(06-09-2009 03:15 PM)bucten Wrote:  Memorial Center is a valuble asset to the athletic department. It was built as a multi-purpose sports complex but unfortunately the powers to be hired a architect with no experience in designing sports complexes.

What did he design? ETSU pretty much lifted the plans from the University of Idaho but just put it on a piece of land that was to small and that led to the god awful sight lines in football among other problems. Below are links to what the Dome should have been.

http://www.govandals.com//pdf4/414253.pd...M_ID=17100

And they do something really cool,they build an arena within the dome for basketball season with curtains and stuff.
Below is pictures of what their dome looks like when converted to basketball.
http://www.govandals.com//pdf5/413936.pd...M_ID=17100

Why couldn't ETSU do something like that? If Idaho can go to that much trouble to make a temporary arena why couldn't ETSU go above that and make a permament one in that style?

I thought the same thing. However, it would be difficult to keep it together like Idaho because of Indoor track.

In the long run, I wouldn't see ETSU needing a building much larger than Freedom Hall. It would be great to have a very large basketball arena, but practically speaking, I don't see us moving into a conference where we would need something any larger.

football and basketball seasons overlap, if they can do that ETSU should be able to handle track.

The Idaho arena is an excellent idea. We could move the court out to the middle, and then put stands on all sides and curtain off the rest. It said that their arena seats 7,000, which would be enough in our current situation.

Last night, I attended a swim meet and visited with an etsu alum from my days at the college. We discussed the dome. He has an interesting perspective because he created the renderings used for the renovation of Thompson Boling Arena at UT (as well as the facelift for Neyland Stadium). He's the guy that comes up with the ideas for what these buildings eventually looked like.

He made an interesting point that he found it impossible to believe that a university the size of ETSU wouldn't add exits in the dome to allow all the seats to be used. This came after a conversation about ETSU deciding against hosting UT in return for more games in Knoxville.

No real point here. Just an interesting conversation.

One difference I see in the ETSU dome and that of Idaho is how the football field and stands are oriented. Idaho's field runs the "length" of the building. We, on the other hand, we use the "flat" parts for sideline stands rather than them being at the end of the end zones. It's hard to tell from pictures, but that structure must be a good bit larger than Memorial Center.

I wonder what the fire marshall would think about gigantic curtains flanking all sides of an arena. Maybe there is a fire hazard which would put the capacity between 0 - 500 people.
Also we would have to make sure we cut holes in the curtains for exits, or maybe it would be more effective to provide everyone with scissors so they can cut themselves out of the damn place.

Also I can't help but think of those little russian dolls that fit one inside of another. We could have a mini dome and within it a mini-mini dome.

Actually the Memorial Center was designed after the dome at Idaho State, not Idaho.

Heres some more pictures of the Holt Arena. You can see that their setup for basketball is alot like ours, except their stands are higher on the floor, atleast on the side oppisite of the main grandstand.

And notice how their fans can actually see the sidelines in the football pictures.

http://isubengals.cstv.com/view.gal?id=6345

I have been told that our Dome was supposed to almost exactly be like that of ISU but that the state cut the budget for it during the building process and actually they had to "shorten" the facility leading to the sideline problem.

Rod - Gene Rawls was hired by the university to design the dome. He had no experience in sports venues. Because of family ties he got the job.

The worst thing he done wrong was the sightline mistake. Coach Bell told him that the plan showed the sidelines of the football field were to close to the stands. The sideline needed to be at least 15 yards from the edge of the stands. He did not correct the problem instead he made it worse because he went the wrong way with his correction. He put the sideline closer in his final plan.

Some other mistakes: Weight room had six foot ceiling, racquetball courts were to short and not high enough, public restrooms were left out on the floor level of the East and West side of dome, seating was supposed to slope to the floor, size of track was wrong and the dome was supposed to be designed to expand to 22,500 by adding upper decks.

Just for those of you that were not in this area or not born at the time when new athletic facilities were being planned for ETSU, plans were completed for a new football stadium and a fieldhouse/armory before the dome was ever thought off. These plans were pictured in the JC Press and rendering were shown to civic groups. These plans were put out for bid. The bids for both venues came in under the pricetag to build the dome.

Yeah it was Idaho.. not Idaho State. I seem to remember hearing that the land wasn't big enough to build it to the same specs as the Holt dome. However I still don't understand why something like what Idaho State does in their dome can't be done here.

Doesn't Northern Iowa have a similar building?

I would love to see an Idaho setup, but it would take money. You would also need a lighting rig like Idaho has to give the court enough light. But how awesome would it look?!

It would look great, but like you said cost money.........

UNI does have a dome as well. I think it is larger than the Mini Dome and the roof is not quite the same.

I could be wrong but I think I heard that UNI built a nice basketball specific arena a couple years ago.

They did.

http://www.govandals.com//pdf4/414253.pd...M_ID=17100

Pretty cool stuff about the Kibbie Dome in Idaho. That thing looks TINY.

http://www.vpaf.uni.edu/unidome/virtual_...les/6.html

The pictures on the UNI website and the UNI-Dome site to me show that they got it right, though for what we have, we need to strive to get what Idaho State has going.

Quote:The sideline needed to be at least 15 yards from the edge of the stands.

Does anyone know the distance from the sideline to the stands in the ETSU dome?

How about the same distance in the U of Idaho dome?

Obviously for football it doesn't matter anymore, we need a new stadium for football anyway when it comes back. As for basketball, I could see keeping the dome if maybe on the other side they build larger bleachers. I also swear by putting in more doors on the lower level as to increase seating capacity. Thoughts?