March 5, 2008
Stabler Arena (Capacity: 5,600)
Bethlehem, PA
Lehigh Mountain Hawks vs Army Black Knights
Final Score: 61 – 64 (OT)
* The arena was revisited for a game on February 5, 2018
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All three of my visits to Stabler Arena have been great games and it started with this first one, which was a Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinal. Lehigh University is located in Bethlehem, a town in far eastern PA that along with Allentown and Easton, make up the Lehigh Valley. The former steel city is home to 71,000 and has a wide, wonderful main street with plenty of restaurants, along with a very popular festival held each summer (Musikfest). After mostly being known as an engineering school, the small, private Lehigh University has expanded beyond its most famous discipline. In basketball, the Mountain Hawks have won the Patriot League regular season title twice and throughout their history have made five NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2012, Lehigh stunned 2-seed Duke and it was during that season that I made a second to Stabler, wanting to see CJ McCollom. My visit back here six years later featured a comeback win over first place Bucknell. Stabler Arena, built in 1979, is the largest in the Patriot League.
Prestige Ranking: 2 out of 5
Location
Unfortunately, the arena does not have much nearby as it is located on Lehigh’s athletic campus. That’s on the other side of South Mountain and not close to campus or Bethlehem. In fact, it’s much closer to Hellertown and that’s a shame because Bethlehem is a nice town with a great Main Street. Stabler is surrounded by fields and other athletic facilities, with some housing developments outside the athletic campus.
Location Ranking: 4 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Exit 67 from Interstate 78 is the best route to the arena, however one has to navigate a few narrow roads with some odd turns before making it to College Drive and eventually the facility. There is plenty of parking on the side and in back of the arena. Traffic is no issue.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7 out of 8
Exterior
The facility is as simple as it gets: a square, grayish-whitish building. The concrete is visible on the walls and there are brown lines splitting the walls into panels. A sign saying “Stabler Athletic & Convocation Center” is located on the front of the building, just above the entrance, which is flanked by a couple ticket windows on each side.
Exterior Ranking: 2.5 out of 10
Concourse and Food
Inside, the downstairs foyer is where everyone enters before heading up the stairs to the main concourse. It is here where Stabler starts to feel a little more like an arena as opposed to a small college gym. The concourse has more room than I expected and it completely surrounds the facility. Only one main area was set up for food and that was at the end, while the sides featured some rather large bathrooms. At the concession stands, it was just hot dogs, fries, pizza, ice cream and snacks. A souvenir table can be found too, mainly downstairs.
Concourse Ranking: 3 out of 5
Food Ranking: 2 out of 8
Interior
Stabler is not necessarily a terrible arena, it’s just not all that appealing as it speaks well to the era it was built. Each side has a flat section of seating that is a little further from the playing surface to be ideal. These gold seats are chairbacks in the front half and bleachers towards the top. Each sideline features a pull-out set of seating that is much closer to the game and these seats are blue with backs. Behind the basket are school cafeteria style tables and chairs that I’m assuming are reserved for special alumni. The rest of the end seating has a similar style to those seats on the sideline
Interior Ranking: 7 out of 14
Scoreboard
There is no center scoreboard here as instead, two corner video screens are utilized. The screens show the live video feed and it can be seen. However, replays were lacking and the location isn’t ideal.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2.5 out of 4
Displays
In the opening entranceway, the first noticeable thing is the giant indented lettering of “Lehigh University” and “Stabler” on the white wall. It’s actually quite odd. This section also contains portraits of the Stabler family. The nearby plaque is worth a read as the gift was in honor of Donald Stabler’s parents, who greatly helped in his education. Further around the concourse are team pictures in various sports. Inside the arena, wall paintings are in place of banners as team and player accomplishments are at each end.
Displays Ranking: 2.5 out of 6
Cost
Parking was free and tickets are in the $7 – $12. Overall a great deal as concessions are cheap too.
Cost Ranking: 8 out of 8
Fan Support and Atmosphere
There was a very small crowd for my first visit as the conference quarterfinal only featured a paid attendance of 791, including just a couple dozen students. Most of the noise came from the Army fans at one end, while the Lehigh fans were generally quiet. Also, Army’s band provided a little spark because there was no Lehigh band or cheerleaders, which was very strange. Subsequent visits weren’t that great and as of late, the school has been ranked 7th or 8th place in league attendance with numbers not eclipsing 1,000. At least in 2018, the crowd was a little more lively as there were more students and when the Mountain Hawks pulled the upset, many stood at the end with their arms raised.
Fan Support Ranking: 2.5 out of 8
Atmosphere Ranking: 5 out of 14
Other Stuff
Wrestling takes place at Stabler Arena as well and there is a terrific tradition as the program has had 26 individual NCAA champions and 127 All-Americans. Truly a remarkable feat as Lehigh is by far the smallest school considered a top 10 wrestling program….The facility is officially known as Stabler Athletic & Convocation Center…..The school’s nickname was the Engineers (in reference to what Lehigh became known for) before changing to the Mountain Hawks in 1995…..Lafayette is Lehigh’s chief rival, however the basketball version of the heated rivalry pales in comparison to the football games.
Game (Initial Visit)
This 4/5 quarterfinal game had a rather slow start that gradually built into a good one with an exciting conclusion. Army was in control for the entire first half and led by eight at the break. Lehigh went on a 10-2 run to start the second half as the game proceeded to go back and forth. With the Hawks up two and less than a minute to play, a dunk by Army’s Doug Williams with 22 seconds left tied it and Lehigh missed an attempt at a game winning three at the buzzer. In overtime, Army took a three point lead, while a steal in the final seconds by Marcus Brown clinched the game and the Black Knights celebrated a berth in the Patriot semis. Bryan White had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Lehigh, while Josh Miller scored 25 for Army.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
