IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

[LakeJack]

http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/sp...203323741.html

[LakeJack]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130417/BLOGS09/130419604/1086/SPORTS0305

also

http://www.journalgazette.net/articl...086/SPORTS0305

[joeboo22]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

This is one of those where I think its lose lose which either they chose, they chose the big building and play in front of 10% or less capacity night in and out, or they play in the small building which more closely resembles a high school gym then a D-I college arena.

[FargoBison]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

IPFW really needs to build an arena like Oakland has...same goes for UMKC.

[zooropa]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

IPFW really needs to build an arena like Oakland has...same goes for UMKC.

...and NDSU :P

[filbert]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

So . . . Summit League schools should aspire to Augie's Elmen Center? That's basically what the O'Rena is (the Oakland venue has slightly better seating, I suspect, but otherwise they're fairly equivalent venues).

I do agree that in certain Summit schools, the Elmen Center would be a definite upgrade, but . . .

[FargoBison]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

So . . . Summit League schools should aspire to Augie's Elmen Center? That's basically what the O'Rena is (the Oakland venue has slightly better seating, I suspect, but otherwise they're fairly equivalent venues).

I do agree that in certain Summit schools, the Elmen Center would be a definite upgrade, but . . .

Well for IPFW and UMKC I don't think aspiring to be Oakland is a bad thing. They are commuter schools with a small fanbase, give them an arena like the O'Rena and a practice facility and they would have something respectable.

Gonzaga would be another school to copy if they want to go bigger. Or perhaps UNI...NDSU kind of used their arena for inspiration.

[Southeast]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

Well for IPFW and UMKC I don't think aspiring to be Oakland is a bad thing. They are commuter schools with a small fanbase, give them an arena like the O'Rena and a practice facility and they would have something.

Agreed, be realistic. These schools may have D1 athletes but they have NAIA fan support. A shiny 8,000 seat arena won't fix that.

[OldHare]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

[QUOTE=Southeast;230041]Agreed, be realistic. These schools may have D1 athletes but they have NAIA fan support. A shiny 8,000 seat arena won't fix that.[/QUOTE
You may find a few of those NAIA not so far away that will outdraw the IPFW and IUPUI and UMKC teams. Oakland has more steady support on the long haul. Winning for most of these schools might cure some of the apathy. WIU saw some strides in the past couple of years with some victories. Fans in the larger communities can be a bit more picky if there is another game in town and the current team is not doing well. Even looking at the success of the women Bison basketball shows that fans disappear when the losses accumalate.

[filbert]

Re: IPFW Men's Basketball to play most game at campus venue

Well for IPFW and UMKC I don't think aspiring to be Oakland is a bad thing. They are commuter schools with a small fanbase, give them an arena like the O'Rena and a practice facility and they would have something respectable.

Gonzaga would be another school to copy if they want to go bigger. Or perhaps UNI...NDSU kind of used their arena for inspiration.

That's pretty much my point. The O'Rena and Elmen Center are both basically boxes with seats set up along the walls. The "high school gym" look, if you will.

The UNI and Gonzaga arenas (and the sketches I've seen for NDSU and USD) are more bowl-type arenas similar to UNI's. It seems to me there's an entirely different feel to an arena if you're able to fill in the corners with seats. When the renovation of Frost Arena comes to the top of the list, I hope that making the seating much more bowl-like is on the agenda--I've heard rumors that this is in fact the case.

But what Summit League programs need perhaps even more than new venues is out-of-conference wins, to generate some early-season buzz. (And yes, to some extent, the two are related.)