Release of Study on Anderson Arena/Convocation Center
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ChicagoFalcon
- Chick
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Flipper
- The Global Village Idiot
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I predict it will be a convo center seating 7500 with ice making capabilites.
I think a club level nudie bar would be nice, but probably impractical.
One benefit to building a new facility out by the rest of the athletics buildings is it will reduce the congestion on campus during the middle of the week. There's far more students interested in not going to basketball games than going. Renovating Anderson and making it bigger will only add to the parking headaches for students interested in going to the library or a night class.
I think a club level nudie bar would be nice, but probably impractical.
One benefit to building a new facility out by the rest of the athletics buildings is it will reduce the congestion on campus during the middle of the week. There's far more students interested in not going to basketball games than going. Renovating Anderson and making it bigger will only add to the parking headaches for students interested in going to the library or a night class.
I’ve read a few posts concerning the capacity for basketball if we build a new arena. One thing we must keep in mind and remember if we do build a new facility, what we have done in the past and what we do now isn't what we should limit ourselves to in the future as far as a new building is concerned. Just because a capacity of 4,700 is okay for us now and has been for awhile, we can't build a small capacity arena for the future. Now I’m not saying we need 15,000, but we must think outside the box when we build a new building. I believe this has already been implemented in the planning stages of this building.
BG hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 1968, doesn’t host NIT home games, normally doesn’t sellout a 4,700 arena that often, and has had trouble getting big-named schools to play us at home. But that doesn’t mean we can’t improve in some of these areas in the future with the aid of a new building. That is why if we are going to build a new facility, we need to make sure we are thinking of the bigger picture. We need to think about “What If” as we build this building……..What if we can build a strong program at BG. What if we can attract better recruits with the help of having a better facility. What if we can get bigger named schools to come more often, or host NIT games instead of playing them on the road. And aside from the building, what if we can start retaining players and keep them from transferring to build a better program, or what if we have (or can get) a coach who can lift us to the top of the MAC and we can start building a better and stronger fan base. We need a facility that can accommodate these possibilities.
I believe and know BG can be so much more than it has been in the recent past in hoops. Many people do not know or realize just how much of a basketball power BG used to be not too long ago. While we may not ever get back to that level, we can be so much more than what we are now or have recently become. How many people 10 years ago could have imaged BG football being in the Top-25, having Heisman Trophy candidates, or better yet, hosting College Gameday? Many people would have thought it was a crazy thought then, and as much as I would have liked to see it, it was nearly impossible to envision then. But it happened. That is what we must keep in mind for this new arena as well. Things can certainly get a lot better with BG basketball, and we must keep that in mind when building this facility. We can be so much more than what we are now, and we must account for the possibility of that in the near future with this building, not to mention the other functions this facility could provide for and serve.
BG hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 1968, doesn’t host NIT home games, normally doesn’t sellout a 4,700 arena that often, and has had trouble getting big-named schools to play us at home. But that doesn’t mean we can’t improve in some of these areas in the future with the aid of a new building. That is why if we are going to build a new facility, we need to make sure we are thinking of the bigger picture. We need to think about “What If” as we build this building……..What if we can build a strong program at BG. What if we can attract better recruits with the help of having a better facility. What if we can get bigger named schools to come more often, or host NIT games instead of playing them on the road. And aside from the building, what if we can start retaining players and keep them from transferring to build a better program, or what if we have (or can get) a coach who can lift us to the top of the MAC and we can start building a better and stronger fan base. We need a facility that can accommodate these possibilities.
I believe and know BG can be so much more than it has been in the recent past in hoops. Many people do not know or realize just how much of a basketball power BG used to be not too long ago. While we may not ever get back to that level, we can be so much more than what we are now or have recently become. How many people 10 years ago could have imaged BG football being in the Top-25, having Heisman Trophy candidates, or better yet, hosting College Gameday? Many people would have thought it was a crazy thought then, and as much as I would have liked to see it, it was nearly impossible to envision then. But it happened. That is what we must keep in mind for this new arena as well. Things can certainly get a lot better with BG basketball, and we must keep that in mind when building this facility. We can be so much more than what we are now, and we must account for the possibility of that in the near future with this building, not to mention the other functions this facility could provide for and serve.
GO BG!!!
A new arena is a the only way to go. I have been going to Anderson Arena since 1977/78 and love the place. BUT it has lived it's life 15 years too long. For this program to get to the next level a new arena has to be put on a track for completion by 2010. AA could be redone but why? Parking is one reason many folks don't go to games now. If you play games on week nights when school is in session parking is a mess for any games that draws over 2,000. A new arena out by the ice arena and football field would solve that problem. If you travel to any of the other MAC schools and see what they play in compared to AA you would understand. Central's Rose Arena is the only place I would consider to be worst. Central's program is in the dump! AA is great to watch a game but it isn't Division I anymore. A new arena can still have some of the same feature of AA!
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orangeandbrown
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The minority chimes in again:
BG needs a bigger arena like Paris Hilton needs a diet (ewwww). I know they have to do something, but a 8,000 seat arena would not be a good thing. The "build it and they will come" philosophy is a pipe dream. People don't go to basketball games to sit in a nice chair and have easy access to a restroom. A new facility will not help attendence. You will just have 2,000 people in an 8,000 seat arena.
See Cleveland State University - Don't know the year, but after their Sweet 16 run they built the Convocation Center in Downtown Cleveland. To put it mildly the team has fallen off a little, and now they have this hudge arena and don't draw diddly. Quite frankly it looks ridiculous and you can her a pin drop during a game: it's a punchline.
CSU's Convo has hosted the NCAA Tournament and gets top name concerts because it's in Cleveland. You build CSU's facility in BG and nobody is comming. You are going to have a large, new, state-of-the-art facility sitting empty (or drawing 2,000 people for a basket ball game).
BG needs a bigger arena like Paris Hilton needs a diet (ewwww). I know they have to do something, but a 8,000 seat arena would not be a good thing. The "build it and they will come" philosophy is a pipe dream. People don't go to basketball games to sit in a nice chair and have easy access to a restroom. A new facility will not help attendence. You will just have 2,000 people in an 8,000 seat arena.
See Cleveland State University - Don't know the year, but after their Sweet 16 run they built the Convocation Center in Downtown Cleveland. To put it mildly the team has fallen off a little, and now they have this hudge arena and don't draw diddly. Quite frankly it looks ridiculous and you can her a pin drop during a game: it's a punchline.
CSU's Convo has hosted the NCAA Tournament and gets top name concerts because it's in Cleveland. You build CSU's facility in BG and nobody is comming. You are going to have a large, new, state-of-the-art facility sitting empty (or drawing 2,000 people for a basket ball game).
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orangeandbrown
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No, they wouldn't. An arena that sized would only bring opponents in IF it was filled, and I don't believe it would be. If it was, it would be once or twice a year--and it wouldn't be for Butler.OSUFALCON wrote:I can think of many bands that prefer to perform their concerts in 6-8K arenas. Better non conference games could be added if we had this size arena. How many butts would be in seats to see Xavier or Dayton or Butler or Temple?
How many sell outs did we actually have, even in our heyday?
I do concede that there would be some other uses (concerts, graduation) that might benefit from a bigger facility.
We say we want to keep the atmosphere of Anderson, and then we go ahead and talk about building a cavern we can only half fill.
JWE, no we don't need a bigger arena for basketball. If we build it they will NOT come. We will never, EVER, draw 10,000 people for a basketball game. It's also unlikely that we'll ever get any real acts to come to BG.
That said, I'm not sure that renovating Anderson is really feasible. Whether people will come for a new restroom is irrelevant, the place needs additional facilities. The place is not handicap accessible at ALL, and is probably not up to any sorts of codes in that regard. The place has major issues with a leaky roof. Again, this is all from the fan's view. I have to imagine that the facilities for the coaches/athletes are an even bigger punchline than the CSU Convo center you mention.
Even if you were to drop millions into fixing the roof, adding on a restroom, making the arena fully accessible for the handicapped, and updating all the locker rooms & offices to fully modern, you STILL have a building that is too small for graduation ceremonies.
I'm not going to argue that a new arena is the best thing for the BG Hoops atmosphere. Obviously for basketball games I'd rather have an Anderson arena that's been completely overhauled, but by the time you do that you have got to be getting real close to the amount of money you'd spend on an entirely new convo center. For the good of the university, not just the hoops team, I think a convo center seating between 6-8k people is ideal. It's still fairly small, although it will be 3/4 empty for most games. More importantly it fulfills the needs of the university as a whole.
That said, I'm not sure that renovating Anderson is really feasible. Whether people will come for a new restroom is irrelevant, the place needs additional facilities. The place is not handicap accessible at ALL, and is probably not up to any sorts of codes in that regard. The place has major issues with a leaky roof. Again, this is all from the fan's view. I have to imagine that the facilities for the coaches/athletes are an even bigger punchline than the CSU Convo center you mention.
Even if you were to drop millions into fixing the roof, adding on a restroom, making the arena fully accessible for the handicapped, and updating all the locker rooms & offices to fully modern, you STILL have a building that is too small for graduation ceremonies.
I'm not going to argue that a new arena is the best thing for the BG Hoops atmosphere. Obviously for basketball games I'd rather have an Anderson arena that's been completely overhauled, but by the time you do that you have got to be getting real close to the amount of money you'd spend on an entirely new convo center. For the good of the university, not just the hoops team, I think a convo center seating between 6-8k people is ideal. It's still fairly small, although it will be 3/4 empty for most games. More importantly it fulfills the needs of the university as a whole.
I can't believe how pessimistic some posters are about filling a larger arena.
I can remember times when coming to a basketball game was a campus event and Anderson arena was filled for most every MAC game. In some cases, e.g. games against Toledo, Miami, and Ohio, students would line up for 2-3 hours or more before the doors opened in order to get a seat and many students were turned away.
And I can remember several out of conference games when we could have drawn a much larger crowd--one example was when Jud Heathcoat's Michigan State team, ranked 3rd in the nation, came to a jam packed Anderson Arena (early 90s?) and BG won.
Talk about hair raising experiences!!
If it happened before, with a smaller student enrollment, it can happen again and be even better.
I have no doubts that with the right circumstances BG could draw well in a larger arena. There are so many factors involved. More convenient parking, a new comfortable attractive Arena, increased non-student attendance, more student excitement and involvment, better overall play in the MAC, better out of conference scheduling, and most importantly better BG recruiting and performance.
One criterion to keep in mind is the other MAC Arenas, especially the newer ones. The new NIU Convocation Center and the planned Central Michigan Convocation Center (perhaps already under construction) have a capacity of around 8000-9000.
I believe that a crucial factor is designing an Arena that will permit strong student involvment. Ohio State's new arena really lacks in this area. But Coach Dakich has already come out strongly in supporting a student friendly design and I think it will happen.
I can remember times when coming to a basketball game was a campus event and Anderson arena was filled for most every MAC game. In some cases, e.g. games against Toledo, Miami, and Ohio, students would line up for 2-3 hours or more before the doors opened in order to get a seat and many students were turned away.
And I can remember several out of conference games when we could have drawn a much larger crowd--one example was when Jud Heathcoat's Michigan State team, ranked 3rd in the nation, came to a jam packed Anderson Arena (early 90s?) and BG won.
Talk about hair raising experiences!!
If it happened before, with a smaller student enrollment, it can happen again and be even better.
I have no doubts that with the right circumstances BG could draw well in a larger arena. There are so many factors involved. More convenient parking, a new comfortable attractive Arena, increased non-student attendance, more student excitement and involvment, better overall play in the MAC, better out of conference scheduling, and most importantly better BG recruiting and performance.
One criterion to keep in mind is the other MAC Arenas, especially the newer ones. The new NIU Convocation Center and the planned Central Michigan Convocation Center (perhaps already under construction) have a capacity of around 8000-9000.
I believe that a crucial factor is designing an Arena that will permit strong student involvment. Ohio State's new arena really lacks in this area. But Coach Dakich has already come out strongly in supporting a student friendly design and I think it will happen.
Deep down, I know you are right. But I have seen college games in large arenas with 2,000 people. It stinks, and I don't want that at BG. The appeal of Anderson is that it can get rocking with a few people and ROCKIN' with 3,500. Opposing players hate comming there and it gets loud and intimidating. It's fun. You lose that with a bigger facility, that's all.hammb wrote:
I think a convo center seating between 6-8k people is ideal. It's still fairly small, although it will be 3/4 empty for most games. More importantly it fulfills the needs of the university as a whole.
I know what you're saying, and I agree with it. The problem is that we cannot blindly build a new arena only trying to fulfill the needs/wants of the basketball programs.JWEIII wrote:Deep down, I know you are right. But I have seen college games in large arenas with 2,000 people. It stinks, and I don't want that at BG. The appeal of Anderson is that it can get rocking with a few people and ROCKIN' with 3,500. Opposing players hate comming there and it gets loud and intimidating. It's fun. You lose that with a bigger facility, that's all.hammb wrote:
I think a convo center seating between 6-8k people is ideal. It's still fairly small, although it will be 3/4 empty for most games. More importantly it fulfills the needs of the university as a whole.
Salsa, I have been to sell out games at Anderson as recently as 4 seasons ago. As great as those games were, I still get the impression that if the arena had an additional 2000 seats there would not have been 2000 more people there to fill them. A town of BG's size is not going to put 4-5k people into a basketball arena on any regular basis. Especially not when the team is struggling or playing a less than stellar opponent. I love BG hoops, but I don't think of BG as a basketball town one bit. If both programs are at the top at the same time I think you'll find that hockey will outdraw basketball in this town. Obviously football is a notch above as well. If we can get back to the point where we're winning all but one or two games a year on our home court I think we can reasonably expect to average about 4000 fans if we have a newer, better facility. That still an additional 500 fans to what we averaged during McLeod's senior season. I'm very skeptical that easy parking, better bathrooms, and a nicer arena is going to bring in very many more people to BG hoops.
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Jacobs4Heisman
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I'm more concerned about the recruiting impact of AA as compared to a new convo center. I have no doubt our recruiting has suffered the past few years because of our lagging behind in facilities. We've already seen an (assumed) bump in football recruiting because of the Sebo Center. I would think a new arena would do nothing but help the basketball team, even if it means playing in front of 1/4 capacity for the first few years.
If it were up to me, which lucky for everyone it isn't, I would build a new all in one convo center with about an 8,000 seat capacity. Hockey, basketball, graduation, concerts, guest speakers, etc. In a perfect world it would be largely state funded (pipe dream) and would be done within 5-10 years. If that were combined with the Sebo center and some aesthetic and structural improvements to the Doyt, it would jump our athletics as well as the entire university several notches ahead of where it is now. [/wet dream]
If it were up to me, which lucky for everyone it isn't, I would build a new all in one convo center with about an 8,000 seat capacity. Hockey, basketball, graduation, concerts, guest speakers, etc. In a perfect world it would be largely state funded (pipe dream) and would be done within 5-10 years. If that were combined with the Sebo center and some aesthetic and structural improvements to the Doyt, it would jump our athletics as well as the entire university several notches ahead of where it is now. [/wet dream]
Roll Along!
I agree!!! I mean, I know everyone can express their opinion on here which I am all for, but it is sad to have our own people saying BG will "never, ever" do this or "can't" do that. "Never and can't?" I can see something along the lines of "it would be tough or difficult," but frankly, I say it's bullshit to say that we can't or never will. So I'll tell you what. When we build a new arena and "WHEN" we do pack an 8,000 - 10,000 arena for a game, and it will happen, you guys can stay at home and read all about it.Salsa wrote:I can't believe how pessimistic some posters are about filling a larger arena.
I'm not saying if we built a place 8,000 - 10,000 we would pack it every night. But we can do way better than what we draw now and we can certainly get better opponents. We can't think ahead into the future and soley base issues on where we currently stand with where this program is now. Heck, if we jump back to 1997, 2000 or 2002, we're singing a completely different tune and we'd be saying we need the building right now. When a Top-5 Michigan State came to BG, or a Gary Trent-led Ohio team came to BG, or a lot of the Toledo games that were at BG, or when Michigan came to our place, or even many of the games as recent as the 1997, 2000 and 2002 seasons came along, we had to turn away tons of people because our arena was too small. It was awesome to pack the place, but it was sad we couldn't get everyone who wanted to come into the building to see us play.
I love Anderson Arena. The place is awesome and I hope whatever we build can be constructed to bring part of that charm into the new building. Will it be the same? No. But as good as AA is for us now, it also hurts us in certain aspects as well such as recruiting (facilities), attracting bigger opponents (small capacity) and it lacks nearly all of the bells and whistles most places now have. So while I have seen schools in the MAC like Ohio, Ball State and Miami which have larger arenas attract in recent years schools like Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, Purdue, Notre Dame, etc., you can bet we won't get the same opportunities. With that said, if thougths of "never and can't" come to mind about opening the door with a new and bigger facility to getting better non-conference opponents to come here....you'd better not be bitching about playing teams like Urbana, Tiffin and all the other crappy games we get stuck with then. Because if we don't build a bigger place, "never and can't" will be words best to describe our chances at getting those type of teams here.
GO BG!!!
