If you're
following me on Twitter, you'd know that I was on campus today at Notre Dame and was fortunate enough to get a tour of the still under construction Compton Family Ice Arena, which will open in October and be the new home of the Fighting Irish.
Here are some bullet points about the arena for you:
- Seats 3700 in the lower bowl and 5100 in total
- All seats will be navy and have backs (unlike the bleachers in the Joyce Center, their current home) with the exception of the student section which will have gold bleachers because "the students stand all game anyway"
- The building which also features an auxiliary rink with an olympic ice sheet will cost $50 million.
- They visited several college rinks across the country and tried to piece together the best arena. Two of the more distinctive features are the balcony (similar to Northeastern's Matthew's Arena) and the open concourse (similar to Michigan State's Munn Arena).
- Ticket prices have remained the same as the Joyce, but now includes premium seating. $14 for an adult ticket in the lower bowl, $20 for premium seats (along the boards, center ice, etc) and $40 for club seating which will be designed like an Irish pub, will be named O'Brien's, will be the only place in the arena to sell beer and also features a coat check.
- It's a 200x90 ice surface - 10 feet wider than an NHL rink.
- The press box will have two levels and dedicated boxes for TV, home and away radio, home and away coaches and video replay.
- There are eight auxiliary locker rooms complete with showers, plus a visitors suite with showers and offices for visiting coaches and trainers as well as two locker rooms for officials.
- The ceiling of the area is low for great acoustics to make it seem louder than it actually is and it's painted a dark charcoal to help make the big rink seem smaller.
- at the Joyce center they had 1100 season ticket holders, already at the Compton Family Center they've sold over 2200.
Here are some pictures from South Bend... (click on thumbnail to view larger image)
Since I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the team areas in the building, I'm going to do my best to describe them to you. There's a team meeting area that has five tiers of "stadium" seating like you'd see in a theatre or large classroom. This area will also be used for post-game press conferences. Across the hall is a multipurpose room that will be used for the team's weekly mass (it's a Catholic school), studying and pre and post-game meals. Dave Gilliland, the team's equipment manager, will think he's died and gone to heaven with the amount of space he will have in the new rink which is easily 20 times bigger than the literal closet he is working out of now. They were installing all the cabinets in his space as we walked through and it's going to be absolutely amazing! Pro teams will be jealous. As for the team's locker room, it is shaped a bit like a horseshoe - not so much for luck, but so that no one gets stuck with a stall in the corner. Additionally, there is a spacious weight room, physical therapy facilities including both and cold and a hot tub and two shooting rooms with synthetic ice to allow the guys to practice their shot.
This new facility will easily be one of the best in the country. They have taken the time to consider every detail to make sure this will be a building players will want to play in and fans will want to enjoy. October 18th is the day the school is able to take control of the building and move the team in. While there are two home games scheduled that weekend, they aren't yet certain if those games will be the first to be held at the new arena of if it will have to wait until their next home game in November, but they will do everything they can to make it happen as soon as possible.
In other news, in talking with a few people in South Bend, it seems that the decision as to which conference the Irish will join amongst all this realignment will hinge on which one will have the best TV deal to give Notre Dame the most national exposure.
Today, I'm heading back to Michigan State and Michigan for some follow up interviews.
Julie
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@JulieRobenhymer
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