"The Plan" is officially in place

BGDrew · Post by **BGDrew** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:16 pm

ZiggyZoomba wrote:Look, I know a whole lot more about this than I can share right now... PLEASE believe me when i say this project is going to be PERFECT for BGSU. It's going to be the perfect solution for our basketball and volleyball programs. I've seen the presentations from some of the design firms that are in the running for the contract. WE WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!! They know the concerns, they know what it's going to take.

THIS IS NOT a building for anything BUT basketball and volleyball, keep that in mind. Maybe a commencement or a stray UAO concert, but it's not being designed nor funded for anything other than our basketball and volleyball programs. It is NOT going to be NW Ohio's Premier Concert Center or anything like that. That would never work.

The numbers have been run... people have been consulted... this is NOT anything less than a well-considered and completely positive move. IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!

Alright, let's throw our money together to get a doorknob named after us!

Or I guess we could get a toilet called the "Amstutz".....

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:16 pm

Size does not indicate quality of an arena. Anderson gets dogged because the bleachers are falling apart, there is only one bathroom, the scoreboard is crap, the building is just in disrepair. The problems with the arena has nothing to do with capacity.

I was just at Oakland yesterday, and I'm again reminded what a great arena they have. It only seats 4000, but it is a nice little arena. Nice scoreboards, good seats, and it gets pretty loud when the crowd gets into it. They lack the students sitting on the floor, which I definitely want us to keep.

Still it's a very nice arena with a good scoreboard, a good atmosphere, and a decent video board. Capacity size does nothing to detract from the gameday experience up there.

As for only looking at the past few years to determine our capacity target? I ask you at what point in the history of our program have we ever shown the need for a capacity of greater than 5500-6000? I'm all for being optimistic about future growth, but at the same time it seems pointless to be unrealistic. Unless you have future visions of leaving the MAC and joining a larger conference there is no sense in building a 7000+ seat arena that will sit 3/4 empty for almost all of your games.

Building too large does a helluva lot more to hurt the gameday experience than building too small would.

Post by **ZiggyZoomba** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:17 pm

hammb wrote: Building too large does a helluva lot more to hurt the gameday experience than building to small would.

THAT, my friend... is the post of the day!!

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:22 pm

ZiggyZoomba wrote:
hammb wrote: Building too large does a helluva lot more to hurt the gameday experience than building to small would.
THAT, my friend... is the post of the day!!

Excepting, of course, the now corrected grammatical error

BleedOrange · Post by **BleedOrange** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:28 pm

hammb wrote:
ZiggyZoomba wrote:
hammb wrote: Building too large does a helluva lot more to hurt the gameday experience than building to small would.
THAT, my friend... is the post of the day!!
Excepting, of course, the now corrected grammatical error

And, excepting for the underlying assumption that we'll continue sucking in basketball and will forever remain ignored by potential fans.

FalconTurf · Post by **FalconTurf** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:35 pm

BleedOrange wrote:
hammb wrote:
ZiggyZoomba wrote:
hammb wrote: Building too large does a helluva lot more to hurt the gameday experience than building to small would.
THAT, my friend... is the post of the day!!
Excepting, of course, the now corrected grammatical error
And, excepting for the underlying assumption that we'll continue sucking in basketball and will forever remain ignored by potential fans.

Let the potential fans buy tickets on E-Bay for large amounts of cash when the house is full. Here's to BGSU again being recognized nationally for a little House that Roars rather than the big house that snores.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:37 pm

BleedOrange wrote:
hammb wrote:
ZiggyZoomba wrote:
hammb wrote: Building too large does a helluva lot more to hurt the gameday experience than building to small would.
THAT, my friend... is the post of the day!!
Excepting, of course, the now corrected grammatical error
And, excepting for the underlying assumption that we'll continue sucking in basketball and will forever remain ignored by potential fans.

It has nothing to do with us continuing to suck at basketball. We've had very good teams in the past, and still we don't see the need for a large venue.

Look around the MAC. There is no need for a large sterile arena. Unless you have visions of leaving this conference and joining a BCS league you're never going to get the consistent attendance figures to justify a bigger building. It just doesn't make sense.

redskins4ever · Post by **redskins4ever** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:49 pm

My previous info had said that the facility would be in the 8-10K range, especially for the concerncs about commencment and the lack of an attractive facility for other acitivities.

I'll have to call my source and have them divulge the number.

BGSU33 · Post by **BGSU33** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 10:24 pm

ZiggyZoomba wrote:Look, I know a whole lot more about this than I can share right now... PLEASE believe me when i say this project is going to be PERFECT for BGSU. It's going to be the perfect solution for our basketball and volleyball programs. I've seen the presentations from some of the design firms that are in the running for the contract. WE WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!! They know the concerns, they know what it's going to take.

THIS IS NOT a building for anything BUT basketball and volleyball, keep that in mind. Maybe a commencement or a stray UAO concert, but it's not being designed nor funded for anything other than our basketball and volleyball programs. It is NOT going to be NW Ohio's Premier Concert Center or anything like that. That would never work.

The numbers have been run... people have been consulted... this is NOT anything less than a well-considered and completely positive move. IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!

Without knowing what you know, I will take your word on it until we are informed more ourselves. Although, like some of you, I won't fully believe it's ever really going to happen until I see the groundbreaking. I remember seeing blueprints in Coach Larranaga's office in 1994 for an arena that was "about to be built." Administration's words, not Coach L's. However, do you happen to know the exact location they are looking to build the facility? Aside from being very interested in knowing what the arena will look like, I'm also interested as to exactly where it is planned to go.

Post by **ZiggyZoomba** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:12 am

If you're looking at the football stadium from Wooster... at the "main entrance" to campus, the #1 site is just to the left there, in the paved parking area.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:01 am

FalconTurf wrote:All seats are individual and have arm and backrests.

This would be huge if we could get this in a new building.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:10 am

And here is men's basketball attendance for the past 30 years. Which season was it, exactly, that we needed more than 5,500 seats?

1977-78 2,636
1978-79 2,856
1979-80 3,700
1980-81 3,596
1981-82 3,558
1982-83 3,949
1983-84 3,278
1984-85 3,118
1985-86 2,473
1986-87 3,148
1987-88 2,928
1988-89 2,954
1989-90 3,548
1990-91 3,269
1991-92 2,807
1992-93 2,905
1993-94 2,895
1994-95 2,801
1995-96 2,768
1996-97 3,570
1997-98 2,849
1998-99 2,467
1999-00 3,291
2000-01 2,888
2001-02 3,545
2002-03 2,684
2003-04 2,498
2004-05 2,451
2005-06 1,764
2006-07 1,403

factman · Post by **factman** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:56 am

An "average" attendance, doesn't necessarily mean a larger arena wouldn't pay, depending on the number of "big" games that your attendance would sell more than 5500. That being said, the last sellouts I remember, are the MSU mens game and the women playing Cincy in the tournament!

I would like to see all chair seats with the exception of the student section, so they have room to stand, dance, yell, do the wave, and any other antics they can think of.

redskins4ever · Post by **redskins4ever** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:27 am

One thing I can't stress enough, NO PADDED SEATING!

It will go from the house that Roars, to the house that snores, with all of that sound deadening material.

As for the need of more than 5500 seats. It comes down to a couple of things, one you can call up bigger OOC opponents and offer them potentially lager fees due to the gate. Two... there have been games in which the facility has sold out and demand was easily 2-3K more than that number.

A perceived lack of excessability has always hurt AA.

I wouldn't for a second believe that facility would ever have just two uses, and not having one that could accomodate 10K people would be a mistake.

Globetrotter · Post by **Globetrotter** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:26 pm

h2oville rocket wrote:
Globetrotter wrote:The Hobie Baker award winners, Bernie Casey, Nate Thurmond, Doyt and Anderson, Tom Wottle, Howard Komives, Some ladies. Busts of all of them.
That's a great idea. You could even put in Tom's brother, Dave, who was a multiple All-American and Olympic Gold medal winner from BG. Or you could just stick with Tom.

And I'm all for the busts of some ladies. Are you thinking athletes or just some ladies' busts? Maybe some of the memorable ones from around campus when you were there?

Hilarious. Are you sure you dont want the former receiver for the Bears in our honor garden? Sorry for the screw up folks.