New Basketball Arena proposed on Light the Tower Masterplan update

[NT80]

I love the SuperPit and was skeptical we needed to think about replacing it yet.  But the artist rendering and the proposal in the new Masterplan is very exciting (when it does become a priority).  It will still have the size that a P5 program could be proud of, plus many modern perks the SuperPit does not have.  

https://lightthetower.com/#facilities

Basketball Arena:

A 6,000-7,000 seat arena for basketball, with lower-bowl and upper-deck seating. There will be premium club, loge and suite seating. The facility will include two basketball practice courts and a volleyball facility with 1,000 retractable seats

[cousin oliver]

8 hours ago, NT80 said:

I love the SuperPit and was skeptical we needed to think about replacing it yet.  But the artist rendering and the proposal in the new Masterplan is very exciting (when it does become a priority).  It will still have the size that a P5 program could be proud of, plus many modern perks the SuperPit does not have.  

https://lightthetower.com/#facilities

Basketball Arena:

A 6,000-7,000 seat arena for basketball, with lower-bowl and upper-deck seating. There will be premium club, loge and suite seating. The facility will include two basketball practice courts and a volleyball facility with 1,000 retractable seats

But what to do with the Super Pit?  It seems like too nice  a facility to tear down for parking.

[Matt from A700]

22 minutes ago, cousin oliver said:

But what to do with the Super Pit?  It seems like too nice  a facility to tear down for parking.

The university owns it, not the athletic department. I'm pretty confident they'd keep operating it. The university needs all of its 10,000 seats for graduations, etc. It would also help North Texas host a bigger preseason tournament if they so chose by having two arenas for games.

[CMJ]

I still don't think we really need a new arena, but it'll happen when it happens.  GMG  

[Matt from A700]

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

I still don't think we really need a new arena, but it'll happen when it happens.  GMG  

I love the Pit, and for ego reasons I want to keep it. Hate the message of building a smaller arena. If they could get the new place to 10k seats, I'd be all in. I was pretty of jealous of how close to the action UTA fans get to be.

[MDH]

I worry most about student attendance if/when we move.

[greenminer]

4 hours ago, cousin oliver said:

But what to do with the Super Pit?  It seems like too nice  a facility to tear down for parking.

Continue using it for everything else.

[Matt from A700]

32 minutes ago, MDH said:

I worry most about student attendance if/when we move.

One reason I'd like the new arena to be a little lower on the list of priorities. Keep winning and building the fanbase to the point moving a little further won't cause a big disruption in attendance.

Athletic center and Lovelace expansion should be first. Bonnie Brae expansion as well, but I guess that would be a Denton project?

[Green Otaku]

1 hour ago, Matt from A700 said:

I love the Pit, and for ego reasons I want to keep it. Hate the message of building a smaller arena. If they could get the new place to 10k seats, I'd be all in. I was pretty of jealous of how close to the action UTA fans get to be.

While I agree, I think 8k would be a happy medium. Our current crowds would look better and more impressive in that type of arena. Make some provisions so that if it the AAC really brings attendance up you can add in 2k more seats to get to 10k and I think most would be happy. 

[Green Otaku]

Another thing we tend to overlook is what else does the new arena bring? Basketball locker rooms? Basketball training facilities/courts? Basketball weight rooms? Those things can be huge for recruiting. 

[greenjoe]

There appears to be no end to the amount of money available to North Texas.  We have a wonderful facility now with the Coliseum.  Did you see where FAU and FIU play ?  Have you seen the junior high gym UTSA plays in ?  We have a facility with easily another 50 years left in it.  The only problem with the Coliseum is that we don't have enough fans to sit in it.  But the notion of building DOWN in order lower our expectations seems wrong headed.  

[Green Otaku]

9 minutes ago, greenjoe said:

There appears to be no end to the amount of money available to North Texas.  We have a wonderful facility now with the Coliseum.  Did you see where FAU and FIU play ?  Have you seen the junior high gym UTSA plays in ?  We have a facility with easily another 50 years left in it.  The only problem with the Coliseum is that we don't have enough fans to sit in it.  But the notion of building DOWN in order lower our expectations seems wrong headed.  

 

Does something like this really look like we are building down?

[cousin oliver]

6 minutes ago, Green Otaku said:

 

Does something like this really look like we are building down?

I think that looks full and awesome!

[greenjoe]

That’s a great photo.  Or is it a photo ?  Perhaps an artist’s drawing or photo shop.  

If we’ve got an arena that holds 10,,000 and we’re planning  for the future by building a 7,000 seat facility, I’m going to call that building down.

[UNTLifer]

The only thing I am really looking forward to with the replacement of the SP is added leg room.  I am of average height, 6'1", and the lack of leg room in the SP is ridiculous.

[MeanGreen13]

16 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

The only thing I am really looking forward to with the replacement of the SP is added leg room.  I am of average height, 6'1", and the lack of leg room in the SP is ridiculous.

I agree with that but do you live in Denmark? 6'1" is above average in the U.S.

[cousin oliver]

15 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

The only thing I am really looking forward to with the replacement of the SP is added leg room.  I am of average height, 6'1", and the lack of leg room in the SP is ridiculous.

Yeah it doesn't really bother me that much because I have a very long torso and short legs. 

[UNT86]

The idea behind lower seating capacity is selling season tickets.  Basketball has much the same problem as football with walk-up sales.  Season tickets are sold even when it rains.

Also, currently there isn't a suitable weight room in the pit.  The training room is really small.  There are only 2 goals (I rarely see a good free throw shooting team when the practice gym only has two goals).  And we cannot even put paint on the walls without approval from the academic side of the university.  

While is it better than some gyms we play in, it is all the little things that we are missing.  You should have seen the dressing rooms and weight room at Fouts.  This is a similar situation.

[Jonnyeagle]

22 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

The only thing I am really looking forward to with the replacement of the SP is added leg room.  I am of average height, 6'1", and the lack of leg room in the SP is ridiculous.

Dude no way man, you are 5-10 at best.

[UNTLifer]

7 minutes ago, cousin oliver said:

Yeah it doesn't really bother me that much because I have a very long torso and short legs. 

http://wordinfo.info/words/images/phocomelus-man-color.gif

[UNTLifer]

2 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

Dude no way man, you are 5-10 at best.

Have we met?

[UNTLifer]

10 minutes ago, MeanGreen13 said:

I agree with that but do you live in Denmark? 6'1" is above average in the U.S.

Just looked that up.  I had no idea that 5'9" was the average height of the American male.

[Green Otaku]

51 minutes ago, greenjoe said:

That’s a great photo.  Or is it a photo ?  Perhaps an artist’s drawing or photo shop.  

If we’ve got an arena that holds 10,,000 and we’re planning  for the future by building a 7,000 seat facility, I’m going to call that building down.

?? It's an artist rendering from the athletic master plan. It gives an idea of what the dept. wants to do. 

We've never needed those extra 2k-3k seats. Have we ever even been close to selling out the Pit? We are in one of the best eras of UNT basketball and we struggle to look even half full. An arena with better sight-lines, closer seating, better lighting, luxury boxes, better training/locker rooms, more concessions, etc. It'd say that's a good trade off. The small drop in capacity is heavily outweighed by a purpose built tailored facility. 

[rojomojo]

It's pulling a huge "Texas moment" by constructing it away from any sense of student activity and placing it amongst a sea of asphalt parking

 

The location of the Super Pit is perfect and placing the arena across the highway will have a massive impact on student attendance

[wardly]

The State of Texas does not pay for athletic facilities such as a "NEW PITT''.  I have no idea what a 6,000 seat basketball arena as described would cost but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the dirt to fly. I assume it's going to take a lot of donor money to get to the point where the balance can be bonded out. Perhaps someone can put a $ estimate on it.