As the University gears up to build a new basketball arena, Student Council is making sure students do not get left out of the rush to snag a front-row seat.
Council President Joe Bilby and College Rep. Patrick Kelly recently sponsored a resolution asking for the planning of the new arena to include student input.
"We want to see students in the best seating," Bilby said.
The resolution passed Dec. 5. Since that time, Council members have continued to work to ensure its implementation.
The Council has big ideas for the new arena even though the facility will not arrive until many more plans have been finalized. The University now is awaiting donors in order to begin making plans for construction.
Council members researched other ACC schools for ideas on the arena design. They found the best examples in the ACC schools located in North Carolina, namely, the University of North Carolina's Dean Smith Center, North Carolina State University's Entertainment and Sports Arena and Duke University's Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Council is trying to avoid the style of UNC's facility because of its lack of privileged student seating. At UNC, students are forced to sit up in the rafters while donors and other alumni enjoy courtside seats with good views of the on-court action.
"I envision student seating much like the way Duke treats students with priority seating. I would like the size of the stadium to be like N.C. State's," Kelly said.
Duke gives its students 3,500 courtside seats on one side of the court. North Carolina State reserves the first 10 rows all around the stadium for the students.
"At Duke, the students are not only close to the court but they can see each other well enough to coordinate their chance of heckling the other team, the visiting teams therefore almost never win in Durham," Bilby said, pointing out that the home-court advantage gained by such an arrangement would be greatly beneficial to players and coaches.
Council members argue that an arena design in which the students sit courtside rather than in the rafters will benefit the athletics program and may help secure a successful basketball team.
In a Council statement forwarded to Gordon Rainey, Board of Visitors member and chairman of the Student Affairs and Athletics Committee, Leonard W. Sandridge, Jr., executive vice president and chief operating officer and Athletics Director Terry Holland, Council cited direct financial contribution, home-court advantage and indirect financial benefits as the advantages of excellent student seating.
Council is currently in discussion with Rainey, Sandridge and Holland about student seating in the new stadium.
"The people we've talked to seem to welcome the idea," Bilby said. "I think that everyone can agree that we want to have as intimidating an arena as possible."
Plans to build a new arena have been in the works since the fall of 1998, when the Board passed a resolution calling for a new facility to replace the older University Hall.
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