renovation questions

[BleedMaroon]

I went to the Lex caravan stop. The renderings were great. The wall came down and there was about 10-15 rows of seats and 4-5 boxes above it. I asked if those rows of seats were permanent or able to retract to create a stage and wasn't given a solid answer. I am assuming tomorrow's big announcement will include renderings. Capacity might only grow 1-2k due to seatbacks being added to the whole place which I actually like. They might keep the student section benches so the capacity grows by 2-3k and not just 1-2k from what was talked about at the caravan stop.

[EKU05]

I went to the Lex caravan stop. The renderings were great. The wall came down and there was about 10-15 rows of seats and 4-5 boxes above it. I asked if those rows of seats were permanent or able to retract to create a stage and wasn't given a solid answer. I am assuming tomorrow's big announcement will include renderings. Capacity might only grow 1-2k due to seatbacks being added to the whole place which I actually like. They might keep the student section benches so the capacity grows by 2-3k and not just 1-2k from what was talked about at the caravan stop.

I wasn't under the impression that the capacity was supposed to grow at all. I assumed the new seating areas would essentially offset lost seating due to going chairback, but maybe I'm wrong.

Do we even want to increase capacity? Even on a good year our average attendance is only half full, and many arenas are currently cutting capacity in favor of quality. Even "mighty" UK slashed a few thousand from Rupp when when they renovated the upper level. Live sports attendance is way down across the board, and it was trending that way big time even before the pandemic.

I personally wouldn't want our arena to hold more than about 7,000...if that.

[BleedMaroon]

I really hope it doesn't grow in capacity. I am hoping the seatbacks are decent size and aren't crunched together. I'd be much more likely to venture to EKU for a few games a year if I was comfortable. More space but same amount of seats would be amazing but I kept hearing that capacity needs to grow for non basketball related events so concerts, graduation?

[Colonel12]

Renderings were tweeted out but quickly deleted.

[Colonel12]

And they are back.

https://twitter.com/EKUSports/status/15 ... 3u4hg&s=19

[Sae]

looks really nice, will be a huge improvement over the current set up

[EKU05]

That looks amazing!

[hoopseku]

will help with recruiting and the overall fan experience

[neugie]

Well done Looks fabulous

[BleedMaroon]

Going to be such a game changer for basketball and EKU as a whole. Concerts, commencement, orientation, large scale events and of course bball/volleyball. Having current, future, and former students inside of Alumni when it's done is really going to help everyone.

If AW can recruit like this, think of him with this new arena!!!