Recent article in the East Tennessean. Draw your own conclusions.
Lately around campus there seems to be an echo of opinions on whether or not ETSU should be tearing down the Mountain States Health Alliance Athletic Center and putting up a brand new arena.
Students have been watching new facilities for the soccer team, baseball team, softball team and golf team being built. Some are asking why not have a new building for the most popular sport instead?
Many years ago, ETSU had a football team and decided that there was a need for a football stadium.
As far as basketball goes, the teams had outgrown Brooks Gym as a useful arena. Growing teams like track and tennis indoor wanted an indoor facility to use.
There was also a need for classrooms and offices for physical education as well as a recreational facility for the students and lab space for the medical school.
In 1976, these plans all were given a place to go, and the new building, most commonly called the Mini-Dome, was opened.
“At the time it was a state-of-the-art facility because it had a track and a football stadium. It could be reconfigured for basketball. There is a rifle range. There are racquetball courts. There is a gymnastics area, classrooms and offices … [as opposed to] individual separate facilities,” said ETSU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dave Mullins.
Today, ETSU still has many of those uses from the MSHA Athletics Center, except for the football program of course.
There are over 100 offices in the building. Physical education classes are held there, too.
But some functions of the building have moved elsewhere. Campus Recreation moved out when the Center for Physical Activity (CPA) was built.
The medical school labs were moved to Stanton-Gerber Hall when it was built about six or seven years ago.
The athletic department expanded that area to make offices for employees, and built an academic center and ticket office.
The west side of the dome is now used for the athletic department and the east side is for physical education.
In 2004, the athletic department expanded beyond the dome and created a new University Athletic Master Plan for facilities.
The plan included a golf facility, soccer stadium, softball stadium, baseball stadium, an outdoor track, an indoor/outdoor tennis complex and a new basketball arena.
The soccer, golf and softball have been built and the baseball stadium will soon be finished.
Only the outdoor track, tennis complex and basketball arena remain.
The main issue of the basketball arena, according to Mullins, is the amount that it would cost as opposed to the smaller stadiums. The soccer stadium cost about $3.5 million. The softball field and golf facility both cost $2.5 million each. The baseball stadium is coming together for around $4.5 million. A new basketball stadium would be quite a bit more.
“The discussion for the arena has been whether we build a new stand-alone arena on campus, do a major renovation of [the dome], or to partner with the city and the county and build a multi-purpose arena convention center somewhere downtown close to the university,” said Mullins. “It is all a matter of being able to generate $50 to $60 million. So when you say why haven’t we done it? It is because we need $50 to $60 million to do it.”
The athletic crew also felt that it would be easier to raise smaller amounts for those teams before doing the big project.
Mullins believes that if making a better campus were the top priority, building a brand new arena would be the best thing to do.
A major renovation of the MSHA Athletic Center would cost half of what a new arena would, $20 million to $25 million, and achieve generally the same goal.
If ETSU worked with the county for an off-campus arena, the university would not have to come up with the total amount for the arena, but instead it would be a partnership.
“When we started the facility project we had a number of Title IX equity issues that we needed to address,” Mullins said. “We did an NCAA self-study in 1996-97 and another one in 2004-05.
“In that study we were very deficient with our facilities for our women’s sports, and most of our facilities were off campus. We were playing soccer at Louisville Park, which is a high school facility. We were playing softball at a little league park. We were playing baseball off campus at Cardinal Park downtown. So our first goal was to get everything on campus and to beat the gender equity issues of inferior facilities for our women’s programs,” he said.
After six years and having four out of seven facilities built, Mullins plans to have discussions with ETSU’s new president Dr. Brian Noland about the upcoming projects, the arena project and money issues.
They hope to finish the arena in the next few years. “It is going to take a massive effort to raise that kind of money,” said Mullins.
Michael White, associate athletic director for communications, said he has heard that some students are looking for a larger “jumbo-tron” type scoreboard for a possible new arena.
“In the planning stages for any new arena, the desire to have a great atmosphere and fan experience is one of the major priorities. While we cannot say specifically what a new arena would have, I think a quality scoreboard system would be something that is discussed in that initial stage,” White said.
White agreed that he is unsure what approaches would be taken or when the arena would finally be built.
“It’s an exciting time, and we certainly have areas we need to address,” White said. “It will be interesting to see what happens.”
A few years ago, the students were polled about having a new football team. They were asked if they wanted one back, and if they would be willing to allow tuition to be raised to pay for it.
Mullins said he does not know if this same approach would be used to potentially fund a new arena.
“They used [a student poll] originally when they were planning the CPA; they polled the students. The students voted no and then they revisited it, kind of educated students on all the benefits and what they would really receive from it,” said Mullins.
“It passed the second time and now 2,500 students a day are using it. Students do not often want to spend more money. But, how do you make progress without spending money?
“It is kind of like when people say ‘we do not want any more taxes but we want this, this, this and this.’ Well, how do you have it if nobody wants to pay for it?”
According to White, when in need of new facilities for athletics, it is common to charge the students a fee on their tuition.
“It is safe to say that any new priorities, whether that be a new arena or a football program, will require additional funding sources. Fees are one of many ways to do that,” said White.
As far as the public relations goes for ETSU athletics, White said that they are constantly working on raising knowledge about the ETSU facilities along with seeking contributions for building projects.
“It is called the ‘Pathway to Excellence’ campaign and has been underway for almost seven years now. It has resulted in major philanthropic gifts for all the facilities we have built and are building,” said White.
Students, both those who are involved in sports and those who aren’t, have their own opinions.
“My response is mixed,” said senior Stacey Laughlin. “I have absolutely nothing to do with sports. I think sports are fantastic in college, but whether or not I support the decision depends on how much they are going to raise the tuition because I pay my tuition through student loans.
“I think the idea is awesome because right now we hardly use the Mini-Dome at all and refurbishing it has been a long time coming. The benefits are brilliant, because it would definitely bring money to the school.”
Finding the right balance of upgrading the facilities and minimizing the increase in cost to the students is the key to coming to an agreement.
Discussions about options of rebuilding versus renovating will still take place, and the students’ opinions will play a critical role in determining which idea will prevail.
Only time, and money, will tell the fate of a new basketball facility.
