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Being rebuilt for the new Birmingham USL soccer team...
https://twitter.com/UAB_MSOC/status/988874697646452737

This is going to be an absolute show place

As stated before, UAB will have access to some big time facilities that most colleges can only dream of:

new soccer field (new USL team)
Regions Park (Birmingham Barons)
Legacy arena (renovation)
new downtown football stadium
Crossplex (indoor track and field and swimming-I know UAB doesn't have a swim team)

I've always felt UAB basketball should play 3 or 4 games at the BJCC.. It makes for a great atmosphere if promoted well with big crowds. Schools like Villanova, St.John's and Marquette use the opportunity to give their programs a bigger stage to play on. Folks on this board will argue UAB should only play at Bartow. I've always thought that was not a good decision for UAB.

(04-25-2018 12:00 PM)bigdunks Wrote:  I've always felt UAB basketball should play 3 or 4 games at the BJCC.. It makes for a great atmosphere if promoted well with big crowds. Schools like Villanova, St.John's and Marquette use the opportunity to give their programs a bigger stage to play on. Folks on this board will argue UAB should only play at Bartow. I've always thought that was not a good decision for UAB.

I think the four biggest arguments against it are very valid.

#1. We need 12,000 fans (SWAG) in the BJCC to break even versus holding an 8000+ attended game in Bartow.

#2. We need 14,000 fans in the BJCC to get as loud of a home court advantage as we can get in Bartow.

#3. If only 8,000 fans show up, why are we at the BJCC again ?

#4. The BJCC floor will hold 4 basketball courts. The BJCC floor between the seats is 110' by 220', as it is made for hockey. A Basketball court is 50' wide and 94' baseline to baseline. The sightlines and angles are just so much better in the Bart.

IMO, we should host a 4 team tournament there every other year, and host a big sellout name team on the non-tourney year.

As proposed a few days ago, we should partner with USA and host one year in Birmingham at the BJCC and then USA hosts the next year in Mobile at the Civic Center. That way nobody is playing a home game. Then we get a 3rd Alabama team to be fodder for the host team on Friday night; along with a good P5 or powerful G5 team to face the non-host on Friday night. Then on Saturday night we either swap opponents or let winners and losers play.

granted it's been a while since I've been to the BJCC Arena, but I don't remember it being all that much nicer than Bartow anyway. Regions Field is way too big but at least it's a really nice fan experience. Maybe post-renovation the BJCC will be swanky and awesome, but just playing there to say we're at a bigger facility isn't worth it IMO

Attendance at Bartow keeps dropping year after year. Someone is not doing a very good job. I remember UAB basketball went into the high schools during early days to attract more fans. They also marketed program a bit differently. I remember over 9 thousand on WENN radio night at Bartow. What changed or who forgot how to market program that way. And UAB baseball program does absolutely nothing to attract fans to Regions. If UAB promoted thirsty Thursday for baseball games, they'd draw at least 5000 like the Barons. But if baseball has a weather delay they might get kicked out of Regions too... I think UAB basketball needs to think more like Memphis, Louisville and Villanova and play some games at BJCC. It would be a lot
cheaper for UAB football to stay at Legion Field . Using that same reasoning to play every game at Bartow would be same argument to not build a new football stadium. I like playing at Bartow but it's not doing so hot there. Try something else.

(04-25-2018 03:12 PM)bigdunks Wrote:  Attendance at Bartow keeps dropping year after year. Someone is not doing a very good job. I remember UAB basketball went into the high schools during early days to attract more fans. They also marketed program a bit differently. I remember over 9 thousand on WENN radio night at Bartow. What changed or who forgot how to market program that way. And UAB baseball program does absolutely nothing to attract fans to Regions. If UAB promoted thirsty Thursday for baseball games, they'd draw at least 5000 like the Barons. But if baseball has a weather delay they might get kicked out of Regions too... I think UAB basketball needs to think more like Memphis, Louisville and Villanova and play some games at BJCC. It would be a lot
cheaper for UAB football to stay at Legion Field . Using that same reasoning to play every game at Bartow would be same argument to not build a new football stadium. I like playing at Bartow but it's not doing so hot there. Try something else.

I think the key factors are UAB's rating, their opponent's rating and whether or not made a tournament in the previous year.

Attendance Season Kenpom Opp. KenPom
3,524 2002 95 141
4,423 2003 73 175
4,909 2004 46 137
6,037 2005 51 130
5,464 2006 56 186
4,752 2007 117 144
5,011 2008 61 151
4,953 2009 53 183
5,970 2010 62 126
5,167 2011 65 162
4,564 2012 138 145
4,118 2013 159 206
4,304 2014 115 219
3,258 2015 178 199
4,791 2016 106 237
4,134 2017 129 219
3,512 2018 114 232

Using this, and factoring in tournament appearances, the baseline season attendance for UAB is 5,957. From there, they lose 11.5 fans for each increase in UAB's KenPom rating and 3.2 fans for their opponent's average rating. Making the NIT brings in 415 fans the next season, and making the NCAA tournament bring in 830 fans the next season.

Obviously there are a lot of outside factors here, like the increase in 2003 during Anderson's first year, or the dip after Ehsan's hire, but it seems to me like best thing they can do is be good. Being good really solves a lot of the problem (duh).

EDIT: I'd love for this to transform UAB soccer as well. It's a difficult sport to be profitable in, but there are some smaller schools that do it.

(04-25-2018 02:20 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  just playing there to say we're at a bigger facility isn't worth it IMO

If that's what we are aiming for, we should keep playing at Legion Field.

Yeah, promotion has been rough. It was easier back when everyone had a Bham News subscription and had to see all the articles and ads to read about sports. That great echo chamber called the internet has made things more difficult. Fortunately, the UAB community is growing. The bad news is that there are so many other entertainment options out there in B'ham these days.
Winning cures a lot of the issues, but creativity in marketing and increasing their budget would help, too.

(04-25-2018 04:18 PM)UABslant Wrote:  Yeah, promotion has been rough. It was easier back when everyone had a Bham News subscription and had to see all the articles and ads to read about sports. That great echo chamber called the internet has made things more difficult. Fortunately, the UAB community is growing. The bad news is that there are so many other entertainment options out there in B'ham these days.
Winning cures a lot of the issues, but creativity in marketing and increasing their budget would help, too.

All excellent points. Even getting more than one article a month on AL.com would help.

Where is the basketball thread where we can talk about soccer?

So, what exactly is going on? Are they tearing down the existing stands on the north side of the field? Or building new stands on the south?

(04-26-2018 09:14 AM)BatesUAB Wrote:  So, what exactly is going on? Are they tearing down the existing stands on the north side of the field? Or building new stands on the south?

This.

Major upgrades to BBVA Compass Field have already begun and will include a 4,000-seat grandstand, a 20x40 video board, a permanent ticket office, concessions stand and permanent restrooms, along with space for food trucks and hospitality tents.

Got it. And if I understand correctly, the new track and field facility will be on the back side of the new stands pictured above, on what is now the intramural fields, right?

(04-25-2018 05:39 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Where is the basketball thread where we can talk about soccer?

I thought this was a facilities thread where we were talking about facilities projects anyway

(04-26-2018 09:33 AM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  

(04-26-2018 09:14 AM)BatesUAB Wrote:  So, what exactly is going on? Are they tearing down the existing stands on the north side of the field? Or building new stands on the south?

This.

Major upgrades to BBVA Compass Field have already begun and will include a 4,000-seat grandstand, a 20x40 video board, a permanent ticket office, concessions stand and permanent restrooms, along with space for food trucks and hospitality tents.

Yeah, my understanding from looking at the renderings was that the new stands are on the south side. I always enjoyed the view of the Birmingham skyline watching games at West Campus field, so I'm excited for them to finish this.

What will the field right beside it be used for? Would that be the practice field?

Building the new stands on the south side. The ones on the north will remain.

(04-26-2018 12:37 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  What will the field right beside it be used for? Would that be the practice field?

I think thats where the new track and field facility will be (and maybe soccer practice)...

https://csnbbs.com/thread-847478.html