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Retractable-roof stadium in Indianapolis

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by ondeadline, Feb 4, 2007.

  1. ondeadline

    ondeadline Well-Known Member

    The Colts stadium that is under construction, with the exciting name of Lucas Oil Stadium, is another one of those retractable-roof stadiums.

    Two features are a little different:

    * The roof forms an upside down V and retracts from the middle.
    [​IMG]

    * More interesting is the way they plan to configure the facility for basketball. When basketball is played at most domed stadiums, the court goes where the end zones usually are, the stadium is divided in half and temporary stands are put on one side. At the Indy stadium, they'll put the court in the middle making the seating capacity huge.

    [​IMG]

    There will be some really bad seats in this configuration, obviously. But with no apparent rise from one row to the other for seats near the court, the sight lines won't be that great. It reminds me of Reynolds Coliseum at N.C. State. I've had tickets behind one of the baskets at that arena and I could see the players, but I couldn't actually see the surface of the court.
     
  2. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Based on that schematic, there are zero good seats for basketball.
     
  3. the basketball setup I imagine looks something like when the Pistons played 10 years in the Pontiac Silverdome. Any old heads ever watch a game there and can confirm my suspicions?
     
  4. Hank_Scorpio

    Hank_Scorpio Active Member

    Not even close. When the Pistons were in the Dome, it was much like ondeadline said, put the court by one of the end zones, put up temporary stands and have a big curtain to close off part of the arena.
     
  5. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Fixed.
     
  6. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Why are they configuring it for basketball? Conseco Field House is fairly new, and the high school basketball tourney doesn't draw enough to fill a stadium that big any longer.
     
  7. BitterYoungMatador2

    BitterYoungMatador2 Well-Known Member

    "HI folks, I'm Jim Nantz and welcome to the Final Four here in Indianapolis..."
     
  8. ondeadline

    ondeadline Well-Known Member

    The configuration probably only will be for the Final Four. I think Indy is supposed to get the Final Four every five years and the event never again will be in a conventional basketball arena.
     
  9. dawgpounddiehard

    dawgpounddiehard Active Member

    I love the Field House... great venue to celebrate basketball, especially in Indiana, but unfortunately, we'll never see the Final Four there... with only 19,000 some odd seats, the money whores at the NCAA will never have that... put it at the Dome, jam as many people in there and count all your money on Tuesday after Monday's championship game.
     
  10. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    So when they pull back the roof of the stadium, do they play Lucas With The Lid Off?
     
  11. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    FYI, there are two basketball configurations.

    The one above is the "Final Four" configuration (the upper decks are curtained off, too).

    The other curtains off 1/3 the arena and puts the floor close to one corner with temporary stands on the sides.

    That configuration will probably be used when Indiana plays its one basketball game every year or two at the RCA Dome -- which will obviously be moved across the street. It's usually Kentucky every other year ... next year, it'll be against UConn due to a scheduling snafu on UK's behalf putting the UK game in Bloomington. It would also likely be used when Indy hosts the first/second rounds of the NCAA Tournament (which it does usually once every 2-3 years) and the Women's Final Four (guaranteed every five years). Unfortunately, the only photo I have of that configuration is a moving shot on a DVD.

    Indy is also guaranteed a men's Final Four every five years, which would probably utilize the configuration above.

    (Indiana's HS basketball finals used to be played in the RCA Dome -- and drew 41,000 people in 1990 -- but thanks to the decision of a bunch of self-serving, short-sighted members of the state athletic association to divide the tournament into classes, it now struggles to fill up half of Conseco Fieldhouse for any given state enrollment division championship game).
     
  12. And if they're really hard-up for ratings during March Madness, they can just open the roof and let the Indy Cars circle the basketball court while the game's going on.
     
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