Smith Center Replacement/Renovation

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2ManyBlueCups

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UNC considers six options, including two off-campus sites, for Smith Center replacement :: WRALSportsFan.com

The home of the Tar Heels' men's basketball program was part of the focus of a working group put together by Chancellor Lee Roberts to study the university's physical master plan.
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A little upset to see that they are considering replacing it with a 16,000 seat arena. Current capacity is over 21k. We fill up fine, why downsize? Will just make tickets even more expensive.
 
2ManyBlueCups said:
www.wralsportsfan.com

UNC considers six options, including two off-campus sites, for Smith Center replacement :: WRALSportsFan.com

The home of the Tar Heels' men's basketball program was part of the focus of a working group put together by Chancellor Lee Roberts to study the university's physical master plan.
www.wralsportsfan.com www.wralsportsfan.com

A little upset to see that they are considering replacing it with a 16,000 seat arena. Current capacity is over 21k. We fill up fine, why downsize? Will just make tickets even more expensive.
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Basically the purpose of the new building is to take away the Life Rights seats and thereby extract a LOT more revenue. To me it's not a bad analogy to borrowing 500 million from an 'equity " fund in hopes that some day it will be a net gain . Most folks will still be able to see UNC-A at Christmas break-thats about it unless you are really loaded or unless the team starts to tank for years
It stinks-but is financially necesary since our Football program makes so little $ compared to the Big boys
 
mpaer said:
Basically the purpose of the new building is to take away the Life Rights seats and thereby extract a LOT more revenue. To me it's not a bad analogy to borrowing 500 million from an 'equity " fund in hopes that some day it will be a net gain . Most folks will still be able to see UNC-A at Christmas break-thats about it unless you are really loaded or unless the team starts to tank for years
It stinks-but is financially necesary since our Football program makes so little $ compared to the Big boys
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How would that increase revenue?
 
More suites and premium seating. Plus the minimum Ram's Club donation required to get season tickets will increase greatly, as will the average ticket price.
 
moving the lifetime rights people to box suites would free up a lot more seats in the lower level bowl. Not sure how or how much that would boost revenue, but maybe that's what they're thinking. Also, maybe they're thinking a few less seats at higher face value would equate to more game-to-game revenue.
 
I greatly prefer an on campus option. I also think renovating the Smith Center is short-sighted, but I could be persuaded I'm wrong there. Replacing the Smith Center seems logistically impractical, so in my view that leaves the Bowles lot and Odum Village. The Odum Village footprint seems larger than the current Smith Center footprint, so I'm not sure why they would be limited to 16k seats there. The Bowles lot does seem very tight. I don't necessarily think they need to build 21k seats again, but 16k does seem a little small.
 
Average attendance last year was 20,600. 20,000 seats puts you at the tip top among venues nationally. Going down to 16,000 seems a little steep. 18.5K seems about right if they want to downsize
 
Chapel Hill needs to fix the traffic problem on 54/501 if they keep the stadium on campus. I'd like to see them expand Eubanks Rd & Hillsborough Rd to 4 lane / bypass capacity to complete the loop. They keep throwing more traffic on 54/501, but it hasn't changed in over 50 years.

If they don't include something like that in the plans, I'd prefer a location out towards I40.
 
An arena that is not within walking distance for students would be idiotic. And as I read the options, at least 2 of them would not be walkable.
 
UNCRx85 said:
Average attendance last year was 20,600. 20,000 seats puts you at the tip top among venues nationally. Going down to 16,000 seems a little steep. 18.5K seems about right if they want to downsize
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There are plenty of complaints about the existing venue But yea 21 plus thousand is truly " iconic "
 
I have a lot of thoughts about this lol. If we do build a new arena, it would be a travesty to not put it on campus. Friday Center or the old airport would be incredibly lame.

Wherever the arena is located, at least find a way to put more of the student section closer to the court. So many other schools have this and it does make a big difference. Surely an all time Mt Rushmore CBB program like UNC can also figure out a way to make that happen.
 
336Heel said:
Does UNC still use Dick Baddour's estimate as the official attendance? Or have they gone to something more accurate?
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Yep. For many/most of the November through January games I've been to, I've witnessed many fans dressed up like empty seats.
 
mpaer said:
Basically the purpose of the new building is to take away the Life Rights seats and thereby extract a LOT more revenue. To me it's not a bad analogy to borrowing 500 million from an 'equity " fund in hopes that some day it will be a net gain . Most folks will still be able to see UNC-A at Christmas break-thats about it unless you are really loaded or unless the team starts to tank for years
It stinks-but is financially necesary since our Football program makes so little $ compared to the Big boys
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That is just one reason.

It is an outdated building compared to most of college basketball. A single concourse for 21,000 people is a bad design. A new building will have dual concourses, allowing a much more pleasant in-person experience.

We need to add luxury suites to maximize revenue.

We need to reconfigure student seating to add excitement to the games and make the viewing experience better (which is connected to your lifetime rights issue).

Based on the report, the obvious choice is the Bowles parking lot. No need to relocate during the two-year construction. Keeps the stadium on campus. Traffic will be no worse than current Smith Center, and likely a little better with logistical improvements and reduced capacity.
 
If they aren't going to renovate thw current building, I hope they put the new one in the Bowles lot. It definitely needs to stay on campus. It would suck to have less seats as far as being able to buy tickets, though, but it would be great to get the students around the court.
 
336Heel said:
More suites and premium seating. Plus the minimum Ram's Club donation required to get season tickets will increase greatly, as will the average ticket price.
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Thats not related to lifetime seat rights.

The arena needs to be used for more than 15 nights a year.
 
Calheel said:
We need to reconfigure student seating to add excitement to the games and make the viewing experience better (which is connected to your lifetime rights issue).

Based on the report, the obvious choice is the Bowles parking lot. No need to relocate during the two-year construction. Keeps the stadium on campus. Traffic will be no worse than current Smith Center, and likely a little better with logistical improvements and reduced capacity.
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I seriously doubt if student seating will get better. Fewer seats-more money Doesn't sound like it. I hope I am wrong
 
mpaer said:
I seriously doubt if student seating will get better. Fewer seats-more money Doesn't sound like it. I hope I am wrong
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The money comes from the luxury suites and box seats. They can make more money with those and give the students better seats.
 
mpaer said:
I seriously doubt if student seating will get better. Fewer seats-more money Doesn't sound like it. I hope I am wrong
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That's my fear as well. A smaller arena with fewer students and even more blue haired, snoozing donors where the students should be. Fans not rowdy because the only ones who can afford tickets are too old to stand up for more than a few minutes.
 
The only problem with using the Bowles lot is it's going to piss off a lot of football tailgaters. It's really the only lot on campus where there is a decent tailgating option. I suppose once you implode the Smith Center you could put the tailgate lot there? Not that it's a major consideration, but you could cause some issues if you don't have a reasonable alternative for those folks.
 
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