XAVIER LAUNCHING $25 MILLION OVERHAUL OF THE CINTAS CENTER

[SATO]

Although I love the Cintas as a replacement for the old Cincinnati Gardens, I would guess the original designers of the Cintas would have liked to have another shot at the original set up whereby the arena now is only three sided.
I would think at this point there is no correcting that error. It does help though that the XU tells the TV broadcasters to only show the angles that do not
highlight the end of the arena with the huge wall and windows. I had left the city after graduation and returned a few years after Cintas and when I entered the venue I was taken aback by the big wall and lack of seats on one side as it was never show on TV.

[DudeAnon]

Although I love the Cintas as a replacement for the old Cincinnati Gardens, I would guess the original designers of the Cintas would have liked to have another shot at the original set up whereby the arena now is only three sided.
I would think at this point there is no correcting that error. It does help though that the XU tells the TV broadcasters to only show the angles that do not
highlight the end of the arena with the huge wall and windows. I had left the city after graduation and returned a few years after Cintas and when I entered the venue I was taken aback by the big wall and lack of seats on one side as it was never show on TV.

The wall never bothered me, its weird to hear other people talk about it. As it is now, there is not a bad seat in the house and the capacity is perfect for the fanbase. I wouldn't change it a bit.

[Xudash]

Although I love the Cintas as a replacement for the old Cincinnati Gardens, I would guess the original designers of the Cintas would have liked to have another shot at the original set up whereby the arena now is only three sided.
I would think at this point there is no correcting that error. It does help though that the XU tells the TV broadcasters to only show the angles that do not
highlight the end of the arena with the huge wall and windows. I had left the city after graduation and returned a few years after Cintas and when I entered the venue I was taken aback by the big wall and lack of seats on one side as it was never show on TV.

You would guess wrongly. The CC was designed as a convocation center, not strictly an arena.

Who told you that XU tells the TV broadcasters to avoid the "wall and windows." That is ridiculous. Besides, the broadcasters don't appear to be listening, as that angle into the student section is shown all the time.

Most people love the CC just the way it is, and it's about to get a lot nicer.

[SATO]

Although I love the Cintas as a replacement for the old Cincinnati Gardens, I would guess the original designers of the Cintas would have liked to have another shot at the original set up whereby the arena now is only three sided.
I would think at this point there is no correcting that error. It does help though that the XU tells the TV broadcasters to only show the angles that do not
highlight the end of the arena with the huge wall and windows. I had left the city after graduation and returned a few years after Cintas and when I entered the venue I was taken aback by the big wall and lack of seats on one side as it was never show on TV.

You would guess wrongly. The CC was designed as a convocation center, not strictly an arena.

Who told you that XU tells the TV broadcasters to avoid the "wall and windows." That is ridiculous. Besides, the broadcasters don't appear to be listening, as that angle into the student section is shown all the time.

Most people love the CC just the way it is, and it's about to get a lot nicer.

I have actually paid close attention to the camera perspective and the wide shots of crowd never show the big wall. When they show the student section it is a relative close-up without the view of the big white wall with windows. This is a TV production conscience decision. Like I said I am a 15 year XU fan, but there must have been a lack of funding that did not allow for the 4th side. You see this set up in other areans built about the same time, The Nutter Center, home of the Wright State Raiders up north in Dayton is the same. The 4th side was never built out.

[Xudash]

Although I love the Cintas as a replacement for the old Cincinnati Gardens, I would guess the original designers of the Cintas would have liked to have another shot at the original set up whereby the arena now is only three sided.
I would think at this point there is no correcting that error. It does help though that the XU tells the TV broadcasters to only show the angles that do not
highlight the end of the arena with the huge wall and windows. I had left the city after graduation and returned a few years after Cintas and when I entered the venue I was taken aback by the big wall and lack of seats on one side as it was never show on TV.

You would guess wrongly. The CC was designed as a convocation center, not strictly an arena.

Who told you that XU tells the TV broadcasters to avoid the "wall and windows." That is ridiculous. Besides, the broadcasters don't appear to be listening, as that angle into the student section is shown all the time.

Most people love the CC just the way it is, and it's about to get a lot nicer.

I have actually paid close attention to the camera perspective and the wide shots of crowd never show the big wall. When they show the student section it is a relative close-up without the view of the big white wall with windows. This is a TV production conscience decision. Like I said I am a 15 year XU fan, but there must have been a lack of funding that did not allow for the 4th side. You see this set up in other areans built about the same time, The Nutter Center, home of the Wright State Raiders up north in Dayton is the same. The 4th side was never built out.

Perhaps you missed where I noted that the Cintas Center was built as a convocation center. Father Hoff's vision for the Cintas Center was that it would become Xavier's "living room." The Cintas Center was built as it was built on purpose, by design as a multi-use facility: arena component, practice facility, player facilities, athletic offices, conference & banquet center, and, early on, as a student dining facility.

Beyond all that, all the pre-build studies reflected an optimal capacity number of 10,250. Xavier's attendance numbers at the Cincinnati Gardens from '83 - 2000 showed steady improvement and sustainable figures in the high 9k's. It was always going to be about achieving a high capacity utilization percentage in a 5-digit capacity place. It didn't take them long at all to settle on 10k and change.

It was never about a lack of funding for anything in that place when it first opened. It opened exactly the way they wanted and envisioned.

Beyond all that, I know for a fact that the Fox people just love the place. Raff and Gus love the facility and they certainly love the game atmosphere experienced there.

[SATO]

[

I have actually paid close attention to the camera perspective and the wide shots of crowd never show the big wall. When they show the student section it is a relative close-up without the view of the big white wall with windows. This is a TV production conscience decision. Like I said I am a 15 year XU fan, but there must have been a lack of funding that did not allow for the 4th side. You see this set up in other areans built about the same time, The Nutter Center, home of the Wright State Raiders up north in Dayton is the same. The 4th side was never built out.[/quote]

Perhaps you missed where I noted that the Cintas Center was built as a convocation center. Father Hoff's vision for the Cintas Center was that it would become Xavier's "living room." The Cintas Center was built as it was built on purpose, by design as a multi-use facility: arena component, practice facility, player facilities, athletic offices, conference & banquet center, and, early on, as a student dining facility.

Beyond all that, all the pre-build studies reflected an optimal capacity number of 10,250. Xavier's attendance numbers at the Cincinnati Gardens from '83 - 2000 showed steady improvement and sustainable figures in the high 9k's. It was always going to be about achieving a high capacity utilization percentage in a 5-digit capacity place. It didn't take them long at all to settle on 10k and change.

It was never about a lack of funding for anything in that place when it first opened. It opened exactly the way they wanted and envisioned.

Beyond all that, I know for a fact that the Fox people just love the place. Raff and Gus love the facility and they certainly love the game atmosphere experienced there.[/quote]

Thanks for the buzzwords and backround Xudash, didnt know all that, but couldnt the facility still be "the living room" however built as an oval instead of a horseshoe? There could be other facilities attached to the arena without eliminating approx 1/5 of the potential seating and making for weird unfinished look. Would you not agree that the traditional oval theater in-the-round/ Colosseum/ all seats focused on the floor atmosphere would be better than the big the stark wall with windows?

As I said I am a diehard XU fan, but the facility always seemed to me to be an architectural mistake

[FriarJ]

It was already one of the best arena's in the league. Not sure what 25 million gets you. PC did a major renovation 7 years ago that cost 70 million and they lost a 1,000 seats in it.

[DudeAnon]

Seems like people are just complaining. We have a very nice arena that we don't have to rent and have one of the biggest home court advantages in hoops. It it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Xudash]

Thanks for the buzzwords and backround Xudash, didnt know all that, but couldnt the facility still be "the living room" however built as an oval instead of a horseshoe? There could be other facilities attached to the arena without eliminating approx 1/5 of the potential seating and making for weird unfinished look. Would you not agree that the traditional oval theater in-the-round/ Colosseum/ all seats focused on the floor atmosphere would be better than the big the stark wall with windows?

As I said I am a diehard XU fan, but the facility always seemed to me to be an architectural mistake

I don't agree with you. I love the place as built. The "wall issue" doesn't even exist for me, because the student section sits at that end, the overall environment in the arena is fantastic, especially now with Learfield's investment in the new board technology, and because, during sellouts, that walkway above the student section is always full of people anyway.

Not only is it not an architectural mistake, the place has won awards for its design. The University of Virginia, Southern Cal and St. Louis University, among a couple others, visited the Cintas Center to gain insights into designing their new arenas - they visited the arena component of the Cintas Center for their arena design ideas.

You're entitled to your opinion. No place is loved by 100% of its fans, except perhaps for places like Fenway Park, Ohio Stadium, Michigan Stadium, Florida Field and Wrigley Field, to name a limited few.

The vast majority of the Xavier fan base wouldn't give up the Cintas Center for anything.

[bmorex]

A fully enclosed Cintas Center would look sooooooo shitty with approx 25% of the arena empty.