New Look for UNI

[jaysfan24]

We got new uni's also. Just click photo showcase ----> http://www.omaha.com/article/20101020/S ... ot-a-clone

[valleychamp]

We got new uni's also. Just click photo showcase ----> http://www.omaha.com/article/20101020/S ... ot-a-clone

I think last years were much much better than those.

[Duan]

The bigger the better in my opinion. I sit in the rafters in Omaha and love my seats! If the place was any smaller then all the seats would be taken up by season ticket holders and the average Joe couldn't attend any games. The more the merrier!

I beg to differ. Sitting in the 10,000 seat (for basketball) UNI-Dome in the late 90's with about 800-900 of my closest friends was not exactly a great experience.



On the other hand, some of my best memories as a student Panther fan were in the 2000 seat West Gym for volleyball and women's basketball. That place was electric.



The McLeod Center was built to be just big enough, and still have some of the feeling of the West Gym.

I don't think that one is going to find everyone agreeing on this topic. I want away from that high school gym feeling whereas others embrace it. I love the feeling that I get stepping inside places like the Qwest and Scottrade Center...those facilities let one know that this means a lot and is huge!

[MoValley John]

I don't think that one is going to find everyone agreeing on this topic. I want away from that high school gym feeling whereas others embrace it. I love the feeling that I get stepping inside places like the Qwest and Scottrade Center...those facilities let one know that this means a lot and is huge![/quote]

I mostly agree with you. If the Valley really wants to be taken seriously, not just as one of the big boys, but even as one of the top few midmajors, 7,000 seat barns just don't cut it. And I know Duke only seats 9,000 fans, but when the first Valley school generates 1/3 of the endowment Duke has (old tobacco money made Duke), then you can talk about your small gym. Actually, when the entire Valley can combine endowments to equal half of Duke's, then start gum flapping. Duke has a four billion dollar endowment, closer to five billion dollers, not counting the Duke Endowment which is a seperate entity.

That said, I don't think Valley schools need 15,000 seat arenas either. In reality, Missouri State built a great sized arena for the Valley and JQH should probably be the model for schools in the future. When ESPN shows up at Drake or UNI to do a game, all they see is midmajor. These are the same buildings they find in the SWAC. All in all, the Valley has a great collection of arenas, Drake and UNI excluded.

[MoValley John]

Is that the whole gym or is the picture just making the stands look REALLY SMALL???? I mean my high school gym is almost that big... O but the floor looks nice!

Don't let the "bleachers pushed in" excuse fool you. What you see is what you get. 7,000 seats. Total. Wikipedia has it at 7,018. It is also the second newest arena in the Valley (not counting the girl's gyms recently built by Bradley and Creighton).

I guess it's not the smallest arena in the Valley, UNI, with a student enrollment of over 13,000 undergraduates and post graduates, has a basketball arena slightly larger than Drake's Knapp Center, an oversized high school gym which seats a cozy 7,002. For sake of comparison, Drake's total enrollment (undergrad and post grad) is 5,100.

Point being? I never said it was big, and I said it holds 7K.

Point is, when you stated that the bleaches weren't out, you were trying to give the impression that the building is bigger than the picture indicated, it is not. Here is a picture iwth the stands full and the bleachers out, it looks no bigger.

[MoValley John]

I beg to differ. Sitting in the 10,000 seat (for basketball) UNI-Dome in the late 90's with about 800-900 of my closest friends was not exactly a great experience.

Bigger does not automatically mean a great venue. The UNIDome is a horrible basketball venue. Period. Riverfront Stadium and Three Rivers Stadiums were big, they sucked. So while every chick will tell you size does matter, it's not the end all be all. That said, a good 10,000 seat venue will pretty much always be better than a good 5,000 venue.

[valleychamp]

I mostly agree with you. If the Valley really wants to be taken seriously, not just as one of the big boys, but even as one of the top few midmajors, 7,000 seat barns just don't cut it. And I know Duke only seats 9,000 fans, but when the first Valley school generates 1/3 of the endowment Duke has (old tobacco money made Duke), then you can talk about your small gym. Actually, when the entire Valley can combine endowments to equal half of Duke's, then start gum flapping. Duke has a four billion dollar endowment, closer to five billion dollers, not counting the Duke Endowment which is a seperate entity.

That said, I don't think Valley schools need 15,000 seat arenas either. In reality, Missouri State built a great sized arena for the Valley and JQH should probably be the model for schools in the future. When ESPN shows up at Drake or UNI to do a game, all they see is midmajor. These are the same buildings they find in the SWAC. All in all, the Valley has a great collection of arenas, Drake and UNI excluded.

WTH are you talking about? Barns? Duke's endowment?

The McLeod Center is a great facility and a fantastic place to watch a basketball game. And it is the perfect size for us. I don't care if it is 'mid major'. We are mid major. We are not a Big 10 school. Big deal. But there has been nothing 'mid major' about our accomplishments since we moved into the McLeod.

And btw, what are you feelings on Gonzaga? They just build a new arena a few years ago too, and the McLeod is larger than their place by over 1K.

[snoopj]

On the other hand, some of my best memories as a student Panther fan were in the 2000 seat West Gym for volleyball and women's basketball. That place was electric.

I thought I had attended a men's game once upon a time in the West Gym, but my timelines aren't matching up with the closures to the UNI-Dome. I was there from 1995 to 2000 (as a student) and the Dome had collapsed back in 1994 during the snow storm. I know they closed in 1998 for a new roof back then, but that one was done outside of the basketball season. I know I was in the West Gym for a basketball game once before the women's team moved in there for their games.

I was also there on the night when the UNI volleyball team had it's home record broken before it was restarted in 1997. At the time, it was somewhere in the 50s. I see they set a new record of 74 from 1997 to 2004.

While not the most spacious of places, I really enjoyed watching games in it.

[Duan]

I mostly agree with you. If the Valley really wants to be taken seriously, not just as one of the big boys, but even as one of the top few midmajors, 7,000 seat barns just don't cut it. And I know Duke only seats 9,000 fans, but when the first Valley school generates 1/3 of the endowment Duke has (old tobacco money made Duke), then you can talk about your small gym. Actually, when the entire Valley can combine endowments to equal half of Duke's, then start gum flapping. Duke has a four billion dollar endowment, closer to five billion dollers, not counting the Duke Endowment which is a seperate entity.

That said, I don't think Valley schools need 15,000 seat arenas either. In reality, Missouri State built a great sized arena for the Valley and JQH should probably be the model for schools in the future. When ESPN shows up at Drake or UNI to do a game, all they see is midmajor. These are the same buildings they find in the SWAC. All in all, the Valley has a great collection of arenas, Drake and UNI excluded.

WTH are you talking about? Barns? Duke's endowment?

The McLeod Center is a great facility and a fantastic place to watch a basketball game. And it is the perfect size for us. I don't care if it is 'mid major'. We are mid major. We are not a Big 10 school. Big deal. But there has been nothing 'mid major' about our accomplishments since we moved into the McLeod.

And btw, what are you feelings on Gonzaga? They just build a new arena a few years ago too, and the McLeod is larger than their place by over 1K.

Valleychamp, do you believe that you are in the majority or minority when it comes to your opinion on the McLeod Center? I am not saying that you are wrong but just trying to see if your ties to UNI has you seeing things from a biased perspective.

[SubGod22]

He's right in the fact that building a 10-12k seat arena would be stupid if you're only going to get 7k in there and have no hopes of ever filling it up.