I have been friends with Coach Hedric since 1970. I buy a lotto ticket when it’s big with plans to build a new arena as Hedric Arena. A great Miamian.
The only problem with naming the court after him is that it is now Charlie Coles Ct. Hard to take Charlies name off.
I’m coming to the OU game and plan on finding Coach Hedric before the men’s game. Looking forward to seeing him again.
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I agree with “Charlie Coles Court.”
But, the court at Western Michigan should also be named “Charlie Coles Court.” In my book, if you die on the court and come back to life, you automatically get the court named after you.
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I don’t understand the importance so many are placing on a “central” location.
The most common location for sports facilities at most colleges is on the periphery of the main campus.
Why? Basic land use principles would put those things are only occasionally used on the periphery and save central locations for those things used every day.
Is it hurting OU to have the Convo Center on the periphery? Cameron Indoor Arena at Duke? The Dean Dome at UNC? I have been to all three.
The Southwest location is prime real estate that should be used for academic buildings or other things that are used more frequently.
Just as you would not put a student union building on the periphery of campus you don’t take up valuable real estate in the middle of campus (where several building must be razed) for a basketball arena.
The Cook Field site also allows for the addition of hotel, bistro, conference center, etc that could make it a destination in itself and also make is easier for non-students to enter and exit the area with less congestion.
I am pleased to see that common sense has given us the two best finalist sites.
Either would be vastly superior to Millett but the Cook Field provides a greater opportunity to do something exceptional.
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While the traffic issue may not be a deal breaker to you, why don’t we make it a little easier for people to get to and from the arena, wherever it is built? Keeping driving to the arena “slightly inconvenient” should be part of the evaluation. Why make things more difficult and inconvenient to attend a game?
The effort to make attendance of students, as well as alums and local residents, should be paramount. Not sure why you are satisfied with making the trip and parking a none issue. We absolutely need additional attendance from outside Oxford as those are the group that must actually buy tickets. So, the issue becomes, in part, an effort to increase revenue by making the trip and parking as easy as possible. To me, this is a deal breaker.
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I attended many practices at Miami and got to know him a little. Years later I went back to see Harper play in person. I walked down to the court during warmups, said hello to the coach. He recognized me and gestured for me to follow him and we walked around the whole court, while he told me all about that year’s team and Harper. A real class act who went above and beyond, apart from his coaching achievements.
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As I stated earlier on this thread, neither finalist location is inconvenient to the student population. You can certainly make arguments that the SW location may be a little closer to more of the students, but there are other very important considerations.
These include cost to build, parking, traffic, the potential to tie in an adjacent upscale hotel, and how prominently placed you want the Arena to be, etc.
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I meant to mention that I am making a ten hour round trip drive to the OU game. Would I appreciate if there was a little less “inconvenience” to get to/from Millett or another location for the new arena? Of course.
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Simply relocate the old house.
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I’m not saying inconvenience for drivers is the goal. However, making things convenient for the students (who actually fund the teams and who we’d like to become tomorrow’s fans) is far more important. That shouldn’t be controversial, especially when the inconvenience you’re complaining about would be driving a few extra blocks across campus and maybe parking slightly farther away from the arena.
Taking your logic to the extreme, why not put the arena on the Ditmer parking lot? After all, that would be super convenient for drivers and the parking is already there.
Completely disagree. Students aren’t avoiding games because of distance. And admittedly overall attendance is poor, 80% of fans at games are non-students. And they are the only fans providing additional revenue. Students are a fixed revenue source. Logic says students should be a secondary consideration for thia project.
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Let’s not take my “logic to the extreme”.I have no idea, and won’t spend the effort, to determine what my logic is or should be according to you. And for 57 years students have had to walk to Millett. Many of us made that journey many times.
And we should be primarily concerned with student interests as they pay the bills? Not a great way to run a railroad for the last 20 years. We need to attract others in the area to attend games. Students make no effort to attend games now. So, we’re supposed to make all decisions based on a constituency that for the last 20 years has shown no interest in making the walk. And how many of those who never showed up are suddenly going to become loyal fans after graduation? Attracting fans from the greater Cinci and Dayton areas is critical to generate revenue and create a better atmosphere for games. However, Saturday, even with a big crowd, there will be more staff, faculty, alums, kids and OU fans than Miami students at the game. I hope I’m wrong.
I don’t care about the travel and parking. But I, like most of you, are not the norm. The best proof that your system has failed is proven damn near every game. And I really don’t need to hear your condescending attitude that we should "put the arena on the “Ditmer” parking lot, wherever that is. Now that is taking this discussion to “the extreme”.
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Students might not avoid a game due to distance but they will attend one if it is convenient. You could argue goggin gets good attendance due to proximity but you could also argue it’s the program history. But one definite example of location = attendance is baseball games. Sitting in the middle of north quad if a game has decent weather it will have great student attendance especially midweek when students are walking by due to class
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Wow I hope that is not the case. Pretty sure we can figure out a way to accommodate students and non students.
Also, traffic is typically not a big issue for Miami basketball games. Worst case scenario, you sit in 5-10 minutes of traffic for the highest attended games of the year?
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Baseball is the one non revenue sport that could make money based on location. If they served beer and dogs I’d be there. I loved watching games when I was a student and the stadium wasn’t as good and neither was the team. Yet still fun.
Agree with you, but again, these two final locations are both superior to Millet in terms of average overall proximity to the student population. So to me that’s less of a further consideration for making the final choice.
I’m intrigued with what the LA Clippers did with their new stadium. They conducted interviews to get their most loyal fans in “The Wall” - a section that sits behind the bleachers. And they now have a unique and great atmosphere in an NBA arena.
Could Miami designate a dorm close to the new stadium for “true” Miami sports fans? Have an application to be in that dorm. Get a bunch of like minded kids together that are committed to making it an incredible atmosphere? Just trying to think outside of the box.
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They do serve beer, dogs, burgers, popcorn, and pretzels! And they are grilled right on the grill in the stadium.
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That’s awesome!!!
I think it is hard to believe that Millet is too far for students
But I have a freshman at Miami who lives in South quad and thinks Millet is too far.
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I don’t think it’s the only reason, but it’s clearly part, hence the push to move the arena location?
I think it’s crazy to say students are a secondary consideration. Without students paying (a lot) in fees, athletics don’t happen and the athletics are supposed to be primarily for them. It seems ridiculously out of touch to say that their opinions and catering to them doesn’t matter.
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