Where Would You Build a New Arena?

B

BGOLD

Well-Known Member
I don't know anyone who likes Carver (it's not a basketball arena) - it's basically the exact opposite of Kinnick in terms of home field advantage. Structurally, it's just terribly designed and there's no remodel that can fix it. It's also not student friendly in terms of location, or fan friendly for that matter. There's little parking available outside the stadium that doesn't require a long uphill climb in the dead of winter.
Besides just building a new, better arena which would improve fan attendance, where would you build it? I can't think of any place downtown (parking would still be a major issue) and if it's built to accommodate parking then it wouldn't be easily accessible to students. Any ideas/suggestions?
 
Carver is NOT a bad arena. 30+ years after being built, it still has a modern feel to it. I attended last year's Michigan bball game with my son and the place was rockin'! It CAN be a home court advantage, but some things will have to change. First, the location of student seating is terrible -- change it. Second, gotta do more to get students involved. Granted, parking and traffic suck, but that has nothing to do with the arena building.
 
The last time Barta spoke about renovations at Carver he said projects like a new clubhouse at Finkbine and a new boat house for the rowing program ranked higher on the priority list following the Kinnick expansion and are under way. Barta would love to do something about the basketball venue I'm sure, whether that is renovations or replacement. When non-revenue sports are getting their projects done before a major revenue sport because donors are stepping up for those non-revenue sports and not basketball, that is an issue. I don't think you will see any major changes to Carver, much less a new arena, until there is a change at the head coach position that gets the donors excited again.

But I will humor the OP anyway. I don't see any space for a new arena on campus or anywhere in Iowa City limits close to campus. I think a new arena would be built on the current site of CHA and home games would have to be moved to Cedar Rapids or the QC for one season while the new building is built. Maybe some lower attendance games could be played at the new ice arena in Coralville.
 
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It's fixable, they just won't do it. Bring the seats closer to the endlines. Build a student section on one of the sidelines, and elevate seats above them for the season ticket holders. May lose a few seats but it will be a better atmosphere.

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Grady said:
Carver is NOT a bad arena. 30+ years after being built, it still has a modern feel to it. I attended last year's Michigan bball game with my son and the place was rockin'! It CAN be a home court advantage, but some things will have to change. First, the location of student seating is terrible -- change it. Second, gotta do more to get students involved. Granted, parking and traffic suck, but that has nothing to do with the arena building.
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Where would you place the students? There's hardly a student section to begin with and I don't think moving them is going to fix that. Tickets are overpriced for students (they should be free) and it's an inconvenient place to get to. Carver can be good, it's far and few between. Fans aren't close enough to the action and it's designed to let noise escape, basically the opposite of how it should be designed. It's multi purpose arena, not designed for basketball as it should have been.
 
Tear out this homestead and build it here.

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Instead of spending money building an arena, replace Cambus with a monorail that connects the medical campus and the sports complexes to the downtown campus. It has worked for decades at WVU in Morgantown. This would relieve traffic congestion by the hospital. Traffic jams, event parking and busses to sporting events don't work well together. Take Hawkeye express to the next level.
 
homes said:
It's fixable, they just won't do it. Bring the seats closer to the endlines. Build a student section on one of the sidelines, and elevate seats above them for the season ticket holders. May lose a few seats but it will be a better atmosphere.

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The Pit was already like that. Their renovation was pure cosmetic and modernization. To do this at Carver would require total removal of the seating bowl and re-built with straight sidelines. Expensive and long process.
 
hoxrock said:
The Pit was already like that. Their renovation was pure cosmetic and modernization. To do this at Carver would require total removal of the seating bowl and re-built with straight sidelines. Expensive and long process.
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I'm aware. Question raised was whether it could be done without tearing it down. Yes, it can be. The Pit is the example of what it could look like. Of course it would be expensive, but less than a new facility.
 
Amateur architect/engineer reporting for duty.

One dumb question / idea. We need to get fans/seats/noise closer to the floor. Hard to argue that's a key point in improving the atmosphere. Kinnick's 6' wide sidelines are the perfect example. Question: how can they make that happen at CHA, without building a new arena? One question, could they lower the floor even further, adding in a few more rows at the bottom, sloping further down and closer to the perimeter of the floor?

The first row end zone seating is 10-30 feet away from the court. That's the major problem.
 
Nothing wrong with Carver that an exciting basketball team on the floor won't fix. You people need to quit worrying about the students ( that won't show up anyhow ) and start cheering. I know I'm going to get shot down but being at the women's games are a lot more fun and I know you've heard the crowds cheering like crazy. Just think that's only about 5,000 fans. Wonder what 14,000 would sound like if they would actually get into the game. Oh but yes it's all about the students.
 
judzeehawk said:
Nothing wrong with Carver that an exciting basketball team on the floor won't fix. You people need to quit worrying about the students ( that won't show up anyhow ) and start cheering. I know I'm going to get shot down but being at the women's games are a lot more fun and I know you've heard the crowds cheering like crazy. Just think that's only about 5,000 fans. Wonder what 14,000 would sound like if they would actually get into the game. Oh but yes it's all about the students.
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It's still architecturally flawed regardless of the team on the floor. It would improve with a better product and a coach the fanbase was more behind but that doesn't fix the problems of Carver. Definitely in the bottom 1/3 of BIG arenas.
 
BGOLD said:
It's still architecturally flawed regardless of the team on the floor. It would improve with a better product and a coach the fanbase was more behind but that doesn't fix the problems of Carver. Definitely in the bottom 1/3 of BIG arenas.
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What are the problems because I'm no architect so I don't know about them?
 
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