BEMC - Future Plans

[RunInRed 18,090]

Not really a good place to put this thread...

Gabe Wright says coaches discussed a plan to demolish Beard-Eaves and build a new parking deck there.

@HABOTN

[Tigermike 3,651]

If they keep winning the way they are, they will be needing more parking.

[BZ770 2]

They should leave it there as a monument to stupidity for building the new arena.

[DKW 86 7,855]

Really nice intramural site and bathrooms for tailgaters.

just MHO.

[sam 0]

Gabe also mentioned that the coaches "are going to add another layer to JHS to make it 100,000". Real Talk

[banditmwp 713]

Really nice intramural site and bathrooms for tailgaters.

just MHO.

+1

But they could build a parking deck with a couple ranks of lower level restrooms, that would suit me just fine

[banditmwp 713]

Gabe also mentioned that the coaches "are going to add another layer to JHS to make it 100,000". Real Talk

This has been kicked around for quite some time now. Coach Roof was talking about it preseason in my aunt's shop.

[AUgrad00 7]

They should leave it there as a monument to stupidity for building the new arena.

At the end of the year the mods on this board should create a thread and take a vote on the worst posts of the year.

Should this occur this should be under consideration.

Beard Eves Memorial Coliseum is a 40 year old @hitole? I would ask the poster, is the new Auburn Arena not an improvement? Or are you part of the football only crowd and just assume cancel basketball and devote all resources to football? I mean if thats the case you have the right to that opinion just be honest about it.

Some of us love basketball think its a great sport. Oh and its postseason is FAR SUPERIOR to football. An NCAA run post season playoff what a novel concept.

[RunInRed 18,090]

I believe estimates put the cost some where near $30-40MM just to renovate BEMC. And that still wouldn't have addressed our needs for practice facilities, etc.

I don't see how any one who has visited the new arena can honestly say a bad decision was made. JMHO.

[AUgrad00 7]

They need to expand to 100,000. Honestly being objective after going to Tuscaloosa this year I really like Bryant Denny Stadium and what they have done. I know Alabama is Auburn's most hated rival but with the renovations they have made its a cool place to see a game and the stadium is huge. What Auburn needs to do is remove the scoreboard from the North End Zone and add an upper deck. I do not like the locatino of the large replay screens they are on both corners to me that looks dorky.

Now all this said the one thing that stinks about Bryant Denny is they need to expand their concession area. Auburn's is far wider making it less congested. And I also love how Auburn created the terrace area outside near the north end zone. This would be the area where they gave away the free posters for the Championship Celebration.

Dont get me wrong Jordan Hare Stadium is awsome. I love it but expansion could only make it better.

[AUgrad00 7]

I believe estimates put the cost some where near $30-40MM just to renovate BEMC. And that still wouldn't have addressed our needs for practice facilities, etc.

I don't see how any one who has visited the new arena can honestly say a bad decision was made. JMHO.

I agree somebody is smoking crack.

[WarEagleDG 6]

I don't see how any one who has visited the new arena can honestly say a bad decision was made. JMHO.

I haven't seen the inside of it, and I'm sure its great. But I've always questioned the need for it. I never understood what was so wrong with teh BEMC. It needed a facelift, sure. But surely a Facelift would have been substantially less than building the new one. I don't think the new arena was a wise decision.

[mcgufcm 4,109]

Beard Eaves was a dump. It was the worst basketball arena I saw in the SEC (saw all of the West and one in the East). I make fun of the basketball arena because it is our admission that Auburn is not and never will be a basketball school (it is so little... and don't give me "Cameron Indoor is small" like my dad did... Duke University is about 1/4 the size of Auburn). BUT it looks amazing. And it's exactly what we needed. We needed an intimate place that can get hopping in the times when the team is good and isn't too large when the team is crap. It's perfect. And it was well worth the money. Renovating a building the size of Beard Eaves is not cheap, and there's no point hanging onto something that needs to be gutted.

[autigeremt 7,123]

I don't see how any one who has visited the new arena can honestly say a bad decision was made. JMHO.

I haven't seen the inside of it, and I'm sure its great. But I've always questioned the need for it. I never understood what was so wrong with teh BEMC. It needed a facelift, sure. But surely a Facelift would have been substantially less than building the new one. I don't think the new arena was a wise decision.

The need was there and now there is a need to demo the existing building and turn it into usable space once they have found a home for the current classrooms in BEMC.

[AUgrad00 7]

I don't see how any one who has visited the new arena can honestly say a bad decision was made. JMHO.

I haven't seen the inside of it, and I'm sure its great. But I've always questioned the need for it. I never understood what was so wrong with teh BEMC. It needed a facelift, sure. But surely a Facelift would have been substantially less than building the new one. I don't think the new arena was a wise decision.

Renovating BEMC is like putting lipstick on a pig. That areana, while it personally holds alot of great memories, is outdated. I wondered in the late 90's why the university at the time spend so much money on renovations.

I would not totally agree with the prior poster Stegman Coliseum is just about as bad as BEMC. But in the SEC having been to every arena in the west and UT, Vandy, UGA, UF

AU is worst.

If Jay Jacobs does not do another damn thing getting a new areana is enough to seal his legacy as AD, nevermind a football national championship.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

If Jay Jacobs does not do another damn thing getting a new areana is enough to seal his legacy as AD, nevermind a football national championship.

Spending $85M to build a new arena that holds half as many people as BEMC and is running at about 50% capacity for the season isn't a legacy I would want.

[aubiematt 0]

They should leave it there as a monument to stupidity for building the new arena.

At the end of the year the mods on this board should create a thread and take a vote on the worst posts of the year.

Should this occur this should be under consideration.

Beard Eves Memorial Coliseum is a 40 year old @hitole? I would ask the poster, is the new Auburn Arena not an improvement? Or are you part of the football only crowd and just assume cancel basketball and devote all resources to football? I mean if thats the case you have the right to that opinion just be honest about it.

Some of us love basketball think its a great sport. Oh and its postseason is FAR SUPERIOR to football. An NCAA run post season playoff what a novel concept.

Maybe it's just me, but usually in business you get nice things when you generate money. The basketball program does not generate money. Fix the program first, then build nice things. Duke doesn't have a nice stadium to have a great program. This build it and they will come mentality is just flawed. In all honesty, the new arena has outside balconies that face the football stadium, who's to say it wasn't built for football. I certainly believe that was the real reason the Auburn Arena was built.

[Tigermike 3,651]

If Jay Jacobs does not do another damn thing getting a new areana is enough to seal his legacy as AD, nevermind a football national championship.

Spending $85M to build a new arena that holds half as many people as BEMC and is running at about 50% capacity for the season isn't a legacy I would want.

If this team were playing at a higher level more fans would be in the stands. We both know that. With this years attendance levels BEMC would look like the Mohave desert.

[AUgrad00 7]

They should leave it there as a monument to stupidity for building the new arena.

At the end of the year the mods on this board should create a thread and take a vote on the worst posts of the year.

Should this occur this should be under consideration.

Beard Eves Memorial Coliseum is a 40 year old @hitole? I would ask the poster, is the new Auburn Arena not an improvement? Or are you part of the football only crowd and just assume cancel basketball and devote all resources to football? I mean if thats the case you have the right to that opinion just be honest about it.

Some of us love basketball think its a great sport. Oh and its postseason is FAR SUPERIOR to football. An NCAA run post season playoff what a novel concept.

Maybe it's just me, but usually in business you get nice things when you generate money. The basketball program does not generate money. Fix the program first, then build nice things. Duke doesn't have a nice stadium to have a great program. This build it and they will come mentality is just flawed. In all honesty, the new arena has outside balconies that face the football stadium, who's to say it wasn't built for football. I certainly believe that was the real reason the Auburn Arena was built.

I am glad you do not run the athletic department. According to this logic football would be the only sport to see any improvements in facilities. I mean that is the ONLY sport that does generate revenue. So why did AU build a new gymnastics facility, softball facility, golf facility???

Also if you decisions in intercollegiate athletics were only based on generating money we would have a football playoff that would generate four times the revenue of the current system.

As for the fix the program first mindset yea great talent wants to play in that @hit arena.

[aubiematt 0]

They should leave it there as a monument to stupidity for building the new arena.

At the end of the year the mods on this board should create a thread and take a vote on the worst posts of the year.

Should this occur this should be under consideration.

Beard Eves Memorial Coliseum is a 40 year old @hitole? I would ask the poster, is the new Auburn Arena not an improvement? Or are you part of the football only crowd and just assume cancel basketball and devote all resources to football? I mean if thats the case you have the right to that opinion just be honest about it.

Some of us love basketball think its a great sport. Oh and its postseason is FAR SUPERIOR to football. An NCAA run post season playoff what a novel concept.

Maybe it's just me, but usually in business you get nice things when you generate money. The basketball program does not generate money. Fix the program first, then build nice things. Duke doesn't have a nice stadium to have a great program. This build it and they will come mentality is just flawed. In all honesty, the new arena has outside balconies that face the football stadium, who's to say it wasn't built for football. I certainly believe that was the real reason the Auburn Arena was built.

I am glad you do not run the athletic department. According to this logic football would be the only sport to see any improvements in facilities. I mean that is the ONLY sport that does generate revenue. So why did AU build a new gymnastics facility, softball facility, golf facility???

Also if you decisions in intercollegiate athletics were only based on generating money we would have a football playoff that would generate four times the revenue of the current system.

As for the fix the program first mindset yea great talent wants to play in that @hit arena.

I'm willing to bet that the all of these facilities you talked about (gymnastics facility, softball facility, golf facility) combined did not cost $90 million dollars to make. On top of that, the golf facility generates Its own operating money, the rest were probably built with donations, so I don't see your point. Even with the so-called condition of the old arena, I've always thought it was impressive. It's still better than BJC in Birmingham and VBC in Huntsville and those are city owned.

[aumd03 2]

Put in ice and turn it into the home of Auburn hockey. It would be a great recruiting tool.

[DCWarEagle 0]

BEMC just was not right for Auburn. Like others, I have fond memories of the place (going to games as a student, graduating, etc), but it was too big and too old and renovating it would have cost almost 35 to 50% as much as building our new arena. We now have a very nice facility that is an appropriate size. As a previous poster said, it is small enough that when we stink it won't be a cavern and when we are good it will really be rocking. The new arena also provides a more public and centrally located place for our sports museum. Plus the suites are rented out for football. I think they did a nice job with the arena and that it is another jewel on Auburn's campus.

I really disagreed with the decision to make Jay Jacobs the AD and I think he made several bad decisions when he first came on board, but I have to admit that he has learned on the job and seems to have our athletic department going in a good direction. The football team obviously had fantastic success this season and we are on track for another top 5 recruiting class and we kept our coaching staff intact. The mens' and womens' basketball teams have a beautiful new facility. The womens coach is already doing a great job and I believe that under Barbee the men will turn the corner and Auburn will be competitive. We are going to see huge improvement next season. Baseball is looking better as well and hopefully will continue to improve. Our baseball stadium is also very nice (not that Jacobs gets credit for that). I think we are in good shape going forward and that the new basketball arena will prove to be a wise decision.

[AURainman 6]

Spending $85M to build a new arena that holds half as many people as BEMC and is running at about 50% capacity for the season isn't a legacy I would want.

Holds 50% of BEMC? Seriously?

Now your just flaming.

The arena is top notch. In order to be division 1 level in terms of facilities AU at a minimum needed practice facilities and a renovation. Thatd probably run around $40 mill right there. Not to mention a zero gain in potential revenue for Auburn, AL in terms of concerts that are being planned, the NCAA tourney, and other opportunity costs. When it all boils down, AU really only made about a $35 million decision. Considering no funds have been put into AU basketball in some time, $35 million is kinda chump change.

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

Apparently, all of you that think that the university should not have spent the money to build the Auburn Arena aren't in tune to the current construction economic market. Take a drive around the campus these days and count how many facilities have been built or are currently being built within the last 2 years. The University is pouring money into construction projects right now.

The Auburn Arena makes sense if you want to build a good basketball program.

As far as the BEMC location, I really, really, really hope the university will consider building an underground parking deck (with a large portion being C-zone parking for students, obviously not on gameweek Fridays, though). They could then build a building large enough to house the classrooms, etc. that are currently in BEMC. The rest of the area could be turned into a green space with an area for the donor RV parking.

[lca408 379]

I agree ValleyTiger. If its possible, they should build a 1 or 2 level underground deck to maximize space and then put in classrooms or utility buildings on site. The area is big enough. When I was still at UAB, they built a new parking deck on 8th Ave. across from the old Ullman high school building. In one corner, they built 3 levels of classrooms into it - housing 1 department and classrooms for several others. Auburn could build a multi-purpose building on top of a 2 or 3 level parking deck (if part of it is underground) that could house Kinesiology (which BEMC already does) and a couple of other departments looking for an upgraded home. Heck, I'd love it if we would move the MPA and Political Science departments over there but I know Haley is the liberal arts building.

The new arena is fantastic. All that stinks right now is the basketball but maybe considering a big win over South Carolina the other day, Coach Barbee can manage a decent ending to this year of disappointment. I was there for Florida and even though it was only 1/3 full that night, when the crowd got going it was louder than I've ever heard BEMC.

As for Jordan-Hare, many on here know my stance on the issue. I believe we have and always have had the fanbase to support such enlargements but I think that a large scale enlargement like going to 100,000 is a mistake, especially in these economic times. What is required at JHS is more aesthetic improvements like an upgrade of the South endzone Tiger Walk plaza and bricking in or enclosing the North and South endzones to make them look presentable. I'm all for an upper deck enlargement of 4 new sections on the ends of the current upper decks. 4 new sections would put us just over 90,000 and I think that's fine for the time being - as in the next few years. It would be nice to add to the upper decks and it would add in more suite rooms where there is already a long waiting list.

JMHO

Ryan