(12-12-2014 07:54 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote: It's ironic. EMU needed a NEW football stadium and should have kept the OLD basketball fieldhouse. They got it backwards and the crowds at both venues average out to be roughly 10% full for games (or 90% empty if you prefer) which is staggering for the two main DI sports. We don't even average 1,000 for a good mid-major, likely tournament bound basketball team. Shame.
Bob, I'm going to approach this from a different point of view.
Convo was more than a basketball arena or a convocation event setting.
Bowen was a complete mess with all of the sports trying to use it during winter. Basketball (M&W), T&F, weight training, baseball, Olympic sports, etc.
The fact remains that the Convo was a way to add much needed SPACE (capacity). Some sports remained at Bowen; others went to the Convo. Offices also gained additional space with new Convo office space added.
It wasn't simply substituting a 8,800 arena for a 4,500 seat field house.
I'm not much on weight training for sports, but aren't schools going with new football buildings trying to separate weight training for football players from that of other athletes? E.g., the basketball players might use their convo while football players go to a new football building.
Again the idea of adding capacity.
