I’m fine with NCSU’s football stadium being off campus strictly for tailgating purposes - and with it only being 7-8 games there a year. I wish it was closer to campus, and had some public transit options close by, but it not being on campus doesn’t impact attendance even with how middling the program has been historically.
NCSU MBB being a middling program for my entire lifetime, the distance from campus, size of the arena, the number of games, and the timing of games (weeknights, later tip times, etc.) all makes the NCSU MBB experience significantly worse than if there was an arena near campus.
IIRC, Valvano wanted a new arena named the Centennial Center (not certain if that meant it would be on Centennial Campus or not though) to help State compete with what Carolina built with the Dean Dome. Then all the mess with Personal Fouls happened - and it delayed the process until State MBB’s program had fallen so far off that I assume the thought was a new, nice arena would boost the program’s standing. However, signing a 99 year lease there to get the thing off the ground (and giving so much negotiating leverage to your fellow tenant with the Hurricanes) has hamstrung any flexibility that NCSU may have had in altering its arrangement with the Centennial Authority / Lenovo Center. I wrote a about the background of the arena back in late 2022 for the Red & White Network.
Since Duke benefits from the atmosphere of Cameron (9,314 capacity) on campus then UNC and NCSU should do the same ~15k on campus and then go in together on regional complex that can be used for NCAA MBB tournament games which can’t be at Lenova since that is NCSU home court not neutral site. Thoughts?
Raleigh, N.C. (Oct. 2, 2024) – **Raleigh will host its first NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Regional in 2028 , and the Town of Cary will host six more national championship events across three sports. Also Raleigh was going to host in 2021 but all the games were moved to Indianapolis because Covid seemingly didnt afflict that city for some reason.
Feels like there’s been rumors that Canes would love to control the whole arena right? They can renovate it how they want and easier scheduling to fill it will more revenue-generating shows. Buyout of the lease could be mutually beneficial.
NC State can build a 14-15,000 seat UVA-style arena at the North end of the Spring Hill Centennial East area. Right on a BRT stop and a 15-min walk to the Bell Tower so easily reached by much of the campus and Hillsborough St apartment buildings. Lenovo could also be used for ACC tournaments since its no longer the official home court for State.
Seems like a win-win. And could spur some more mixed-use development around Centennial / Dix.
If they are going to donate a commensurate amount of money + interest that NC State donors like me made to building the arena, then I would entertain such a venture.
I don’t know all the financials, but just assume something like Canes buy out NC State’s portion of the lease. Would State need to refund donors?? Or just offer them option of getting seats at the new arena?
Do people typically get reimbursed for something built 30 years ago when a new arena is built?
LOL to NC State refunding money. That isn’t going to happen.
I can’t imagine NC State walking away from Lenovo Center without substantial compensation for the contribution the university and its boosters have made, and I can’t imagine the Canes ponying up the sort of money that the university would be looking for to abandon their investment. This is made even more complicated due to the fact that the Arena and coming development sits on state/university owned land.
Both were brand new ideas in the mid-1980s. Centennial Campus took a long time to get going; the first academic buildings didn’t open until 1991. Centennial Campus also didn’t reach east to Lake Wheeler Road yet; early plans assumed a new interchange would have to be built instead. Meanwhile, Carter-Finley Stadium was already 20 years old at the time (it opened in 1966) and had roads and parking in place.
This prompted me to look up the OG plans for Centennial Campus, and… Arthur Erickson worked on these? We could have had SFU-upon-Lake-Raleigh?! Also, he wanted the densest “town center” area along the lake; later plans have moved this to the Spring Hill area, next to Dix park.
Raleigh’s planning commission has approved a rezoning application that paves the way towards the build out of a $1 billion entertainment district surrounding the Lenovo Center.
Thanks for sharing. According to this, nearby Cardinal Gibbons school seems to support the project in general, but is pushing for better pedestrian/bike access, which I am 100% in favor of.
I watched the session and the two speakers (one was a student) representing their pedestrian concerns didn’t use their allotted time well. They didn’t get to the point of their concerns quickly. The adult used too much of the time, got an extension of the time and then left very little time for the student to speak. The commission told them that they could send their full remarks in an email.
I work in Wade Park and see daily the amount of “pedestrian activity” going into and out of Cardinal Gibbons. Several of those kids drive cars more expensive than mine and my wife’s cars combined. And a lot of them (being young and entitled drivers) are incredibly rude and at times dangerous. I’ll also mention the CG “joy rides” through our parking deck fairly regularly… let’s just say, they are not using appropriate parking deck speeds IMO, the CG folks need to keep their mouths shut b/c they are creating a big part of the “dangerous traffic problem” in the area.
I think the teens who walk to school already have enough problems with the obnoxious ones with fancy cars without you using them to justify also taking away their crosswalks!
(Also, high school kids in any car are going to be terrible drivers. They are just learning and full of hormones after all.)
I guarantee you that none of the CG kids are walking to school. The only residential areas within walking distance are apartments midrange apartments, not the same caliber as these kids family incomes. Their yearly tuition is more than most public colleges. The “walkers” are driving and parking at Carter Finley and walking from there.
IMO, the CG folks need to keep their mouths shut b/c they are creating a big part of the “dangerous traffic problem” in the area.