Media Tour of New Arena

[LG281]

Said it before...I'll say it again. I think that playing on campus is a great idea...for specific games.

I don't understand why folks are all bent out of shape on this. I guess I agree with Coach Les - I think that the atmosphere for these sell-out games is going to be insane. If it drives some more student interest downtown... then that is freaking fantastic.

The folks that do a little legwork instead of grumbling will get tickets. No one said that you had to pony up for those reserved seats. THERE WILL BE GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS - just make sure you get one.

Really, put on your big girl panties and get over it already.

[BUFanatic]

It's not so much the fact that they are going to play games there, it's just certain ones. Sure, the new arena gives us more flexibility.... to play small schools. Great, now we'll become like ISU, scheduling a ton of small schools like Dayton just to show that we have power over the Civic Center. Besides, I think we get pretty good priority at the Civic Center.

Bottom Line: If you want to hold CBI/CIT games, or small school games on-campus, great. But you get up to the Bigger name NIT and Larger Non-Con schools at the on-campus arena, you're just being plain stupid. Sure, it MIGHT get more students to come, but at the cost of attendence numbers that will make the rest of the NCAA make a category of "Bradley Jokes" at their meetings. I just have a question, we had the history, the tradition, and the memories of the Fieldhouse. Honestly, it reminds me of how Butler fans think of Hinkle. Now, instead of renovating the larger capacity Fieldhouse and THEN concentrating on this whole "let's have more games on-campus to get the students into it" kick. You know using HISTORY as an even better incentive. You build a new, smaller arena in the whole "new style". Very plain and un-impressive. And try to draw fans in. Honestly, I don't know why the fieldhouse needed replacing. Look at places like Butler and Duke. Cameron Indoor and Hinkle have been around forever. Both are on-campus and they sell out most of their crowds. Now, either we really DID need a new arena to attract more fans, then that is understandable, but it seems that with the right marketing strategy, teams with "Old Stadiums" as their PRIMARY arenas ON-CAMPUS can pack the place just like those with smaller "New Stadiums".

PS, I think this was my longest post ever! haha

[BUFanatic]

BU's only hope would be that tv coverage of NIT post season games played here would be tight, and not pan around the new 'gym'.

Haha, righhhhhttt. Cuz I've NEVER seen ESPN do a pan shot in the NIT. lol

[shaunguth]

I dunno, a lot of the so-called "blue hairs" that have season tickets still like the NIT and view it as a prestigious title. A lot of them will be upset that the number of seats is far under the amount of Season ticket holders. I can believe that this venue would be large enough for oh, say, the CBI/CIT, but the NIT still draws pretty good teams and crowds.

I've posted these numbers before, but here they are again.....

I don't think ANY regular season or postseason game belongs in the new arena.

I posted the last three postseasons' attendance at Carver Arena in another thread......

5,928.....2008-09.....CIT.....4 games

6,851.....2007-08.....CBI.....3 games

8,304.....2006-07.....NIT.....1 game

4,472.....Lowest

9,014.....Highest

6,571.....Average attendance

Only three of the last eight postseason games at Carver were under 6,100. I'm sure these numbers are closer to the actual attendance than regular season games, since they are not part of the season ticket package.

[tornado]

Most everything Bradley has done in this entire campaign...
Markin, the new arena, practice facility, etc...
has been so far beyond imagination and better than expected...

so why not wait and see what happens in regards to game in the on-campus arena before losing it....

[squirrelgotdead]

Said it before...I'll say it again. I think that playing on campus is a great idea...for specific games.

I don't understand why folks are all bent out of shape on this. I guess I agree with Coach Les - I think that the atmosphere for these sell-out games is going to be insane. If it drives some more student interest downtown... then that is freaking fantastic.

The folks that do a little legwork instead of grumbling will get tickets. No one said that you had to pony up for those reserved seats. THERE WILL BE GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS - just make sure you get one.

Really, put on your big girl panties and get over it already.

I'm kinda with you. I don't know all the numbers, but I do know some numbers. . .

The walkup for Presbyterian last year was around 185.

The announced attendance was 8234, but the arena was at best filled slightly over half (55% is being generous).

Meaning, if you give benefit of every doubt 60% of the season base is dedicated to attending every game. Estimating about 8000 season tix holders, that's around 4800.

Again, it is important to realize that these will be games that are in addition to the season ticket package to begin with. It is my understanding that BU will be making every attempt to secure the standard 15 or more Carver Arena games for the season ticket holders.

I've heard there is the possibility BU will play 18 home games this year. Here's what there's been in recent years:

2010: 15
2009: 14
2008: 16
2007: 16
2006: 14
2005: 15
2004: 15

So bottom line is these are games you haven't gotten in recent memory anyway. And you know that before you purchase your season tickets. Caveat emptor.

What this does is creates great demand and sellout crowds for even your weakest opponents.

It also allows the school greater flexibility to add home games to the schedule.

Finally, it does involve the students in a way that hasn't happened perhaps since the Fieldhouse days.

[LittleBrave]

I've heard there is the possibility BU will play 18 home games this year. Here's what there's been in recent years:

How is that possible, unless this includes possible CIT or CBI home games?
We have at least 5 non-conf. road games, so we need 9 home games to equal 18 total home games (including 9 conf. home games).
That's 14 non-conf. games for the reg. season - don't think that will happen.

[squirrelgotdead]

Perhaps they meant that as a possibility, not necessarily this year.

I hadn't really thought about the numbers for this season, so good point.

[Da Coach]

Sorry if this has already been posted-

Here is a video from YouTube by the PJ Star of the media tour-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6IXPRp9Y4Y

[BradleyBrave]

I've gotten a sneak peek myself, and the place is great. To me the most important component is the facilities for the men's team, and those are top notch. Facilities can no longer be used as a crutch as to why we can't/don't compete at the highest level in our league.

But seeing how immaculate the new facilities are, it just sticks in my craw that we couldn't make the new arena at least big enough to hold 6,000 or so and make a home game or two a year a viable option. An upper level that could hold at least 1,500-2,000 doesn't seem like it would have been too much of a stretch in that same space. I just think it would have given BU so many more realistic options to host any men's event on campus than the current space does now.

[BUFanatic]

Everyone seems so hyped that we can post "sellouts". Great, we sold out a 4,500 seat arena. Whoop dee do! Eastern could probably get those attendance numbers and their in one of the smaller conferences. I just find it contradictory to our image as a "rising mid-major" that we should hold big post-season contests and some pre-season contests in a D-III arena. Like I say, we had a perfectly good historical Fieldhouse, similar to the Assembly Halls of Illinois and Indiana (Smaller, of course haha). WHY THEN did we downsize to a laughable size arena that is about as big as the largest High-School gym in the country?

"so why not wait and see what happens in regards to game in the on-campus arena before losing it.... "

Because we HAD an on-campus arena. Don't people know this? It seems like a new concept to have an on-campus arena. What was wrong with this idea when we had the fieldhouse? What difference does this arena make in scheduling? Couldn't we have scheduled all these pre-season matchups and a few regular season games when we had the Fieldhouse? It seems no one wanted more games in an "on-campus arena" until we got the "New One", where we had a perfectly good one on campus already. It's like on-campus games are something we couldn't do before we did this. I KNOW we did a few pre-season games @ the Fieldhouse, so why wasn't everyone pushing for more regular season games there?

[Beninator]

I've gotten a sneak peek myself, and the place is great. To me the most important component is the facilities for the men's team, and those are top notch. Facilities can no longer be used as a crutch as to why we can't/don't compete at the highest level in our league.

But seeing how immaculate the new facilities are, it just sticks in my craw that we couldn't make the new arena at least big enough to hold 6,000 or so and make a home game or two a year a viable option. An upper level that could hold at least 1,500-2,000 doesn't seem like it would have been too much of a stretch in that same space. I just think it would have given BU so many more realistic options to host any men's event on campus than the current space does now.

Very much agree. My impression/thought is that maybe there was some politics that got in the way of a larger on-campus arena.

[amckillip]

Very much agree. My impression/thought is that maybe there was some politics that got in the way of a larger on-campus arena.

Why do people keep saying this?? It wasn't politics, it WAS BUSINESS. How often would an extra 1500 seats be used? MAYBE one to two times a year, MAX. BU can't even really support a 4500 seat arena with parking etc. Worrying about playing men's games on any sort of regular basis in this arena is a waste of time, it will be a novelty not a regular occurrence, and with good reason.

[DUBrave5]

This highlights what I've been told. The men will practice in their arena and the women will practice in the performance arena....

I have a hard time believing that since I know that both teams use more than one court at all their practices when available. I've been there for the women's team when they practice at Markin because the men are in Haussler and they don't use the performance court because it is only two baskets as opposed to multiple baskets for some of their drills. The men will practice there on occasion also and they will use the performance court as well as a court or two in the other gyms.

Anyways, long story short, from what I have been told, both teams will be using the practice gym. Although I have been wrong before...

[amckillip]

I have a hard time believing that since I know that both teams use more than one court at all their practices when available. I've been there for the women's team when they practice at Markin because the men are in Haussler and they don't use the performance court because it is only two baskets as opposed to multiple baskets for some of their drills. The men will practice there on occasion also and they will use the performance court as well as a court or two in the other gyms.

Anyways, long story short, from what I have been told, both teams will be using the practice gym. Although I have been wrong before...

Have you seen the gyms? Aren't there several baskets on each court? I am positive there are at least 6 in the Men's practice facility. I'm not saying it won't ever happen, but it won't be the usual case/