Mach 2, 2013
Liacouras Center (Capacity: 10,206)
Philadelphia, PA
Temple Owls vs Rhode Island Rams
Final Score: 76 – 70
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Philadelphia was the site of visit #128 and the City of Brotherly Love is a place I always enjoy visiting. The fifth largest city in the U.S. is located in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers. History has a big place in the city and there are many places to visit that feature Philadelphia’s storied past. We went back to Old City to check out a new museum before heading to a Temple basketball game. Temple University is a large public school of nearly 38,000 students that offers many different forms of education (there are nearly 300 degrees). Campus is located in North Philadelphia, a not so nice section of the city that has a reputation of poverty and crime. Basketball has a deep history at Temple as the program has made it to 30 NCAA Tournaments, 7 Elite Eight’s and 2 Final Four’s. Perhaps their most famous figure is former Coach John Cheney, a fiery and sometimes controversial guy (whom I am not a fan of). Recently, the man who replaced him, Fran Dunphy, has done quite well with six straight 20-win seasons. They also dominate at home, with a 166-48 lifetime record at The Liacouras Center, which opened in 1997. This building is quite nice on the inside.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
Temple is in a dicey surrounding North Philadelphia neighborhood and while the general area does have a reputation of poverty and crime, campus itself and the section immediately around the Liacouras Center is fine with a lot of activity and some newly modern shops/restaurants. Several places to eat have opened along Broad Street, just past Cecil B. Moore Ave and I enjoyed a nice lunch at Pita Chip. Another good option around the corner is The Draught House. The school’s location puts it just a couple miles north of Center City Philadelphia, which features an array of things to check out.
Location Ranking: 5.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Temple is on Broad Street, the main artery through Philadelphia and it is pretty easy to get there from I-676, which cuts through the city between I-95 and I-76. There is a large parking garage right across from the Liacouras Center which is convenient, though there are some tight side roads needed to get there (use the directions from the school’s website). Street parking on Broad is also available. City traffic can be expected and they had the garage out procedures handled well as it only took 10 minutes to exit, however the jam-up for me occurred on the 1.5 mile trip back to I-676 via Broad Street, which took 20 minutes. Public transit is a decent option as the Cecil B. Moore Station on the Broad Street Line (subway) is right at the arena. This line is accessible easily throughout Philadelphia and it takes just 6 minutes to get to City Hall, in the middle of downtown.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 6.5 out of 8
Exterior
The Liacouras Center sits on a city block and from the parking garage, fans will see the back of the facility. This part of the building is actually the student center as the more common, front-entrance look to a sporting arena can be found on Broad Street. Those needing to stop at the box office enter here. The facility has a brick design for the front portion that is most visible, while the beige wall of the actual arena can be seen somewhat the top. The canopied entranceway has a small ledge near the top with “The Liacouras Center” flanked by a couple small logos. There is also a set of glass windows above the canopy.
Exterior Ranking: 6 out of 10
Concourse
The entryway prior to passing the ticket-takers is bright and spacious, a nice introduction to the building. So too is the huge block “T” logo displayed on the first wall straight-ahead. Much of the concourse is laid out well and with the exception of the space that gets tight in the beginning, there is a good amount of room. Windows provide some natural light, signs are well-placed and there is an overall finished look to the appearance. A missing piece would be getting a view of the court somewhere from the concourse.
Concourse Ranking: 4 out of 5
Food
Food includes the usual assortment of stadium goods and there are some Philly names to complete the menu. Chikie’s & Pete’s gives off that invigorating crab fry smell, PJ Whelihan’s offers boneless wings and Campo’s provides the cheesesteaks. While these are all pretty good, the arena offerings were missing the more unique or special items to make it all complete. Beer was sold at the on-campus arena and along with Yuengling, the 15th Street Pub had Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada.
Food Ranking: 5.5 out of 8
Interior
Inside, the Liacouras Center features a nice set-up of all individually cushioned cherry red chairback seating. Two levels of seating start with the lower level having a gentler slope than the upper deck. The shape is somewhat octagonal as it follows the court’s perimeter and in the corners, there is only part of a section with room left for open space. Suites are directly in back of the lower seating bowl, surprisingly close enough where you can easily step inside as a casual observer. The upper level features five of the eights sides of seating as it cuts off to a wall at the end. Sightlines are really good throughout and the Liacouras Center makes for a modern, comfortable mid-sized basketball arena.
Interior Ranking: 11 out of 14
Scoreboard
Seems like everywhere I go lately, a new scoreboard is installed. Temple is no exception as the new piece was just added this season and it looks great. It could be a little bigger given the size of the arena as four screens face each side. Otherwise, it is a high-quality video board. Below the video screen is a graphical output of the time, score and game information. What I really like are the red corner panels with 3-D “T” logo, along with the circular signage saying “Liacouras Center” at the top. There’s also a circular message board at the bottom. A ribbon display along the entire 200 level façade brightens up the place and also is the spot to find in-game player stats.
Scoreboard Ranking: 3.5 out of 4
Displays
As mentioned before, this school has a lot history and the rafters inside make that known with numerous banners throughout. Most noticeable are the ones at the end, which include NCAA and NIT Tournament achievements, along with Atlantic-10 Championships. Too bad Temple is leaving behind nearly 30 years of history to join whatever the fake Big East is going to be called. That should be fun when their playing conference foes like South Florida instead of Saint Joseph’s and Tulane instead of UMass. Anyway, the rest of the banners include tournament appearances and five retired numbers, along with Basketball Hall of Fame members. Conference member schools have flags out in the concourse and also an odd label above each section inside the arena. While the banners inside are awesome, Temple could use displays or features in the concourse or entrance lobby as there is nothing out there besides the block T logo.
Displays Ranking: 2.5 out of 6
Cost
The $14 hit from the parking garage is rough, otherwise Temple’s prices are good all things considering. Using the much cheaper mass transit would help save money and as awful as the high parking price is, that is similar to many other lots around the city. With seats in the upper level going for $12 – $16, the tickets seem like a bargain. Lower seats are $22 – $35. The bargain is tempered a bit by their $4.00 charge for will call (along with a $4.25 online fee). Concession prices are fine with hot dogs going for $3, cheeseburger/fry combo for $9 and $6 for a bottled beer.
Cost Ranking: 6.5 out of 8
Fan Support
Crowds vary wildly throughout the season as lesser known teams along with weekday events draw well under capacity. Meanwhile, local rivals and big named opponents can sell out. The game I saw on a Saturday vs Rhode Island featured a decent gathering of about six or seven thousand. Given that this was announced as an attendance of 9,493, I cringe to see what the real crowds looked like at the eight games this year with a listed attendance under 5,000. A school this big, in a huge city, with a great basketball history should probably do better in the fan support section. The loss of local rivals in a new conference next year may hurt the team even further.
Fan Support Ranking: 5 out of 8
Atmosphere
Fans were more energetic in the second half than in the beginning and there were a couple times that some got on their feet to applaud the home side. What was quite telling was how fans cheered after a Temple rally, but then when Rhode Island came back to within a point, the crowd failed to get behind Temple and give them a much needed boost. The students behind the basket tried to do their part during the game as they were the only ones providing various chants (though a good chunk of the audience did partake in the hand signals accompanying Temple’s fight song). The band was also there in full.
Atmosphere Ranking: 8.5 out of 14
Other Stuff
Interesting story on how Temple got the nickname “Owls”. Early teachings at the Baptist Temple that was to become the University was for the working class. They attended at night and the “night owl” nickname grew into an athletic nickname of “Owls”…..Initially, the arena was called “The Apollo of Temple” until the year 2000 when they honored President Peter Liacouras with a renaming of the venue…..My favorite in-game break was the Carlton Cam up on the scoreboard. Images of Carlton Banks and various fans dancing to “It’s not unusual” by Tom Jones made my day.
Game
Temple was fighting for its NCAA at-large lives and Rhode Island made it quite difficult on them. The Rams went 7 for 12 from beyond the arc in the first half and they led much of the time before the Owls closed the gap at halftime to 37-36. In the second half, Temple pulled ahead with a big thanks to Khalif Wyatt (who finished with 24 points) and a couple of huge hustle plays from other teammates that helped build their lead to 62-51. Surprisingly, URI went on a 13-2 run to come back, but Temple pushed ahead in the final minutes and went on to win 76-70. Rhode Island’s Xavier Munford had 30 points.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
