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Media Tour of New Arena

LG281 said:
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.
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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.
 
squirrelgotdead said:
I've heard there is the possibility BU will play 18 home games this year. Here's what there's been in recent years:
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
BradleyBrave said:
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.
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Very much agree. My impression/thought is that maybe there was some politics that got in the way of a larger on-campus arena.
 
Beninator said:
Very much agree. My impression/thought is that maybe there was some politics that got in the way of a larger on-campus arena.
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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.
 
amckillip said:
This highlights what I've been told. The men will practice in their arena and the women will practice in the performance arena....
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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...
 
DUBrave5 said:
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...
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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/
 
Bufanatic, yes, the Fieldhouse had to go.
I love historical architecture, and restoring as much as possible, as I'm doing on my 3rd home. I subscribe more to the This Old House theory of maintaining as much of yesterdays character as long as it works in today's lifestyle. If yesterday no longer works, then you need to build new.

The Fieldhouse needed all new mechanicals and more insulation to hold a comfortable temperature(can you say no air conditioning and a less than ideal heating system.) It needed all new bleachers and supports for today's seating needs. New electrical for today's multimedia, new plumbing for rest rooms and food... And after all that, the structure would still not accommodate a decent seating layout, and would not work well for its teams.
Yes, the Fieldhouse held a lot of great games, and was built with an innovative use of materials, but it was not known for great architecture (in a sense, like the Sears tower, innovative engineering and memorable as tallest building, but in no critics list of great aesthetic works of architecture in Chicago. And it worked so good as an office building, its primary tenant left) The fieldhouse was nowhere close to Hinkle in beauty. All the Fieldhouse could boast was the teams and fans that were kinnd enough to visit.
Bradley could of paid more to renovate the Fieldhouse into an inferior product. I'm very glad they made the right choice.
 
amckillip said:
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.
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I'll admit ahead of time that this is only my perception. But, if we had an extra 1,500 seats, we could be a competitor to the PCC for certain events (not basketball) and I think that certain political leaders in the community would be against this. Yes parking would be a problem, but it was a problem in the Fieldhouse days.
 
amckillip said:
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.
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Then why does BU keep saying they're going to play a few regular season and all postseason games there? Look at the lowest attendance figures at any game over the past few seasons versus the capacity of that arena, and you'll see why it's not a waste of time...if the university means what they say about playing there. If the university doesn't mean what they say, then it's just posturing with the PCC to try and get a better contract. With the attendance figures, it doesn't look like BU has much leverage with an arena so small. If the university does mean what it says, then they're throwing away attendance revenue and the design was very short-sighted.

This isn't even considering the arena being a multi-purpose venue...an extra 1,000-1,500 seats could easily be filled for events besides basketball games.
 
amckillip said:
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/
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Agreed. I think I even heard that the # of baskets is actually 10 for the Men's Practice facility...


But really... WHO CARES where they practice? So long as we can offer top notch facilities, why are we worried about the logistics about who practices when? Let's be real, maybe they could *GASP* split the day up into different sessions for each team! (It's not like both teams are on court 12 hours a day.....)
 
On a separate note, as I mentioned in another post, in my opinion the most important piece here is the dedicated men's practice facility. It's just awesome, and I look forward to seeing what we can do recruiting-wise with that kind of facility to show off. I also think the new facilities and new floor could help in preventing injuries. The Fieldhouse floor and Haussler floor were not been the best as far as impact and wear-and-tear on your knees, feet, and ankles - as shown by an usually high number of stress fracture and foot-related injuries going back to the Anthony Parker era. From what I hear this new floor in the new practice facility is as forgiving as a wood floor can be in that regard, and hopefully will keep us from having this unusually high number of stress-related foot injuries.
 
Geeze, I didn't even live through the golden years of the Fieldhouse and I've been it's most vocal supporter on this thread! lolz bahahaha
 
Do we know what kind of high school tournaments or games are going to be scheduled at the new arena? It seemed like in the past that you would want to hide high schoolers from campus, but now you want as many players to see the new facilities as possible.
 
tornado said:
once the whole thing is done & up and running, I have heard from a reliable source they aggressively market the venue for high school games, regionals, sectionals, Supersectionals, AAU events, concerts, etc...
I'll have more in my blog later..
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Sectionals and Supersectionals have in the past attracted more than 4,200. Concerts easily can and likely would. Again, 6,000-7,000 would have been ideal and made the venue all the more attractive for a number of revenue-generating events for the university. :cry:
 
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