RAC renovation

e5fdny

Heisman
Nov 11, 2002
113,650
52,267
102
What “other things?” Can still have other skirts there,, concerts, etc…not sure what you’re talking about?
The renderings seem to make it look like the current Student Section is going to be permanent seating and same for the sideline seats.
 

e5fdny

Heisman
Nov 11, 2002
113,650
52,267
102
Yes…but what would we be unable to host?
I seem to recall the concerts having the stage up against the retracted seats. Don’t remember if the side ones were pushed back as well. Same for some graduations and other things.

I wouldn’t mind if they did become fixed as you could put bathrooms underneath.
 
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AreYouNUTS

Heisman
Aug 1, 2001
120,262
53,011
113
I seem to recall the concerts having the stage up against the retracted seats. Don’t remember if the side ones were pushed back as well. Same for some graduations and other things.

I wouldn’t mind if did become fixed as you could put bathrooms underneath.
I’d bet there will be …why they haven’t added any back there, yet, is mind-numbing.
 

RUsojo

Heisman
Dec 17, 2010
28,291
26,885
113
Don’t know how a half empty 118 kicking out the most loyal fans in the RAC is so much better. Penny wise and pound foolish. Was ridiculous to mess with the footprint.
The dollars and sense already make this a great decision. This was a great move by Rutgers for a change.
 

dark_check

All-Conference
Mar 7, 2022
2,123
2,502
113
The pull out bleachers help a lot with the noise. You can her the students stomping on them. We don't need a club lounge or whatever they've got planned between the 100's/200's. simply blow out the front and create a beautiful entrance/atrium with the ticket office, climate controlled entry, hall of fame, more bathrooms, some type of nice food options. Expand 118 up to match the current student section. Under that you can create a club lounge with a nice bar etc for the donors. It's 2 hours, in the winter, not an event all day like football. Capacity would increase 1,000-1,500 seats. Honestly, we don't need more than that. Just the Jersey Mikes sponsorship should cover that without any disruption.
Love this! Couldn’t you do the same thing with the green lot side of the building behind 103/104?
 
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RUBlackout

All-American
Mar 11, 2008
10,420
6,060
113
Let’s start hitting up jersey mikes on social
Media to never allow a home game to be played outside of their arena during renovations(or anytime for that matter)

There is just something about JMAC as it’s brings “the extra juice” to our team
 
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G- RUnit

All-American
Sep 13, 2004
14,212
7,753
113
The dollars and sense already make this a great decision. This was a great move by Rutgers for a change.
That’s a bunch of crap. You could have increased the prices of seating if that was the purpose. It wasn’t. The money comes from winning and tv revenue. Duke, Phog, Palestra, Butler…don’t miss with their footprints. Penny wise and pound foolish and don’t believe everything you hear. 40 % increase? Lol! Decrease the seating ever few years and you could fudge the numbers anyway you like. Small change.
 

G- RUnit

All-American
Sep 13, 2004
14,212
7,753
113
It has to be upgraded in the offseason.

Why does the RAC need an upgrade?
What upgrades are so needed? All you really need is more bathrooms. You know they will screw it up. A year away from the RAC is already a mess.
 
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needmorecowbell

All-American
Oct 28, 2007
9,133
9,999
78
It has to be upgraded in the offseason.

Why does the RAC need an upgrade?
Why does it need an upgrade? Have you looked around the country? Rutgers is losing tons of money and potential business partners because there are no premium options. They need more club seats and will most likely try to add suites and more premium amenities. Every other big ten team has these and it’s a recruiting negative. No one wants alto sit in the cheap seats. The premium areas are how you make money and upgrade the image for fans and recruiting.
 

Greene Rice FIG

Heisman
Dec 30, 2005
40,437
23,613
0
Why does it need an upgrade? Have you looked around the country? Rutgers is losing tons of money and potential business partners because there are no premium options. They need more club seats and will most likely try to add suites and more premium amenities. Every other big ten team has these and it’s a recruiting negative. No one wants alto sit in the cheap seats. The premium areas are how you make money and upgrade the image for fans and recruiting.
How much extra revenue are you looking to bring in?

Can this be achieved by just tripling the donation requirements of the 100s?

When you put these luxury boxes in you are displacing a lot of the current 100s fans
 
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Sir ScarletKnight

All-Conference
Jan 17, 2015
1,809
1,513
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Steve - I would love to keep the bleachers BUT these plans do a couple things:

1) more student seating
2) moves students closer to the baseline (again; never should’ve been moved back to begin with…)
3) enclosing those corners will make it even louder

The only students stomping, btw, are the band members…..not sure why the rest of them haven’t caught on…BUT if they could somehow figure out a way to fill in the corners AND keep bleachers with that end that would be sweet!!!
Students don't stomp because students stand on the seats, and if you try to stomp, you fall off. Now, *why* do students stand on the seats? No clue. I didn't even get it when I was a student.
Why does it need an upgrade? Have you looked around the country? Rutgers is losing tons of money and potential business partners because there are no premium options. They need more club seats and will most likely try to add suites and more premium amenities. Every other big ten team has these and it’s a recruiting negative. No one wants alto sit in the cheap seats. The premium areas are how you make money and upgrade the image for fans and recruiting.
Turn the RAC's office space into club seating.
 
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Greene Rice FIG

Heisman
Dec 30, 2005
40,437
23,613
0
Rutgers is losing tons of money and potential business partners because there are no premium options. They need more club seats and will most likely try to add suites and more premium amenities. Every other big ten team has these and it’s a recruiting negative.
I don't think painting the RAC as a negative would really work with a recruit. If done it wouldn't help with credibility. The RAC is on the list of why a recruit wants to play here.
 
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RUaRealFan

Redshirt
Feb 11, 2023
18
22
0
This is just shortsighted. The RAC needs an upgrade. Just rip the bandaid off and get it done right.
Exactly. The short-term sacrifice is worth the long-term gain. And I'm sorry, but those who say upgrading the RAC would hurt recruiting couldn't be more off base. Most of these kids are visiting arenas much nicer than ours and Pikiell being able to tell them that there are major renovations in progress and here are the renderings, etc., would help more than hurt.
 

rcube1994

All-Conference
Feb 3, 2004
910
1,300
93
Exactly. The short-term sacrifice is worth the long-term gain. And I'm sorry, but those who say upgrading the RAC would hurt recruiting couldn't be more off base. Most of these kids are visiting arenas much nicer than ours and Pikiell being able to tell them that there are major renovations in progress and here are the renderings, etc., would help more than hurt.
The players spend 99% of their time in the APC and adjacent dorms which are already top notch. I dont think they care one bit about the # of suites or if there are no seat backs in the 300s, as long as its loud and a competitive advantage during the game.
 

RUJMM78

Heisman
Jul 25, 2001
25,976
12,150
113
I'm pretty sure B1g Ten officialls told Rutgers that facilities had to be upgraded .Football and men's basketball are the two biggest money generating sports.
 
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jerseybird

Senior
Jul 31, 2001
522
558
93
It has to be upgraded in the offseason.

Why does the RAC need an upgrade? An upgrade is what the RAC could have used in 1978. As soon as the facility opened, there were some complaints. People had expected something better. It needs better seating comfort, better restroom setups and increased seating capacity. After 45 years of a mediocre existence, it's time to upgrade the arena to match the quality of the coaching and teamplay. Time to transform it from a glorified gym to a modern big-time arena. The football stadium was closed for a season. Our own 20-year enjoyable experience of having season tickets in the upper deck would not have happened otherwise. I think one year away from JMA pales in comparison to the 30 years of no NCAA tournament appearances. Now we have to look like we been there before!
 

RUsojo

Heisman
Dec 17, 2010
28,291
26,885
113
That’s a bunch of crap. You could have increased the prices of seating if that was the purpose. It wasn’t. The money comes from winning and tv revenue. Duke, Phog, Palestra, Butler…don’t miss with their footprints. Penny wise and pound foolish and don’t believe everything you hear. 40 % increase? Lol! Decrease the seating ever few years and you could fudge the numbers anyway you like. Small change.
We should’ve raised prices on the entire 100 level but we haven’t and you’ve heard first hand on this board the **** show of whining from 100 level season ticket holders here whenever it’s mentioned.

It’s not arguable that changing 118 was a great move. More money, better experience opportunity, same home court advantage.

Get used to it because we will continue to try and find these opportunities.

Having been down on the court pre and post transformation anything other than calling it a win-win would show a lot of ignorance.
 

NickRU714

Heisman
Aug 18, 2009
13,604
12,367
0
I don't think painting the RAC as a negative would really work with a recruit. If done it wouldn't help with credibility. The RAC is on the list of why a recruit wants to play here.

But where on the list? Is it at the top? Lots of things are on the list.
I would imagine winning and HC Pike are much higher.
Recruiting never took off until we started winning - despite the RAC being here forever.

Is the concern that we upgrade the RAC and all of a sudden eite recruits say “nah no Rutgers for me”?
Ace Bailey decommits and Harper chooses Duke?
If so, then how committed to HC Pike were they really?

If the concern is being away for a year impacting recruiting - well it’s a one year thing only. It’s not like multiple years of recruits will be impacted.
 

Greene Rice FIG

Heisman
Dec 30, 2005
40,437
23,613
0
I think winning program and Pike as their coach are at the top. Every recruit after that has their own reasons. The RAC is probably in top 5 of most, but to all a secondary reason.

Now a 1 and done not having a home court for their one season could be a deal killer
 
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RUKen

All-Conference
Sep 3, 2003
1,477
2,234
0
I'm pretty sure B1g Ten officialls told Rutgers that facilities had to be upgraded .Football and men's basketball are the two biggest money generating sports.
I have been told by a credible authority an upgrade is required to keep the Jersey Mike sponsorship. I don’t know when it needs to be done or what needs to be done though
 

sct1111

All-American
Nov 30, 2014
6,046
8,237
113
I have been told by a credible authority an upgrade is required to keep the Jersey Mike sponsorship. I don’t know when it needs to be done or what needs to be done though
Is Jersey Mike's going to help out? It's in their best interest to.
 

NBKnight

Heisman
Jul 8, 2008
24,581
15,495
61
This is just shortsighted. The RAC needs an upgrade. Just rip the bandaid off and get it done right.
There is no one, the RU administration, Pat Hobbs, Jersey Mike’s, who wants to miss a season at the RAC. The only way it happens, is if from a engineering standpoint, it can not be completed in an off season or off seasons.

Good luck protesting that.
 

rufeelinit

All-Conference
May 16, 2010
12,647
4,351
0
There is no one, the RU administration, Pat Hobbs, Jersey Mike’s, who wants to miss a season at the RAC. The only way it happens, is if from a engineering standpoint, it can not be completed in an off season or off seasons.

Good luck protesting that.
If having another month or two makes a difference, a possible solution might be to have our early season OOC games at an alternative venue(s), and schedule our December conference games on the road with the goal of getting back into JMA for all of our conference home games beginning January of whatever year this getting done.

Not sure I understand why Jersey Mike's has a clause in their deal that requires the renovation to be done by a certain date or they can walk. What is in it for them? Are they paying above what they believe is the current naming rights value? How does that change significantly with a renovated arena where we add 1K in seats? Do they get a more prominent site to sell their products? Could they be sponsoring a club suite section as well?