Nothing Beats Frost

[BTownJack]

Another great article by Terry in today's Argus:

Jacks: Nothing beats Frost
By Terry Vandrovec
tvandrovec@argusleader.com
PUBLISHED: February 25, 2008

BROOKINGS - North Dakota State men's basketball coach Saul Phillips said so before the weekend began and Bison women's basketball player Lisa Bue didn't disagree afterward: South Dakota State's Frost Arena - when full - might be the best venue in the Summit League.

"My first experience was at Wayne State way back when and I remember walking into the place and thinking it was a palace," Phillips said. "It's really stood the test of time. When we go in there it's like a pit."

Plus, as the senior Bue said following an 81-61 loss against the Jackrabbits on Saturday, "It's way more fun to play here in front of 4,000 people versus going somewhere and playing in front of 150."

To that end, the SDSU women (21-6) - winners of 10 straight overall and 20 in a row at home - lead the NCAA Division I Summit League in attendance by more than 600 at 2,118 per game. Seven of the conference's 10 teams average fewer than 800 fans per home game.

Saturday's crowd of 4,377 was the fifth largest in school history for a women's game that was not part of a doubleheader. That kind of success at the turnstiles during the regular season certainly won't hurt when it comes time to bidding for home games in the WNIT, and a repeat berth in the event is just one Jacks win or Western Illinois loss away.

(read more)

[filbert]

Re: Nothing Beats Frost

Having seen all of the Summit League's facilities (except Mabee Arena), here's my take on the league's basketball venues:

My rankings are based on the following criteria:
Seating/Attendance--the right fit of arena size and crowd. Bigger is of course better--if you can put people in those seats. A smaller, 80% full arena is much preferable to a bigger, 10% full venue.

Seating Convenience -- Basically, a combination of type of seat, comfort, and sightlines to the court.

Crowd -- Not just numbers, but how into the game the crowd is. Bigger crowds who get into it are better than a big, apathetic crowd.

Scoreboards -- How much game info you can get from the venue's scoreboards.

Concessions -- Number and variety.

Access and parking -- Convenience of getting in and out of the venue.

Up to 5 points awarded on each category, for a total of 30 points.

Big caveat: My sample size in every venue (with the exception of Frost Arena) is limited to a single recent experience there this year. These are just my snapshot impressions. I'm quite willing to accept corrections or adjustments, but here's my impressions, listed in order from best to worst, with score and each category's rankings.

1. Frost Arena: 4.33: 5, 4, 5, 5, 3, 4
2. Oakland's O'rena: 4.17: 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 5
3. NDSU's Bison Sports Arena: 4.08: 4.5, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5
4. Southern Utah's Centrum Arena: 4.0: 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 4
5. Oral Roberts' Mabee Arena: 3.83: 4, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3
6. UMKC's Municipal Auditorium: 3.42: 3, 4, 3, 4, 3.5, 3
7. IPFW's War Memorial Auditorium: 3.17: 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5
8. UMKC's Kemper Arena: 2.92: 2, 3, 1, 4, 3.5, 4
9. IUPUI Gymnasium: 2.83: 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 4
10. Centenary's Gold Dome: 2.50: 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2
11. Western Illinois' Western Hall: 2.17: 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 4

Frost Arena's only real problems are a relative lack of variety of concessions, some bad sight lines in the upper level corners and in the upper end seating (when it's pulled out), and it's not quite as easy to get in and out of as some other league venues (believe it or not!)

Oakland's O-Rena is a pretty nice facility, well suited to the size of crowds the Grizzlys draw. It is a bit reminiscent of Augustana's on-campus facility, but with 100% chairback seating.

The Bison Sports Arena benefits greatly from NDSU's good crowd support. Its configuration is very much like Western Illinois' facility but has much nicer scoreboards.

The Centrum Arena would move up in the charts with better scoreboards, but is otherwise a very nice facility, being a complete bowl of chairback seats and pretty good crowd support.

Mabee Arena's ratings are mailed in, since I haven't actually been there yet. I probably should have left it off, but what the heck, it's not as if any of these rankings are chisled in stone or anything.

Municipal Auditorium is a nice old facility. If UMKC could put more seats in the seats, it could be a rocking place. Scoreboards aren't bad, and if all of the concession stands are open, the selection isn't bad there either.

Ft. Wayne's War Memorial Auditorium is way too big for the crowds IPFW gets. It's basically a 10-12,000 seat hockey arena, with the commensurate bad sight lines for basketball. Scoreboards are average.

Kemper Arena is basically a somewhat bigger War Memorial Auditorium. Most of the concession stands aren't opened up for UMKC, making the trek to get a soda a bit challenging.

The IUPUI Gymnasium is basically a high school gym, with chairback seats. Considering the relative lack of fan support, it can still get pretty loud though. Still, the smallness of the facility is kind of embarrassing in a major metro area like Indianapolis.

The Gold Dome is an interesting facility. It is, however, basically unchanged from the 1970's as far as I can see. Centenary struggles to get fans into the facility. With some seating and scoreboard upgrades, and more fans in the stands, it could be a contender as a pretty nice, small D-I facility. Parking would be a major issue for bigger crowds, though. As it stands right now, though, it's just kinda there.

Western Hall in Macomb is . . . terrible. Bad, old scoreboards, elderly seating, feeble fan support. Easily the worst the Summit League has to offer.

[jackbusiness09]

Re: Nothing Beats Frost

In Frost there are bad sight lines on the pull out bleachers behind the student section.

The Friday night game with NDSU was the first time I had sat up there with a full student section. I sat in the middle, 5 rows up, and when I was sitting I could only see two thirds of the court.
I did make an effort to get the crowd into the game by standing. I ended up getting yelled at by an old guy with a kid, and since I was there with all of my family I decided to sit down (my parents didn't want to cause a scene). Though, not before I yelled back that he was at a basketball game, not a theatre event and if he was that concerned about people standing, he could go spend a couple extra bucks and sit on the other side (there were seats still available).
Morals of the story:
-We could use some updated seating in the rest of Frost.
-next time I'm with my family, I'm going to the student section

[filbert]

Re: Nothing Beats Frost

In Frost there are bad sight lines on the pull out bleachers behind the student section.

The Friday night game with NDSU was the first time I had sat up there with a full student section. I sat in the middle, 5 rows up, and when I was sitting I could only see two thirds of the court.
I did make an effort to get the crowd into the game by standing. I ended up getting yelled at by an old guy with a kid, and since I was there with all of my family I decided to sit down (my parents didn't want to cause a scene). Though, not before I yelled back that he was at a basketball game, not a theatre event and if he was that concerned about people standing, he could go spend a couple extra bucks and sit on the other side (there were seats still available).
Morals of the story:
-We could use some updated seating in the rest of Frost.
-next time I'm with my family, I'm going to the student section

I had heard a while ago that the plan was to replace the upper section seats, and raise them up so that the sight line problem over the standing students (and, hopefully, over the angled corners as well) would be resolved. But there are other priorities, like the baseball and softball stadiums. All in good time, I guess.

[RowdyRabbit]

Re: Nothing Beats Frost

I did make an effort to get the crowd into the game by standing. I ended up getting yelled at by an old guy with a kid, and since I was there with all of my family I decided to sit down (my parents didn't want to cause a scene). Though, not before I yelled back that he was at a basketball game, not a theatre event and if he was that concerned about people standing, he could go spend a couple extra bucks and sit on the other side (there were seats still available).

Hehe..I was sitting about 15 ft to your right and one row up...I heard the guy yell at you and had I been there by myself, would have come and stood next to you.

As for the sight line behind the student section.....yeah, you can't sit in the first 5-8 rows if you want to see anything during the game other than on the big screen.

[fabio208]

Re: Nothing Beats Frost

ya businessman09 i hear ya... i believe i sat in the row right in front of you.. i had the shaved head and that old guy was just rude... the game on friday was exciting and he just ruined the mood for me and my friends... we finally ended up moving... but now I can put a face to the name!! haha

[jackbusiness09]

Re: Nothing Beats Frost

ya businessman09 i hear ya... i believe i sat in the row right in front of you.. i had the shaved head and that old guy was just rude... the game on friday was exciting and he just ruined the mood for me and my friends... we finally ended up moving... but now I can put a face to the name!! haha

We ended up moving too.. over to the reserved section. Still had to sit, but at least the view was good and everyone over there was into the game.

Seems like SDSUFans.com is getting a nice following. We should have a get together, take over a section of the stands, and cheer like crazy for the whole game.