I may be the only one here who feels this way...

Grady said:
During the Illinois game as Iowa was making their comeback, there were times watching on TV it looked like most of the crowd was on their feet, cheering loudly, and getting into it. You know who wasn't? The people with the best seats in the house -- middle of the floor, first 10-15 rows. People dressed in black & gold, literally just sitting there, some with their arms folded, silent, as fans all around the arena are on their feet yelling their lungs out, doing everything they can to will the team to victory. WTF are those silent people even there? They look miserable.
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Yeah, I wish they would fix the blue hair situation.

And everyone, I agree that it would be awesome to have a super modern, slightly smaller, extremely loud, fan friendly environment. I cool new ON CAMPUS arena would be great, but building something even further away would be not so great, in my opinion.

I have a warm spot in my heart for CHA because I once worked summers in that building when I was in college a thousand years ago. So, some bias on my part for sure.
 
We are going through a total rebuild coming off a coach that'd been on the job 15 yrs. And the new coach is pretty much a total 180 from what Fran was. So unless you have a roster full of future NBA guys of which we only have 1 that's going to be a tough thing early on to navigate.

I worry about next yr more then this yr to be honest. What are we gonna look like without Stirtz and this roster? How do we replace him? It's a question that doesn't need to be answered smack dab in the middle of this season I know that but it's going to be the question for just as soon as this season is over. This team will need Stirtz replaced and some size for inside before they can reach the heights they'd like to.
 
Fryowa said:
That's the part of the problem that could be solved with a new arena or a major overhaul, though. It'd bring people in the seats.

CHA was good in its day, but it's extremely outdated comparatively and it couldn't be in a worse location for getting in and out. I don't want to have to take a shuttle before and after a game, I don't want to sit in a traffic jam for 45 mins afterwards, and I don't want to have to walk up 30 rows of stairs to wait in line for 15 minutes to take a leak. Add to that a Tuesday night and 19 degrees outside and I don't blame people for not showing up. With 4k 65" TVs being $300 and your fridge/bathroom 20' away, what is there about it to draw you away from the couch vs. an arena like what nebraska has in Pinnacle Bank or Creighton in Omaha? Equal drive distance I'd rather go to both of those over CHA any day of the week which is sad.

IMO those aren't huge asks. Put a new, smaller arena out where the XC course is and develop retail, food/drink, and hotels around it. Big parking lot. WAY more than enough room and access to 2 main roads in and out.
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Carver Hawkeye Arena - 1983
Mackey Arena - 1967

Mackey is always loud as hell with a rabid atmosphere.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Carver Hawkeye Arena - 1983
Mackey Arena - 1967

Mackey is always loud as hell with a rabid atmosphere.
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That is kind of apples and oranges. Purdue has been ranked number one at least once in probably four of the last six seasons and was in the national championship game two years ago.
If Iowa was in that boat, you can bet that Carver would be rocking every game. If Purdue was in was sailing Iowa boat, Mackey would be much less rabid.
 
HawkeyeFever said:
That is kind of apples and oranges. Purdue has been ranked number one at least once in probably four of the last six seasons and was in the national championship game two years ago.
If Iowa was in that boat, you can bet that Carver would be rocking every game. If Purdue was in was sailing Iowa boat, Mackey would be much less rabid.
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That is completely my point. It's not the building, it's the culture. Doesn't matter what date is on the brick on the building. Thanks for making my point for me. That was my whole point for posting the dates.
 
HawkeyeFever said:
That is kind of apples and oranges. Purdue has been ranked number one at least once in probably four of the last six seasons and was in the national championship game two years ago.
If Iowa was in that boat, you can bet that Carver would be rocking every game. If Purdue was in was sailing Iowa boat, Mackey would be much less rabid.
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It seems like you are saying the key piece is the team, not the building.

I still do agree a new arena would be awesome. It doesn't matter all that much if the team is bad, though.

Again, the WBB team sells out Carver. Families have a great time. The place gets loud. Maybe it's a different crowd!


Different topic: It will be interesting when Northwestern moves into the most expensive college FB stadium ever built. They open the place this fall. It's close to $900M.
 
Westernhawk said:
It seems like you are saying the key piece is the team, not the building.

I still do agree a new arena would be awesome. It doesn't matter all that much if the team is bad, though.

Again, the WBB team sells out Carver. Families have a great time. The place gets loud. Maybe it's a different crowd!


Different topic: It will be interesting when Northwestern moves into the most expensive college FB stadium ever built. They open the place this fall. It's close to $900M.
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I am fascinated by the new NW facility. Even the smaller capacity seems like a decent idea to me. You can bet it will sell out for football for a lot of years. They are not so dependent on gate receipts, since the University has access to more $$ than I can imagine with their alum base. I will sure be there for the Iowa games.
 
HuckFinn said:
I am fascinated by the new NW facility. Even the smaller capacity seems like a decent idea to me. You can bet it will sell out for football for a lot of years. They are not so dependent on gate receipts, since the University has access to more $$ than I can imagine with their alum base. I will sure be there for the Iowa games.
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I live far away now, but I'm strongly considering going to Chicago and visiting that new stadium for the Iowa game! Fly into Chicago, stay downtown, eat pizza, drink beer, take the red line to Evanston, walk to stadium. good times!
 
HuckFinn said:
I am fascinated by the new NW facility. Even the smaller capacity seems like a decent idea to me. You can bet it will sell out for football for a lot of years. They are not so dependent on gate receipts, since the University has access to more $$ than I can imagine with their alum base. I will sure be there for the Iowa games.
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I've been following the construction updates on the internet. The place is small but the seats are all very close, and with the (mostly) covered stadium, I'm guessing it could get pretty loud, despite it's small size.

https://rebuildryanfield.com/construction-updates/
 
This tea
in8hawk said:
I am as disappointed by losses as much as the next guy, but I feel like we should pump the brakes on "the sky is falling" narratives on the Men's team. Could they be doing better? Absolutely, but I feel like the articles by Lane Mills on here are pretty doom and gloom. I guess you just have to be negative as hell when things are not going well, and then be everything is great and rosey when we are winning. I have been in the "There will be ups and downs in a season" camp and have only been watching the Hawks with interest for 40 years, and have never seen anything but that. I feel like this is a step up a level for a lot of these kids, there will be a learning curve to that, and several of these guys have only played together for a few months, and cohesiveness doesn't hit all at once. If this is still how we are playing in a few weeks, I will be disappointed, but I feel like we have a chance to iron some stuff out and go on a roll. That's why I watch, to see what happens, not to feel like I know it all beforehand. Sorry for the rant but there it is.
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This team could go on a big roll now
 
HawkIowa44 said:
Ben and the men's basketball team will be fine, but it's going to take a couple years to build it into a top tier program. Now if we could only do something with Carver.... wishing for a replacement isn't probably in the cards for the near future.
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Does the Iowa Women's basketball have an issue with CHA?
 
It’s never felt the basketball program gets serious investment or attention. It’s just kinda there, and the results are what should be expected. We don’t pay coaches a lot, or players and have an aging arena.

It’s even more glaring now that Nebraska and ISU have great programs and ISU especially is reaching perennially elite levels.
 
IA football never got full financial backing either until Hayden threatened to leave. As a result the bubble was built in '85 and then a series of diff teams offices and facilities followed.
 
I like CHA and I like the upside of our team this year. No sky falling, just slowly getting better and defense and toughness is refreshing. I like the look, I have zero to complain about and I hope they keep CHA and just keep it nice. If the team is going to be competitive and exciting to watch it's on us fans to do the rest.
 
The in game experience and aesthetics of CHA are fine. But the logistics around fan experience are terrible. You'll miss 5 min of game time at least to either pee or visit concessions, even at halftime due to longer lines.
 
Hawkboys said:
The in game experience and aesthetics of CHA are fine. But the logistics around fan experience are terrible. You'll miss 5 min of game time at least to either pee or visit concessions, even at halftime due to longer lines.
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Yeah. I just don’t leave my seat during game time. 25 rows to the concourse and likely a wait for RR or concessions. Get my ice cream before I settle in.
 
New arena would be nice. Can we finally just name the court ‘Chris Street Court’? I’m sick of mediacom bubble letters being represented on the floor.
 
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