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Updates to the Joel?

Bullshitting around, what if we just built or renovated an expandable stadium of 9000 permanent seats and a small upper deck of 2000 seats that could easily be covered for most games? I love the new Alabama design. It’s a little too fieldhouse-y shaped, but the size and verticality is perfect I think. We need a venue where 8000 people can be extremely loud and close to the court.
 
There are so many Wake games where the lower bowl is only 2/3 full, but there are probably 1000 random stragglers seated in the upper deck - It looks terrible.
 
RacerDeac said:
As someone who took the [name redacted]/Manning years off after missing very few games in the Joel from opening night in 1989 until Dino was canned, when I walked back into the building for the UNC game earlier this season, it just felt run down, old, cavernous and crappy. I'm not sure I agree that it has good bones. It's time for the Joel to retire or go under the knife for a complete redo from the court up with a focus on creating a loud, hostile environment. 1989 was a long time ago...paint and a few banners/signs aren't going to cut it.
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I agree. I have long whined to myself and others that (before Wake owned it), you could walk into the Joel and walk the concourse area and never know that WF ever played basketball there aside from a few small items. They have improved on that and inside the arena and while it's better than it used to be, but as we all know it's only a band aid. Bad things always look less bad when you are winning.
 
DeacsATS said:
The McCamish gutting at GT cost $50mil a little over a decade ago.

Something needs to be done.
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Interview the folks that did that the work on McCamish.

IIRC, they brought the interior down to the girders and went more vertical with the seats to bring everything closer to the floor. I sat in one of the higher sections for the Wake game recently and view was great.

I think they slightly increased capacity with that renovation, but maybe Wake could expand the concourse and shrink the numbers of seats instead.

GT did have to play at least one or two (I can’t remember) seasons at the Omni/Phillips/State Farm.
 
There is no way they would play in the Annex. Stop.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
Bullshitting around, what if we just built or renovated an expandable stadium of 9000 permanent seats and a small upper deck of 2000 seats that could easily be covered for most games? I love the new Alabama design. It’s a little too fieldhouse-y shaped, but the size and verticality is perfect I think. We need a venue where 8000 people can be extremely loud and close to the court.
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I like the idea of a 6000-8000 seat arena, but the flexible seating idea is interesting. Wake must make a massive amount of money during those games with 13,000+ people in attendance. $20 to park, plus the ticket, plus concessions (they were selling a ton of Deacon Brew during the Carolina game).

Wake's biggest bang for the buck is to pay the coaches. Good college coaches can win in small venues, huge venues, on campus, off campus, etc. It just doesn't matter much. The coaching staff is the key.
 
RacerDeac said:
I somewhat disagree. $50M saved is $50M saved, and the Joel isn't just going away. We already own it. IF (and that's the key) you can achieve the same/similar result inside of the existing shell for $50M as you could by building new for $105M, I'd absolutely rather renovate the Joel than build new. Less money, less wasteful, keeps ties for nostalgia sake, etc.
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Agreed. A lot of damn Pennies.
 
Wakefan77 said:
I would like to see 9500-10k.
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Rafi said:
I like the idea of a 6000-8000 seat arena, but the flexible seating idea is interesting. Wake must make a massive amount of money during those games with 13,000+ people in attendance. $20 to park, plus the ticket, plus concessions (they were selling a ton of Deacon Brew during the Carolina game).

Wake's biggest bang for the buck is to pay the coaches. Good college coaches can win in small venues, huge venues, on campus, off campus, etc. It just doesn't matter much. The coaching staff is the key.
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Truth.
 
Rafi said:
I like the idea of a 6000-8000 seat arena, but the flexible seating idea is interesting. Wake must make a massive amount of money during those games with 13,000+ people in attendance. $20 to park, plus the ticket, plus concessions (they were selling a ton of Deacon Brew during the Carolina game).

Wake's biggest bang for the buck is to pay the coaches. Good college coaches can win in small venues, huge venues, on campus, off campus, etc. It just doesn't matter much. The coaching staff is the key.
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We can get solid attendance for those bigger games (although still not as much as we think, e.g. listed 81% to capacity for the UNC game), but in theory, it's not a bad thing if for some games, the demand is higher than the supply of seats (this is what Forbes alluded to in his interview) -- when it's tough to get tickets to the marquee games, fans are more likely to go to other games, etc. Trickle down attendance.
 
IAppreciateIt said:
We can get solid attendance for those bigger games (although still not as much as we think, e.g. listed 81% to capacity for the UNC game), but in theory, it's not a bad thing if for some games, the demand is higher than the supply of seats (this is what Forbes alluded to in his interview) -- when it's tough to get tickets to the marquee games, fans are more likely to go to other games, etc. Trickle down attendance.
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I agree. It's just when you do the math for 13,000+ attendees, especially when you own the parking lot and all aspects of the arena, it adds up to a lot of money each game.
 
You know what else could help juice attendance? Announcing Joel renovations. Make it an two season event. Encourage fans to make one last pilgrimage before it changes for good.
 
PhDeac said:
You know what else could help juice attendance? Announcing Joel renovations. Make it an two season event. Encourage fans to make one last pilgrimage before it changes for good.
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I agree. I also know I'm stating the obvious here but a postseason run (sweet 16?) would really help that announcement go a long way.
 
Does anyone know what responsibility that Wake Forest has to keep up the war memorial? For all the talk about renovating or building new, I would bet there was a contractural stipulation regarding the memorial when Wake bought the Joel.
 
Wakefan77 said:
I agree. I also know I'm stating the obvious here but a postseason run (sweet 16?) would really help that announcement go a long way.
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A national championship would really really help.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
Does anyone know what responsibility that Wake Forest has to keep up the war memorial? For all the talk about renovating or building new, I would bet there was a contractural stipulation regarding the memorial when Wake bought the Joel.
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That's a great question. If they did build new, I would love to keep the name.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
Does anyone know what responsibility that Wake Forest has to keep up the war memorial? For all the talk about renovating or building new, I would bet there was a contractural stipulation regarding the memorial when Wake bought the Joel.
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Given the "genius" of Ron Wellman, God only knows what we have been committed to.
 
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