Since we're talking about the women ... Sears Centre

[Sec.112]

Anybody know why the B10 switched the women's tourney to the Sears Centre? Until this year, the women's tourney was always in Indianapolis, right? I assume the B10 was able to DRASTICALLY cut their costs. Maybe it was some weird attempt to gain some attention in the Chicago market. But there's no comparison between the venues or locations when you compare it to Indianapolis. There's GOT to be five or six places throughout the B10 that would be better than the Sears Centre.

And what's with that horn?

 

[Styre]

The tournament was in Indianapolis every year from its start in 1995 to 2012, except for 2001, when they moved it to Grand Rapids for some reason. Since 2012, it has alternated between Indianapolis and Hoffman Estates -- this is the second time it has been at the Sears Centre.

 

[DocCatsFan]

You answered your own question. It is cost. The venue now is absolutely terrible. But the girls want a "special" venue like the boys. They should just hold the event at one of the schools-- attendance would be better and the venues would be nicer. People may not believe it, but even WR is a WAY better venue than the Sears Center is. It is a total dump with awful concessions and a big pain in the ass to get to.

 

[Alvious]

While the Sears Centre has good sight lines and relatively comfortable seats, the place just has an overall vibe of weirdness about it, like it wasn't properly designed or finished. There's no real scoreboard to speak of, the concourse is painted an ugly shade of brown and is poorly lit, the "club" section with wider seats and a "private" bar (which wasn't open for the tourney) is tucked away in a corner, with most of the seats way past the end of the court. Plus, the thing is built way out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around it but office buildings. I don't know what Hoffman Estates was thinking when they shelled out the cash for this white elephant.

EDIT: Also, did anyone notice that the electronic sign outside the arena advertised the event as the "Big Women's Tournament"?

This post was edited on 3/8 2:17 PM by Alvious

 

[DocCatsFan]

Originally posted by Alvious:
While the Sears Centre has good sight lines and relatively comfortable seats, the place just has an overall vibe of weirdness about it, like it wasn't properly designed or finished. There's no real scoreboard to speak of, the concourse is painted an ugly shade of brown and is poorly lit, the "club" section with wider seats and a "private" bar (which wasn't open for the tourney) is tucked away in a corner, with most of the seats way past the end of the court. Plus, the thing is built way out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around it but office buildings. I don't know what Hoffman Estates was thinking when they shelled out the cash for this white elephant.

EDIT: Also, did anyone notice that the electronic sign outside the arena advertised the event as the "Big Women's Tournament"?

This post was edited on 3/8 2:17 PM by Alvious

I think it said "B1G" Women's Tournament.

 

[Turk]

I thought the sears center was state of the art, theatre seats and very easy access along the interstate 90?

 

[DocCatsFan]

State of the art?

I think if you leave now, you might make it in time to see the Finals and you can judge for yourself. Maybe state of the art 20 years before it was built.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

why cenTRE, anyway?

Originally posted by Turk:
I thought the sears center was state of the art, theatre seats and very easy access along the interstate 90?

I was under the same impression (with ZERO first hand information, just intuition)....

To me, the wierdest thing is the name....why would the OFFICIAL name use the chiefly British variant of the word CENTER...the official site does not shed any light on this (admittedly minor) point...not complaining, just curious....is this common practice for similar US facilities?

centre per webster's

 

[Turk]

Take it easy. I simply dunno. Ive never been there so i find it odd that a relatively new arena would b so shitty but also the host of major events.

 

[DocCatsFan]

The place is basically a multi-purpose arena. My guess is it goes unused most of the year.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Originally posted by Turk:
... i find it odd that a relatively new arena would b so shitty but also the host of major events.

It is odd indeed...a main culprit would be the architectural firm...it seems to be a reputable one....OTOH they do not list any other similar facility in their portfolio, before or after...so it seems designing arenas is not their thing...the nearest project was the remodeling of a HS swimming pool...perhaps this can explain the presence of apparent design flaws....

But still most items should be quite modern (one would think) in an arena opened just 7-8 short years ago....it is virtually brand new in the grans scheme of things...



arch firm's commercial portfolio

 

[NUCat320]

The venue looked sad on TV in the few minutes I watched today.

The wikipedia page lists roughly eight "professional" teams from leagues you've never heard of, and notable events include a Davis Cup match, a few USA Gymnastics events, TNA Wrestling, and Strikeforce MMA.

Also, it mentions that the original builder/operator 'walked away' in 2011, and the City of Hoffman Estates has since hired a management company to operate.

In short, not a very good investment. I wonder what it was supposed to accomplish?

In Atlanta, there's a facility in Gwinnett County, northeast of ATL, that hosts the circus and Arena Football and frequent big-name concerts and has made itself a competitor to Philips Arena. But ATL is far different from Chicago, in that such a huge portion of the population lives in the Northern suburban outskirts.

 

[Eurocat]

I was in Indianapolis for a convention in September of last year. Really liked the city. That said, while not a huge city (ala Chicago, NY etc) it is also not some small place/space. A big event (the Super Bowl for example) obviously "takes over" the city but I would guess a "medium" event (no offense but something like....um....the Big Ten Women's BBall Tourney) might simply go unnoticed or little noticed. Maybe that is why they are using the Sears Center. To "dominate" a locale?

A comparison might be a medium importance bowl game. Let's be real the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in no way dominates/takes over the city of NY. Maybe a National Championship would, but not a bowl like that. Take the same bowl with the same teams and put in Shreveport Louisiana or Mobile Alabama and you are the "talk of the town" for 72 hours in a way you never will be in NYC.

Perhaps the same principle is at play for the tourney. Just speculating of course.

 

[pschatz25]

Originally posted by NUCat320:
The venue looked sad on TV in the few minutes I watched today.

The wikipedia page lists roughly eight "professional" teams from leagues you've never heard of, and notable events include a Davis Cup match, a few USA Gymnastics events, TNA Wrestling, and Strikeforce MMA.

Also, it mentions that the original builder/operator 'walked away' in 2011, and the City of Hoffman Estates has since hired a management company to operate.

In short, not a very good investment. I wonder what it was supposed to accomplish?

In Atlanta, there's a facility in Gwinnett County, northeast of ATL, that hosts the circus and Arena Football and frequent big-name concerts and has made itself a competitor to Philips Arena. But ATL is far different from Chicago, in that such a huge portion of the population lives in the Northern suburban outskirts.

I assume some developer duped Hoffman Estates into putting a lot of money into an arena to put the town on the map and make some easy money hosting, uh, events. Surprising absolutely no one, except the HE city council, an arena in the suburbs without a real anchor tenant hasn't panned out so well. I assume they're thrilled to get an event like the B10 Women's Tournament. Of course it's a terrible place to watch a game, any game. That's the problem with multi-purpose venues that need to cater to as many types of events as possible because they have no true purpose.