[Chippy]

For what it's worth the Vines Center is getting an interior overhaul. Seats and aisles are being reconstructed and the seating will be @ 9400+ now.

[Cider Jim]

Compared to 8,085 that it seated last year.

http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm?PID=13647

[alabama24]

Better go on a diet before I go to my next bball game.

[Chippy]

It looks like they'll be using the existing seats but reconfigured to add more seating. Also there will be handicapped seating sort of what the baseball stadium has - on the top level.

[PAmedic]

back when they were talking about expansion I believe the comment was made that "they" figured out how to reconfigure the aisles and still be in code.

there was always that weird gap in the corners

[bballfan84]

they need to build a 3,000 seat arena for basketball programs...this is gonna make the bball games look even emptier

[TIMSCAR20]

they need to build a 3,000 seat arena for basketball programs...this is gonna make the bball games look even emptier

i don't know if I necessarily agree with that bballfan. I understand that when the crowds don't show up, that it looks absolutely crazy to have such a big seat but I can go back to 2 games last season that the crowd was good - Randolph Macon opener and the 1st game of after winter break vs. High Point. I put both of those opening remarks segments in my demo primarily because it looked like a big time atmosphere.

The team just has to perform at a solid level and they will get the support. They don't even have to dominate IMO, just be competitive and entertaining. The students are a fickle group but there are just so many of them now that you don't want to have a 3000 seat arena. I certainly understand your point of view but knowing what that place can be when you get 5K or more in there, I wouldn't want to scale it back.

[lynchburgwildcats]

they need to build a 3,000 seat arena for basketball programs...this is gonna make the bball games look even emptier

i don't know if I necessarily agree with that bballfan. I understand that when the crowds don't show up, that it looks absolutely crazy to have such a big seat but I can go back to 2 games last season that the crowd was good - Randolph opener and the 1st game of after winter break vs. High Point. I put both of those opening remarks segments in my demo primarily because it looked like a big time atmosphere.

The team just has to perform at a solid level and they will get the support. They don't even have to dominate IMO, just be competitive and entertaining. The students are a fickle group but there are just so many of them now that you don't want to have a 3000 seat arena. I certainly understand your point of view but knowing what that place can be when you get 5K or more in there, I wouldn't want to scale it back.

Fixed that for you (trust me, it would have been a whole lot more competitive had it been Randolph-Macon), and you can thank two things for that, which only happen once a year:
1) It was the home opener, the time of the year when hopes for a good season aren't dashed completely yet.
2) It was against another team in the city, one that happens to generally have good fan support when school is in session despite the school being really tiny.

[Cider Jim]

Part of the problem is, SCAR is so good at doing the color commentary that many fans want to stay home and listen to him on TV rather than go to the game.

[TIMSCAR20]

Thanks for the correction L-Wild. You are right. The local flavor made that a better attended game.

Cider - That's what DVR's are for Folks need to watch the game AFTER they attend in person. It really would be nice to look behind me and see a ton of friendly, familiar faces from the Lynchburg community.

[bballfan84]

ok then maybe a 5k seat arena..if the team was competitive and we had 5k seats then I think the demand would rise...students know they can filter in and out whenever they want cause typically there are about 7k empty seats..decrease the supply, field a comptetive team (prob requires layer being fired) and boom you have a full house. I remember my freshman and sophomore season, when that place filled out it WAS CRAZY. I will never forget the Arkansas St game the place was PACKED and they hit a 3 at the buzzer to win..man it was devastating, fun nonetheless.

[TIMSCAR20]

ok then maybe a 5k seat arena..if the team was competitive and we had 5k seats then I think the demand would rise...students know they can filter in and out whenever they want cause typically there are about 7k empty seats..decrease the supply, field a comptetive team (prob requires layer being fired) and boom you have a full house. I remember my freshman and sophomore season, when that place filled out it WAS CRAZY. I will never forget the Arkansas St game the place was PACKED and they hit a 3 at the buzzer to win..man it was devastating, fun nonetheless.

I had some of my old VHS converted to DVD recently and the Arkansas State game was one of them. I just watched about 80% of it again last week. That was a good team but our 03-04 team had some serious quickness on the perimeter. My boy Woodson was the truth at PG, Blair was amazing, Dees wasn't quite playing up to his potential at that point though. Sarchet and Sneed had decent games going up against the bigs of Ark St. Dickey Nutt was their coach. At halftime Dr. Falwell recognized the family that donated the Vines Center that night. Yes that atmosphere was really good back then. I also remember that same season how loud it got for the last few posessions of the Radford game on Senior Night. Mantlo had to shut down Whit Holcome-Faye on 2 straight possessions. He probably fouled him but it was so loud in there that even if they had blown the whistle, no one would have heard it.

[BJWilliams]

I think that I found the Arkansas State game in the archives somewhere back when I worked over at 12th street. That game was crazy to watch

[Purple Haize]

If the seating gets any tighter it will be more reason not to go to a game..

[libertyfan4life]

I had some of my old VHS converted to DVD recently and the Arkansas State game was one of them. I just watched about 80% of it again last week. That was a good team but our 03-04 team had some serious quickness on the perimeter. My boy Woodson was the truth at PG, Blair was amazing, Dees wasn't quite playing up to his potential at that point though. Sarchet and Sneed had decent games going up against the bigs of Ark St. Dickey Nutt was their coach. At halftime Dr. Falwell recognized the family that donated the Vines Center that night. Yes that atmosphere was really good back then. I also remember that same season how loud it got for the last few posessions of the Radford game on Senior Night. Mantlo had to shut down Whit Holcome-Faye on 2 straight possessions. He probably fouled him but it was so loud in there that even if they had blown the whistle, no one would have heard it.[/quote]



THAT Arkansas State game was a great game. I actually remember that game well. It was a heartbreaker with a long range 3 pt jump shot by Ark St. player with just seconds left for us to lose it in the end. That was also a good crowd. The school admin had done a great job of publicizing (concentrated effort) and encouraging students to attend that game for a couple of weeks. Our dorm would always sit in the front corner section near the opposing team bench. The 2002-03 & 2003-04 Liberty MBB teams are still to this time among my top favorites. I was an RA and made Football & Basketball attendance / LU fandom a big part of what we did as a dorm and culture. We had very high dorm attendance for all home games with Sister Dorm in tow too. Team success is indeed important for game attendance, but hopefully some of the present student culture can turn a corner and make some positive changes to general attitude and game attendance as well. Thats my humble opinion, as it has been a couple of years since I was a student or in campus leadership on the mountain. I miss those days.

[ATrain]

ok then maybe a 5k seat arena..if the team was competitive and we had 5k seats then I think the demand would rise...students know they can filter in and out whenever they want cause typically there are about 7k empty seats..decrease the supply, field a comptetive team (prob requires layer being fired) and boom you have a full house. I remember my freshman and sophomore season, when that place filled out it WAS CRAZY. I will never forget the Arkansas St game the place was PACKED and they hit a 3 at the buzzer to win..man it was devastating, fun nonetheless.

Devestating yes...but I wouldn't say that place was packed. The 2004 final against High Point...THAT was PACKED!!!!

[alabama24]

If the seating gets any tighter it will be more reason not to go to a game..

I think someone in the Athletics department misunderstood when they overheard a conversation between two AD's from powerhouse schools:

AD from team A: "How did you increase attendance from 20,000 to 25,000?"
AD from team B: "We added more seats."

When you are consistently selling the house out, you have to add capacity. We don't have that problem.

Of course, this change probably has very little to do with Athletics, and much more to do with convocation.

[R i]

They were removing some concrete stairs in the corners, so they could add more seating in those spots.

bballfan84, Coach Layer brought in an amazing recruting class, has hired a great staff, and does all the things that a Liberty head coach should do in terms of character and graduation rates. Big South Champs 2012.

[PAmedic]

I'm telling you I'm pretty sure I remember someone saying that whole odd wedge thing was supposed to be re-designed

multiply x4 corners and you do gain quite a few seats. Now all we need is a product on the floor worth watching.

[bluejacket]

Never understood the configuration in Vines. Seems like someone didn't think that design through.

[bballfan84]

ok then maybe a 5k seat arena..if the team was competitive and we had 5k seats then I think the demand would rise...students know they can filter in and out whenever they want cause typically there are about 7k empty seats..decrease the supply, field a comptetive team (prob requires layer being fired) and boom you have a full house. I remember my freshman and sophomore season, when that place filled out it WAS CRAZY. I will never forget the Arkansas St game the place was PACKED and they hit a 3 at the buzzer to win..man it was devastating, fun nonetheless.

I had some of my old VHS converted to DVD recently and the Arkansas State game was one of them. I just watched about 80% of it again last week. That was a good team but our 03-04 team had some serious quickness on the perimeter. My boy Woodson was the truth at PG, Blair was amazing, Dees wasn't quite playing up to his potential at that point though. Sarchet and Sneed had decent games going up against the bigs of Ark St. Dickey Nutt was their coach. At halftime Dr. Falwell recognized the family that donated the Vines Center that night. Yes that atmosphere was really good back then. I also remember that same season how loud it got for the last few posessions of the Radford game on Senior Night. Mantlo had to shut down Whit Holcome-Faye on 2 straight possessions. He probably fouled him but it was so loud in there that even if they had blown the whistle, no one would have heard it.

would you happen to have a copy of Liberty vs Maryland in late December of 2004?? Would love to get my hands on that

[TIMSCAR20]

ok then maybe a 5k seat arena..if the team was competitive and we had 5k seats then I think the demand would rise...students know they can filter in and out whenever they want cause typically there are about 7k empty seats..decrease the supply, field a comptetive team (prob requires layer being fired) and boom you have a full house. I remember my freshman and sophomore season, when that place filled out it WAS CRAZY. I will never forget the Arkansas St game the place was PACKED and they hit a 3 at the buzzer to win..man it was devastating, fun nonetheless.

I had some of my old VHS converted to DVD recently and the Arkansas State game was one of them. I just watched about 80% of it again last week. That was a good team but our 03-04 team had some serious quickness on the perimeter. My boy Woodson was the truth at PG, Blair was amazing, Dees wasn't quite playing up to his potential at that point though. Sarchet and Sneed had decent games going up against the bigs of Ark St. Dickey Nutt was their coach. At halftime Dr. Falwell recognized the family that donated the Vines Center that night. Yes that atmosphere was really good back then. I also remember that same season how loud it got for the last few posessions of the Radford game on Senior Night. Mantlo had to shut down Whit Holcome-Faye on 2 straight possessions. He probably fouled him but it was so loud in there that even if they had blown the whistle, no one would have heard it.

would you happen to have a copy of Liberty vs Maryland in late December of 2004?? Would love to get my hands on that

No I was there for that one and I didn't record the game that night.

[Purple Haize]

ok then maybe a 5k seat arena..if the team was competitive and we had 5k seats then I think the demand would rise...students know they can filter in and out whenever they want cause typically there are about 7k empty seats..decrease the supply, field a comptetive team (prob requires layer being fired) and boom you have a full house. I remember my freshman and sophomore season, when that place filled out it WAS CRAZY. I will never forget the Arkansas St game the place was PACKED and they hit a 3 at the buzzer to win..man it was devastating, fun nonetheless.

I had some of my old VHS converted to DVD recently and the Arkansas State game was one of them. I just watched about 80% of it again last week. That was a good team but our 03-04 team had some serious quickness on the perimeter. My boy Woodson was the truth at PG, Blair was amazing, Dees wasn't quite playing up to his potential at that point though. Sarchet and Sneed had decent games going up against the bigs of Ark St. Dickey Nutt was their coach. At halftime Dr. Falwell recognized the family that donated the Vines Center that night. Yes that atmosphere was really good back then. I also remember that same season how loud it got for the last few posessions of the Radford game on Senior Night. Mantlo had to shut down Whit Holcome-Faye on 2 straight possessions. He probably fouled him but it was so loud in there that even if they had blown the whistle, no one would have heard it.

would you happen to have a copy of Liberty vs Maryland in late December of 2004?? Would love to get my hands on that

Did he dunk in that game? Than No, he doesn't have a copy

[Purple Haize]

bballfan84, Coach Layer brought in an amazing recruting class, has hired a great staff, and does all the things that a Liberty head coach should do in terms of character and graduation rates. Big South Champs 2012.

About that...

Regular Season means nothing!

[bballfan84]

that was like the only game I actually got time in..would love to have that Maryland vs LU game if anyone has it