New Basketball Arena proposed on Light the Tower Masterplan update

[Green Otaku]

4 hours ago, NT80 said:

It is there to share the Apogee parking lots, plus close to all other Athletic facilities and admin buildings.   Nice location for an arena with potential highway signage and visibility.  Needs to be expandable to 8.5k with suites. 
Students need to learn to walk!!  I think Baylor’s arena and stadium are further from dorms than this. 

Yeah Baylor's are definitely further away. As much as all of us would like to have these facilities closer we should be thankful we have land and aren't having to do build something offsite. 

And talking about signage can we get rid of this? Am I the only one that thinks it looks like kids restaurant or a bowling alley?

 

[Matt from A700]

16 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Get a couple of these babies rolling and just watch attendance spike.

I actually love this.

[southsideguy]

do they still have racketball courts in the pit? Is racketball still a thing?

[UNTLifer]

On 3/13/2023 at 1:14 AM, rojomojo said:

I live in Mozart, the second closest dorm to Apogee (other than Victory of course) Mozart is literally right on the other side of the highway yet it takes 10 minutes to walk to. This isn't a "campus walk" either. This is a walk across asphalt parking and a pedestrian bridge. 

Imagine for a second how long the walk would be for someone living in the interior of campus? (Kerr, Maple, Bruce, etc)

 

With all due respect, this is less than half a mile.  Also, you always state that "this is a walk across asphalt, etc..."  Does that matter?

[UNTLifer]

3 hours ago, Matt from A700 said:

I actually love this.

The only drawback to this is that the riders/students would probably quit once they realized they had to peddle to make it go and that it was across asphalt. 

One step closer:

[Matt from A700]

On 3/12/2023 at 11:08 PM, Matt from A700 said:

Here's a thought I've been having while looking at our campus from Google Maps.

The forum seems to be split on whether we should even build a new arena. But what about location?

The AD seems determined to get all athletic facilities in the Mean Green Village, including a new 7,000-seat arena. However, I am not keen on this idea as I think student attendance will decline. There's still only one dorm in the village and no student apartments. And now all of sudden, it's an inconvenience for students to walk across a bridge six Saturdays a year when everything has been fine for 10 years.

With games more frequent but on inconsistent days of the week in basketball, I think convenience is even more key for a new arena.

My proposal: demolish the Union garage and relocate the Baptist Student Ministry and put the arena there. May need another few feet north-to-south, so demolish the north end of Union Circle and reconstruct the south end to form a circle similar to the one off of Avenue D and the Pit. It'd go between the Union and the hypothetical arena.

If you replace the Union Garage, you could put it behind Wooten Hall, but it may not be aesthetically pleasing to have two parking garages caddy-cornered from each other. You could build one behind the RTVF building. I get this could get a lot of eye rolls or thumbs down because you'd be demolishing a very new BSM building.

However, this is the most central location on campus you could put a new arena without demolishing historic buildings or places. Right by the popular Union and easy walking distance from not only most of the dorms on campus, but the Greek population which has been severely lacking in the past few years. Also, only a few blocks from Fry!

Notes: This idea came about without looking at what UNT's Master Plan might have in mind for the affected areas. Also, I have no idea what the current parking regulations are for the affected area.

I put some thought into this idea. Why am I getting more down votes than the guy complaining about a 10-minute walk? Lmao.

[MCMLXXX]

On 1/23/2023 at 3:45 PM, 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.

Maybe so, but that is what UT, SMU, Houston, and Baylor (in Progress) have done.

Houston for example:

Overall, the new arena carries a capacity of 7,100 compared to the 8,479 of Hofheinz.

[greenminer]

On 3/13/2023 at 1:14 AM, rojomojo said:

I live in Mozart, the second closest dorm to Apogee (other than Victory of course) Mozart is literally right on the other side of the highway yet it takes 10 minutes to walk to. This isn't a "campus walk" either. This is a walk across asphalt parking and a pedestrian bridge. 

Imagine for a second how long the walk would be for someone living in the interior of campus? (Kerr, Maple, Bruce, etc)

 

 

Do you hate walking? This, IMO, is not super demanding.

[MeanGreen22]

On 3/13/2023 at 3:53 PM, rojomojo said:

Bus system has been taking fire due to Denton City Council cutting routes and funding for DCTA... UNT desperately needs to enhance the bus system on campus, it would really help with attendance I feel

That sucks to hear. I used the hell out of the bus system. Seems like an area of improvement. Any kind of game day pickup area/system for football?

[Green Otaku]

6 hours ago, MCMLXXX said:

Maybe so, but that is what UT, SMU, Houston, and Baylor (in Progress) have done.

Houston for example:

Overall, the new arena carries a capacity of 7,100 compared to the 8,479 of Hofheinz.

The NATIONAL champions Baylor decided to reduce capacity for a better arena, so I don't really know what people's argument is at this point. 

[97and03]

1 hour ago, Green Otaku said:

The NATIONAL champions Baylor decided to reduce capacity for a better arena, so I don't really know what people's argument is at this point. 

Better is the key. And I think a huge driver here is revenue. We can make more money with suites, club seats, and a bigger season ticket base even with less capacity - especially since it is 95 percent of the time empty capacity. I would guess that one loge/club type season ticket with accompanying donation would bring in more revenue than 10+ walk up seats. Right? 

[Green Otaku]

2 hours ago, 97and03 said:

Better is the key. And I think a huge driver here is revenue. We can make more money with suites, club seats, and a bigger season ticket base even with less capacity - especially since it is 95 percent of the time empty capacity. I would guess that one loge/club type season ticket with accompanying donation would bring in more revenue than 10+ walk up seats. Right? 

Agree. I think my post was a little bit unclear, which is my fault. I am in the camp that thinks a smaller 7-8k arena with suites, and club level is the way to go. My post was in reference to people arguing that reducing capacity is bad or will make us look small time. Big brand programs are reducing theirs for the very reasons you stated, and if it's good enough for them it should be good enough for us. 

The NFL could make stadiums seat 100k and sell out games, but they realize 70k-80k is the sweet spot. You make more money from suites/club seating, while also having enough demand that regular seats sell out too.