JMU / To Build New Basketball Arena
- Thread starter jerseyshorejohnny
- Start date
Thanks for making me jelly. Been a 45 year dream of mine to have a new arena for my Johnnies. If I hit lotto big I would spend 90% of it on building us a new arena and I'd have a condo built into it so I could live there but the powers that be at STJU would probably nix the whole idea if not done to cater to their whims and their whims only.
jerseyshorejohnny
Well-known member
If it cost $88 million to build in Virginia, it would probably cost $110 million in NYC.
It now looks like there will be a new area at Belmont Park. This should make it even more unlikely that SJU would consider expanding CA to ten or twelve thousand if that is even possible. Make it eight thousand seats with backs and utilize MSG and Belmont Park eight to ten games a year.
jerseyshorejohnny
Well-known member
MarkRedman
Well-known member
It's really embarrassing to see mid major programs with much nicer home courts than ours
It's about time that our program is run like a high major one rather a mom and pop shop
I am hoping that AD Goff can influence a change in philosophy in that regard
It's about time that our program is run like a high major one rather a mom and pop shop
I am hoping that AD Goff can influence a change in philosophy in that regard
The other takeaway on this new Belmont Park facility is that it will not have the cachet of MSG (few facilities would) and it will not be our 'home' court--so if we played our CA games there, it will not add any value from a recruiting standpoint.
Bad move.
Hope we find a way to rebuild CA.
Bad move.
Hope we find a way to rebuild CA.
MarkRedman
Well-known member
I agree that CA needs to be rebuilt
The "improvements" that have been made in recent years is like putting lipstick on a pig
A high major program should have a much better on campus arena than CA
The "improvements" that have been made in recent years is like putting lipstick on a pig
A high major program should have a much better on campus arena than CA
Money and Real Estate are two of the huge problems for a new campus Arena. Not sure if possible but blowing out the east and west side (the ends) of CA and reconfiguring could add seats but....
To do something like that you would need to play your home games elsewhere at least for a year. Actually you might have to do that anyway for a new arena which might have to be built on the current site. I guess there is always the Lacrosse field.
As for mid major programs building new arenas, again sometimes it comes to money ( major capital building program, fund raising, large endowments and gifts) and the availability of on campus real estate
To do something like that you would need to play your home games elsewhere at least for a year. Actually you might have to do that anyway for a new arena which might have to be built on the current site. I guess there is always the Lacrosse field.
As for mid major programs building new arenas, again sometimes it comes to money ( major capital building program, fund raising, large endowments and gifts) and the availability of on campus real estate
True but
Come now Mark
the pig absolutely looks better with lipstick
Come now Mark
the pig absolutely looks better with lipstick
TEMPORARY RESIDENCES
Even the Yankees had to play at Shea while the Stadium was being improved
we need to accept a temporary residence if and when a new arena is built in Queens.
Short term inconvenience for long time pride.
Thanks.
Even the Yankees had to play at Shea while the Stadium was being improved
we need to accept a temporary residence if and when a new arena is built in Queens.
Short term inconvenience for long time pride.
Thanks.
SJU 85 is correct, money and real estate, this is not and will not happen. I dont know why people can't accept it especially when the team does not play to a full crowd. There is no need for same.
beast of the east
Active member
I know why people shouldn't accept it - because Anton Goff won't accept it.
Goff is more than aware that MSG becomes a neutral court or an away game when we pack the place to play a Syracuse, Duke, VIllanova, or a UCONN. The break even on MSG is 10,000 fans - which means we lose money on most of our other games there, forcing us to play the aforementioned level schools where we will actually help pay the MSG bill. He knows it's hard for this program to break through when our home schedule contains some very challenging games at MSG. Our current arena is just too small to host all of our games, so we have to go to a bigger arena where its harder to win big games.
I've spoken to Goff about how a school's marquee sport helps create a positive identity for a school, leading to increased enrollment and donations - translation - revenue. The school weighed those things when selecting Chris Mullin to coach. I believe that Goff has a great handle on this, and he might just get Bobby G. on board.
In this day an age an adequate home court arena, while not absolutely vital to a team's success, could be a catalyst to the few wins a year that are the difference between NCAA bid or not. If we became a regular NCAA participant again, recruiting becomes easier, the roster improves, more success comes, and revenue flows.
That's Goff's argument, and I'm on board with it. IT actually makes a lot of sense, and is jsut another example of SJU breaking out of the Mom and Pop mode that has crippled it for decades.
Goff is more than aware that MSG becomes a neutral court or an away game when we pack the place to play a Syracuse, Duke, VIllanova, or a UCONN. The break even on MSG is 10,000 fans - which means we lose money on most of our other games there, forcing us to play the aforementioned level schools where we will actually help pay the MSG bill. He knows it's hard for this program to break through when our home schedule contains some very challenging games at MSG. Our current arena is just too small to host all of our games, so we have to go to a bigger arena where its harder to win big games.
I've spoken to Goff about how a school's marquee sport helps create a positive identity for a school, leading to increased enrollment and donations - translation - revenue. The school weighed those things when selecting Chris Mullin to coach. I believe that Goff has a great handle on this, and he might just get Bobby G. on board.
In this day an age an adequate home court arena, while not absolutely vital to a team's success, could be a catalyst to the few wins a year that are the difference between NCAA bid or not. If we became a regular NCAA participant again, recruiting becomes easier, the roster improves, more success comes, and revenue flows.
That's Goff's argument, and I'm on board with it. IT actually makes a lot of sense, and is jsut another example of SJU breaking out of the Mom and Pop mode that has crippled it for decades.
Other than expanding the seating at the baselines to create more of a "PIT" feeling and some comfort amenities we could probably leave Carnesecca alone. With a new arena coming at Belmont and the possibility of using Arthur Ashe at the tennis center as a basketball venue, we are probably stadiumed out.
It would be a boon for recruiting purposes but before any expansion or building a new arena is done SJU should make a serious effort in determining why can I go to the early season games and sit upstairs and have a whole section to myself? Is it the price of the ticket, the weak opposition, the uncomfortable seats etc.
The team is on the upswing with a fan favorite coach and yet other than big east games selling four thousand tickets is a challenge. This is not just a SJU problem but all teams in the metro area have even a bigger problem than SJU. I don't know if tiered prices and putting backs on seats would make enough difference but I have been going to CA since it opened and other than the Mulberry years getting a ticket has never been a problem. A ten thousand seat arena on campus would probably be a morgue.
The team is on the upswing with a fan favorite coach and yet other than big east games selling four thousand tickets is a challenge. This is not just a SJU problem but all teams in the metro area have even a bigger problem than SJU. I don't know if tiered prices and putting backs on seats would make enough difference but I have been going to CA since it opened and other than the Mulberry years getting a ticket has never been a problem. A ten thousand seat arena on campus would probably be a morgue.