Release of Study on Anderson Arena/Convocation Center

[SaxyIrishTenor]

I see the point as far as graduation goes. But, it just seems very wasteful to build such a large arena for December graduations. When I came through, there were "graduations." Depending on your college/degree you graduated at a different time. Is this still done? As I remember, there was no problem with tickets (or mabey I just didn't have anyone who wanted to come... anyway...).

As far as anything else... when was the last time Anderson sold out a "show"? For that matter, when was the last "show" Anderson? If the plan is to attract shows to raise money, I'd be all for it (bring on the Stones and the circus). But I just don't think a town/college the size of BG can support that size facility (no offense).

Finally, Anderson can rock with 3,000! When I go to a game I don't want to be able to hear the person next to me - ya know? I just think we would lose some of that home court magic...

They do that for the May graduations, but not December. May is still overcrowded and tickets are hard to get. I'm already freaking out about having to get extra tickets. I've got 5 people in my HOUSEHOLD, let alone grandparents and such. I'll only be getting 4 tickets. The December graduation has gotten so large they are considering adding a second ceremony.

As for UAO shows, its a case of the chicken and the egg in some situations. The draw from some shows is extremely HIGH and I'm not sure but they might have sold out (or gotten close) for Dashboard whenthey came at homecoming time. (Someone correct me if I am wrong.) But here's the deal - many acts don't want to come to Anderson because it is too small and the acoustics are terrible, so that eliminates some of the bigger groups you referred to. (Not that I think the Stones would ever come to BG...) If we get bigger names, there go those extra tickets.

[JWEIII]

But here's the deal - many acts don't want to come to Anderson because it is too small and the acoustics are terrible, so that eliminates some of the bigger groups you referred to. (Not that I think the Stones would ever come to BG...) If we get bigger names, there go those extra tickets.

But 10,000? I mean if Anderson, mabey, sold out one show in recent history I don't know if they could get more than 5,000 for something really good (no offense to Dashboard fans- Dashboard? Man, I'm getting old).

But 100%, no argument, that acoustics are terrible in Anderson, but that is a question of facility quality, it's not a size problem (unlike MY problem - HEY-Yooooooo)

[transfer2BGSU]

I would like something on the order of the Cintas Center at Xavier.

http://www.cintascenter.com/arena_main.cfm

[hammb]

When I graduated in May '02 it was a nightmare to get tickets. I bought some from friends, etc, and still had to turn down some of my family members that wanted to go to the ceremony. As part of his speech Dr. Ribeau mentioned a convo center at that time. In short, Anderson is way to small for May graduation.

It's also too small for concerts. The acoustics there SUCK. I went to the Bush show and it was a good show, but the sound is just terrible. That's what makes it such a great basketball venue, but ruins its ability for concerts. If they could create a decent concert facility I think you'd see some acts come here. Look at Toledo there is not a single decent concert facility in that town, and as a result there are no good concerts there either. I think if you put in a decent place to watch concerts you may get some acts on the trip from Cleveland-to-Columbus-to-Detroit part of their tours. You aren't talking about just drawing from BG, because it would draw from Toledo as well. I know I think it'd be awesome to have a decent place to watch a concert without traveling to Detroit/Cleveland/Columbus. You wouldn't see a lot of acts, I'm sure, but I think you might get some better acts than what we've been able to get in the recent past.

Unfortunately, the perfect concert/graduation convo center is less than ideal for our hoops program. We cannot fill Anderson, heck we struggle to get 2000 in there on a lot of nights. That will look really barren in an 8k-10k seat arena. The perfect acoustics for a concert are also the exact opposite of what you want for a basketball arena. This is the double-edged sword. Somewhere there has to be a balance that needs struck.

At this point I think renovating Anderson Arena is just throwing money at the problem and is unlikely to be feasible as a long term solution.

[JWEIII]

Unfortunately, the perfect concert/graduation convo center is less than ideal for our hoops program.

BINGO! Well said. I think this is the debate Saxy and I were having.

So perhaps the question is "Do you want a 'gym' that can rock with 2,500 or a good graduation/concert faciltiy?"

I say forget graduation (the ceremony part), it's one day and your family will get over it. Go to Cleveland a couple times a year for concerts (you can sleep on my couch). Give Anderson a face lift and add some good facilities (for recruiting). And have some ROCKIN' hoops games. That's my opinion, anyway.

[SaxyIrishTenor]

I say forget graduation (the ceremony part), it's one day and your family will get over it.

The kids whose grandparents are paying for college might beg to differ.

[SaxyIrishTenor]

Unfortunately, the perfect concert/graduation convo center is less than ideal for our hoops program.

For some, its not all about the hoops program. Students who don't frequent sporting events pay tuition too.

[jacojdm]

Look at Toledo there is not a single decent concert facility in that town, and as a result there are no good concerts there either. I think if you put in a decent place to watch concerts you may get some acts on the trip from Cleveland-to-Columbus-to-Detroit part of their tours. You aren't talking about just drawing from BG, because it would draw from Toledo as well. I know I think it'd be awesome to have a decent place to watch a concert without traveling to Detroit/Cleveland/Columbus.

this is just wishful thinking on the part of many. especially those who like to consider toledo to be a "major" metropolitan area. big names aren't going to come to the greater toledo area, especially if there's a stop in cleveland, columbus, or detroit, because there aren't enough people from which to draw. the greater toledo area has a population of roughly 600K, making it the 69th largest metro area in the US. by comparison, and all at less than a two hour drive (deemed reasonable by many if not most concertgoers), metro columbus is the 32nd largest area in the US with 1.5 million (and rising) residents, cleveland the 16th with three million (not including canton or youngstown, which would add another 1.1 million plus prospective concertgoers), and detroit/ann arbor area has nearly 5.5 million people (8th largest metro area).
in short, big names aren't going to come to northwest ohio because it's not where people live. promoters have the greatest chance of selling lots and lots of seats based on demography more than facilities.

*all population figures from the 2000 US census. www.census.gov

[Falconboy]

Voted for new convo center. As much as I love Andersons ability to magnify any noise in that place which is great when crowds are loud for basketball games, we probably need to just go all out and go for new place , but I definitly would want the place built with AA's properties as it pertains to facilitating great crowd noise and having the bleachers/stands designed like AA's with students on the floor.

The main thing that makes AA look like a HS gym is that wall at the north end. If we get a convo center with stands all around with people in them we'll have crowd noise coming form all four ends of the place to really make it rock!

[hammb]

Unfortunately, the perfect concert/graduation convo center is less than ideal for our hoops program.

For some, its not all about the hoops program. Students who don't frequent sporting events pay tuition too.

Hey, I wasn't taking a side there. I'm not sure what the best solution is, honestly. If they build something new I would like it to be large enough to solve the problems of graduation & other events.

As far as concerts go, unfortunately, I think jacojdm is likely right, we'll never get the top acts. As he pointed out, most concert goers will gladly travel the 2 hours. Based on the population of the area you're not going to sell out a 10k seat venue unless it is an absolute top act, either. Thinking it over, I think jaco is right here, and we'd be best off leaving that out of it.

That leaves the hoops program & university functions as the primary things to consider. I think, in that regard, we're best off building a 6000-8000 seat arena. For graduations that's an additional 1500-3500 seats, which should be enough to satisfy those that aren't getting tickets. If you need more, perhaps they could split the May ceremonies even further. It's also still feasible for hoops. It's bigger than we need for hoops, but still small enough to not be too cavernous (I hope). If we're going to give up on landing any concerts I think you can also build the acoustics to be purposely bad, redirecting the noise back into the floor area. Perhaps making it sound louder than a 2000 person crowd normally would in an 8000 seat arena. Again, of course, this pretty much guarantees a lousy concert venue if you do decide to bring acts in.

Unfortunately we're in a real pickle here, and I'm not 100% sure what the best solution is. I don't like the thought of renovating Anderson, because it needs MAJOR work. Cost prohibitive work, IMO. For the love of god there is only 1 bathroom! What's best for our basketball team is another small, cozy arena that can get rocking. What's best for the university is an expanded facility that can better accomodate the graduation crowds. In the end, people that are more knowledgable than I about these sorts of things will have to develop some sort of compromise where the new facility doesn't seem inadequate for both uses.

[jacojdm]

For the love of god there is only 1 bathroom!

but, it is the best, most comfortable men's room on campus, IMO, especially mid-day.

there's a reason that the project is billed as a "convocation center" and not as an athletic arena, or some similar terminology. by definition, that means it's main purpose is to house ceremonies sponsored by the university i.e. commencement. the new facility (or renovated AA) should take into consideration commencement crowds, but should also not have acres of wasted space for athletic events. it seems to me that hammb's 6-8K seats would be ideal, and probably more toward the 6-7K figure.
fwiw, i like the thought of a multiple use facility, like the peterson events center at pitt. the new arena (although much, much larger than we need at bg) also has, in effect, a facility similar to our SRC. not a bad idea, i don't think, as many will note that our SRC is frequently used to capacity.

[JWEIII]

Can anyone think of any reason BGSU would need a BIGGER arena, other than graduation?

As jaco pointed out, the concert thing ain't gonna happen anyway, so I'm with hamm, let's let that go. Other than that...

I don't know how an arena that is twice the size of what we need is good. We need a better arena! I think that they could do some serious work to Anderson for the price asscoiated with a 10,000 seat venue.

[JWEIII]

The kids whose grandparents are paying for college might beg to differ.

That's one lucky kid! He/she should give said grandparents fist crack at the tickets. (one for mom, one for dad, one for e-bay).

[hammb]

Can anyone think of any reason BGSU would need a BIGGER arena, other than graduation?

As jaco pointed out, the concert thing ain't gonna happen anyway, so I'm with hamm, let's let that go. Other than that...

I don't know how an arena that is twice the size of what we need is good. We need a better arena! I think that they could do some serious work to Anderson for the price asscoiated with a 10,000 seat venue.

The problem is how feasible is that renovation? Hence the feasibility study LOL

Seriously though any renovations need to start with redoing the roof. Having buckets/trash cans collecting drippings looks oh so lovely, but I think we should get rid of it

How feasible is it, though, to construct a new restroom on the second level? That seems like a pretty large upgrade to me, especially if you aren't going to replace any of the existing upper level rooms.

Again, I'm not an expert in this by any means. Hell I don't even know what I'm talking about. I do know that Anderson needs MAJOR work to be up to snuff as a modern facility and that's just from the eyes of us as fans...I'm sure its much worse for the players & coaches in the offices/locker rooms. Then when you put all that money into making Anderson hospitable you STILL don't have a larger arena for graduations, etc. So you want to knock out the north wall and expand it that way as well. I don't know about engineering & stuff like that but when you start something that major I think you're going to start getting real close to the cost of a new arena and not have all the benefits of the new arena.

I'd be real surprised if this study doesn't tell us we need a new arena.

[RobbyFalcon]

As we saw in that pre-season story about MAC facilities, what many of us find charming, others find substandard.

I love Anderson Arena. I love the gym feel of it. That being said, I can easily understand a teenager from a large high school walking into it and thinking, "This is it? This is all there is? I play in gyms now. I want to play in an arena."

A new facility would help the basketball team, the UAO and all the other stuff.

My concert story is INXS in '88 or so and my gawd the acoustics were awful. Just awful. I wouldn't want to see anyone there. The sound was brutal.

I did see JC Mellancamp a year earlier at Savage in Toledo and it sounded great.

So I vote for the convocation center. What would be great, albeit a bit impractical, would be to build the new center but still have a game or two every year in Anderson for the sake of nostalgia.

God Bless the Falcons!!
Long Live Anderson Arena!!