Reusse: It's time for the Barn to go; Rand: Arena is a classic, not a relic

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I can't wait until Rand gets Souhan's column spot.
 

I am on Rand's side, and have been since the first time I first attended any Gopher games at Williams Arena over 50 years ago. Even the old MN High School BB tournaments back in the good old days of a 1-class 8-team State Tournament resonated with NOISE!
 

A couple of things to remember:

It will not be a Kohl Center or Value City Arena type arena, since there will not be a hockey rink. It will be a basketball arena.

If a new arena is done right, there might be a better student section with the students ringing the court.

While Williams has charm, it is not built for the 21st Century. It is not very handicap friendly (only one baseline is accessable), the corridors are too small, and there are too many obstructed seats.

A new arena can be the Jewel of the Big Ten or College Basketball as a whole. They just have to do it right.
 


Ski U Mah Gopher said:
A couple of things to remember:

It will not be a Kohl Center or Value City Arena type arena, since there will not be a hockey rink. It will be a basketball arena.

If a new arena is done right, there might be a better student section with the students ringing the court.

While Williams has charm, it is not built for the 21st Century. It is not very handicap friendly (only one baseline is accessable), the corridors are too small, and there are too many obstructed seats.

A new arena can be the Jewel of the Big Ten or College Basketball as a whole. They just have to do it right.
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These are some of the reasons I like it (excluding handicap accessibility). The old cramped feeling at the barn along with the raised floor makes it an intimidating place to play. the crowd seems super close to the court compared to other arenas, and when the place gets going it almost makes you feel claustrophobic. keep in mind this is with mediocre teams, when we put a good team on the floor it will again be one of the toughest venues in college basketball
 

Lets see, Cal coached at Depauw, Murray State, moved on to Div II Longwood, then he landed at Tennessee-Martin and last stop Bethel (Tenn). I find it difficult to believe the venues are top notch. You think Patrick might be embellishing his story slightly? Nice tale though, he has a way of evoking memories.
 

A new arena can be the Jewel of the Big Ten or College Basketball as a whole. They just have to do it right.
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It will not be a jewel. We rarely do "it" right. It will be a me too basketball arena that we will convince ourselves is awesome just like we convinced ourselves the dome was awesome. 5 years after it is built everyone will be pining for the "Great Old Barn" just like they pined for Memorial Stadium for almost 30 years. Now we have TCF. Though it is very nice I can't help but wonder what a major investment would have done for Memorial Stadium.

Build a Taj Mahal basketball practice facility and upgrade Williams, even if it costs as much as a new arena. JMO
 

Barn: It's time for the Reusse to go

Rand: Arena is a classic, not a Reusse

Mac out the practice facility and upgrade the barn. Lots of cities don't have a venue with character. Boo hoo for them. Cherish it.
 



Rand is correct. Reusse is just trying to get under the collective skin of gopher fans. Williams is a treasure. I don't want to see it EVER get replaced.
 

jmag21 said:
Rand is correct. Reusse is just trying to get under the collective skin of gopher fans. Williams is a treasure. I don't want to see it EVER get replaced.
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I used to be much more of a pro Williams person back when I went to just a few games and sat in the lower chair seats on the sideline at or below the entry portals. If you are sitting out from under the overhang, in the lower level, near the court on a chairback, it is great, other than all the bluehairs around you. Otherwise it is not good.

Now that I have spent a lot of time sitting on the benches under the upper deck and in the upper deck, I no longer have the same opinion of the arena at all. I question how many of the die hard supporters go to a lot of the games and sit in the bad (majority of the seating) areas.

If you get a few plus 200 pound people sitting in those benches it is tight and uncomfortable. The view is not always good and always claustrophobic. The only time it isn't uncomfortable is when the whole crowd is into it and standing, and still obstructed or claustrophobic.

The place cannot be salvaged even if enormous amounts of money are spent and needs to go. The atpmosphere is sometimes horrible with lower attendance or flat geezer/corporate crowds and the excessive promotions at the expense the the band magnify the problem.

The strawman arguement is that we will end up with some awful Kohl Center, Penn State, or Value City multipurpose arena with nosebleed seats, an overly flat lower bowl, and lots of dead space behind the the baskets and in the corners.

Oregon

http://www.google.com/search?q=matt...wfK1d2uAg&sqi=2&ved=0CHgQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=793

That multi-purpose failure will not be problem if we build something great like Missouri, Pitt, and Oregon (and the Indiana Pacers) built. New basketball only arenas can be better than anything you can imagine.
 

I'm with Reusse. The Barn is more or less a dump. The 'glory years' are long gone. A new basketball-only gem would do wonders for the program.
 

10 toes

tentoes said:
Barn: It's time for the Reusse to go

Rand: Arena is a classic, not a Reusse

Mac out the practice facility and upgrade the barn. Lots of cities don't have a venue with character. Boo hoo for them. Cherish it.
Click to expand...

+ 201
 



I am a season ticket holder that goes to every game. I have seats in the upper level corner. I would never want them to replace the Barn. Love it too much. There is handicap accessible seating on 1 side line, and both baselines, so that isnt an issue. Concessions are fine. The only thing I can see expanding are the restrooms. I bet if they spend $40 million renovating, they could remove half the beams, expand the concourse on the University side, new scoreboard, new sound system, update the rest of the concourse, and we would be all set. There is nothing like being in the Barn. I would not renew season tickets if it were replaced.
 

oak_street1981 said:
I used to be much more of a pro Williams person back when I went to just a few games and sat in the lower chair seats on the sideline at or below the entry portals. If you are sitting out from under the overhang, in the lower level, near the court on a chairback, it is great, other than all the bluehairs around you. Otherwise it is not good.

Now that I have spent a lot of time sitting on the benches under the upper deck and in the upper deck, I no longer have the same opinion of the arena at all. I question how many of the die hard supporters go to a lot of the games and sit in the bad (majority of the seating) areas.

If you get a few plus 200 pound people sitting in those benches it is tight and uncomfortable. The view is not always good and always claustrophobic. The only time it isn't uncomfortable is when the whole crowd is into it and standing, and still obstructed or claustrophobic.

The place cannot be salvaged even if enormous amounts of money are spent and needs to go. The atpmosphere is sometimes horrible with lower attendance or flat geezer/corporate crowds and the excessive promotions at the expense the the band magnify the problem.

The strawman arguement is that we will end up with some awful Kohl Center, Penn State, or Value City multipurpose arena with nosebleed seats, an overly flat lower bowl, and lots of dead space behind the the baskets and in the corners.

Oregon

http://www.google.com/search?q=matt...wfK1d2uAg&sqi=2&ved=0CHgQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=793

That multi-purpose failure will not be problem if we build something great like Missouri, Pitt, and Oregon (and the Indiana Pacers) built. New basketball only arenas can be better than anything you can imagine.
Click to expand...

It's a HUGE misconception that a brand new arena is going to be full all the time.....and also that when not full that it won't be just as boring.
Play St. Mary's on a Tuesday night at 8PM in the greatest arena in the country and it will be boring if we are up by 20 at half.

In saying that I also disagree that Williams cannot be salvaged. This place isn't falling apart, far from it. The Golden Gate bridge just turned 70 this past week. Should they tear that down? Even though its capacity is far from what a bridge in 2012 should be carrying? Of course not.

Williams is an easy upgrade. Build the practice facility and put as much 'program' into that as you can for the players. This would house everything the kids need on non gamedays.
Now it comes to Williams itself. The easiest solution would be to add an addition along University Avenue the full length of Williams and the Pavillion. This addition would provide room for everyone's complaints. Elevators, escalators, widened concourse, more concessions, larger restrooms, a new and better club room, a Hall of Fame, ticket office.
Inside the arena itself I'd put ribbon scoreboards all around the second level fascia and also put in that nice new video scoreboard. Those 2 things would go a long way in keeping Williams modern without hurting its old school feel.
 

sec105 said:
It will not be a jewel. We rarely do "it" right. It will be a me too basketball arena that we will convince ourselves is awesome just like we convinced ourselves the dome was awesome. 5 years after it is built everyone will be pining for the "Great Old Barn" just like they pined for Memorial Stadium for almost 30 years. Now we have TCF. Though it is very nice I can't help but wonder what a major investment would have done for Memorial Stadium.

Build a Taj Mahal basketball practice facility and upgrade Williams, even if it costs as much as a new arena. JMO
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I guess I disagree that TCF Bank Stadium isn't a great place for fans and players (and better than Memorial Stadium). And I disagree that Mariucci isn't a great place for hockey (and better than the hockey side of Williams Arena). Why does everybody think that a new basketball arena would be the basketball version of the Metrodome?

Nobody thought the dome was great -- at best, they only thought it was warm, and that it might help recruiting. People who make the argument that "we moved out of Memorial Stadium to the Dome and look how that worked out," aren't living in the real world. Williams Arena wouldn't be replaced with the Dome, the Armory or even Target Center. It would be an arena that people would think is terrific. It would be new and different than Williams Arena, and maybe some people wouldn't be able to get past that. But it would be done right.
 


Keep the barn. One of the few unique arenas in the nation. You don't want to lost something like that. It's nice to have some history in the program.
 

It is time for the "F F from Fulda to go. I hope if the F F is there tonight somebody goes up and screams in his ear. Again, it was just his way to take a a shot at Gopher sports and the fact the F F can't get up and down the stairs at " The Barn"
 

The Barn is old so we have to keep it. We should never tear anything down.

We don't have enough museums.

We don't need a basketball team.
 

It'll be a sad day for most Gopher fans (myself included) when The Barn is torn down & I'm in no hurry whatsoever to see it happen, but the day is coming (in the next 15 years?). There will be tears shed by many, for sure, but I've always been a firm believer in this:

It's the teams that make an arena special, not the other way around.

Driving to Williams Arena roughly 20 nights every winter easily is my favorite hobby, but it's not Williams Arena that makes it my favorite "thing". Gopher basketball is the "thing". Whether it's at The Barn, the Met Center (Pillsbury Classic vs. 3 cupcakes), Target Center/Metrodome (and Clem calling them "road" games), Indianapolis/Chicago (B1G Tournament) or San Antonio (the Midwest Regional I saw with my own eyes but was told never happened), that's where my enjoyment (or heartbreak) comes from. ... the Gophers. A new arena, whenever that day comes, just means starting another chapter.
 

SelectionSunday said:
It'll be a sad day for most Gopher fans (myself included) when The Barn is torn down & I'm in no hurry whatsoever to see it happen, but the day is coming (in the next 15 years?). There will be tears shed by many, for sure, but I've always been a firm believer in this:

It's the teams that make an arena special, not the other way around.

Driving to Williams Arena roughly 20 nights every winter easily is my favorite hobby, but it's not Williams Arena that makes it my favorite "thing". Gopher basketball is the "thing". Whether it's at The Barn, the Met Center (Pillsbury Classic vs. 3 cupcakes), Target Center/Metrodome (and Clem calling them "road" games), Indianapolis/Chicago (B1G Tournament) or San Antonio (the Midwest Regional I saw with my own eyes but was told never happened), that's where my enjoyment (or heartbreak) comes from. ... the Gophers. A new arena, whenever that day comes, just means starting another chapter.
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Well said SS.
 

station19 said:
The Barn is old so we have to keep it. We should never tear anything down.
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Have you ever watched the PBS special: Lost TwinCities? We have a rich history of tearing down buildings/structures that shouldn't have been. I fear that this will be the same situation. The PBS show details that very well.

P.S. Rule of thumb: If Reusse wants it to happen...you shouldn't.
 


tikited said:
Have you ever watched the PBS special: Lost TwinCities? We have a rich history of tearing down buildings/structures that shouldn't have been. I fear that this will be the same situation. The PBS show details that very well.
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Yes I have. More than once I might add. Too many classic old buildings have been torn down but that should have no bearing on keeping or not keeping the Barn. You don't keep one building because others were torn down. They are separate issues.

If the Barn can be brought up to present day standards with a fiscally responsible renovation, great. If not the tear down issue HAS to be discussed. Too many people just say 'no it's old, we can not tear down old buildings, end of discussion'. Sports venues wear out and become outdated. Last time I checked they weren't using the Roman Coliseum anymore.
 

If we got rid of everything that was old and decrepit, Reusse would be out of a job...
 

Williams Arena is probably......

my favorite place on earth. (that I get to visit regularly) I'm not stupid enough to want to make it the 8th wonder, but it just has so much personal and family history for me. I have the framed photo on display in my mancave, but I also have one of TCF Bank.

I will cherish the barn for the rest of my life, but if a new place becomes a reality, I can let the old place go. Life goes on. I will join SS in the new venue, letting the Gophers on the floor create a new personality for the arena.
 


Most of the discussion I’ve seen fails to address cost. I’d like to know:

Can Williams Arena be satisfactorily renovated? If so, at what cost? How long can we expect the renovated structure to last? What would we like to have in an arena, but would have to leave out because it can’t be accomplished in a renovation? How much would it cost to either incorporate a practice facility into the renovated Williams or build one separately?

What would a new basketball arena cost? How much more to incorporate a practice facility into the building?

Once we know those answers, we can discuss the appropriate course of action and start to determine how to pay for it.
 

station19 said:
Yes I have. More than once I might add. Too many classic old buildings have been torn down but that should have no bearing on keeping or not keeping the Barn. You don't keep one building because others were torn down. They are separate issues.
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It won't be a separate issue if it is torn down and it becomes an agreed upon mistake...

Personally, I don't think it is an issue to worry about right now. Others, like yourself, do. If it is torn down and a new arena takes its place, I'll still go, but I'll quietly pout for a second or two:p
 

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