IMHO this Houston venue is awful.....
- Thread starter pitt-girl
- Start date
I'm sick of college basketball being played in domes, on elevated, ugly looking courts, the bench below the court with the coach sitting atop on a stool. It's been this way for a few years now and it's hideous.
Total embarrassment for the NCAA. What would've been two good games were degraded by the venue. In addition to changing the nature of the game and likely the outcome due the inability to hit outside shots in that dark cave, it doesn't have the crowds that a football field can give you. Who wants to sit 40 yards away for a basketball game?
Apparently about 15000 of the 30000 Syracuse fans who go to the Carrier Dome every game don't mind.
Personally, most of the seats in the Consol and the Verizon Center in DC were too far from the action for my taste. I have zero interest in going to a dome for a basketball game, so I agree with you completely. The facility yesterday was extreme, but it is that different from the dome in Indianapolis? Virtually all the recent Final Fours have been held in domes because of ticket demand.
There is always an attraction in physically "being there" and involved in the buzz from the crowd, but the facts are you can simply see the game much better from your recliner on your flat screen. And you never have an opposing fan screaming in your ear or spilling beer on you.
I sat in the very last row at TD Banknorth for that awful Nova loss. A few times I told my wife (even before we loss) it probably wasn't worth it because it was so hard to see, and that's in a fairly normal sized pro arena. I cant imagine watching in a converted airplane hangar, especially for a couple hundred bucks in ticket prices alone.
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Agree with you that watching basketball in a dome is awful--and that includes the Carrier Dome. The Carrier Dome may be one of the better domes for basketball simply because it is smaller, but still very bad. Syracuse gets crowds despite the venue where they play. They [NCAA] should just raise ticket prices and play in an arena that was intended for basketball. By the way, no fear of getting beer spilled on you at an NCAA basketball event--they don't serve alcohol. If you've been to any NCAA tournaments...you'd realize most of the people there are people with significant money and rarely behave poorly. Unfortunately the economics of the Dance have negatively impacted the experience for all. Hail to Pitt!
Agree with you that watching basketball in a dome is awful--and that includes the Carrier Dome. The Carrier Dome may be one of the better domes for basketball simply because it is smaller, but still very bad. Syracuse gets crowds despite the venue where they play. They [NCAA] should just raise ticket prices and play in an arena that was intended for basketball. By the way, no fear of getting beer spilled on you at an NCAA basketball event--they don't serve alcohol. If you've been to any NCAA tournaments...you'd realize most of the people there are people with significant money and rarely behave poorly. Unfortunately the economics of the Dance have negatively impacted the experience for all. Hail to Pitt!
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When I was at Rupp Arena for the Pitt-Kent State game, we caught the end of the Indiana -Duke game. There was an Indiana fan next to me smoking in his seat. And no, it wasn't an expensive stogie. So, it's not just a wine a cheese crowd.....
When I was at Rupp Arena for the Pitt-Kent State game, we caught the end of the Indiana -Duke game. There was an Indiana fan next to me smoking in his seat. And no, it wasn't an expensive stogie. So, it's not just a wine a cheese crowd.....
For whatever reason UCLA fans don't travel very well. Since the PAC tournament has relocated to Las Vegas I've attended a few sessions and the crowd is always dominated by Arizona and Utah fans. When the event was held at Staples it was notorious for poor attendance, hence the move to Las Vegas.
It also appeared the rims were unfriendly (too tight) so that virtually anything other than a swish was bouncing out.
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I guess I never noticed no beer was served. I don't drink in stadiums. But I will guarantee there were a lot of people getting well-lubricated before the Colorado game last year right across the street.
I've been to 5, I think. In the lower, more expensive seats, you're generally right. In the upper deck, it completely depends upon who is sitting around you. I've been in a section where the seating was seemingly just random, general basketball fans. I've also seen sections filled with fans from one team, where one stranger got abused fairly strongly.
I guess I never noticed no beer was served. I don't drink in stadiums. But I will guarantee there were a lot of people getting well-lubricated before the Colorado game last year right across the street.
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Look, assemble 20,000+ people at any sporting event [or any cultural event, etc.] and there are bound to be a couple of people that do not know how to behave. But my experience is that the NCAA basketball tournament has some of the best behaved fans at any team sporting event--bar none. Pointing to the exceptions rarely carries the day. Hail to Pitt!
Look, assemble 20,000+ people at any sporting event [or any cultural event, etc.] and there are bound to be a couple of people that do not know how to behave. But my experience is that the NCAA basketball tournament has some of the best behaved fans at any team sporting event--bar none. Pointing to the exceptions rarely carries the day. Hail to Pitt!
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All it takes is ONE obnoxious fan, if he's sitting behind you.
I seem to have the unfortunate knack of drawing unruly drunks wherever I go.
I've been confronted by them in Norway and Japan, two of the most polite societies in the world.
Just lucky I guess.
All it takes is ONE obnoxious fan, if he's sitting behind you.
I seem to have the unfortunate knack of drawing unruly drunks wherever I go.
I've been confronted by them in Norway and Japan, two of the most polite societies in the world.
Just lucky I guess.
Agree pitt - girl. The whole thing looked weird. Seeing the head coaches sitting on their little chairs in front of the bench was too much.
I think they even said next year in Houston the layout will be different. More like the championship game last year. Center of the dome. No drapes. So it might be even worse.
I attended the final four last year in Dallas and sat way in the upper deck Saturday and in a great box on Monday. Boy was that the way to go. But it was amazing to me that 80,000 fans would go to game and sit that far away from the action. I watched 75% of the games on the big screen. Even Monday when we were in the box.
#1 The only dome where you should play the regionals at is the Carrier Dome. Its a smaller dome and their crowd of 24,000 for the Elite 8 had a good atmosphere and looked mostly full. The NFL domes are just way too big.
#2 If, for whatever reason, you absolutely MUST play a regional in an NFL dome, please put the court in the endzone and use 3 sides of permanent seating like the Carrier Dome does. You don't need 50,000-60,000 available seats for a regional game. You just need around 20,000. I can't understand why they couldn't just play the games at the Rockets' arena where the crowd of 20,000 would have fit quite nicely, but if you have to play it in a dome, DON'T put the court at midfield. The sitelines couldn't be worse and it looked awful TV.
#3 What's the purpose of putting the court on a 3 foot stage? I never understood why that had to be done.
I don't think they can just plop the court down on the fieldturf, and they have to have a strong base to put the court down on, so I'm guessing they build a strong support base and then put the court on top of that. Maybe they don't need 3 foot, but they need something.
Syracuse has field turf. Why don't they put their basketball court on a stage? There has to be another reason.
It'll be the same way at the Final Four. The coach will be all by himself on the stage with the team sitting 3 feet below and 10 feet behind him. It looks so stupid.
I agree with the general sentiment.
I don't understand why they don't just use the numerous 19-20,000+ seat arenas that are scattered across the US for the Regional finals. It just looks and feels so much better. Are the extra 5,000 nose bleed tickets in an otherwise empty barn really worth it from a product quality stand point?
I don't understand why they don't just use the numerous 19-20,000+ seat arenas that are scattered across the US for the Regional finals. It just looks and feels so much better. Are the extra 5,000 nose bleed tickets in an otherwise empty barn really worth it from a product quality stand point?
Yeah, I understand the necessary seating requirements for the Final Four.
Just not the Regional Finals. Seems like overkill to me.
Just not the Regional Finals. Seems like overkill to me.
Yes, but it will not look like what you saw at the Regionals. I was there in 2011 when the FF was in Houston, there was nothing curtained off. In fact, the attendance records for the Final Four and Title game were set in Houston that year.
I believe they had to have it at NRG this year was because the title game will be there next year. So they had to use this as "dry run" to prepare for next year.
I was there yesterday and yeah it looked pretty awkward to say the least.
I believe they had to have it at NRG this year was because the title game will be there next year. So they had to use this as "dry run" to prepare for next year.
I was there yesterday and yeah it looked pretty awkward to say the least.
I think its due to the temporary seating. The football domes have permanent seats meant for a wider football field. When they put basketball courts in there, they use temporary seating which has a much lower grade, ie. a more gradual slope. So this means the person in front of you blocks more of your view. So the elevated stage off the floor helps people see.
The NCAA has gone back and forth on their seating requirements and plans. I couldn't find an article requiring 70K, (I got that from a blog) but I did find 40K specified. Then, they next announced they were exploring going back to "traditional" 20K basketball arenas, just before booking another dome for 2017.
