Did Mike McGee ever explain why we had to have 18k seats? It was his baby.
Serious idea for Colonial Life Arena refurbish
- Thread starter USC2USC
- Start date
Your validation of my prior decision is unnecessary. I was asking a legitimate question of anyone who is knowledgeable.
I think it mostly made sense at the time. The City of Columbia helped with the project and the city also needed a viable concert venue. With an arena in Greenville at 16,000 and in Charleston at over 13,000, the city and school felt we needed a larger capacity to attract concerts that help make the entire building financial feasible from an ongoing financial perspective. When major concert tours come through the south, many will go to Charlotte and Atlanta. You may be able to convince them to make a SC stop but only in 1 city. And, within the SEC, there was already Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky all with larger arenas....all bigger than the current CLA. One other things those schools have in common is that their venue also doubles as an important city and regional concert venue.
Still with all this, modern expectations around arenas and stadiums have changed since the CLA opened 20 years ago. The trend is towards smaller capacity with more fan amenities of all kinds. UofSC could be more so in front on this but, unfortunately with our current leadership we always seem to be left playing catchup later.
The ACC we left hasn't existed since at least the league poached the Big East, i.e., admitting Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Boston College, Notre Dame, VPI, and Miami. Much of the electricity is/was generated by having fewer schools in a smaller geographic footprint. Pittsburgh vs Louisville ACC? Technically, yes, but emotionally no.
Today, only 1/3 of the ACC members are charter members (Virginia is not a charter member - they joined in December of 1953, several months after the league's founding).
More members and a larger geographic footprint means more exposure and more $$$. The tradeoff is that the electricity is not what it once was.
Wasn't there also an incentive to host march Madness regional weekends with a larger arena?
What Neyland Stadium needs is a demolition expert, Period.CLA turns 20 years old this year and there hasnt been a major facelift/renovation yet. I think the Carolina athletic department needs to make a major investment in both our basketball programs. Dawn obviously deserves it and when we can get rid of FM and start over with a new coaching staff, the mens team will for sure need it to attract new, higher rated recruits.
Lots of people complain that CLA is too large at 18,000 seats. Sports attendance has been declining for years even before COVID. Many arenas and stadiums around the country have completed projects to increase amenities while reducing seat numbers. Take a look at the link below of the new arena for the Sacramento Kings. Notice the interior photo where you can see the nice multi level lounge, club and fan gathering area in one end. I think this kind of project in one end of CLA makes a lot of sense. You would lose the upper deck seating on that end which would reduce seating capacity buthat thatsWpartly the point. In that space, replace if with nice fan amenities....club areas, food and drink court type area, fan merchandise sales points, brew pub maybe and make it part of a nice expanded entry point into the arena.
Projects | Turner Construction Company
We deliver services with integrity and commitment, enabling us to become a leader across diverse market sectors and project types.www.turnerconstruction.com
See the link below where UT is even doing a similar project at Neyland Stadium....replacing end zone seat with fan amenity area.
Tennessee moves forward with Neyland Stadium renovation plan - Football Stadium Digest
Another big college project to add to the list: The University of Tennessee is moving forward with a $340-million Neyland Stadium renovation plan.footballstadiumdigest.com
The reason in which a need for a 20 year renovation is due to short sided leadership. Outside of Hyman, USC has not had innovative leadership which shows up in times like these.
Don't forget that the the new arena needed to have enough capacity to host NCAA Tournament games in addition to the concert venue business.
Yea, I think that is true...although I believe the NCAA boycott was in effect at that time. Not sure why we have hosted very little since it was lifted other than its another area where our athletic leadership is incompetent.
I didn’t realize the NCAA scheduled March madness sites so far in advance. They already have the next 5 seasons booked. I would love to see them come back for 1st/2nd rounds but it won’t be until at least 2027. They typically pick one site in the Carolinas. Next 5 years is
2022 Greenville
2023 Greensboro
2024 Charlotte
2025 Raleigh
2026 Greenville
You are correct in that the character of the league has changed. But, there is still a core group of intense basketball schools. We had just become one of those and the others were geographically proximate. Had we remained, there's no reason to believe we couldn't have remained one of those. I do believe that he product has been diluted by the size of the geographic footprint. I also believe that their basketball is, and probably will be, superior to SEC basketball. This proviso: a couple of those schools might have to troll for the right coach - especially that one that wears baby blue.
It's really hurt women's recruiting, hasn't it? We can't help Frank and his assistants can't recruit. From what I heard the Coliseum was turned into a nice practice facility with offices. Lot of space in there.
We lost something when we
We lost something when we left the Frank. It was very imitating. Built by a basketball coach.
Football coach built the abortion we have now.
Now look, guess what? The worm is turning back to the way places use to be built.
Give me a Fenway or Wrigley any day.
CLA turns 20 years old this year and there hasnt been a major facelift/renovation yet. I think the Carolina athletic department needs to make a major investment in both our basketball programs. Dawn obviously deserves it and when we can get rid of FM and start over with a new coaching staff, the mens team will for sure need it to attract new, higher rated recruits.
Lots of people complain that CLA is too large at 18,000 seats. Sports attendance has been declining for years even before COVID. Many arenas and stadiums around the country have completed projects to increase amenities while reducing seat numbers. Take a look at the link below of the new arena for the Sacramento Kings. Notice the interior photo where you can see the nice multi level lounge, club and fan gathering area in one end. I think this kind of project in one end of CLA makes a lot of sense. You would lose the upper deck seating on that end which would reduce seating capacity but thats partly the point. In that space, replace if with nice fan amenities....club areas, food and drink court type area, fan merchandise sales points, brew pub maybe and make it part of a nice expanded entry point into the arena.
Projects | Turner Construction Company
We deliver services with integrity and commitment, enabling us to become a leader across diverse market sectors and project types.
See the link below where UT is even doing a similar project at Neyland Stadium....replacing end zone seat with fan amenity area.
Tennessee moves forward with Neyland Stadium renovation plan - Football Stadium Digest
Another big college project to add to the list: The University of Tennessee is moving forward with a $340-million Neyland Stadium renovation plan.
We lost something when we left the Frank. It was very imitating. Built by a basketball coach.
Football coach built the abortion we have now.
Now look, guess what? The worm is turning back to the way places use to be built.
Give me a Fenway or Wrigley any day.
Core group = Big Four. All non-NC members were outside of the core group (I'm thinking about the Dixie Classic). Now even more outside of it since league dilution. The author of this shares some of my sentiments. Basketball Road: The Story of ACC Basketball
They and Clemron are the only charter members left.
Last edited:
No disrespect meant but some of y'all really need to move on. Carolina Coliseum has been closed for 20 years. We left the freakin ACC 50 years ago! The majority of the South Carolina fanbase is not old enough to remember any SC/ACC basketball games.
We won the ACC championship the last year we were in it, and contended for two years before that. I would say we had crashed into the core group. Now, to be fair, it's sort of elliptical. I'm working on the belief that, had we remained in the ACC, McGuire would have continued to have excellent teams, we would have continued to have a passionate fanbase, and our program would have continued to make lots of problems for the Tobacco Road programs. And I continue to believe that McGuire would have left a sustainable program. I can't prove it. I think it's plausible.
With all the talk of “needed” renovation. They did put up a new video board and ribbon boards as well as make the area/roads right outside the arena more conducive to foot traffic. Then of course raised a $350,000 statue.
I know it hasn’t been a ton but it has been some, and it has definitely improved the area.
I know it hasn’t been a ton but it has been some, and it has definitely improved the area.
It's good you point all that out. The stagnation has not been complete.
Our football facilities, including WB, were rated as high as fifth-best nationally in a recent report.
I think what's across the street is carrying a disproportionate percentage of that burden.
Looking back through the '70s, it's amazing how many blue chippers didn't give USC even a first glance because we were no longer in the ACC. Roche and Owens chose USC because we were in the ACC. Yes, we would have caused more issues for Tobacco Road, but the Big Four were inside their own bubble (still are).
I agree - we would have had sustained success in the ACC had we remained. McGuire would have retired circa 1979-1980, and handed the reins to Don Walsh, assuming that there was not the contentiousness between McGuire, Carlen, and the BOT.
Burden? Remember, we are dealing with a very old football stadium. I applaud the constant effort to keep WB a work in progress. When I got to USC we had just added the West Side upper deck and the athletic department was in the RoundHouse.
Perhaps....but with limited resources and an inability to spend them all on one project for men's sports, decisions have to be made. And improving those facilities will often go the improving the student-athletes' experience than that of the average fan. We were way behind other schools on all our facilities (other than basketball) and are probably still playing catch-up on several.....and it's not as though we have a Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens or oil money to pay for it all.
All of that is true. We are sentenced to innumerable decades of obsolescence. My great grandchildren will sit on the same North End Zone bleachers that I sat on back in the 1960s.
Eh, I don't think we are necessarily sentenced to numerous years of obsolescence. I don't think a lot of our fans would like the Horseshoe or a lot of the older B1G stadiums either. Based on the catering/food or restrooms, they aren't hugely "fan friendly" either. Still remember a TOSU/Minnesota game where they ran out of hot cocoa by the end of the third quarter in almost miserably cold conditions.
You mean that organization that raises money for athletic scholarships? Former member. I still attend games.
I really like State Farm Arena in Atlanta where the Hawks play…very fan experience friendly place
Depends on what you are expecting. I've heard fans say they wanted it connected to the two upper decks on either side, but IIRC that is impossible based on how the existing ones are situated,,,,,basically you'd have to redo the whole stadium and that's not going to happen. It will probably be more like the south upper.
I envision a pavilion at that end with armchair seating, a large, wide, inside concourse above the seats, and at the top, whatever state-of-the-art video board there is at the time.
I still think Dietzel made a huge mistake getting out of the ACC. McGuire wasn’t even considered and it was the beginning of the end of one of the best bb programs in the country
