Many of these older facilities (like Cameron Indoor, Reynolds Coliseum, etc.) were built when Moby Dick was a minnow and typically hold fewer than 4,000. These smaller field houses are actually advantageous to the home team: they are easier to fill and the fans/noise are a competitive advantage. But most of all, the environment looks fantastic on TV…and that’s what matters now, right?Bigdaddyg1 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 8:38 amWatched some of the Dayton v VCU game. What I noticed about that game and several mid majors in general is the packed arena and environment in general. They have that same atmosphere we had for the Auburn and JMU games all the time. It's a bit of a downer watching many of our games home and road with a couple thousand empty seats on the screen and our Sunbelt tournament played in a virtually empty gym. Some of these mid major conferences are simply a different level of interest and dynamic.
This is why universities with the resources are building smaller venues for basketball & volleyball games. Example: Liberty University has the Vines Center (capacity: 9,500). Based on the success of their MBB program, they built Liberty Arena right next door (capacity: 4,000). They routinely pack it out, and for more than just MBB games. Plus, their fans are super loud (and obnoxious). Mission accomplished.
Based on App MBB home attendance the past few seasons, App fans would easily fill up a venue of that size and tickets would be hard to come by. It’s a shame the university decided not to renovate Varsity Gym…but that decision was made at a different time when we had different priorities.
Lastly, watching App home games on TV is a bit deceiving. It doesn’t help that the same 20-30 seats right behind the visitors’ bench are usually empty and colored dayglow yellow. What’s hard to grasp is how loud it gets in that building; even when it’s less than half full, the noise level is stout. Our fans are super engaged and I don’t think that’s lost on high school/transfer players visiting app.
ps- if you’ve never had an opportunity to attend men’s/womens volleyball games (at any level), I strongly encourage you to check it out. My niece was on a volleyball team in high school and we were amazed at the action, high energy level and fun!