A New Arena for a New Era

Tonight, I received some interesting, at least to me, information. Apparently, over the past few days, the board of trustees at Indiana University were meeting, in relative secrecy at IPFW, one of their satellite campuses in Gary, Indiana. The meeting was held here, most likely, as to not sound any alarms or draw any attention to the meeting. So what was discussed at this "secret meeting"? The decision to build a new basketball arena at Indiana University, to replace Assembly Hall.

Upon first hearing about this, I was a little surprised, a little disappointed, and a little angry. Assembly Hall is a place that means a lot to me. It is where I saw my first live sporting event. It is the home of my favorite sports team, and where I saw so many games as a student on campus. It had become synonymous with Indiana hoops. In the '70's, '80's, and '90's is was considered one of the loudest, and most difficult places to play in the country. It just seemed wrong, and a little unnecessary to knock it down.

However, upon further thought, I realized that this was not only ok, it was actually a good (not to mention inevitable) turn of events. Assembly Hall, once a jewel of the Big 10, has become one of it's older and smaller venues. It only holds 17 thousand people (compared to the 26 and 24 thousand held by the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin and the Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio respectively). It is slowly beginning to show its age, and it can no longer hide the fact that of those 17 thousand seats, about 4 thousand of them are terrible places to watch a game.

The arena is, for all intents and purposes, a square and there are about 60 seats in each "corner" where you are literally up against the upper level. The angle of the seats coupled with the closeness to the bottom of the upper level make it nearly impossible to see the entire court. I vividly remember watching a game against Michigan State my last year in which my roommate and I had to move to the tunnel to see because we were almost completely unable to see the game at our end of the floor.

Then there are the seats at the top of the upper level. Rarely, unless it is Purdue, Michigan State, or a team that is contending for the conference title, are many of these seats filled. They are always sold, which allows IU to call the game a "sell out", but you can almost always have your pick of seats up there. The reason? A. the angle is so steep that you often feel like you might fall forward onto the floor. And B. you feel like you are miles away. In this day and age of arenas with "not a bad seat in the house", this is unacceptable. Especially if you want to view yourself as one of the 3 or 4 top programs in college hoops.

Now, weren't all these issues there back in the '80's? Yes, they were. So why not the outcry then? Two words: Bob Knight. Not only would he not allow any changes to the arena, but there was no need. All those seats were filled just by him. For one reason, the product was great. Also, there was always the chance you might see him throw a chair, or break a phone, or something like that. Knight was such a draw that it didn't matter where you played your games. He would've sold out a barn with holes in the roof during a rain storm. However, add together the fact that Coach Knight is gone to the recent struggles the Hoosiers have had, and it is not surprising that attendance has dropped each year since Coach left.

Now, with a new coach and a new athletic director, the Hoosiers are re-building the program. In fact, they are re-building the entire sports program. They are building new baseball and softball fields. They are closing in one end of Memorial Stadium, creating a smaller version of the horseshoe in Ohio State. They are building a brand new basketball practice facility as well as installing new weight equipment throughout the campus. With all these changes, it seems only right that the new Hoosiers hoops team has a new place to play.

The arena will not be finished until at the earliest 2009, and most likely well after that. It should have 20+ thousand seats, and should have far fewer bad tickets. I have little doubt that they will be able to carry over the "old time gym" feel that helps make Assembly Hall so special. After all, one of the single best indoor sports facilities in the country is just up the road in Indianapolis at Conseco Fieldhouse.

I know there will be some closed minded people that will think that this is a travesty, and just helps show everything that is wrong with the world, and all that. To that I say simply this: I would wager that you are the same people that are bitching about how bad the seats are when you are banished to the upper level, or are unfortunate enough to get one of the corner seats. Look, buildings get old. What was good 30 years ago, is not necessarily good today. Look at what is happening in baseball. They recently built a new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, will soon be building a new Fenway Park and a new Yankee Stadium, and I promise (sorry my fellow Cub fans) a new Wrigley Field is on the way. Teams/schools are losing too much money by not having the capacities they should, and many of these older stadiums and parks are just plain un-safe.

Ultimately, I would say this to anyone who wants to complain about this. Get over yourself. If they can build a new Yankee Stadium and a new Fenway Park, then they can build a new Assembly Hall, because comparatively speaking, we aren't even a blip on their radars. But of coarse, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.