From the South Bend Tribune

<a href='http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2005/05/31/sports.20050531-sbt-MICH-C5-Arena_adventure.sto' target='_blank'>Big East Arenas</a>

One inaccuracy, the RAC holds 8,000 people. But the article was cool and very accurate.

billybluedemon Wrote:From the South Bend Tribune

<a href='http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2005/05/31/sports.20050531-sbt-MICH-C5-Arena_adventure.sto' target='_blank'>Big East Arenas</a>

They forgot Gample Pavillion. I would put it up there as one of the toughest arenas in the BE if not in the entire country.

The Big East will love the crowds at UL, Cincy, Marquette....nothing beat the Campus atmopshere of places like the Shoe, but Freedom Hall with its glorious history and the NBA arena in Milwaukee are great in their own right. Depaul needs an on campus arena in the worst way. The United Center is awesome for select games but the All-State Arena is fair at best and way too far away from everything.

Bearcat,
An "honest" on campus arena will not happen anytime soon, if ever. What I mean by an "honest" on campus arena is that the arena is within what people consider to be the Lincoln Park Campus. Why will it not happen? Fullerton Avenue traffic. I was at the campus last week and left DePaul at 9pm. Traffic to I-90/94 from Sheffield and Fullerton is HORRIBLE. The city planners here in Chicago will never allow the permits to be granted for an on campus arena. That does not mean that the Blue Demons are out of options. There are a few locations within 2 miles that could easily house a mid-size arena (8000-10000 capacity). The place I always think that would make sense is west of campus, within a short distance from the expressway. DePaul owns various tracts of land, and I would not be surprised if they consider buying up a tract of land in the former warehouse area (basically Armitage and Elston region). We have a discussion about this going on at BlueDemonsNation.com.

Wow...you know you have a good confrence when Madison Square garden is #7 in the league.....I couldn't agree more with the writers comments about Seton Hall...it seems like every time they are on TV 3/4 of the areana is empty.....you would think a school with that kind of hoops tradition would be a better draw for the folks of NJ


Jackson

That would be great for Depaul if they had an 8 to 10.0m seat arena
even within a couple miles in that warehouse district etc. That is about how far UL and Marquette play from campus.

Bearcat T Wrote:That would be great for Depaul if they had an 8 to 10.0m seat arena
even within a couple miles in that warehouse district etc. That is about how far UL and Marquette play from campus.

The BC in Milwaukee is about 7-8 blocks from campus, tops. Its about a 10 minute walk. My guess is that MU will own the BC within 5-10 years. The Bucks need a new arena to compete. The BC is in perfect condition, but it only has 39 suites, I believe, and no club seats, restaurants, etc, that an NBA team needs to survive in a smaller market.

The Horizon or All-State arena, as it is now known, is a dump. It was built on the cheap and remodeled on the cheap. Even the arena in Providence is nicer.

An abadoned hockey arena located in a mall should not be tops of the list. I would have ranked UConn's and Nova on campus sites before I bothered to rank the Civic Center and Wachovia. SH and Georgetown would really help themselves out if they got a campus arena. I remember seeing Georgtown play in their tiny campus gym during the NIT and tought it was cool, but it only seats 2 or 3k. Maybe it could be expanded.

My point is, it is great to be able to walk out of your dorms, apt's or greek houses to games across campus etc. You do not want a situation where you have to be on a bus even if its 7 or 8 blocks or 2 miles but they are better than playing on the other side of Chicago etc. You want alumni on campus not just downtown etc. You lose so much of the profit without parking, concessions, bookstore sales, and mostly the college atmosphere.

Bearcat T,
If you have been on the Lincoln Park campus, you know that it is nothing short of impossible to have an on-campus arena there. The traffic situation, right now, is horrible. Imagine on game night! I know people in the City of Chicago's planning office and they see an arena on campus as being a nightmare. Secondly, space in the area is limited, and even if a large enough site was found, the neighborhood coalitions would be out in full force.