November 17, 2007
Mack Sports Complex (Capacity: 5,046)
Hempstead, NY
Hofstra Pride vs Manhattan Jaspers
Final Score: 73 – 71 (OT)
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A month after visiting Hofstra’s football stadium, I returned to Hempstead to check up on their basketball team which was making its home season debut against Manhattan. Hofstra University is located in Nassau County, Long Island, with the campus straddling the Hempstead/Uniondale line. Though the arena is technically in Uniondale, Hempstead is on the mailing address and the town is one of the largest in the country as it comprises more than a half million people. Well known for its international studies and hosting of presidential debates, Hofstra is a private school with an enrollment over 10,000. In the last few years, Hofstra has fielded a pretty solid basketball team in the CAA, however last season they just missed out on the NCAA tournament as they were close to an at-large bid. The Pride’s last tourney appearance came in 2001, when Speedy Claxton led the way. The David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex (better known as the Mack Sports Complex) opened in 1999 and is a nice, modern, multi-purpose facility.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
The nearby Hempstead Turnpike offers a rather bland assortment of commercial businesses and chain restaurants, though there are a few entertainment options within a couple miles of Hofstra. The Turnpike splits campus in half, as the academic facilities are on one side, while the athletic facilities are north of the road. Nearby Eisenhower Park has a wide array of recreational activities a short distance to the east, while close to the arena in Garden City is Museum Row, a literal row of museums on the Nassau Community College campus. The highlight is the Cradle of Aviation.
Location Ranking: 5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Leading to the area are plenty of nearby highway, like the Meadowbrook Parkway, Southern State Expressway and Long Island Expressway. Island traffic can be bad with weeknight games being especially rough. If coming from beyond NYC, definitely allow for extra time given bridge crossings and frequent traffic. Unfortunately, public transit is out of reach as the Hempstead station on the Long Island Rail Road is a few miles away (bus service would then be needed to complete the trip). Once in the area, the four-lane Hempstead Turnpike (Route 24) is the way to get to the school and there are plenty of annoying traffic lights. An access road leading to the arena has several lanes and parking within the two main lots is more than adequate.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 6.5 out of 8
Exterior
The actual arena is set back a little from the initial entrance, which features a ten foot high glass entryway before giving way to a concrete ledge above with a blue “David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex” sign. Beyond that, the building is made up of tan brick and sea-green tinted windows towards the top. There are several sides to the complex and even though the overall look doesn’t tie together all that well, it’s a decent exterior.
Exterior Ranking: 6 out of 10
Concourse and Food
A hallway of sorts greets fans once they enter the building and the décor of the floor/ceiling gave grade school building vibes. Helping to eliminate that feel are several team displays and visuals. The ticket office is front and center upon entering. Off to the sides are the entrances into the gym, meaning that the overall concourse is quite small with space issues. The arena portion only has walkways for seating. Concession stands are back in the main foyer and it’s a standard offering of Hot Dogs, Pizza, Burgers, Fries.
Concourse Ranking: 1.5 out of 5
Food Ranking: 3 out of 8
Interior
The building serves many purposes and it is evident that this is not a true basketball arena given the amount of open spaces and open corners. Stairs are taken to get inside into the seating bowl and the design features a lower-level set of retractable seating for each side of the court. In addition, three of the sides have a set of seating in the 200s section that is split from the lower 100s by a walkway. The 200s are a lot farther from the court than they should be and it leads to a gradual deterioration in sightlines the deeper one goes in the seating bowl. A couple of the upper corners have sections of seats, but they seem like an afterthought and it makes for a disjointed look. For the age of this building, it’s surprising how poorly executed the basketball viewing portion is. High at the top of the arena on one sideline are six luxury suites. Seats are all individual and blue with backs.
Interior Ranking: 5 out of 14
Scoreboard
The small scoreboard featured a tightly-fit graphics screen squeezed in between the vital game stats on the board. The screen had nice graphics, but no video. Additional displays for score and time could be found on the corner walls. Given the new-ness of the Mack Sports Complex, I was surprised that those additional displays did not include the usual player stats that are found in many other arenas.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2 out of 4
Displays
In front of the main entrance is a creative landscape with a pond and different types of shrubs, as well as a wooden gazebo. Very peaceful, though out of place in front of a basketball arena. Inside, I’m glad they took advantage of the plentiful wall space by putting a Hofstra script logo (which is also in front of the TV cameras). Banners follow the usual assortment with NCAA and NIT appearances being honored in yellow. The blue banners represents various wrestling achievements. CAA team banners can be found at the top of the wall on each end. Back into the concourse, Hofstra has a real nice display of memorabilia including pictures, trophies and record-setting basketballs.
Displays Ranking: 3.5 out of 6
Cost
Parking was free, woo-hoo! Tickets weren’t bad as they went for $16 and $12. Those $12 seats are reserved and that covers much of the arena except the middle sections on the lower level. My program was $2.
Cost Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Fan Support
For the first home game of the year (usually not a great draw in college basketball), the game was attended well with a nearly full student section. The paid attendance against another local school (Manhattan) was 3,639. Average attendance the last few years has been lower and though it is not great, it does rank in the middle of the CAA. A few big conference games last year did sellout, which is not something to take for granted with a solid mid-major program. It’s a crowded sports marketplace here on Long Island and it’s good to see Hofstra get decent support.
Fan Support Ranking: 5 out of 8
Atmosphere
The students were into the game the whole way as they were loud. A few of their chants included H-O-F-S-T-R-A after every timeout and they were able to get the rest of the crowd on their feet after chanting “Stand-up” near the end. The other fans were less vocal, but they picked it up in the last five minutes. Volume was pretty good and at times, a big play was met with a nice roar. Overall, this was a good atmosphere.
Atmosphere Ranking: 9 out of 14
Other Stuff
The facility originally opened as “Hofstra Arena” and was known as that until 2006, when the building was renamed to honor David Mack, an alum and donor…..A few years ago, Hofstra changed its nickname from Flying Dutchman to Pride. The former Dutch nickname is in reference to the strong ties that the school has with the Netherlands…..In 2008, the Mack Sports Complex will host the Presidential Debate.
Game
The game was crazy as it went back and forth throughout the second half. The intensity increased with 5 minutes left as the pace quickened with a couple of blocks and big-time hustle plays. With Hofstra up two and time winding down, Manhattan had four offensive rebounds to finally get a put-back from Devon Austin to tie the game with 1.1 seconds left. The Pride nearly had a miraculous win as a full-court pass was deflected into the hands of Zygis Sestokas, who fired a shot that agonizingly hit the rim five times before falling out as the crowd let out a huge groan. In OT, Hofstra took command and then hit their foul shots at the end to seal a hard-earned victory. Antoine Agudio had 30 points for Hofstra.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
