UW Field House

October 7, 2012
UW Field House (Capacity: 10,600)
Madison, WI
Wisconsin Badgers vs Michigan Wolverines
Final Score: 3 – 0

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My weekend in Madison continued as I headed back to the University of Wisconsin for a mid-season conference game at the second volleyball venue that I have ever attended. UW is a public school known for its high research activity and is considered a very good university. Over 40,000 students attend and there are a staggering 130 majors. The huge, sprawling campus is right in downtown Madison, which is the capital of Wisconsin and located in the south-central part of the state. It is a unique, mid-sized city as the center is on an isthmus, a narrow strip of land between Lakes Mendota and Monona. The region is crazy for the Badgers, as evidenced by the high attendance in all sports. Volleyball can be included in that and fans have had a lot to cheer as the team has done well since debuting in 1974. Four Big Ten Titles in a tough conference is decent, along with 16 NCAA tournament appearances, which included one runner-up finish. After basketball left for the Kohl Center in 1998, the women’s volleyball team became the main tenants of the UW Field House, an amazingly old-school building from 1930 that gives fans an excellent example of an early 20th century arena.
Prestige Ranking: 4.5 out of 5

Location

Madison is one of the best college towns around (though technically it is a city) and the bar/food scene has a lot to do with making it so great. The center of the city includes the capitol building and a few history/art museums. Saturday Mornings feature a popular Farmers Market, which surrounds the square. Tons of awesome bars and restaurants are all over and most include plenty of local beers on tap. Capital Square and State Street, which connects UW and downtown, are the main hotspots. On Campus, highlights feature the Geology Museum and Memorial Union, which is a scenic hangout on the lake. The Field House is actually attached to Camp Randall Stadium on the Southeast part of campus, allowing fans to take in the sights of the surrounding small park honoring the historic site of Camp Randall. Though not as hopping as other parts of Madison, Regent and Monroe Street feature a few places to eat and drink. On the west side, the arena bumps up to a neighborhood which gives it a homey feel that is felt throughout the experience.
Location Ranking: 8.5 out of 10

Accessibility / Parking

Parking can be found in two lots on either side of the Field House. If those small lots get full, there’s also parking behind the nearby police station and lastly, a large parking garage on the other side of the football stadium is available too. It can be challenging to navigate the roads of Madison as there are several one-way streets and some funky intersections, however as long as volleyball doesn’t coincide with football, traffic is minimal. The area is a good 8 miles or so from the interstates (90, 94 and 39) as city and suburban roads must be used to get into Madison. UW Field House is at an odd intersection of Monroe and Regent Streets.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 6 out of 8

Exterior

The most noticeable feature when walking up to the Field House is how it appears to be attached to the south side of the football stadium. The rectangular building on its own is a marvel with its sandstone brick façade and arched glass windows. The flat front of the arena cascades over the nearby roads and invokes old memories of when this was the place to be in town for indoor events. A simple and small “W” sits on the tan-colored brick exterior for the school’s logo, which is the only real marker on the building as the stadium name is missing (except for a landmark sign near the entrance). There are four gates into the facility.
Exterior Ranking: 9 out of 10

Concourse

The square concourse is full of the school color red and has many support beams, not something you see nowadays in modern arenas. Stairs on the outside actually lead to the first level of seating, with the second level being accessed only from inside the arena. One can imagine the chaos of 10,000 people accessing varying sets of stairs after the game. Ability to maneuver the concourse space is eh at best. Despite space/access issues, the intangibles are really good including team displays and I love the old-style signs pointing fans to the seating. Additional features include Bucky’s Locker Room (a small team store), a kid’s trampoline and a few TVs, which were used to show the Packers game.
Concourse Ranking: 2 out of 5

Food

A basic variety of food was offered with Brats highlighted among the usual stadium assortment. There were a decent number of sweet snacks and it was great to see Babcock Hall Ice Cream as the University’s variety is quite popular and very good. Five flavors were available.
Food Ranking: 4.5 out of 8

Interior

There is a lot to not like at UW Field House, namely the hard bleachers and obstructing support beams. But despite a meh “Interior” rating, I love the charm of this historic place (reflected in “Prestige”). The design is technically closer to a square than a rectangle and it results in turned heads at the end of each sideline section since there is only a small amount of corner seating. The interior is quite intimate as the entire surface area is small with seating all seemingly on top of the court. Seats are divided into three sections. There is “Courtside”, which is broken up because of the corner openings along the floor. On the same tier further back is the first balcony and that goes around the arena continuously. Hanging directly over the first balcony is a high second balcony. Unfortunately, they blocked this off, so I wasn’t able to take a look up here. It’s crazy that to get up to this level, one has to use the stairs at the back of the first balcony. That area by the stairs are the least ideal seats because beams get in the way and you can’t see much above the court (including the scoreboard), since the overhang blocks the vertical view. Lighting is also uneven as it is bright near the floor and dim further back. Lots of red is displayed inside as the bleachers and the base of the balcony seating is painted that color. There are a lot of annoyances that could bother a fan while watching a game at UW Field House, but if you have the ability to just walk in and pick where you want to sit; it is a real neat place to check out.
Interior Ranking: 6 out of 14

Scoreboard

The center scoreboard is very basic as it looks like something you would see at the end of a high school gym. There are four sides with large numbers and it displays the time and score (it’s not exactly configured though for volleyball match information). Sprucing things up a bit above the board are school logos.
Scoreboard Ranking: 1.5 out of 4

Displays

UW Field House is listed on the National Register of Historical Places and right near Gate D is a plaque. There is also an informational plaque on the other side of the entrance that describes the historical venue quite well. Inside, the concourse walls have a nice series of displays dedicated to volleyball. The best one is a picture of each All-American. Other displays include a team picture and a plaque of team captains. Other sports are honored too with a UW Boxing Hall of Fame and a huge statue for basketball coach Dr. Walter Meanwell. Hanging from the rafters are several large, red banners that display Badgers volleyball success. They are informative too as the banners for NCAA appearances display the year and how far the team got. I also like seeing the separate displays for each Big Ten Championship. Wrestling and old NCAA boxing championships are featured as well. Giving the Field House more character are the red signs on the bottom wall of the upper balcony. “Welcome to the UW Field House” and “Home of the Wisconsin Badgers” are an enhancing little touch.
Displays Ranking: 5.5 out of 6

Cost

The school had a great deal going for the game as anyone who brought a ticket stub from the football game the day before, received a ticket for $1. Regular ticket prices are a value at $5. With those cheap prices, it’s a little out-of-whack that they also charge $5 for parking. Concessions were high (in fact, the same as the football game). A hot dog was $3.50, water was $4 and a dish of ice cream ran $5.
Cost Ranking: 7 out of 8

Fan Support

The Wisconsin Badgers have a terrific following and that goes for all sports. On a Sunday afternoon when the Packers were playing, the game attracted a legit 3,704. So far through the 2012 season, Wisconsin ranks fourth nationally in attendance and over the last decade, they have been somewhere between #2 and #4. Average numbers typically are in the three to four thousand range, however during their last NCAA tournament appearance (2007), the UW Field House had some matches that were quite full.
Fan Support Ranking: 6.5 out of 8

Atmosphere

Most of the crowd that I saw on this Sunday afternoon were what you would expect: families and teenagers. This produced an expected atmosphere of polite applause after each point. It was also nice to see the clapping for the introduction of Michigan, just like I saw last year at Penn State. The crowd rose to its feet on each set point and got the building to rock a little when each set was won. A small little pep band played occasionally and only a couple students were on hand. Student attendance seems to vary on the day, time and opponent. A night match brings more college kids and energy. After the game, the team lined up for the singing of “Varsity” and they were joined by all those in attendance.
Atmosphere Ranking: 9 out of 14

Other Stuff

Initially, I thought this arena was called Wisconsin Field House (as it states on the Badgers Volleyball website), but the more I checked out the venue, it became apparent that UW Field House is the more common name…..For a long time, Badger basketball was played in the Field House, until they moved into the beautiful Kohl Center in 1998. Hard to believe this old place housed big time college hoops all the way into the 1990s. Currently, wrestling is the other sport that uses the building…..Bucky Badger is the school’s mascot and he makes an appearance at the volleyball games.

Game

Wisconsin broke a four game losing streak with a well-played victory against a Michigan team that never really threatened them in the match. The Badgers only made 13 errors and the key was a 5-0 run when they were knotted up at 19 in the first set. The final ended up 25-20, 25-18, 25-20. Annemarie Hickey had four aces and Alexis Mitchell had 14 kills.

Stadium Experience Ranking: 70 out of 100