2200 days of Brad Edwards

[Vurbel]

I agree on the Siegel Center.

Disagree. They made 7,600 feel as intimate as a high school gym.

 

[Washingtonian]

vcu's arena may be newer, but I am not a fan of it. It reminds me of a high school gym, a really nice high school gym.

Not saying EBA is better than Dayton's, but I really don't like the way the concourse weaves in and out of the seating area. It just felt really awkward.

The suites on the lower part of the arena are a joke at vcu. They removed a lot of seats, added a door and some stairs, and put "suites" there. It isn't even enclosed. Anyone can see into it!

I am curious how many of these arenas get concerts. EBA gets plenty of concerts, as all of us know. There must be a reason some artists (other than the smaller size) use EBA.

 

[Cedric Dempsey]

vcu's arena may be newer, but I am not a fan of it. It reminds me of a high school gym, a really nice high school gym.

Not saying EBA is better than Dayton's, but I really don't like the way the concourse weaves in and out of the seating area. It just felt really awkward.

Agree. Siegel Center is a relatively inexpensive building in design and construct built for a tight playing environment. That has worked well, however it is aging at a rapid rate. It has a butler-building feel to it.

 

[Vurbel]

The suites on the lower part of the arena are a joke at vcu. They removed a lot of seats, added a door and some stairs, and put "suites" there. It isn't even enclosed. Anyone can see into it!

I am curious how many of these arenas get concerts. EBA gets plenty of concerts, as all of us know. There must be a reason some artists (other than the smaller size) use EBA.

Probably has something to do with being the largest facility in the second wealthiest county on the country.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gmujim92]

Agree. Siegel Center is a relatively inexpensive building in design and construct built for a tight playing environment. That has worked well, however it is aging at a rapid rate. It has a butler-building feel to it.

The club section they built after their FF is sweet and they have a video scoreboard. Plus, selling out 99 consecutive games and having a crazy loud environment mitigates the building's high school gym quality.

Our concourse is a million times better, more bathrooms and concessions and room to walk than vcu could ever hope to have in such a small space.

But other than that and 2,500 more seats, most of which are now blocked off with advertising during our games, Siegel is a much better place to watch a game than EBA.

 

[MasonSAE4]

Maybe, I am seeing things, but the Dayton arena kind of looked like a student center on the top.

EBA is not located in a convenient spot. But it be cool if there was a cafeteria/student center in the arena. Students could go there every day for lunch, or just to socialize like the JC. and then at night, the building becomes the basketball arena.

I actually really like this idea, only problem is there's nothing in that area. Maybe when they start in on that southwest sector plan it will become more viable.

Not sure attaching stuff to the arena is great idea but maybe a little shopping district around the arena with coffee shops and places to eat? I know Mason is trying to do some private/public sponsorships to get the area of campus developed.

 

[sleeperpick]

The only two arenas I can actually say 100% we are better than is Fordham by a lot and Bonnie's. I kinda like Duquesne's gym over ours as well although it is smaller. @gmujim92

 

[Mason2005]

The Patriot Center is one of the highest grossing 10k venues in the US. Why the hell has it never been renovated since being built to be as modern as possible.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

[Patriotsince81]

Damn the offseason sucks.

 

[KAOriginal]

The Patriot Center is one of the highest grossing 10k venues in the US. Why the hell has it never been renovated since being built to be as modern as possible.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Because it makes money due to size and location.

There's no competition to spend the $ on upgrades.

 

[gmujim92]

The only two arenas I can actually say 100% we are better than is Fordham by a lot and Bonnie's. I kinda like Duquesne's gym over ours as well although it is smaller. @gmujim92

Fordham and La Salle have the two worst gyms in the A-10 by a mile. Both are old and small and simply reek of bush league programs.

 

[sleeperpick]

Fordham and La Salle have the two worst gyms in the A-10 by a mile. Both are old and small and simply reek of bush league programs.

Totally forgot about lasalle you are correct. So I'd pick us over three teams. What do you think of Duquesne ?

 

[Mason2005]

Totally forgot about lasalle you are correct. So I'd pick us over three teams. What do you think of Duquesne ?

Duq is about to put like $40M into their stadium and new practice gym.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

[MasonSAE4]

The only two arenas I can actually say 100% we are better than is Fordham by a lot and Bonnie's. I kinda like Duquesne's gym over ours as well although it is smaller. @gmujim92

Not a 100% lock, but I'd say we're better than GW overall. They have one shitty concession stand, one bathroom, about 8 rows have their view obscured by that handrail in some way, no parking, and the two ends with the baskets have weird seating. They also have that single path to your seat where everyone has to walk and ends up getting in your view. Last year we had to move back like 8 rows because it was unbearable.

Sure, it has an overall newer feel to it, but the suite behind the basket on ground level to me is kind of weird, and it gives off just as much of a high school gym vibe as vcu, if not more. If that building was the exact same but 20 years older it'd be horrific.

 

[TweederGMU]

Fordham and La Salle have the two worst gyms in the A-10 by a mile. Both are old and small and simply reek of bush league programs.

Don't forget about St. Joe's. Now this place is identical to a high school gym plus not loud at all. Looks like Drexel. All of the Philly school's "stadiums" look identical..... all high school gyms!

Rhode Island has a nice stadium where everything is bright and clean looking inside. However, very cookie cutter.... looks identical to Towson's inside but powder blue of course.

U of R has the nicest stadium.... guess that old southern money and $60K in tuition helps fund these types of places.

 

[gmujim92]

Other than vcu, which now owns large swaths of Richmond, the A-10's city schools are limited in what they can do to improve their arenas because of the scarcity and expense of real estate.

Mason's only limitations are its ability to raise money and its administration's willingness to spend it. Both are improving but we have a long way to go.

 

[GMUgemini]

To this conversation I will say, our arena is not bad. It is not holding us back from anything. Does it need to be updated? Absolutely. But we don't have a situation like Fordham or Drexel with an arena where they are literally miles behind everyone else (and I've been to games at the Dak, it has a great atmosphere).

But can we put the brakes on the inevitable downward spiral of self-loathing that all of these conversations always devolve into around here? Don't follow sleeperpick down the rabbit hole.

 

[sleeperpick]

To this conversation I will say, our arena is not bad. It is not holding us back from anything. Does it need to be updated? Absolutely. But we don't have a situation like Fordham or Drexel with an arena where they are literally miles behind everyone else (and I've been to games at the Dak, it has a great atmosphere).

But can we put the brakes on the inevitable downward spiral of self-loathing that all of these conversations always devolve into around here? Don't follow sleeperpick down the rabbit hole.

Wasn't trying to self loathe. Sorry it came off that way. Just disagreeing that we are top 5 in stadiums Like some say. Realistically we are 8-9 in the A10

 

[GMUgemini]

Wasn't trying to self loathe. Sorry it came off that way. Just disagreeing that we are top 5 in stadiums Like some say. Realistically we are 8-9 in the A10

Not much separating the arenas after URI, Dayton, Richmond, and St. Louis (until you get to La Salle and Fordham). So to say we are 8 or 9th as opposed to 5th or 6th isn't really much of a difference.

And if we are adding qualitative data like atmosphere onto the value of an arena, well, that's our fault and not the arena's. And we have the Green Machine card to play in that respect (something we take for granted, but visitors to the arena will notice)

I mean, what are we really talking about here? A video scoreboard, better lighting, better sound system, and reconfiguring the seating bowl and upgrading the seats maybe (luxury boxes would be nice, but are really unnecessary).

As an ancillary need, they need to wire the building for broadband so they can stream in HD.

 

[gmujim92]

Not much separating the arenas after URI, Dayton, Richmond, and St. Louis (until you get to La Salle and Fordham). So to say we are 8 or 9th as opposed to 5th or 6th isn't really much of a difference.

And if we are adding qualitative data like atmosphere onto the value of an arena, well, that's our fault and not the arena's. And we have the Green Machine card to play in that respect (something we take for granted, but visitors to the arena will notice)

I mean, what are we really talking about here? A video scoreboard, better lighting, better sound system, and reconfiguring the seating bowl and upgrading the seats maybe (luxury boxes would be nice, but are really unnecessary).

As an ancillary need, they need to wire the building for broadband so they can stream in HD.

Luxury suites are not unnecessary. They are big revenue generators and we are worse off financially for not having them.