My phone doesnt take the best pictures, but I thought I would share how the Stroh is coming along. I got to tour it a week or so ago as part of my services marketing class. Big diference from Anderson: you walk in the front entrance, get your ticket scanned. Then you walk up a large flight of stairs. At the top, you will be overlooking the arena, higher than the highest seat. You will have to walk down stairs to get to every seat. My initial impression is that the arena itself seems small at first. But remember as you look at these pictures that there will be seats all the way down to the floor, they just weren't in yet. Except the student section, every ticket sold will have an assigned seat, which I think is a big plus, because instead of having to arrive an hour early to get a good seat, now it will be reserved for you! The official capacity will be around 4,700, but the really cool thing is that there is a huge concourse area behind the east basket, where easily 500-800 standing room only tickets could be sold for the bigger games. Its not a bad view either. Actually, there wont really be a bad seat in the house. Its a great venue all around. 4 concession areas with 1 full size kitchen will be awesome. They talked about having things like steak burgers pizza, etc on game days. They also mentioned that they would most likely have employees walking around the seats with food and drinks, so you dnt have to get up and walk up the stairs. That reminds me, a really cool design feature is that you never lose sight of the game as you go the the concession area. There is an unblocked view of the game all the way around the concourse. Very cool. Also, 2 mens, 4 womens, and 2 "family" restrooms.....just that makes it 100x better than Anderson. And fact that it is being build for $20 million is amazing, I have seen some $30 million arenas that couldnt touch this place. Although I will miss Anderson, I think the Stroh will be amazing and we will not loose ANY of the atmosphere. If this place is packed, I guarantee it will be just as loud as Anderson. Everything is so compact, yet roomy and comfortable. Enough ranting, I could go on but you get the idea. THIS PLACE WILL BE AMAZING!!!
Entrance
The Falcon
This is the $75,000 spa tub that was donated to BGSU by the head athletic trainer, I believe. It has a treadmill in it, much like the one out at Sebo.
View of the south side of the arena
Closer view of the south side. The center concourse area and chairs will be the new "Falcon Club"/suite area. Anyone can buy a ticket to this area. Alcohol will be served in THIS concourse area. Only people with tickets to this area will be able to buy. Alcohol will not be served anywhere else in the arena.
North side bleachers
View of where the student section, band, and cheerleaders will be, under the west basket. Seats arent in yet.
The "standing room only" area
View of the floor from the "standing room only" area
The next part of this post is a question: As part of our class we are developing a new fan experience for the Stroh center. I would love feedback from fans: What do you enjoy about Anderson that you would like to see kept? What is done poorly? What would make your experience more enjoyable? we are looking at this project from the prospective of both students and "townies" and their families. Anything will help. Thanks!
"Fault finding is like window washing. All the dirt seems to be on the other side."
"When life hands you paper jams, make paper footballs."
