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Updates to the Joel?

There is nothing "cool" about the Joel. You don't get any type of wow feeling walking in, and especially for a first visit. You truly feel like you're going into an old arena. Now that can be okay, if there's something particularly special about it (ala Cameron) but that isn't the Joel. Just go walk in the hornets arena, or somewhere like Kentucky etc. I know those are bigger venues but they feel like you're at an event you want to be at. The joel can be fun and have its moments, but unless we are a top 10 team consistently (which almost no program in the country is) it won't be a consistently good place for a game. And to be honest, when it does provide a good atmosphere, its not bc of the joel, it is in spite of it.
 
BiffTannen said:
Adjust the Hue.
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Anyone have a good idea of what it would cost to reduce the seating capacity of the Joel?
 
Burn it to the ground and build a brand new arena! All we need is a lousy $200 million!!! What? We just finished a seven-year, $1B capital campaign?? Who cares? Burn it down!
 
How about an Elon Musk Boring tunnel to the Joel??
 
BBDeac said:
Anyone have a good idea of what it would cost to reduce the seating capacity of the Joel?
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Depends on how you do it. If all you're doing is covering up seats with tarps, it would be a few grand. If you are lowering the floor, steepening the rows, bringing all lower level seats closer to the court, and turning most of the upper deck into some sort of club area, it would be a pretty significant outlay.
 
inspectah said:
Burn it to the ground and build a brand new arena! All we need is a lousy $200 million!!! What? We just finished a seven-year, $1B capital campaign?? Who cares? Burn it down!
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Such a weird argument. I assume you argued against Deacon Tower, the new on-campus facilities, the indoor football field, etc too right? Or is it JUST our oldest and most run down facility, for what has been traditionally our most important sport, that you don't want to see improved?
 
inspectah said:
Burn it to the ground and build a brand new arena! All we need is a lousy $200 million!!! What? We just finished a seven-year, $1B capital campaign?? Who cares? Burn it down!
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What's the insurance coverage on that place? We need to find a torch man.
 
Buttermaker said:
What's the insurance coverage on that place? We need to find a torch man.
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it seems someone tried that, but they got the Weaver fertilizer plant fire under control before it could bring down the city
 
RacerDeac said:
Such a weird argument. I assume you argued against Deacon Tower, the new on-campus facilities, the indoor football field, etc too right? Or is it JUST our oldest and most run down facility, for what has been traditionally our most important sport, that you don't want to see improved?
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Hey, I'd love a brand new arena, though I don't want it on campus. I just think it's going to be damned expensive and probably not very practical in the short term given the cost. You're talking about an amount that's many times greater than the cost of the items you mention (Deacon Tower was less than $50M; the indoor facility was $21M). It will be done eventually because things fall apart and all that, but not any time soon.
 
Somewhere in South Florida an attorney is drafting a very long response to this thread.
 
Unfortunately, I think the argument made by DR has poisoned this discussion to the point that many people argue against what is an obvious need for some MAJOR improvements for our basketball team simply because DR takes an extreme position for them. Hard to believe anyone walks into the Joel these days and doesn't think that it's well past time for a new facility or a massive overhaul of the current. The place really is a poor facility for our team and fan base despite the nostalgia I hold for it starting from opening night, through RoRo/Chill/Duncan, and into the crazy home games under Prosser/Dino. Being gone for 10 years and coming back to see it with a fresh perspective really highlighted how bad it is.
 
RacerDeac said:
Unfortunately, I think the argument made by DR has poisoned this discussion to the point that many people argue against what is an obvious need for some MAJOR improvements for our basketball team simply because DR takes an extreme position for them. Hard to believe anyone walks into the Joel these days and doesn't think that it's well past time for a new facility or a massive overhaul of the current. The place really is a poor facility for our team and fan base despite the nostalgia I hold for it starting from opening night, through RoRo/Chill/Duncan, and into the crazy home games under Prosser/Dino. Being gone for 10 years and coming back to see it with a fresh perspective really highlighted how bad it is.
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This is kind of where I am. I used to have courtside seats back in the day. Arranged my life around Wake basketball. Walked away around 2013. Just couldn't take it any longer. Between lectures on socks and a socially damaged "coach", I was done.

Came back to the Joel for the first time this year and it really is a dump. I mean, who are we kidding? The place is a dump. How does it get fixed? I have NO freaking clue.
 
Seattle just gutted what used to be Key Arena and put in essentially a new arena. Only $1.15B too.

Space on campus is brutal but would like to see a smaller building somewhere designed by and for Wake's purposes only. The Joel was never that. There is simply no way Wake will fill a 14,500 seat arena for every game these days, especially given that it never did in prior glory days.
 
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.
 
It's just not true that the Joel didn't sell out a lot when Wake was good. But over the years I've come around to the argument that it's too big. It ought to be smaller, but not much smaller.

I haven't been back in a while myself so maybe I'd feel the same way Racer does if I dropped in this season. I'm sure Currie has a master plan in place but I'd be surprised if the Joel isn't home for a long time to come.
 
PhDeac said:
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.
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Perhaps. But, like photos of plastic surgeries gone wrong, I'm not sure how much more can be done with the existing facility.
 
Is it too late for the fertilizer fire to accidentally blow up the Joel? Seems like an insurance settlement would be a nice start to building our perfect arena .
 
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