I never understood the Millet is too far of a walk from campus argument (Yager is a little farther) but regardless I am excited that funds are being raised for a new arena
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It can be a long walk in the Winter, especially from the South end of campus, but also if it is in the middle of campus you will see people walking to the game or hear noise and just be aware that something is going on and you are missing it.
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I had completely forgotten about that. Elliott Hall was great! Put the arena where Phillips is. They were talking about replacing it 50 years ago. Move the activities that are using it now to Harris.
Back in the days where info was widely available, I would never know the Men’s baseball schedule. But time after time I would walk past the field and see a game was going on, and stop by if I had no other commitments. I loved going to those games, and I bet there will be students who do the same, but with basketball.
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I wonder how much land Miami owns beyond what we consider to be the campus. I ask because maybe the answer isn’t just building a new arena by losing something that already exists people like. If we had light rail that could take you from A to B in under ten minutes, then the arena could be anywhere. Granted I prolly just raised the cost of the new arena by 500million. Jokes aside, I wonder if the idea was ever considered. I would imagine it has. If the goal is to grow Miami then maybe the idea isn’t totally insane
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Some excellent thoughts by many on the Board with respect to suitable locations for a new Arena.
I just spent some time looking at the satellite view of the campus, and can certainly see where am Arena at the present location of Phillip’s Hall would make sense to take advantage of Goggin parking and be nearer south quad dorms.
Cook Field obviously would make a good location in terms of visibility at a major intersection, and there is of course plenty of room there. What I do not know is how disruptive that might be to various intermural events that are scheduled there. Like the High Street location mentioned, this site offers an excellent opportunity to showcase a beautiful new arena within good proximity to dorms on the campus. Could the new arena and parking be done in such a manner that about half of the present open field could be preserved for archery and other outdoor activities?
That leaves us with the discussion of the proposed High Street location. The satellite view seems to show that there could be room right across from Lewis Place without disrupting the green space on either side of the slant walk. The issue could be doing that and also somehow squeezing a parking garage in that wouldn’t take away from the picturesque nature of that area. I guess it could all be underground.
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I have been monitoring this thread with some piqued interest. Perhaps asking current students their thoughts might be a good idea. Even if they don’t get the benefit of it as students it would give the administration some idea of what student preference might be as to locale. No offense to 90% of this board but most on here are far removed from student days and/or don’t have students at Miami. We graduated in 1987 so we fall into that category. Jive is a relatively recent grad and I believe AdamRedsuit graduated a year or so ago. Prof teaches at Miami. I believe Redsea and one other have mentioned they have children currently students. I apologize if I am missing someone. But my point being even if
you visit campus for games you are far removed from the current reality. Not meant to be an insult but a reality. While we graduated in 1987, our daughter is a sophomore at Miami. We are members of three Miami parents’ social media groups that I interact with daily. These in particular are eye opening. Plus we get communications from the University solely reserved for parents of current students. Our daughter chose Miami over 3 of the top 20 schools in the nation plus Elon. Mentioning Elon because it was mentioned above. Beautiful campus. And I love their basketball arena. Seats about 5000. But it is 800 miles from St Louis, which would have limited our visits. Were she to make her college decision today, I’m not sure it would be the same. But that is another discussion. I saw the College of Creative Arts was mentioned above. Our daughter’s three majors (one of which is combined with Farmer-Arts Management) and minor are all in the CCA so very familiar with it. And what CCA has in Phillips. Dr Omasta, Dean of CCA, is wonderful. I said all this as reference for my initial comment- which is I would love to see a survey of current students where they would prefer as a locale for a new arena. One other point about Phillips as a site, it is close to the Rec center, which is one of the most visited buildings on campus. If not the
most used. My daughter works out there daily. Which is another reason I support that as the potential site, students are already in the vicinity frequently, not that my opinion matters. My wife, also a 1987 Miami graduate, (Miami School Of Business) also prefers Phillips over the area across from Lewis. Sorry for the lengthy post.
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Us news and world report lists Miami having 2,100 acres……
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Thanks for the insights, Blueman!
You are no doubt correct in that many us (myself included) have graduated long ago and moved far away from Oxford, so my visits have become more infrequent over the years (plus my two sons went to small private colleges instead of Miami).
At the same time, I would opine that all three of these locations being discussed would be fairly convenient for most students, and I would argue that they won’t attend any of the three in greater numbers unless we start winning (and hopefully find some way to occasionally enhance our home OOC schedule).
So, I suspect the that it will come down to relative economics, with some forethought to how it would enhance (or possibly detract) from the ambiance of Miami’s campus.
Selfishly speaking, I tend to lean towards Cook Field, (due to its central location to dorms, room to build, and ability to showcase the new Arena on our main road artery), but as your comments accurately reflect, I do not know how that location will impact current student activities. From an economic perspective, one would think utilizing Goggin’s parking would be a major consideration as well.
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17 Years Ago…
The North garage is close enough to serve as parking for either a Cook field or High St location.
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Oh yeah I forgot about that… it’s really quite convenient there by the baseball field. That could help solve the issue of building a large parking garage at either site, depending on how many cars fit at the north garage. Perhaps the build for additional parking at either site would be relatively minimal, which reduces the footprint of the project.
Baseball gets great attendance when it’s warm due to the location I see so many people stop by for an inning or two with a backpack coming from class
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All right folks, it is becoming official: Enhancing campus life and stimulating the local economy | News at Miami University
Edit: By official, I mean the discussions are becoming public.
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As expected, lots of heat from faculty in private channels. Slant walk seems to be the preferred area. There is more relevant information I received today, but I will be sharing those once they are considered public.
Edit: “preferred area” by administration.
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Spent a good chunk of my Miami career at Benton and EGB. A few classrooms overlook the field and I’d head there with friends after class. It’s a great setup and something I look back pretty fondly on, even if I didn’t follow baseball closely.
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Very interesting (and encouraging!). The “tea leaves” seem to indicate that Cook Field site may be the top choice of the intent is an arena with hotel next door. I guess they could be in separate locations as well.
I read it this way. Hotel on Cook Field. Arena “close to uptown” i.e. across from Lewis on or next to slant walk.
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Well, that would help keep much of the green space at Cook (if just a hotel), but announcement said they could expand it to the south. I guess they could even put another parking garage at the hotel so with that and the north garage maybe the arena can be a stand alone facility with minimal on site parking across from Lewis.