proposed renovations to coleman coliseum

[bamamc1]

I believe CNO was quoted saying he would rather have the facility and $ for NIL. I heard once his deal was confirmed the b'ball NIL fund doubled.

I think this will be a recurring theme throughout the entire country as we continue down the NIL path as it currently exists. The arms race to buy players will supersede investment into other avenues that depend on giving. Endowment money will lessen, money for infrastructure improvements will lessen, academic money will lessen. Hear me now and believe me later.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

IF this can be done, structurally speaking, I like your suggestions. Biggest thing to me would be taking out the harsh corners in the seating arrangement to make the seats curve around the court for better viewing angles.

Even if it reduces it to 10-12K, it would be a better arena.

If the goal was to move the seating inwards, this could be done without affecting the underlying structure.

 

[dayhiker]

If the goal was to move the seating inwards, this could be done without affecting the underlying structure.

Maybe, maybe not. It would partly depend on the resulting site lines. I'd be shocked if this hasn't been looked into already numerous times over the years.

 

[BamaBooey]

will this jut into the parking lot? I'm not seeing the space in the southeast portion of Coleman.

 

[TideATL70]

Seems like this is incredible news IF we go the route of demolishing Coleman later on, playing a home schedule in B'ham for a season and then building the new arena in Coleman's footprint/attached to the practice facility. Personally I'd love to see them do that. UGA is in the exact same situation as they need to demolish Stegasaurus and play home season in Gwinnet arena- OR they could build a new arena off campus, way down Milledge Ave by softball/soccer. I know Greg can't give too many specifics (except please give us $$) but I hope this is the long term plan.

 

[dayhiker]

I can't imagine them demo'ing Coleman and rebuilding an arena in a year in a half. If you had it bid and awarded early enough so that all of the early submittals were done and fabrication of many things started at the end of a season (late March), start demo then, then have to be finished say November of the following year, that's about 20 months. I'm not saying that couldn't be done, but it would be really impressive to pull off.

 

[bvandegraff]

I'm assuming CNO is fine with this plan, and the talent he has coming in suggests that Coleman isn't as much of problem on the recruiting front as we thought. That said, the main goal of the renovations must be creating a home-court advantage - there is none at all in Coleman's current state. The students and band do a pretty good job raising hell as it is - how much more could they annoy opponents and influence officials if they were closer to the floor? Certainly more than the 60-something courtsiders who spend most of the games sitting on their hands.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I'm assuming CNO is fine with this plan, and the talent he has coming in suggests that Coleman isn't as much of problem on the recruiting front as we thought. That said, the main goal of the renovations must be creating a home-court advantage - there is none at all in Coleman's current state. The students and band do a pretty good job raising hell as it is - how much more could they annoy opponents and influence officials if they were closer to the floor? Certainly more than the 60-something courtsiders who spend most of the games sitting on their hands.

I understand your frustration with the court-siders. Keep in mind, though, that they get there by donating a lot of money -- both annually and cumulatively over time. In today's world of the transfer portal, and as much as we don't like it, pay-for-play money is the lifeblood of the program.

That's actually one of the impediments in bringing the student section closer to the court. In the current facility, they'd have to displace a lot of high-dollar donors.

Which has the potential to disrupt donations, which has the potential to disrupt the funds for pay-for-play.

It'd be easier to do in a whole new arena, but that's probably not in the cards.

Bottom line is that it's a balancing act. Every move you make has downstream effects, some intended, some unintended. I don't envy Greg Byrne on this front.

 

[BamaMoon]

The other dilemma that probably registers down the list a bit is the TV presentation to national viewers for our home games.

The students, who do a great job packing in their sections, are never in eye sight with the normal TV angles. It takes a special shot to show them.

Again, it's not as important as the new facilities for recruiting and NIL $$$ but one of the things that grew enrollment in the last 20 years was Bama football showing the country what a great environment BDS was during games.

I hope they'll be able to figure this out with Basketball too, especially as we are getting the national pub CNO deserves!

 

[Tide Rev]

My suggestion is build a new arena with the measurements of Cameron Indoor at Duke. We can put more seats in than Cameron. I cannot imagine another place where the students are that close to the floor. Like Duke or not, you have to admire their game day atmosphere and student participation.

 

[dayhiker]

As an fyi, it was built in 1940

 

[BamaMoon]

As an fyi, it was built in 1940

If I'm guessing, it was built like that to save money, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Wouldn't be a bad model in terms of seating close to the court!

 

[bvandegraff]

I understand your frustration with the court-siders. Keep in mind, though, that they get there by donating a lot of money -- both annually and cumulatively over time. In today's world of the transfer portal, and as much as we don't like it, pay-for-play, money is the lifeblood of the program.

That's actually one of the impediments in bringing the student section closer to the court. In the current facility....they'd have to displace a lot of high-dollar donors.

Which has the potential to disrupt donations, which has the potential to disrupt the funds for pay-for-play.

It'd be easier to do in a whole new arena, but that's probably not in the cards.

Bottom line is that it's a balancing act. Every move you make has downstream effects, some intended, some unintended. I don't envy Greg Byrne on this front.

Eminently fair point. If there are no plans to move the student section, safe to say luxury boxes or even fancier seats further up for the money folks are not in the cards either. I shouldn't complain about 60-somethings since I'm only a few years from joining them

It would likely take some creativity and effort, but surely an arena as vast as Coleman could get the students closer while keeping the money folks close enough to make them happy.

 

[BamaBooey]

Not sure where the student sections are but ideally, it would be best if they were directly behind visitor's bench, and both ends of free throw lines. This allows the big money people sit behind the players bench, and dominate the other side of the court which the tv shows.