I just learned that ETSU has purchased the Earthfare plaza property. This is huge and something that has been needed for many years. Can we now imagine a new event center arena for the region?

Just over 5 acres for the university. This is a good acquisition and opens up many possibilities for future development.

I’m partial to seeing an on campus basketball arena but still feel like Freedom Hall is a great venue.

The plot **MAY** be thicker than you all realize. Not too long before the "announcement" about the Earth Fare Plaza, the Bojangles adjacent to it changed hands. Maybe a couple of weeks. I do not know who purchased it, but do know it was because the seller said "it was too good an offer to pass up". That's pretty interesting terminology - and that was relayed to me first-hand by someone in a position to know. And I also know the deed hasn't been filed yet, which is mildly curious, but not necessarily quite what I'd call "odd". So stay tuned for that. The timing could be a total coincidence, but also maybe not. Could Mitch Cox be stepping into the breach a little bit left by the recent passing of one of ETSU's all-time benefactors (and not just in terms of dollars), Louie Gump? Just speculation, but one wonders.

That said............I suspect some of you who were so strongly urging that an on-campus basketball+ facility of 9-10-12,000 be built are perhaps thankful that didn't get done yet, given the sagging attendance all around the country. And I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to want that - but the way things are playing out at the moment, it would have been premature. IMO.

All *that* said..............the wording (and timing) of the "announcement" were a bit peculiar, as we all know. And the "it may not be needed for 20 years" (paraphrased) sound an *awfully* lot like "well.........if we ever want to build an arena". That's reading between the lines, but I didn't need glasses for that reading. And layer onto that it was the Foundation who bought it - not the university (who would have had to go thru the state). All sheer speculation; heck, it could be a KFC or DQ going in there.

We have to understand that IF a new event center is built it would not solely be for ETSU basketball but instead for major concerts that are too big for Freedom Hall. The Bucs would only need the lower deck for basketball. We do not want to make the ETSU mistakes of the past and build something small that would still not give the region a major event center. Either build it big or do not build it. We have to quit thinking that basketball is going to fill it because it will not. Major concerts by popular artists will fill it. That is the real purpose.

(11-30-2022 09:48 PM)bucfan81 Wrote:  We have to understand that IF a new event center is built it would not solely be for ETSU basketball but instead for major concerts that are too big for Freedom Hall. The Bucs would only need the lower deck for basketball. We do not want to make the ETSU mistakes of the past and build something small that would still not give the region a major event center. Either build it big or do not build it. We have to quit thinking that basketball is going to fill it because it will not. Major concerts by popular artists will fill it. That is the real purpose.

.......which is all why I wrote "basketball+" instead of just "basketball".