menu
Logo
99+
Bobcat Attack Menu
Logo
99+
Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: IDEAS to ENTICE more STUDENT INVOLVEMENT ?
Page: 4 of 5
mail
OU_Country
2/23/2017 4:54 PM
David E Brightbill wrote:expand_more
The Convo is too big. If we lopped off half of the top bowl and got to 8-9K, that would be good.
I have to ask good for what. The several thousand parents and friends that couldn't get in for graduation. This is an academic institution that has a couple of basketball teams and other sports that use the convo. It's not a basketball program that just happens to offer a few classes.

giacomo, you obviously pushed a button here! :)


In reality, I agree, though not in a literal sense. I know it costs money that doesn't exist right now, and I know it's merely a pipe dream, but tarping the top ten rows or so wouldn't be a bad thing.
mail
person
cbus cat fan
2/23/2017 5:53 PM
The Convo has many purposes, not the least of which are the perfect aesthetics for students, family and friends on Graduation Day. For visitors, there is no doubt that we are a world class university. Tarping the Convo would give the appearance of decline. It would seem like something that might occur at Eastern Michigan or Akron. Yes, I know they have small arenas, but the optics of a tarped Convo would be terrible on so many different fronts!
Last Edited: 2/23/2017 5:54:22 PM by cbus cat fan
mail
person
CA Bobcat
2/23/2017 6:13 PM
cbus cat fan wrote:expand_more
The Convo has many purposes, not the least of which are the perfect aesthetics for students, family and friends on Graduation Day. For visitors, there is no doubt that we are a world class university. Tarping the Convo would give the appearance of decline. It would seem like something that might occur at Eastern Michigan or Akron. Yes, I know they have small arenas, but the optics of a tarped Convo would be terrible on so many different fronts!
+1

Tarps and curtains are for losers.
mail
person
Recovering Journalist
2/23/2017 6:16 PM
cbus cat fan wrote:expand_more
The Convo has many purposes, not the least of which are the perfect aesthetics for students, family and friends on Graduation Day. For visitors, there is no doubt that we are a world class university. Tarping the Convo would give the appearance of decline. It would seem like something that might occur at Eastern Michigan or Akron. Yes, I know they have small arenas, but the optics of a tarped Convo would be terrible on so many different fronts!
Agreed, not least because tarps and curtains don't fool anyone.
mail
OhioCatFan
2/23/2017 9:08 PM
Recovering Journalist wrote:expand_more
The Convo has many purposes, not the least of which are the perfect aesthetics for students, family and friends on Graduation Day. For visitors, there is no doubt that we are a world class university. Tarping the Convo would give the appearance of decline. It would seem like something that might occur at Eastern Michigan or Akron. Yes, I know they have small arenas, but the optics of a tarped Convo would be terrible on so many different fronts!
Agreed, not least because tarps and curtains don't fool anyone.
+1
mail
person
BillyTheCat
2/23/2017 9:13 PM
On the football board people want to expand Peden and on the basketball board people want a smaller gym....SMDH!!!
mail
OhioCatFan
2/23/2017 9:31 PM
BillyTheCat wrote:expand_more
On the football board people want to expand Peden and on the basketball board people want a smaller gym....SMDH!!!
+1

Some people are *never* happy.
mail
person
giacomo
2/23/2017 9:40 PM
Of course we wouldn't tarp off the top of the Convo. Graduation exercises are important. But having a 13k seat arena when you average 6k or less is not good either. It's like Costco having a 100k sq ft store and only using half. I think the building is paid for by now, but I'm not sure about that. If we ever did a major renovation I would consider reducing seating capacity.
mail
OhioCatFan
2/23/2017 9:46 PM
giacomo wrote:expand_more
Of course we wouldn't tarp off the top of the Convo. Graduation exercises are important. But having a 13k seat arena when you average 6k or less is not good either. It's like Costco having a 100k sq ft store and only using half. I think the building is paid for by now, but I'm not sure about that. If we ever did a major renovation I would consider reducing seating capacity.
The Convo has been paid off for at least a decade. There are no plans to reduce the capacity. As others have pointed out, it's not exclusively a college basketball facility. And, when Saul gets us into the top 25, we'll have 'em swinging off the rafters! ;-)
Last Edited: 2/23/2017 9:46:33 PM by OhioCatFan
mail
person
Jeff McKinney
2/23/2017 10:40 PM
OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more
Of course we wouldn't tarp off the top of the Convo. Graduation exercises are important. But having a 13k seat arena when you average 6k or less is not good either. It's like Costco having a 100k sq ft store and only using half. I think the building is paid for by now, but I'm not sure about that. If we ever did a major renovation I would consider reducing seating capacity.
The Convo has been paid off for at least a decade. There are no plans to reduce the capacity. As others have pointed out, it's not exclusively a college basketball facility. And, when Saul gets us into the top 25, we'll have 'em swinging off the rafters! ;-)
No we wouldnt, OCF. That's the new reality of college basketball.

There's got to be a way to reduce Convo capacity to 10000 while still accomodating graduation crowds.
mail
person
Recovering Journalist
2/23/2017 11:00 PM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
Of course we wouldn't tarp off the top of the Convo. Graduation exercises are important. But having a 13k seat arena when you average 6k or less is not good either. It's like Costco having a 100k sq ft store and only using half. I think the building is paid for by now, but I'm not sure about that. If we ever did a major renovation I would consider reducing seating capacity.
The Convo has been paid off for at least a decade. There are no plans to reduce the capacity. As others have pointed out, it's not exclusively a college basketball facility. And, when Saul gets us into the top 25, we'll have 'em swinging off the rafters! ;-)
No we wouldnt, OCF. That's the new reality of college basketball.

There's got to be a way to reduce Convo capacity to 10000 while still accomodating graduation crowds.
What is the possible benefit of spending money to make the Convocation Center less effective for... convocations? This talk is insane, because it really boils down to a handful of super-passionate hoops fans wanting to increase aesthetic appeal. You can claim it's about "atmosphere," but it's really about wanting to look snazzy. It all goes back to the unhealthy obsession on this board with crowds. If it's not how they look, it's how they act or what their actual numbers are. The Convo is a great building. Sure, it was made in a different era and would never be made today, but we should embrace that and accept that it actually does fill a handful of times a year. Hell, even on off years, it comes close for certain basketball games. This is much ado about nothing that will ever happen - and that's a good thing.
mail
OU_Country
2/23/2017 11:53 PM
BillyTheCat wrote:expand_more
On the football board people want to expand Peden and on the basketball board people want a smaller gym....SMDH!!!
The football board is a different place...lets leave it at that.
mail
OU_Country
2/23/2017 11:55 PM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
Of course we wouldn't tarp off the top of the Convo. Graduation exercises are important. But having a 13k seat arena when you average 6k or less is not good either. It's like Costco having a 100k sq ft store and only using half. I think the building is paid for by now, but I'm not sure about that. If we ever did a major renovation I would consider reducing seating capacity.
The Convo has been paid off for at least a decade. There are no plans to reduce the capacity. As others have pointed out, it's not exclusively a college basketball facility. And, when Saul gets us into the top 25, we'll have 'em swinging off the rafters! ;-)
No we wouldnt, OCF. That's the new reality of college basketball.

There's got to be a way to reduce Convo capacity to 10000 while still accomodating graduation crowds.
That would be my feeling as well. When they replaced seats, I felt like they could have knocked out 2,000 seats up higher somehow. If nothing else, remove the top row maybe.
mail
OhioCatFan
2/24/2017 12:19 AM
Recovering Journalist wrote:expand_more
What is the possible benefit of spending money to make the Convocation Center less effective for... convocations? This talk is insane, because it really boils down to a handful of super-passionate hoops fans wanting to increase aesthetic appeal. You can claim it's about "atmosphere," but it's really about wanting to look snazzy. It all goes back to the unhealthy obsession on this board with crowds. If it's not how they look, it's how they act or what their actual numbers are. The Convo is a great building. Sure, it was made in a different era and would never be made today, but we should embrace that and accept that it actually does fill a handful of times a year. Hell, even on off years, it comes close for certain basketball games. This is much ado about nothing that will ever happen - and that's a good thing.
+100%

RJ and I have often disagreed, but this statement just hits the proverbial nail right square on the head. Could not agree more!

Jeff, did you note my little winking smiley face emoticon? I was speaking with a bit of hyperbole with the "hanging off the rafters" comment. For those with long memories, who are also long in the tooth, it will be recalled that this was the expression Walter Luckett with great modesty used to describe the effect his recruitment to OHIO would have on attendance. However, I will say that when Saul gets us into the top 25 that will see a significant boost in attendance and full houses on some occasions.
mail
person
ShoreCat
2/24/2017 7:41 AM
I know we've previously discussed the issue Cleveland State is having with their convocation center. Looking at their problems with basketball attendance and using their facility for other events makes the problems with OU's Convocation Center seem minor.

I agree with many of the reasons stated here for lack of student involvement. One other thing I would mention is that I attended OU during the Gary Trent years. To say he "transcended" the sport is probably over-stating it, but you got the feeling you had to go to games to see one of the greatest athletes that would ever be in Athens. I had friends who weren't huge basketball fans but went to games just to see Mr. Trent.

This is a really nice team we have this year but it doesn't have that type of player.
mail
person
GoCats105
2/24/2017 7:44 AM
Recovering Journalist wrote:expand_more
Of course we wouldn't tarp off the top of the Convo. Graduation exercises are important. But having a 13k seat arena when you average 6k or less is not good either. It's like Costco having a 100k sq ft store and only using half. I think the building is paid for by now, but I'm not sure about that. If we ever did a major renovation I would consider reducing seating capacity.
The Convo has been paid off for at least a decade. There are no plans to reduce the capacity. As others have pointed out, it's not exclusively a college basketball facility. And, when Saul gets us into the top 25, we'll have 'em swinging off the rafters! ;-)
No we wouldnt, OCF. That's the new reality of college basketball.

There's got to be a way to reduce Convo capacity to 10000 while still accomodating graduation crowds.
What is the possible benefit of spending money to make the Convocation Center less effective for... convocations? This talk is insane, because it really boils down to a handful of super-passionate hoops fans wanting to increase aesthetic appeal. You can claim it's about "atmosphere," but it's really about wanting to look snazzy. It all goes back to the unhealthy obsession on this board with crowds. If it's not how they look, it's how they act or what their actual numbers are. The Convo is a great building. Sure, it was made in a different era and would never be made today, but we should embrace that and accept that it actually does fill a handful of times a year. Hell, even on off years, it comes close for certain basketball games. This is much ado about nothing that will ever happen - and that's a good thing.
I agree with you that the Convo should stay the capacity it is and structurally they shouldn't make any changes to make the Convo any less than what it already is. I've never bought the idea that the Convo is too big. It's fine the way it is.

However, sprucing it up a bit would make it even better than it already is in my mind, and I think it's still one of the best basketball facilities around. Scoreboards, LED ribbons, spotlights...hell, even some paint or some marketing banners in the concourse would do wonders.
mail
person
Recovering Journalist
2/24/2017 8:48 AM
BayCat wrote:expand_more
I know we've previously discussed the issue Cleveland State is having with their convocation center. Looking at their problems with basketball attendance and using their facility for other events makes the problems with OU's Convocation Center seem minor.
Heck, even within the MAC, of the places named "Convocation Center" (throw in Worthen as the only other big arena) ours is the one in the best shape in terms of actually drawing crowds.

CSU's problems are legion, but they boil down to the building costing much more to maintain annually than it makes in revenue. This is not an issue for our Convo. As far as improving aesthetics, CSU has taken radical steps to hide how overbuilt the Wolstein Center is, and they don't work. The arena has a full-length curtain in the middle and the court is pushed to one end, effectively making it a horseshoe. I guess it has the effect of "concentrating" the 1k-2k fans who generally show up, but it is a painfully obvious optical trick.

The Convo was designed and built for its capacity. Rip out seats and you're left with barren concrete steps and fewer tickets for parents, friends and families to watch graduations. That's pretty ironic since those graduates and their families have been paying for years to keep Ohio athletics afloat whether that's their first time in the Convo or not.
Last Edited: 2/24/2017 8:50:38 AM by Recovering Journalist
mail
person
Jeff McKinney
2/24/2017 9:06 AM
Recovering...you make good points. But other similar schools have downsized facilities...Toledo and Western Kentucky come to mind. Even Marshall. I wonder how they dealt with the issue of non athletic convocations like graduations?
mail
person
GoCats105
2/24/2017 9:19 AM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
Recovering...you make good points. But other similar schools have downsized facilities...Toledo and Western Kentucky come to mind. Even Marshall. I wonder how they dealt with the issue of non athletic convocations like graduations?
Really the only way to get around it would be having more sparsed out ceremonies over the course of graduation weekend. Then you're probably getting into even ceremonies or even Sundays.

https://www.ohio.edu/commencement /
mail
person
giacomo
2/24/2017 9:31 AM
Recovering, I agree with you and I wouldn't change a thing either. My point was that at some point in the future we will need to do a major renovation. The building is going on 50 years. We should consider doing something with the top rung of seats. Maybe we will fill it up soon, but the trend seems to be going the other way. What other events besides graduation do we need that much capacity?
mail
person
Recovering Journalist
2/24/2017 9:58 AM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
Recovering...you make good points. But other similar schools have downsized facilities...Toledo and Western Kentucky come to mind. Even Marshall. I wonder how they dealt with the issue of non athletic convocations like graduations?
Savage Arena's renovation is a poor comparison because the community is very different than Athens. They reduced capacity but they added revenue streams in the form of 12 suites, 17 loges and a large premium hosting area. I think we all know that Athens does not have the corporate support for almost 30 premium seating areas. If Ohio could sell even 10 or so loges for a large amount of money, I'd be all for putting them in and losing some capacity, but that's a total pipe dream.
mail
person
Recovering Journalist
2/24/2017 10:04 AM
giacomo wrote:expand_more
We should consider doing something with the top rung of seats.
Like what? Do you think barren concrete steps look better? I'm not arguing that we're in dire need of those seats for basketball games. I'm saying that they're there, they get used a few times a year, and there's no good reason to do anything with them.
mail
OU_Country
2/24/2017 11:21 AM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
Recovering...you make good points. But other similar schools have downsized facilities...Toledo and Western Kentucky come to mind. Even Marshall. I wonder how they dealt with the issue of non athletic convocations like graduations?
Really the only way to get around it would be having more sparsed out ceremonies over the course of graduation weekend. Then you're probably getting into even ceremonies or even Sundays.

https://www.ohio.edu/commencement /
By no means am I the expert on how many seats are used for commencement in recent years, and the capacity that's truly needed. However, these images show a fair number of empty seats up high. The images are from 2014, 2015.


https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.ohi/1473_4517b79e3c9b89c57...

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000Tr4Qvp4XFtA/s/...

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000IEkIr_Fuw1w/s/...
mail
person
Recovering Journalist
2/24/2017 11:40 AM
OU_Country wrote:expand_more
By no means am I the expert on how many seats are used for commencement in recent years, and the capacity that's truly needed. However, these images show a fair number of empty seats up high. The images are from 2014, 2015.


https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.ohi/1473_4517b79e3c9b89c57...

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000Tr4Qvp4XFtA/s/...

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000IEkIr_Fuw1w/s/...
I graduated in 1996, and they limited tickets back then with a much lower enrollment. I know people tend to leave after their grad walks to stage too.

I just don't know why this is even an argument. Even if it never, ever fills up (which I don't concede), there's no cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing way to reduce seating and there's no money to do it anyway. It's at worst a very minor problem and at best there's absolutely no viable solution.
mail
person
Alan Swank
2/24/2017 1:04 PM
What's worse - empty seats near the top of the Convo or scores of empty seats on TV in the platinum, gold and silver sections which we have now?
Showing Messages: 76 - 100 of 102
reply
vertical_align_top
vertical_align_center
vertical_align_bottom
add_comment
chevron_backward
chevron_forward
MAC News Links



extra small (< 576px)
small (>= 576px)
medium (>= 768px)
large (>= 992px)
x-large (>= 1200px)
xx-large (>= 1400px)