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| uconnmagazine.uconn.edu |
Given the fact that the vast majority of Roberts Stadium's expenses can be avoided by simply raising the floor back up to the pre-1990-1991 renovation level, many people have expressed many different opinions.
Initially, I was hesitant about raising the floor. I really didn't want Roberts Stadium to be scaled down to a thimble where it would be a shell of its former self. I felt like we would be sacrificing a piece of Roberts Stadium.
Since then, I have done a 180 on this issue. I am now 110% in favor of raising the floor for the following reasons...
1. Raising the floor would take it back up to at least the same level that Ralph Legeman and Hank Roberts had it at. The vast majority of Roberts Stadium's history occurred BEFORE the floor was lowered, therefore, we would actually be going back to how things use to be at Roberts Stadium, not away from it.
2. The water pumps really are expensive. I don't believe that the water pumps are as bad as demolition supporters want you to believe they are. I think they were used as a political weapon against Roberts Stadium. However, if we eliminate the pumps, this will reduce the vast majority of Roberts Stadium's expenses. Unless you leave security lights on, there will no longer be any expenses generated when Roberts Stadium is not in operation.
3. Raising the floor is a strong sign to city hall that we have no ambitions whatsoever of competing with the Ford Center. Rather, we wish to downsize in order to take advantage of the mid-sized events industry that hasn't been fully tapped into by the Evansville market.
As most of you who come to this blog know, I am a big supporter of bringing in USI men's and women's basketball as well as Evansville Rage indoor football to be our main anchor tenants with the rest of the open dates being rented out to groups such as the BMX community, the expo community, as well as other minor league sports such as lacrosse, in-line skating, NBDL basketball, and mid-sized concerts.
Those who attended the Roberts Stadium Task Force public hearings know that I am not alone in my support for USI moving into Roberts Stadium. In fact, at the first meeting, all 4 public groups had at least one person who mentioned USI.
We've talked about why USI should come to Roberts Stadium (zero debt, already paid off building, 15 corporate luxury boxes, more seats, more space for merchandise sales, better recruitment in UE territory, etc, etc) but we have not addressed one concern amongst those in the minority who aren't sold on USI playing at Roberts Stadium. The number one concern they have is: "Would this hurt student attendance since Roberts Stadium is off campus?"
The answer, in my opinion, is no if we do the right things. By that, I am talking about the fact that we need to give USI students a reason to come to games at Roberts Stadium. Obviously, that starts with free shuttle rides from USI to Roberts Stadium (jobs anyone?). But the number one thing you have to evaluate in your goal to attract students into your arena is the design of the arena itself.
Let's take a look at 20 of the best college basketball arenas in the country...
Like every other list in America, Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of Duke Basketball, was ranked number 1 in the above video. But why? It's simple. Sports fans and their teams love the crowd noise generated by their students. Let's take a look at how loud Cameron Indoor Stadium gets from their student section...
The entire atmosphere at Cameron Indoor Stadium is driven by the energy from Duke's students. If USI were to come to Roberts Stadium we would probably not have as many students as Duke does but we would definitely need a student section that makes Roberts Stadium one of the toughest places for a visiting team to pick up a victory.
Also, keep in mind, we need to incorporate our student section in with the rest of the population who we need to make sure is in the game as well. There needs to be a happy medium between our loud student section and our general audience which consists of USI boosters who give a lot money to their basketball programs.
Rupp Arena, home to the University of Kentucky where I graduated from, executes this philosophy the way I think Roberts Stadium should execute it. Behind one of the goals is the "eRUPPtion zone" which is the student body while the other three sides have seats that go all the way up to the court and are huge revenue generators from UK's rich alumni and boosters.
Let's take a look at how our student section would look before diving into the general audience...
Step 1- Let's take a look at what Roberts Stadium looks like now. To do this, I will be using a picture from my friends over at WorldStadiums.com.
(click on any photo to enlarge)
Step 2- Now, let's take a look at what the arena would look like if we raise the floor back above the water table and up to the pre-1990-91 level.
Step 3- As you can see in Step 2, the arena has shrank in size. While this may seem to be a downgrade for Roberts Stadium, in reality it isn't. This will bring the crowd closer to the action (skyboxes included) and it will trap the noise inside the arena making the facility feel more intimate, intimidating, and personal.
In Step 3, we will need to remove a few rows of seats in the end zone so that the Evansville Rage will have a large enough playing floor (the section in black). Removing these seats and replacing them with our already existing temporary fold-up chairs will also increase the size of the floor for other tenants...
Step 4- This is the last step in constructing our student section. With the current end zone alignment, we have permanent seats in this area. These will need to be removed so that we can fit more students into the area which will increase the noise level while making students feel like they have a section of their own (SIU Arena in Carbondale does this perfectly). These steps can also be repeated behind the other goal as long as it wins approval from the NCAA which is not gauranteed...
Now that we have designed our student section, we will need to address the rest of the seating. Ideally, only the first row will be affected by our redesign as the rest of the rows will use the already existing seats. In previous decades, the front row of seats were always separated from the court either by the scores table or the team benches (PAC is set up this way)...
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| cw.ua.edu |
But now, a famous celebrity, Jack Nicholson, has set an entirely new trend. Nicknamed "Jack Nicholson Seats," these front-row seats are either between the scores table and team benches or on the other side and go all the way up to the out of bounds area...
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| jack-nicholson.info |
What are the advantages of these seats?
1. Fan interaction- Obviously these seats are much closer to the game which gives those who sit in them the feel that they are in the game.
2. Revenue- Since these seats are closer to the action they are worth more than typical front row seats. Also, well-known people like to buy these seats as they are the perfect way of drawing attention to them as either a donor to the team or as a celebrity in general.
3. They increase seating capacity- Since the front row has more seats than any other row in an arena, the closer you put your front row to the action the more rows and seats you can put inside the arena as a whole.
So, given the above design, why would USI and Roberts Stadium make a perfect match outside of the topics we have already talked about in previous posts?
- Increase in student seating capacity and interaction with the basketball team(s)
- Increase in revenue from the addition of "Jack Nicholson Seats"
- Increase in brand awareness and value via a smaller but louder Roberts Stadium
- Increase in sponsors who will seek out these premium seats as well as Roberts Stadium's skyboxes
- Increase in brand loyalty by bringing students and general audience members closer to the game with their seats and closer to the USI brand by painting the entire facility in USI attire
Like I've said earlier, we cannot afford to demolish a perfect healthy venue when it can do so much for USI basketball, Evansville Rage football, NBDL basketball, and the rest of the 12 tenants I have talked about who will bring in enough revenue to keep Roberts Stadium solvent and the district around it thriving.
Let's redesign a college basketball arena that is 2nd to none and let's SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!
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