Since Bruce Ratner hatched the idea of a pro arena in Brooklyn eight years ago, there have been been 17 new stadiums across the four major pro sports leagues. After countless problems and controversies, the Barclays Center finally opened this Fall and Brooklyn is once again home to professional sports as the Nets move in. That is the main story across the landscape of basketball arenas. In the NBDL, the Dakota franchise moves to Santa Cruz, CA so that Golden State is closer to their minor league team. The baby warriors will play in a temporary facility this season. Meanwhile, in Bismarck, we’ll keep the Bismarck Civic Center on The List as it hosts the State Basketball Tournament each March. Also in that league, the Tulsa 66ers can’t figure out where to play as this season finds them in nearby Bixby at the SpiritBank Event Center. I think I’ve talked about this before, but the greater Tulsa area has an insane seven indoor arenas with a capacity of at least 3,500.
In the college game, we have a couple new arenas. Down in Troy, AL, the university closed out Sartain Hall and opened Trojan Arena, which was christened beautifully with a thrilling 56-53 win over Mississippi State earlier in the month. The RTC Center located in Conway, SC is Coastal Carolina’s new home, however like Asheville last year, the building’s seating capacity isn’t enough to make The List, but it does look like a nice building. Georgia Tech could also count as a “new” arena as they completely gutted Alexander Coliseum and the brand new interior includes a new name; McCamish Pavilion. A couple other notes: Tulane renames Fogelman Arena to Devlin Fieldhouse as renovations were completed there. Wisconsin-Milwaukee leaves downtown and the US Cellular Arena to head back to campus for a return to the cozy Klotsche Center. Lastly, the PAC-12 moved from the only home it’s conference tournament has seen in Los Angeles, to the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. That city now will host it’s fourth conference tournament in March (to go along with the WCC, WAC and Mountain West).
Stadium and Arena Visits 