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Assembly Hall at 50


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Kind of funny story I have about AH:  Sometime in the late 80's I had an appointment with my doctor.  He was an older guy who graduated from IU med.  I mentioned that I was going to Bloomington for the game that night after the appointment.  He said "I haven't been to the new fieldhouse yet" lol.

I figured he didn't have much interest in the basketball program.  Then he says he could get tickets if he wanted from a close friend he and his wife frequently went to dinner with.  Turned out the family friend was Hilda Van Arsdale (Knight would have given her prime seats anytime she wanted them).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Assembly Hall has always been a special place to me.  Listening to Fred Glass interviews, he is very proud of preserving it.  He consistently states that the board agrees to replace it.  

Watching post pandemic games, the balcony is hardly filled - horrible site lines. 

Was it a good decision to keep it?  It has the 20th best seating capacity, I always thought it was in the top 10.  Wondering opinions.....

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1 hour ago, Fiveoutofsix said:

Assembly Hall has always been a special place to me.  Listening to Fred Glass interviews, he is very proud of preserving it.  He consistently states that the board agrees to replace it.  

Watching post pandemic games, the balcony is hardly filled - horrible site lines. 

Was it a good decision to keep it?  It has the 20th best seating capacity, I always thought it was in the top 10.  Wondering opinions.....

I'm entirely fine with building new. Yes, I understand I'm going to be ripped apart for that opinion. 

Not a huge deal to me either way. 

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26 minutes ago, btownqb said:

I'm entirely fine with building new. Yes, I understand I'm going to be ripped apart for that opinion. 

Not a huge deal to me either way. 

My curiosity is going to ask, will the balcony ever fully be filled consistently again?  With generation z and beyond able to stream anything and have augmented experiences- was not creating better seating views going to hurt in long run?

The athletic budget would be a lot different with a 25,000 + capacity then 17,000+.   

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1 hour ago, Fiveoutofsix said:

Watching post pandemic games, the balcony is hardly filled - horrible site lines.

I was at IU during the nadir of the Davis era, but even then the balcony was maybe half full. Only time I remember it being more than half was for Purdue, and even then it wasn’t to capacity. 
 

And the climb up was a beast. Almost made me think about not drinking as much before the game…..almost. 

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1 minute ago, Zlinedavid said:

I was at IU during the nadir of the Davis era, but even then the balcony was maybe half full. Only time I remember it being more than half was for Purdue, and even then it wasn’t to capacity. 
 

And the climb up was a beast. Almost made me think about not drinking as much before the game…..almost. 

For sure, I was an undergrad during the Guyton, Lynn Washington era.   Balcony would fill up for big ten games, professors would cancel cancel so students can go.

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16 minutes ago, Fiveoutofsix said:

My curiosity is going to ask, will the balcony ever fully be filled consistently again?  With generation z and beyond able to stream anything and have augmented experiences- was not creating better seating views going to hurt in long run?

The athletic budget would be a lot different with a 25,000 + capacity then 17,000+.   

I won't go sit in he balcony and I am Gen Z, so you might be on to something. 

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My first game was in January 1990 against the reigning National Champions, U of Michigan. We were in a filled to capacity balcony and the place went wild when we came from about 20 back to win. Coach Knight went with the freshman in the 2nd half and they got the job done....a sign of 4 years of success from that class.  

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1 hour ago, btownqb said:

I'm entirely fine with building new. Yes, I understand I'm going to be ripped apart for that opinion. 

Not a huge deal to me either way. 

I'm with you. My opinion shouldn't count too much, as I haven't been to game there since the very early 90's, but I'm still with you on being fine with a new building.  

My one caveat would be that when that time comes that the administration is extremely intentional in building a modern, advanced area that maintains the feel of a true college fieldhouse and/or some Assembly Hall uniqueness. 

I don’t want a sterile, cookie-cutter arena. 

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6 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I'm with you. My opinion shouldn't count too much, as I haven't been to game there since the very early 90's, but I'm still with you on being fine with a new building.  

My one caveat would be that when that time comes that the administration is extremely intentional in building a modern, advanced area that maintains the feel of a true college fieldhouse and/or some Assembly Hall uniqueness. 

I don’t want a sterile, cookie-cutter arena. 

If they didn't want to build new, I wonder why they didn't turn the balcony into suits and relocate the seating to go behind each basket.  They could of extended the building.

The first few rows of the balcony are not bad seats.  When I took Bob Knights Coaching Basketball class, we analyzed a practice from those seats.  We were able to see all 10 players and court at one time from a schematic viewpoint.  

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