh. BG boasted that it had "hit a home run" when it built the Stroh. No you didn't, you hit a double. We had a chance to build the newest and best arena in the MAC, and instead we went from the bottom to somewhere in the middle of the pack at best. For all that needed done and that was lacking at AA, even up to its last season, I always got excited seeing a game there, even with the bad teams. I never get excited about the Stroh, except knowing I can take a piss without it being 112 degrees in the bathroom.

[factman]

You really like to complain, don't you 33? Some of the dumbest ones I have heard.

[guest44]

BG wanted George Mason and Larranaga to open the Stroh. They said no thanks. Leave it to BGSU to have no clue he left on bad terms.

[zete]

Nice post, 33. and your post parallels the views of most of whom I have talked with over the last 5 years. Yes, with so much time effort and $$ put into such a structure it is difficult to admit the flaws right off the bat. What is troubling to me is what will people think of this building 20 years from now. Will great memories come forth, or will the programs mire where they have been over the last 10 as the fan base continues to dwindle?
What comes away as a positive from the community standpoint is this: Living in BG Ohio we have always been fortunate to have an institution of higher learning in our back yard rivaled only by only a few, Athens, Oxford and a hand full of others. Thus from this perspective, the Stroh Center is a wonderful structure leaving hundreds on communities across the state in awe of what our city has within its confines. BGSU is what it is - a mid level athletic school - constantly comparing itself to "the majors". I love BGSU as do you, and living with what has been provided needs to be accepted and cherished. Hard to do at times I will be the first to admit, but I would not trade all of the wonderful times I have had at the Doyt, Anderson, and now the Stroh to have lived anywhere else in the Midwest. Ay-Ziggy Zoomba!!

[guest44]

Another big picture problem BG has is it's media coverage. When was the last time you saw anything critical written or expressed about BGSU athletics in any form? Other than here? The media refused to criticize Orr. It was the elephant in the room, that got him 7 years. Some even tried to argue for more years because he was such a great guy. Hell, it wouldn't even toss a jab at Kingston after the Jans mess. A blackmail situation that even at UT would have been front page news for days. Jans fired, Kingston local hero. Selfies with his orange truck. Young media types who don't make enough to care, and just prefer to have a buddy buddy relationship with the department. Therefore, fans who have opinions, just say who cares? I'll come back when/if someone cares enough to fix an issue. Watch how Jinks gets covered over the next year. It will all be positive. If he starts out 0-4 or 1-5, will they actually come after him? I doubt it. Has anyone expressed worry about Roos? Publicly? Not that I've see. Just game recaps, and athletic department people retweeting them. But, the fall back is always, the department doesn't have enough money. If you want a coach fired, get ready to write a check. No it works both ways, If you hire terrible coaches, you should get ready to hear about it.

[Flipper]

The media in general...pretty much everywhere outside of ESPN(very selectively) and some blogs...are a collection of PR regurgitating kiss asses who view sports as a toy store. As long as no one is getting robbed or raped..and in some instances as long as those rapes aren't in broad daylight on facebook..they're OK.

So..no...you aren't going to see a lot of criticism locally. Should someone have asked CK how Drunky McDrunkass came to be hired by him? Of course..but don't hold your breath waiting for the questions because that kind of negativity doesn't draw well in NW Ohio.

Look at the women's cross country coach at Toledo a few years back...he was banging/trying to bang his athletes for years before someone took him off the track. In the aftermath...did anyone ask their AD why no one caught on during the first 10 years or so of his treating his roster like Match.com? Hell no...that might irritate some advertisers

[hammb]

The Stroh is far from perfect, but I do think it's a vast improvement on Anderson. I cannot say I've been to every arena in the MAC, but I've been to several. I prefer the Stroh over all of them. I think it's a lot better than Savage or the JAR. I actually like EMU's convo, but it's way too damned big, and it's the EXACT reason why I feel the Stroh is a much better building. WMU's place is interesting, only been there a couple times, and it's been awhile. I don't remember it being anything special though.

I always thought Oakland's arena was a good goal when we built our new building, and I think the Stroh is that and more.

Atmosphere has FAR more to do with the people in the arena than it does the building itself. The atmosphere in there has been good when there has been a reason for it to be good. Was it Jans year, UT game? I remember that being a good time. I think either MSU or Cincy came in and we played them tight for a half and it was pretty rocking too, before we took our ass beating? Bottom line to me, is the only thing that will fix the atmosphere in there is a good product on the court, and to me that product on the court is responsible for 99% of any atmosphere problems the arena has.

I do agree that the seats facing the wrong direction is asinine. It's my biggest pet peeve with any sporting venue. And I heard it direct from the project manager it was done solely to cut costs. The cost of adding the 45* angle was a staggering figure to me (I believe he told us it would have been a 7 figure upgrade). But the project did come in under budget, and to me, ensuring that all seats have a good view is a pretty big deal, and well worth that investment. I'll also agree that I wish the pitch were steeper. The upside is that the current pitch makes the steps easier for many to navigate, but when the place is full (which has been like 3 times total over the years) it is much harder to view the court then I feel it should be. I do also concur that the sound system isn't used properly. It sounds "tinny", and they have the volume set way too loud for crowds around 1000. I can see maybe they'd need the volume up if they had a big crowd, but it just sounds blaring and too much with our current crowds...this should be an easy fix though. My last big complaint (and actually easily fixable if they want to) is that most sections have no cupholders. To me this is a pretty huge oversight. Especially since they put cupholders in the ANderson club section, so they obviously understand their value. I don't know what more it would have cost to have cupholders at every seat, but it's patently stupid to not have them.

But on the whole, I love the Stroh. I think it's easy to get to, easy to navigate. The restrooms and concessions are better than Anderson (although what they've done to the cookies should be a fireable offense to whoever is responsible). I think the few chances we've seen with a crowd has shown the atmosphere there can be pretty nice. The video board is pretty good, albeit not perfect. I love having the stat board.

Of the arenas that I've been to of similar athletic programs, I like ours better than the rest. Obviously my sample size isn't as large as some others, but I still really like it. And it's a vast improvement over what we had (as it should be). It's also, IMO, MUCH better than any "renovation" of Anderson Arena could have ever hoped. UT went the route of renovating Savage, which cost them about the same as the Stroh cost us. And the place is still a dump when you get inside. The entrance area is much nicer, but when you're watching a game, it's the same craphole now it was before they wasted $30 million on it.

[Globetrotter]

My second point is, I agree with the title of this thread. While I don't believe it's the reason for why BG stinks (it was bad before even moving to the Stroh), the atmosphere is terrible. For starters, even when we opened the facility, instead of getting an opponent people could get excited about to open the building up with, even if simply to see the opponent itself, BG opened with Howard. I mean come on, Howard??? If that doesn't sum up a dud right out of the gate in your grand opening, then I don't know what does. BG chose Howard because what, Dr. Ribeau was president there after being instrumental in the Storh project? Well then you fly him and his family in for the opener, give them front row, center court seats and recognize him during the game. Big you don't open your new arena after closing the old one of over a half a century with Howard! SMH....

Aside from better restrooms and concession areas, there's very little else I like better about the Stroh Center over Anderson Arena several years into the facility from a spectator's standpoint. First off, the Stroh looks like a movie theater from outside. I bet half of the people who see it for the first time expect to see AMC or Regal Cinemas instead of Stroh Center on it. The seating has very little pitch to it. You hardly rise up above the people in front of you and instead you're more sloped back from the row in front of you, similar to the problem with the grandstands at the Doyt. I was very surprised to see this as even movie theaters have mastered theater-style seating in them well before the Stroh was ever built. AA actually had a really nice pitch to its seating in the upper section, it offered a way better viewpoint than the upper level of the Stroh. The two corner sections of seats in the Stroh face directly into the seating behind the basket. Horrible design and mistake! I had heard this was done in part to cut costs, while the project came in under budget. Even AA, which was built in 1960, avoided this design flaw. No way an error like the should have happen 50+ years later with the abilities of design and technology available. Unacceptable. One of the knocks on AA for years was it was too small - not for just basketball - but too small for everything. So what does BG do? It builds the Stroh with an even smaller capacity. WTH? Again, complete heads scratcher. The sound system was terrible in AA and is equally bad in the Stroh. For the love of God I wish someone would turn up the midrange and bass in the speakers, it's like all treble and screaming at you. The PA announcer sounds like he's speaking through his nods a day the music screams at you in all treble when they try and l,say something loud. Adjust the levels, please! The camera filming area is a joke. Was this simply overlooked altogether or what? The cameras are roped off from the concourse by those dividers you see at movie theaters (again with the movies) and there are cords all over the place and workers sitting at what looks like a lunch table from my grade school cafeteria. I mean come on. Hell, AA at least had a plywood stand and area for that in it.

Yes AA was in need of a major renovation. It had been for years. But BG really dropped the ball and fell well short when it built the Stroh. BG boasted that it had "hit a home run" when it built the Stroh. No you didn't, you hit a double. We had a chance to build the newest and best arena in the MAC, and instead we went from the bottom to somewhere in the middle of the pack at best. For all that needed done and that was lacking at AA, even up to its last season, I always got excited seeing a game there, even with the bad teams. I never get excited about the Stroh, except knowing I can take a piss without it being 112 degrees in the bathroom.

Seems about right

[guest44]

The media in general...pretty much everywhere outside of ESPN(very selectively) and some blogs...are a collection of PR regurgitating kiss asses who view sports as a toy store. As long as no one is getting robbed or raped..and in some instances as long as those rapes aren't in broad daylight on facebook..they're OK.

So..no...you aren't going to see a lot of criticism locally. Should someone have asked CK how Drunky McDrunkass came to be hired by him? Of course..but don't hold your breath waiting for the questions because that kind of negativity doesn't draw well in NW Ohio.

Look at the women's cross country coach at Toledo a few years back...he was banging/trying to bang his athletes for years before someone took him off the track. In the aftermath...did anyone ask their AD why no one caught on during the first 10 years or so of his treating his roster like Match.com? Hell no...that might irritate some advertisers

The Toledo cross country story came up because the Blade writer Ryan Autullo was willing to dig into the gutter to find it. He won awards for that story. Am i the only person curious what the hell happened that night at Reverend's? I guess so. However, it took my own Twitter account, and two clicks, to see the family who emailed the BGSU AD at 3am with the threat of a video, boasting about his firing that day. If they were willing to ask for a coach to be fired, I'd also assume they were OK with the attention it brought. They got victim treatment over him being mad that they filmed him with people he knew. Including the woman who he touched, who he knew. He didn't assault anyone or even touch them. The police weren't involved. Again, maybe I'm the only person who would like to know the backstory between that family and BGSU. I've heard it's complicated. Or why a Reverends worker was shooting a cell video in her own place of employment. That's all. Was Jans at the bars as often as people say he was? You could even ask a bar owner or two. BG has a couple. Did anyone see him intoxicated at other BGSU games? What did Kingston know about his drinking? Did Kingston think this was blackmail? Ya know you can request all that information. I know this isn't as interesting as Aunt Mildred's Blueberry pie recipe, or meet the new assistant to the assistant to the assistant AD, who Bowling Green is so lucky to have article. Those are much easier and what we get.

And I understand why we don't. It's easier to write substance less stories, and take the free Frickers before the game.

[ZuluWarrior]

I appreciate the points and dialogue. While the product has been bad and until we have a legitimate confeeene champion challenger, and I believe it will happen, someday, the lack of a student section courtside will be the biggest mistake in the Stroh design and I hope someone will take my suggestion and put the students close to the action I.e. Breslin Center and Cameron Indoor.
Zulu Warrior
BGSU 1990