[soccer7]

This arena looks as if it could support and upper level if they need to add more seats in the future.

[rogers3]

This arena looks as if it could support and upper level if they need to add more seats in the future.

Hmmm... Sounds interesting.

[Liberty_2023]

In early renderings Liberty Arena had an upper deck.

[alabama24]

That doesn't look like an "upper deck."

[LUOrange]

I'm not an architect, but it doesn't look like an upper deck can be added.

[jimflamesfan]

I went to ncaa.org and checked attendance figures. In the last decade, the only year we averaged more than 4,000 was this past year, when we averaged about 4,400. In the other nine years...we averaged about 2,000 per game in home attendance. So in an average year...2,000 seats in the new "little arena" would be empty. Just facts. The arena is not too small. I'd much rather see a game with an arena over half full...than sit there on a tues or thurs night in a sea of blue plastic seats. I love the new arena. The goal should be, once covid is over...a packed house for every game. It's gonna be great. 10x better than the Vines.

[Chippy]

We averaged 4800 in home conference games topping 5K 4 times and topping 6K 3 times.

[jimflamesfan]

Yes. We have big games. I get that. We also have empty games in December. The average game attendance has still only been above 4,000 once in the last 10 years.

[jimflamesfan]

According to attendance figures from ncaa.org

[jimflamesfan]

And I had GA season tickets last year. Even coming off of our most successful year ever, I never had a problem finding a seat in the vines. So another way of saying it...we never even came close to capacity at rhe vines in the last 10 years. The final tournament game was pretty close to a sell out...but still...the weird seats behind the screen were still open where no one can see. And that's probably at least 500 seats.

[jimflamesfan]

I will admit, the biggest area of concern for me with the new arena...is more people will buy season tickets to make sure they have a seat...and then some won't go.l to every gamr. But then no one will be able to use those seats. The nicest thing about the vines is if you wanted to go to a game, you could always go and get tickets the day of. So the new arena will hurt some with walk'in fans. But I love the idea of a packed arena.

[BlueBlood]

I'm completely down with the new arena for 75%-80% of MBB home games. A full small arena is so much better than a partially filled big one. I totally get that. However, I'd still like to see LU pick a few games a year (that line up with CFAW, parents weekend, or just big weekend games), promote the heck out of them, and move them to Vines. I'm a sucker for big/special events that create a "we are all showing up" vibe on campus.

I know, I know, you'd have to tear down the convo stage and chairs. They did that for every MBB, WBB and volleyball game for years. I think they can find the manpower to do it 3 or 4 times a year moving forward.

I know, I know, the players are now used to playing in the smaller venue. Poll the players and ask them if they'd like to play home games in front of 7 or 8 thousand a couple times a year. I bet they would.

I know the school said they aren't going to do this, but I really think they are missing an opportunity to create magic a few times a year.

[flamehunter]

I would imagine going forward that the convo set up will be much more permanent and not so simple to tear down for an occasional game.

[thepostman]

One thing to keep in mind, the court from the Vines was completely removed and isn't being put back. It wasn't a court like in some NBA/College arenas where the court was removable. It was a permanent court that was simply covered for events. So it is quite obvious playing basketball in the Vines is not in the cards in the near future.

I do wish the new arena was a bit bigger but 8500/9000 was way too big as proven by the stats that @jimflamesfan provided earlier in this thread.

[rogers3]

One thing to keep in mind, the court from the Vines was completely removed and isn't being put back. It wasn't a court like in some NBA/College arenas where the court was removable. It was a permanent court that was simply covered for events. So it is quite obvious playing basketball in the Vines is not in the cards in the near future.

I do wish the new arena was a bit bigger but 8500/9000 was way too big as proven by the stats that @jimflamesfan provided earlier in this thread.

So we can build a phallic tower because Jerry wanted the tallest building in Lynchburg but we can't replace a floor...whatever. We just dumped millions of dollars into a facility that is bigtime for volleyball but is still Big South for Basketball. My bet is that if McKay stays and we have a couple of top 40 seasons all that data compiled over the last ten years won't mean anything. I can't wait until folks start crowing about building out the football stadium. No basketball vision, my friend!

[rogers3]

I would add that maybe Prevo has basketball vision... That is where RD started, after all!

[thepostman]

Obviously we can...I'm just sharing facts man. Sorry I guess?

I would imagine that a larger convention center for xonvo will be in the cards in the future. At that time, I wouldn't be surprised at all for the Vines to be renovated and be used for Men's basketball. I don't see that happening in the next 5 years but maybe 10 years or so. Just guessing.

[thepostman]

Here is a shot of the new arena setup for volleyball

[ElmersTwin]

Obviously we can...I'm just sharing facts man. Sorry I guess?

I would imagine that a larger convention center for xonvo will be in the cards in the future. At that time, I wouldn't be surprised at all for the Vines to be renovated and be used for Men's basketball. I don't see that happening in the next 5 years but maybe 10 years or so. Just guessing.

No way they'd build a bigger venue for convo at this point in the game. 2020 showed they could do convo just as well, and in more of a controlled environment, from a studio than in Vines. Convo will eventually be back in Vines, but the future is probably going to entail smaller satellite locations than 1 big venue.

[BlueBlood]

Thanks Postman. That's actually the first shot I've seen with all the seats pulled out. In some of the earlier shots, some rows were always pushed back. Looks nice.

[BlueBlood]

No way they'd build a bigger venue for convo at this point in the game.......
Convo will eventually be back in Vines, but the future is probably going to entail smaller satellite locations than 1 big venue.

Yeah, I really don't see any reason that you couldn't use the new arena as overflow. One of the nice things about them being side by side (and connected) is that If you have a guest speaker that all the kids want to see - you could even easily have the speaker make an in-person appearance.

Here and there during nice weather they could use the stadium.

[olldflame]

I look at the future situation if they decide to build again differently. I am fairly certain there is not space for another large facility adjacent or even close to the current complex, which includes the new arena, the Vines and the basketball training facility. Having a new, larger, arena for MBB which is not within easy walking distance from their training facility would be a major inconvenience. New convo venue and a renovated Vines for MBB makes more sense to me if and when the time comes. I suppose it's possible they could include a separate training facility for MBB in a new building and just turn the existing one over to WBB, but that seems like a bit of overkill.

[Class of 20Something]

So do you make a 360 convo venue or do you go massive theater seating?

[Jonathan Carone]

So do you make a 360 convo venue or do you go massive theater seating?

360 definitely. Maximizes the amount of seating you can have and theoretically you can always expand.

Plus it's cool.

[LUAlum1215]

There was talk of a civic center a few years back that never got off the ground. They released some renderings of it in the field/parking lot behind the Lynchburg 911 center in front of TRBC, and another at the mall. I think the big hold up was the city not wanting to help fund it even though it would be available for city use as much as university use. I may be way off but that's how I remember it.