Allstate Arena has a long way to go to match the game atmosphere at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Not much home cookin' at Allstate Arena
Not much home cookin' at Allstate Arena
My story on the atmosphere - or lack thereof - at Allstate Arena
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
I'm sick of this conversation and storyline already. When asked about it after last night's game, CC seemed to convey the same thing. He said, "This is where we play this year. We don't even talk about it. It's not even an issue. Would we like to play at Welsh-Ryan? Absolutely. But the way it is this year, this is our home." Exactly.
I am afraid that the fans moaning and media's constant questions about Allstate will become a bigger distraction than the actual playing situation.
It’s the first week of games in a new arena. It’s news now. The story will eventually die down and become a minor storyline.
I get it. And I certainly understand posting a story on a subject that is dominating conversation on the board.
If I were still a season ticket holder living in Chicago, I'm sure I'd be more invested in the subject. But as an out-of-towner, I am ready to move on to other topics like how good Scottie has been these first two games--leading the team in scoring with zero turnovers.
Agreed, Sauce. Other positives include, but are not limited to: easy parking, beer, wide concourses, beer...
I think that playing our home games at AA will give us an advantage over our rivals in away games! Our away record will be better than last season!
Once that happens and the Cats are again in "Tournament " and they have the largest attendance figure ever, then you will need to start another article on how all of new NU fans can't get tickets in the new and smaller W-R. When15,000 or even 8,000 fans can't get into the new place, the real squabbling will really begin.
They've opened up the entire AA for ticket sales for Illinois. Your dream may come true and >10,000 people attend an NU home game. Unfortunately >3,000 of them will be wearing Orange.....
Those kinds of ratios happened plenty of times at Welsh-Ryan too.
I don’t know about that. I remember some Indiana games where the second tier on both sides were virtually all red. And there were still empty purple seats to boot.
Guessing it will be close to a sellout for Sparty assuming both teams playing well.
I think the DePaul program sank back to its normal level after it was no longer a novel story and its WGN advantage was neutralized by 50 games a night on TV. But it was a fun run while it lasted. I became a real DePaul fan for about 6 or 7 years.
Weren't some people trying to convince us in the offseason that it would draw larger NU fan crowds than W-R because of the location in the suburbs..?
Everyone was dreaming or fretting about different scenarios but no one knows even now how it will pan out.
My guess is the whole season will feel like a big neutral site with some games feeling like tournament crowds. If we can just get to the tournament, we will finally be home.
Newsflash at WR, games with Loyola Md. and St. Peter’s did not fill the stands either. Tonight there will be more fans. And to end the neverending posts on the capacity at the new WR, the Trib and Teddy G. is reporting that President Shapiro has announced that the capacity is 7,039 in part to honor the 1939 first NCAA tournament hosted at Patten Gym. Teddy G. finally got off his fire all of the offensive coaches kick and wrote a favorable article on NU’s ranked football and basketball ranking and top notch graduation rates. Shocking that there are no more repeated calls by TG to fire McCall and Cushing when you are 9-3 and ranked No. 23 in the nation in football and no. 20 in basketball.
No more 6,800?? Sad.
And it was Schapiro who recently determined what the seating capacity will be at the new Welsh-Ryan Arena, set to open next fall.
The number: 7,039.
Why those final two digits? Oregon won the first NCAA basketball tournament. It took place at Evanston’s Patten Gymnasium. In 1939.
“It could have been a couple below or above,” Schapiro said. “I figured: Let’s make it 7,039 so we’ll always remember where we started from.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...etball-ranking-greenstein-20171114-story.html
It was a good story when Ray was there. Unfortunately, they couldn't quite get it done. They really didn't play all that tough a schedule back then, and I always thought it caught up with them at tournament time.
A combination of factors killed DePaul basketball. Rise of Michael Jordan; failure to get back to the Final 4 or even the Elite 8 with some highly ranked teams; loss of the Meyer cache and WGN advantage, and finally, the failure to build an on-campus arena when they had the momentum to do it. It remains to be seen if Wintrust Arena can help build it back but I doubt it will ever be what it was in the mid-70s to mid-80s.
Wintrust Arena looks nice enough, but I doubt it'll move the needle much in terms of the state of their program. Certainly won't hurt, but I wouldn't guess this'll be a major, game-changing thing for DePaul's basketball fortunes. We shall see.
So I hadn't been to Allstate Arena since a DePaul mens game about 4 years ago until last night. It was a thoroughly different experience on many fronts and I think the arena will serve as a fine fill-in during this year.
Some thoughts:
- There were a fair number of vocal Creighton fans but a pretty good NU crowd in the house. I saw an attendance figure of about 6400 which is kinda disappointing for this quality of game. I was fortunate to sit up front in the second row off-court (behind the two rows of courtside seating) and opposite the Creighton bench. I looked back and was somewhat dismayed to see rows filled with the set of graying male fans that seemed to populate the purple seats at W-R comfortably ensconced in their padded chairs. Did not hear a lot of noise from anyone behind me for much of the game until the exciting final minutes.
- The students, sadly, are really marginalized behind the hoop away from the NU bench. Kinda like you see in Final Four games played in football domes -- on very low-rising bleachers which spread far from the court. If I were an NU senior, I'd be disappointed to have this vantage point to watch this kind of quality team during my last year. Although they were spirited -- all wearing these chef hats -- they were not loud which I attribute to location and acoustics. The section behind them was almost empty. Get some higher risers so the kids are closer to the court -- and louder!
- The other end zone has some kind of lounge seating. Not sure if that is for Kellogg student teams to work on projects in-game or what. Looked somewhat curious and out-of-place. Maybe we are courting Starbucks as a sponsor?
- Video graphics around the stadium are pretty slick. Good center court scoreboard with video. Nice use of arena perimeter video boards (loved Dererk Pardon's eyes scrolling across).
- Can perhaps do more with player intros. Turned off the lights but seemed like it could have been more inspiring.
- Cheerleaders throwing t-shirts and passing out pizza. Another possible area for some innovation.
- I live on the Northside and made it to the arena in 40 minutes and home in about 25. Better than expected but glad tip was at 8 and not any earlier as would have taken longer to get there. I bolted at the final buzzer and got out of the lot in no-time. Easy in-and-out.
- Moen had a table promoting a shower head you can operate from a smartphone app, enabling you to remain in bed while the shower heats to your chosen temperature. I was happy to take home from that table an NU water bottle (perhaps the nicest steel, NU logoed water bottle ever produced) that I imagine was funded from a massive margin on sales of this product.
- Security did a wand search upon arrival. Glad I did not have my primo Moen water bottle on way in or likely would not have gained entry.
- Vic Law is freaking amazing. B-Mac is living up to senior billing. Skelly looks solid. The team needs bench scorers, some heart on defense and someone to replace Sanjay as the stopper. Khyri Thomas is a big time athlete.
- This should be a fun year. Go get a Moen water bottle.
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From past visits (admittedly years ago), I seem to recall not being allowed to exit heading north on Mannheim after the game. Does anyone know if that's still the case?
That seemed to be the case when I exited, but that was immediately after the game and not a lot of cars exiting at that moment.
Seems to me attendance will pick up once football is over. I'm excited about this season but still in football mode. I would think students would have to manage their time as well. If 5% of the fans who go to football games, start going to BB games, that would be about 1,500 more fans, right?
Good info., thanks. From a couple of past experiences at All-State, as soon as I heard that the student would put behind the baskets, I figured that was not a good idea. Those are probably the worst seats in the house, far from the floor. Think they should move them and the band somewhere close to the visiting teams bench. Heck they 15,000 seats to work with. Seem to remember that during NU's NIT games there the students and a large NUMB presence were seated in one of the corners. Maybe they could give those behind the basket seats to the former purple seat folks, since they don't really watch the game and definitely don't cheer.
The student sections at AA are pretty small. They're about half the size of the combined east and west student sections at WRA. They were almost full for the Creighton game -- maybe a couple of empty rows behind the band. If dozens more want to attend some of the more noteworthy Big Ten games, where are they going to put them?
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