No. Not that. Withhold judgment until the full product is available.
I will say, as for the location of the students, perception is reality, and on TV it feels much more student-driven on the floor than it did, which is a big win.
State Farm Center Renovation
No. Not that. Withhold judgment until the full product is available.
I will say, as for the location of the students, perception is reality, and on TV it feels much more student-driven on the floor than it did, which is a big win.
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
I was a big proponent of getting students to pass the referendum to fund this thing when I was in Orange Krush. People are allowed to have opinions. No amount of "finishing renovations" will fix the inability to do the William Tell song, or to make me feel like you're up in another building with all the suites between you and the floor. Just how I felt. I also thought it looked really nice, the blue seats made it look less empty, I'm super jealous that there are so many students on the court, and it looks much more modern.
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Illinifanatic4ever
- Orange & Blue Blood in my Veins
There are always things you can improve on foresure. Like Second and Chalmers said wait until after everything is complete. The place looks and feels 180 degrees from what it previously was. Not looking for a fight on here just think we need to be patient to get some wrinkles ironed out since it was opening night.
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
Oh I agree. I just thought the things I mentioned weren't really "fixable", like Krush being far away and the lack of my favorite song. I hope they add another stat scoreboard this season though.
I was really impressed with the new suites. It was real nice looking in there, both outside in the lounge area, and in the suites themselves. If anyone has a chance to sit there, I would say go for it.
Wait, you had non-floor student seats? Where did they put you?
DeeBrownComeBack
- Champaign
I believe he has already graduated and was in a general admission seat (by reading his posts). That said, there are student overflow seats up in the 200 level.
ijustkrushalot
- Iowa Corridor
*shrug*... seems like a tradeoff to having them behind the benches.
Sounds like they were rather loud on the benches, all things considered I'd probably not have krush right behind the home bench.
ijustkrushalot
- Iowa Corridor
it's an everywhere thing, every arena has a visitor section right next to their bench.
ijustkrushalot
- Iowa Corridor
For example, here's Michigan State, the school we copied.
Actually it appears we did it exactly right, there's a tunnel between the two sections where opposing fans were placed, so we split them in half and put 10' between them with students on both sides.
DIA nailed that one.
Actually it appears we did it exactly right, there's a tunnel between the two sections where opposing fans were placed, so we split them in half and put 10' between them with students on both sides.
DIA nailed that one.
One thing that comes to mind after looking at that picture of the Breslin Center...
You can hardly even see the tunnels in that picture and the arena loses almost no seats because of them. The tunnel behind the basket at SFC looks really bad and causes the Krush to lose a lot of their luster there. I would love to see if we can put bleachers to cover up that tunnel on gamedays, but I doubt it.
You can hardly even see the tunnels in that picture and the arena loses almost no seats because of them. The tunnel behind the basket at SFC looks really bad and causes the Krush to lose a lot of their luster there. I would love to see if we can put bleachers to cover up that tunnel on gamedays, but I doubt it.
Jabber Jabber
- Champaign, IL
My friend and I realized at halftime that this tradition would die with the renovation. It's sad, but something I can let go for the facility upgrades. Still, just running one circle around the court with I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S spelled out on 8 separate flags felt very Indiana-ish to me for a replacement.
Jabber Jabber
- Champaign, IL
As a non-premium seat holder, I'm pretty unimpressed so far.
Disclaimers...I know the project isn't fully completed, and I'm still bitter about how misleading I feel the reseating process was.
Bathrooms on the upper concourse: I know there will be another set opening up next year, but did anyone else think that these were ridiculously small considering well over half of the assembly hall capacity will be using them? I figured the restrooms would be designed so that one end would be the entrance and the other would be the exit. Now you still have to walk through everyone waiting to get out of a single doorway.
Space on the upper concourse: I expect this will improve next year once construction is finished and you won't have so many people wandering around gawking like they were last night, but it was an extremely tight area in which to walk around.
Concessions: Minor issue, but don't try to sell me half the popcorn that I've been getting for the past 5+ years for the same price I was paying before.opcorn:
I'm wondering what kind of donor interest there's going to be during the next reseating cycle in 3 years if the quality of the team doesn't improve. Right now there's nothing about the stadium that makes me want to maintain my level of giving.
I didn't use the bathrooms as there were extremely long lines for the men's before the game and during halftime. I, too, was under the impression that one side would have an entrance and the other side would be the exit, therefore funneling people through relatively easily. This is how most professional sports restrooms work and it seems very efficient.
Jabber Jabber
- Champaign, IL
My friend noticed the same thing. I asked her how many stalls the women's bathroom had and she said roughly 20. Seems they made sure to take of the usual long line form women's bathrooms, but skimped on the number of urinals for the men. Five or six urinals is by far the low extreme in arena bathrooms I've had to use.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
ha ha, its a round building !
Aren't only like half the bathrooms open?
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
I believe that is correct for upstairs. Think they have 2 built and 2 to go.
Not sure if that is 2 for each gender or just 2 more. But think that is what ilphotog has referenced.
Found the bathroom situation to be clearly better, but surprised that there wasn't a linear flow in one door and out the other. It worked for me yesterday, just thought there was a better design.
BirdDog9048
The Chief Lives
- Chicago, IL
I disagree with your usage of "on the court". When I was in Krush, I could literally stand on the wooden court and scream into the ears of opposing players (and refs). Where they are now is definitely not "on the court".
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
Oh I know. I already made comments about that. I've heard mixed things from my Krush friends. Overall I think I like the old Krush's placement better(obviously). I legit had banter conversations with opposing players because they were 1 ft away from me on the sideline. That's impossible now. However, I think it's cool they finally incorporated the other thousand student section ticket holders, and will create a better environment overall. They need to figure out how to coordinate between the 3 sides though cause they were struggle busing from that haha. It was bad coordination before with the sideline and behind the basket. I can't even imagine now. None of those Krush seats will come anywhere near as good as the Courtside seats from before.
Enjoy it now kids, you'll never have that good of seats for a sporting event again.
(God I'm so old now :tsk
I also agree about the Krush not being "on the court". My assumption was that the front row of the Krush would literally be standing on part of the basketball court. Instead they have a quite a bit of distance between them and the court because of the change in location of the team benches. Although I like the Krush's placement better than what it was in the past, and I'm pleased with all the A section empty seats issue being taken care of, I'm pretty disappointed the Krush can't literally stand on the floor. I would have loved to see them located on the opposite side of the benches.
There are essentially two small men's rooms and two (apparently larger) women's restrooms in operation at this time. So at max capacity, you'd have roughly 24 urinals for the men in the 200 level. With the small size of the restrooms and the single door entrance/exit, I would say that the restroom experience in the 200 level does little to provide the appropriate "relief" to some of the restroom problems that were present before the upgrade.
You saw a packed house against a name team during a grand opening. I would wait and see what happens with all of those 100-level seats on a more regular basis before saying the empty A-section seats issue has been taken care of.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
Had the same thought