Johnson City Press article March 1, 2014
Athletics

One visible completed project outlined in the school’s master plan is Thomas Stadium, the new baseball facility overlooking the campus from the northeastern corner of the intersection of State of Franklin Road and University Parkway.

Started in 2010 and finished in 2012 — although the stands weren’t completed until the 2013 season — the stadium was called an official home for the Bucs after playing on a city-owned field for years.

Although its stands are smaller than the 3,000 seats originally envisioned in the master plan, games at Thomas Stadium have been well attended, and university officials view it as a completion of one of the college’s long-standing sports goals.

With that feather in its cap, Noland’s administration has moved away from other athletics goals in the 2010 master plan.

For one, the school has no plans for building a basketball arena on the western third of campus, and instead appear to be moving toward a partnership with Johnson City to use Freedom Hall Civic Center for Bucs games.

The planned 8,400-seat campus arena would have taken on double duty as a venue for commencements, concerts and family shows, according to the planning document, and an accompanying 1,000-space parking garage would furnish convenience.

The parking garage is nearly completed, but the arena will never be started.

Ross said the partnership with the city for its arena is one of the urgings of the 125 Committee.

If an agreement is reached, the Bucs may play at Freedom Hall, while the city may be allowed the use of the Mountain States Health Alliance Athletics Center, the Minidome.

“The desire is more events will come to the region because of that partnership,” he said.



Read more: Committee revamps, reaffirms parts of ETSU's master plan | Johnson City Press http://johnsoncitypress.com/article/1151...z2upeIVfr0
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Hasn't that been common knowledge for a while? A few weeks ago the JC Press ran an article talking about the city using the dome, us using Freedom Hall, etc. Its a terrible decision that will have major negative consequences for many years, but that has been in the works for a while now.

I'd never heard the 8,400 seat number for an arena, but the rest seems accurate.

(03-02-2014 05:18 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  I'd never heard the 8,400 seat number for an arena, but the rest seems accurate.

Off campus will kill any chance for student involvement getting better. Hopefully, a change in the direction the program now stands would lead to higher expectations and results, leading to more student participation.
No guarantee, but maybe a way to change the "commuter school" label.

P. S. Thank you to those involved that waived the $5.00 student ticket fee for the tournament game Tuesday. That shows an appreciation for any student participation.

(03-02-2014 06:16 PM)islandpark Wrote:  

(03-02-2014 05:18 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  I'd never heard the 8,400 seat number for an arena, but the rest seems accurate.

Off campus will kill any chance for student involvement getting better. Hopefully, a change in the direction the program now stands would lead to higher expectations and results, leading to more student participation.
No guarantee, but maybe a way to change the "commuter school" label.

Its not a commuter school label, its a fact. And its an issue that must be dealt with as a reality. You do have some on campus students who are generally more engaged, but your right now we are going to take that off campus and assume that they are going to ride a trolley to the games.

The deal has to get done first, and apparently splitting a meter is a really big deal to Dr. Manahan and the slackjaws on the JC School board.

Manahans just pissed he didn't get the presidents job so he's being a difficult turd.