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(03-22-2023 09:45 AM)BroncoMinor Wrote:  My only concern is losing the magic of Lawson. It’s great for basketball. Basketball desperately needed an upgrade. It’s great for Kalamazoo. Probably, get some decent concerts & events coming through town.

Hockey is my concern. Can they fill a 6,000 seat arena on a regular basis? I can see the program continuing to grow with a bigger arena. Need to keep winning & attracting more fans. We’ll see.

Winning will be the best marketing tool in order to put butts in seats. But what is missing with Lawson is the facility is not attractive to the Corporate and Casual ticket. If done right, those empty seats you now see in Lawson (even though there are tickets sold) will be filled.

I do see them selling alcohol. You can get alcohol in every NCHC arena right now, except SCSU and WMU, though I'm not sure about CC new on campus arena, as I have not attended, though the old rink you could.

I think students (Lunatics) will continue to support hockey, as long as they get in free and have a ride. WMU and/or downtown business sector would wise to offer a free shuttle service to/from campus on game nights.

No doubt there will be some compromises made to make this work and being off campus is just one of them. There will be some scheduling challenges with the new arena, but other schools are able to figure this out, so will WMU. But there are some huge benefits not only for WMU, but also the community.

How great would it be if WMU makes it to the Frozen Four this year and use that platform to promote the program, school and community. Maybe the stars are aligning?

Will it be called The Stryker Event Center? Pretty sure the $$ is coming from this spicket.

(03-22-2023 10:46 AM)SilentStryk09 Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 10:03 AM)Liam9903 Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 09:45 AM)BroncoMinor Wrote:  My only concern is losing the magic of Lawson. It’s great for basketball. Basketball desperately needed an upgrade. It’s great for Kalamazoo. Probably, get some decent concerts & events coming through town.

Hockey is my concern. Can they fill a 6,000 seat arena on a regular basis? I can see the program continuing to grow with a bigger arena. Need to keep winning & attracting more fans. We’ll see.

Could we see something like the Big East basketball model of playing on campus for games with lower demand (women's hoops. midweek men's basketball, DIII opponents, Non Conference Hockey not against B1G opponents) and downtown for games where we might draw a crowd?

I can't see a way that WMU wouldn't want to strip all that maintenance and upkeep from the budgets where they could.

They would need to at least keep university arena for woman’s basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, winter track and field. Unless you want to add all that to Kalamazoo arena which I would think would be impossible. Lawson could still exist for practice, club hockey, synchronized skating, not to mention all the youth hockey that is played there. So are you really eliminating them?

(03-22-2023 12:12 PM)SilentStryk09 Wrote:  WMU games aren't just going to start getting moved to random nights from a well-established scheduling pattern with this. There is absolutely 0 chance our scheduling is impacted by this. Other schools/teams/leagues do this all the time without these issues.

You think an established professional hockey league is going to just skip weekend games when WMU is home. I’m sure the ownership of the Kwings will be soooo cool with that.

(03-22-2023 04:17 PM)Doo Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 12:12 PM)SilentStryk09 Wrote:  WMU games aren't just going to start getting moved to random nights from a well-established scheduling pattern with this. There is absolutely 0 chance our scheduling is impacted by this. Other schools/teams/leagues do this all the time without these issues.

You think an established professional hockey league is going to just skip weekend games when WMU is home. I’m sure the ownership of the Kwings will be soooo cool with that.

I think you're vastly overestimating the amount of hostility that will exist in this setup. There is absolute zero chance these discussions haven't already happened. If ASU can schedule around a literal NHL team using their arena, the KWings and WMU will easily be able to coexist.

(03-22-2023 12:57 PM)Cocksman Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 10:46 AM)SilentStryk09 Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 10:03 AM)Liam9903 Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 09:45 AM)BroncoMinor Wrote:  My only concern is losing the magic of Lawson. It’s great for basketball. Basketball desperately needed an upgrade. It’s great for Kalamazoo. Probably, get some decent concerts & events coming through town.

Hockey is my concern. Can they fill a 6,000 seat arena on a regular basis? I can see the program continuing to grow with a bigger arena. Need to keep winning & attracting more fans. We’ll see.

Could we see something like the Big East basketball model of playing on campus for games with lower demand (women's hoops. midweek men's basketball, DIII opponents, Non Conference Hockey not against B1G opponents) and downtown for games where we might draw a crowd?

I can't see a way that WMU wouldn't want to strip all that maintenance and upkeep from the budgets where they could.

They would need to at least keep university arena for woman’s basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, winter track and field. Unless you want to add all that to Kalamazoo arena which I would think would be impossible. Lawson could still exist for practice, club hockey, synchronized skating, not to mention all the youth hockey that is played there. So are you really eliminating them?

Not to nitpick, but based on the release, at the very least Women's BBall (and i'd assume volleyball as well_ will also be playing at this arena. Track and field i think Read will be kept around for and at least optimized for it. Lawson it wouldn't shock me to see go away with this. The club teams have played in the past at (and might still, it's been a minute) at the auxiliary rinks at Wings stadium, which they'd probably do at this new arena (if Wings stadium goes away, that is)

(03-22-2023 04:17 PM)Doo Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 12:12 PM)SilentStryk09 Wrote:  WMU games aren't just going to start getting moved to random nights from a well-established scheduling pattern with this. There is absolutely 0 chance our scheduling is impacted by this. Other schools/teams/leagues do this all the time without these issues.

You think an established professional hockey league is going to just skip weekend games when WMU is home. I’m sure the ownership of the Kwings will be soooo cool with that.

Yes, they will. And when WMU plays on the road, they'll play weekend games at home. It's not that complicated.

The Lakers, Clippers, & Kings figure out how to all play 40 home games in the same building.

(03-22-2023 04:23 PM)SilentStryk09 Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 04:17 PM)Doo Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 12:12 PM)SilentStryk09 Wrote:  WMU games aren't just going to start getting moved to random nights from a well-established scheduling pattern with this. There is absolutely 0 chance our scheduling is impacted by this. Other schools/teams/leagues do this all the time without these issues.

You think an established professional hockey league is going to just skip weekend games when WMU is home. I’m sure the ownership of the Kwings will be soooo cool with that.

I think you're vastly overestimating the amount of hostility that will exist in this setup. There is absolute zero chance these discussions haven't already happened. If ASU can schedule around a literal NHL team using their arena, the KWings and WMU will easily be able to coexist.

The difference is ASU is the primary tenant in their arrangement.

(03-22-2023 04:26 PM)BroncoMinor Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 04:17 PM)Doo Wrote:  

(03-22-2023 12:12 PM)SilentStryk09 Wrote:  WMU games aren't just going to start getting moved to random nights from a well-established scheduling pattern with this. There is absolutely 0 chance our scheduling is impacted by this. Other schools/teams/leagues do this all the time without these issues.

You think an established professional hockey league is going to just skip weekend games when WMU is home. I’m sure the ownership of the Kwings will be soooo cool with that.

Yes, they will. And when WMU plays on the road, they'll play weekend games at home. It's not that complicated.

The Lakers, Clippers, & Kings figure out how to all play 40 home games in the same building.

It will likely work out since we can schedule OOC home and homes pretty easily. It is simply the addition of mens (and womens?) basketball that muddles the schedule. Yes, arenas can turn over quick enough to accomodate hockey and basketball.

The thing that makes me most concerned is WMU will lose control over its home ice. Sure the relationship might be great now, but what happens in 15-25 years from now when the people in charge aren't anymore? WMU will not keep Lawson around - it's too big of an expense.

I don't mean to be doom and gloom, but while this will be great for us in the short term - long term, idk.

(03-22-2023 04:26 PM)BroncoMinor Wrote:  The Lakers, Clippers, & Kings figure out how to all play 40 home games in the same building.

Yeah but the Clippers and to an extent the Kings have always been treated as the red headed stepchild. It's why the Clippers are building their own facility.

Arena failed to receive enough votes last night at the county commission meeting. The arena project is (at least temporarily) paused.

(04-05-2023 04:47 AM)Doo Wrote:  Arena failed to receive enough votes last night at the county commission meeting. The arena project is (at least temporarily) paused.

Kalamazoo County pauses land sale needed for downtown arena development
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/202...pment.html

It is never going to happen.

The developers should threaten to build it on Stadium Drive across the street from WMU. Let's see how fast they vote for it. It would be a much better location for WMU sports anyway.

I’m so confused by this. Why would the city turn down selling land for a free arena?

(04-05-2023 09:48 AM)BroncoMinor Wrote:  I’m so confused by this. Why would the city turn down selling land for a free arena?

Maybe they've grown fond of the blight and crumbling old buildings and parking lots that have occupied that land for the last 20 years.

Politicians don't like private money investments, they can't do their shady deals with it.

(04-05-2023 09:48 AM)BroncoMinor Wrote:  I’m so confused by this. Why would the city turn down selling land for a free arena?

Political grandstanding combined with being too out of touch with reality to see how stupid their vote actually is.

(04-05-2023 09:48 AM)BroncoMinor Wrote:  I’m so confused by this. Why would the city turn down selling land for a free arena?

The ones who voted no were all Democrats. That's all you need to know. They haven't been paid for their votes yet.

Land sale approved for $300 million downtown Kalamazoo arena project

https://wwmt.com/news/local/four-commiss...ent-center

(04-07-2023 06:43 AM)okgc Wrote:  Land sale approved for $300 million downtown Kalamazoo arena project

https://wwmt.com/news/local/four-commiss...ent-center