• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Updates to the Joel?

Ha! You guy would have just loved the old quonset hut we used to play in.
 
For the memorial, yes. One reason we should built a separate arena and expand the actual memorial.

Ha! You guy would have just loved the old quonset hut we used to play in.

It had the correct number of seats -- 8500 -- according to some. The tobacco smoke was thick enough to cut with a knife. If Coach K has a problem with motorcycle exhaust, that aspect of the old hut would have really made him crazy. Not to mention the leaky roof. Rain outside = rain inside.

When it reached the current age of the Joel (32 years) it was bulldozed into parking for the Joel. When a building hits 30 years, it is time to evaluate and assess the need for major renovations. Mechanical systems, roofs, windows may be reaching or nearing end of expected useful life and need to be replaced.

As part of the assessment, review of the purpose of the building is in order. Is it a multi-purpose venue or is it the home of Wake Forest basketball that may get used for other activities from time to time? It was built as a multi-purpose venue, with WFU basketball only one of many activities inside. Now that Wake owns it, what should it be?
 
Huge public schools are now building arenas of the type we have wanted for years. The time is right. Make it 8500-9000 seats, put students around the court, theme as 100% Wake. It will help recruiting and success, yes, but we should aim for facility improvements regardless after 32+ years in an oversized, generic badly aging arena.
 
Last I heard there were plans for a few administrative departments to move into this building.

Great, because the one thing Wake (and really all of higher education) needs is the bloat of more administrators.
 
I mean, you would create a parking nightmare on campus or put at the church where you are almost as far from the main part of campus as LJVM...........or you would just tear down LJVM and put it there where you have the sports complex and the infrastructure in place to handle the traffic (still with problems even there) if that is the option you decide upon.
 
I mean, you would create a parking nightmare on campus or put at the church where you are almost as far from the main part of campus as LJVM...........or you would just tear down LJVM and put it there where you have the sports complex and the infrastructure in place to handle the traffic (still with problems even there) if that is the option you decide upon.

What? The God Dome is like a 10 min walk from the Quad
 
DR, what specific plans have you discussed with the AD? Is there a specific location for your ideal arena? Do you think there is a winning formula at the current sports complex?
 
What? The God Dome is like a 10 min walk from the Quad

Which would be super convenient for the 6 games per year the students show up for en masse bitching about no one saving their courtside seats for the first 10 home games.
 
Which would be super convenient for the 6 games per year the students show up for en masse bitching about no one saving their courtside seats for the first 10 home games.

This. Students haven’t shown for 30 years and dont deserve seats ringing the court. That goes back to my time there In the early 90s.

7500-8000 capacity with end zone of lower bowl for students would be perfect. Make the ticket hard to get and atmosphere will improve.

My guess is a reno of the Joel is the more cost effective option vs tearing down and starting over. I think you can make a great arena out of the existing structure. LJVM lower bowl is 6500 and upper is 8000. Keep the lower bowl roughly intact, reduce upstairs capacity and make the whole thing more open / appealing. Maybe you leave 2k seats upstairs and put club / media seating up there. I’ll let someone with actual architectural skills figure out how to do it.
 
They could built a student only club space for pregame, halftime, and postgame. I think I brought that up in the thread about the student tailgate area. Could be standing room only space for the big games.
 
The smart thing to do would be to use the momentum of this basketball season to announce a capital campaign for a new arena or big reconfiguring of the Joel.

Currie is a smart dude, so I assume something like this is in the works.
 
I have no inside information, but it seems obvious what's going on with the Joel. Within a month after Wake basketball completes the first breakthrough season under Forbes, Currie is going to start a huge fundraising push to renovate the Joel. Mit Shah will throw in the first million or so to get the ball rolling.

The smart thing to do would be to use the momentum of this basketball season to announce a capital campaign for a new arena or big reconfiguring of the Joel.

Currie is a smart dude, so I assume something like this is in the works.

Time is a flat circle.
 
Seems expensive to update the old just to end up with something that is halfway tailored to our current needs. I'm not an on campus arena guy. Maybe when I was a student but as an alum I want easy in and out and close proximity to walk in during cold winter months. Tear down coliseum and start from scratch. 8,000 is plenty, with lots of club seating, bar atmosphere viewing, and whatever else. Make it a place to show up an hour or two early and drink with friends, watch some other games. Like tailgating inside.

Get rid of all the memorial stuff, it's not Wake's job to maintain a memorial park for the city. Or if we want to then buy up some more of the shitty real estate around the coliseum and build a nice memorial park.

Bring one sponsor in for naming rights to everything over there. Welcome to the Truist Athletic Park, home of: "Demon Deacon Sports," "The Joel," "Couch Ball Park," "Grove Stadium."
 
Last edited:
my ill-informed plan:

1/ walkability focus. get rid of student parking on campus, etc. use the student parking lot for whatever. god dome becomes premium parking lot for students

2/ build new basketball stadium on reynolda where those giant office buildings are currently, makes it slightly closer to campus.

3/ start developing the area between campus and the new basketball stadium with a focus on walkability, basically connecting the barn, XC trails and then through that weird, barren intersection.

4/ cheap student parking is in the current joel parking lot, further normalizing walking.
 
Back
Top