January 27, 2005
Events Center (Capacity: 5,142)
Vestal, NY
Binghamton Bearcats vs Vermont Catamounts
Final Score: 44 – 71
* The arena was revisited for a game on January 21, 2024
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Cold was the theme for my two trips here as the first time I visited, the temperature was -2 degrees. My clutch college car (’97 Toyota Tercel) held on. Nearly 20 years later, it wasn’t much better as the afternoon temperature was just 12. Binghamton University is one of the most respected schools in the SUNY (State University of New York) system and it also has a relatively small acceptance rate for a public, state school. Though the name says Binghamton, it is actually located a few miles away in the suburb of Vestal. This section of the state is known as the Southern Tier and it features rolling hills. The valley where the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers meet is the placement for Greater Binghamton and the town of Vestal has a population of around 30,000. For the University’s athletics program, they began as the Colonials before changing their nickname to the Bearcats as they prepared to move up to Division I in 2001. They joined the America East Conference and the basketball team was chugging along just fine, getting a little better each year and then coach Kevin Broadus helped lead a huge jump during the 2009 season as the team won the league and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Turns out they cheated and numerous issues stemmed from Broadus and his staff. The program suffered tremendously and 14 years later, the team still hasn’t had a winning record (last year’s T-4th AE finish in the standings was their first time in the top half). It’s a shame as they have a great arena and fan base that seems ready to see a winner.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
Binghamton is short on activities for visitors and Vestal is a suburb that has the full array of strip malls and chain eateries. Interspersed between the national brands are a few local places. One favorite is the “Spiedie and Rib Pit”, which features the area’s most known food, the Spiedie. These grilled, marinated cubes of chicken makes for a pretty good sandwich and they do a nice job of it here, right down the road from BU.
Location Ranking: 4 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Campus is off of the Vestal Parkway (Rt. 434) and it only takes a few miles to get there from the main highways in the state: Route 17 and Interstate 81. The Events Center is near the front of campus, though the arrival isn’t super simple as outer roads loop towards the parking area. There’s not much signage either and if you don’t get your GPS going quick enough when departing, you might end up circling West Drive instead of getting back out to the Vestal Parkway. The awkward placement of a road in between two parking areas, makes for not the cleanest of entry or exit. There is enough of parking in front of the arena, with five different lots serving that purpose.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7 out of 8
Exterior
The Events Center stands alone at the end of the parking lot with rolling hills in the distant background. It is not a tall building, but it is a nice introduction with green and white color to go along with Bearcat logos on the many front glass windows. There’s even a kitschy Bearcat song playing as you walk towards the entrance, which is a nice touch. The building look features a long flat section in front of a higher curved portion of the arena that contains the court.
Exterior Ranking: 6.5 out of 10
Concourse
I was very thankful to see the box office located indoors as a separate entranceway was roomy and bright. Glass doors ahead brought you to the ticket scanners and the whole arena is laid out right in front of you at that point. This area above the student section seating end also had plenty of room and the light colors of the floor, wall and ceiling combined with splashes of green on pillars to make for a pleasant walk around. The corners have tables and chairs next to windows for an outside look, some of those chairs were quite comfy (they also entertained my kids for a little while during the second visit). There was even a ping-pong table in one corner! Walking around to the sides, the uninterrupted view of the court ends as occasional walls (back of the suites) breaks up the visual of the court at times. It’s hallway-like in this area, yet well-decorated with displays. Bathrooms in this area also include a water bottle refilling machine. The upper concourse stops at the end of the arena seating and if you want to cross to the other side from here, you’ll need to go down to floor-level and walk behind the baseline.
Concourse Ranking: 4.5 out of 5
Food
They do have Chicken Spiedies and even though it looked like the driest thing ever between two slices of white bread, it didn’t taste too bad. Otherwise, everything else at the concession stand was very basic and snack-like. No hot dogs, pizza or burgers (but yes to sausage).
Food Ranking: 3.5 out of 8
Interior
This is a multi-purpose facility as an indoor track shares the space with basketball, so designers were somewhat limited. They did a nice job with what they had to work with. A curtain separates the non-basketball part and for seating, it is comprised of all pull-out sections. Two sides have a lot of rows and the green chairs are individual ones. It’s comfortable enough, but there is a flimsy element to the seats. Sightlines are decent and these sideline sections almost connect to the end bench seating that compromise the student section. At the other end, stand-alone bleachers have been removed as I saw in my 2024 visit that alumni tables and chairs at ground level replaced the prior seating. Other luxury seating as the top of the sideline seats feature large boxes. The Events Center is not a true basketball arena, but it works surprisingly well for watching Bearcats games.
Interior Ranking: 8 out of 14
Scoreboard
The scoreboard is excellent as the center board has four large video screens that are of perfect size and quality for this arena. Replays and game video was sufficient. At the top is a circular Binghamton logo and at the bottom is a similar output that provides player stats.
Scoreboard Ranking: 4 out of 4
Displays
The Events Center opened in 2004 and I initially visited a year later. Displays were bare bones, somewhat understandable, especially given the newness of the program at the D1 level. I was happy to see that changed 20 years later. Out front is a Bearcat statue and the amount of logos and team colors on the building added character. Inside, school spirit was quite modern. The walls featured timelines by decade of Binghamton’s athletic history. It was really well done and interesting. There is also a Hall of Fame and a trophy case around the concourse. The lone NCAA Appearance and conference title banner in the rafters is not in a good spot as a folded up curtain kinda hides it. That’s the only sore spot in another great category for this arena.
Displays Ranking: 5 out of 6
Cost
Parking is free and tickets were just $6 in 2005. Amazingly, I got the same price on my return visit thanks to the nice fellow at the ticket window, who gave me and my two kids, discounted seats. Otherwise, tickets were $9 and $13, still a good deal. Concessions were cheap as well.
Cost Ranking: 8 out of 8
Fan Support
Binghamton has decent support for a low-major D1 school and it is pretty much always in second place for attendance in the America East Conference (behind Vermont). Given the team’s perennial losing records, that is impressive. On the Saturday Afternoon I attended in 2024, the Bearcats were 0-4 in league play and they drew crowd that filled a little less than half the place. Probably an attendance of 1,500. Student turnout was alright as a few hundred braved the cold weather to get here from their dorms. That’s ok in relative terms with comparable teams. It seems this area is starving for the team to start winning again and I feel bad as they’ve been punished long enough for the school’s stupidity and ignorance.
Fan Support Ranking: 4 out of 8
Atmosphere
C’mon Bearcats, show me something when I’m in the house! Both games I saw featured uncompetitive blowouts and the crowd never had much of a chance to get involved. There is potential for a good atmosphere as fans stand during pre-game introductions and they clap loudly after each basket. It is an older crowd though and that limits the ceiling, which I saw the season before on ESPN+. They were battling for a home game in the conference tournament and a critical late-season game came down to the final possession and fans remained seated for it. The pep band adds a nice element to the event and there are plenty of media timeout contests.
Atmosphere Ranking: 7 out of 14
Other Stuff
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many cheerleaders and dance teams. It’s great to give everyone a chance, but my goodness, was the floor packed when they all came out……Game operators love their scoreboard races! I counted three of them and they were geared towards sponsors (watch the donuts go around the track! or the cars from a dealership!)……I’m a little skeptical of the capacity. The removal of the end bleachers brings the official number to 4,923. The school says there are 2,318 chairbacks and 2,605 bench seats, which really seems out of whack, especially since they also say there is room for 1,000 students (pretty much the only area for bench seating)……The facility cost $33 million and it was the centerpiece in helping Binghamton become the fastest university in the NCAA to move from Division III to Division I……Baxter the Bearcat is the team’s mascot and he was weird. There was little crowd interaction and for a good portion of the first half, Baxter just pulled up a chair in the middle of the seating bowl and watched the game. Someone needs to let Baxter know that he’s not just a fan.
Game (Initial Visit)
One of the main reasons I came to this particular game was to see the Vermont Catamounts, who were having a terrific year. I followed this team all season in 2004-2005 and they did not disappoint in person. Vermont dominated the game as the Catamounts used a 26-4 run in the first half and they held Binghamton scoreless for 8:51. Taylor Coppenrath was held to 12 points as the Bearcats 2-3 zone forced action to the outside. He did have 10 rebounds and T.J. Sorrentine had 15 points and 7 assists.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
