re: Explain the hate for the PMAC, because I don't get it...

I think it's fine if we are good like many think next year, the pmac will be rocking. As others have said if they tore it down and built something new and awesome people would then bitch about the outrageous ticket costs. Hardly anyone goes now and the tickets are very cheap, new place would be a ghost town after the initial surge of people going just to see it.

As far as suites go, not sure they would sell those either, people just don't care about hoops unless we are really good.

I love pete's palace and hope we keep it for years to come. not a bad seat in the house and it can rock when there are fans in there and the team is good. I think coach JJ is the perfect coach for LSU and he is bringing us back.

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I have a feeling LSU's next hoops arena will become TAF's next great project in the coming decade or so. LSU Hoops may be playing the River Center for two seasons while a teardown/rebuild happens. And surprisingly if done right for the future decades, will actually seat another 3 to 5K, even if the demand not yet there.

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If they build the streetcar to connect to river center then that won't be a bad option for a few seasons. I see LSU building a smaller arena with suites but the ability to expand to PMAC levels plus the suites.

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The seats are way to far from the court. Really kills the atmosphere.

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The atmosphere seemed fine when Dick Vitale first called it the "Deaf Dome" back in the Dale Brown era. Actually, LSU fans at the PMAC are the reason that no teams play at their home court in the NCAA tournament because LSU hosted as an 11 seed and beat the #6 and #3 seed before moving on and eventually making the Final Four in the 80s. There were a lot of complaints that the advantage for LSU as a lower seed was unfair because of the crazy atmospthere.

I was a student at LSU when I watched Pistol Pete play in the cow palace. I remember seeing the PMac being built from the ground up. In my day, we used to park our cars behind Tiger Stadium and catch the tiger train to bring us up to the campus for our classes. The Tiger Train used to pass by the the PMac every day while it was being built. Thankfully, I received my degree in the PMac.

I have been to the new Auburn Arena. It is nice and brand spanking new. Nice concourses and concessions areas. But it is NOT very big (8500 I think) and has bleachers around the bottom on three sides. That looks very cheap, imo.

I grew up in BR and started going to LSU MBB games in 1965. I was at the very first game in the Assembly Center which was during my junior year. We (LSU MBB fans) thought we had died and gone to Heaven when that place opened.

Been a season ticket holder since 1976 and I love the PMAC. BUT, I am in favor of LSU raising the $$$ and building a new arena in the next 5-7 years. But I do not want it to be a mini-arena like Auburns or OM's new arena. I want 15K capacity.

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LSU could take a $60 million hit shortly with the budget. That is a huge number that will be very hard so absorb.

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Well allow me to reassure you, the sky isn't falling.

One, it won't be a $60 million hit to LSU. Two, LSU athletics is self-supporting, takes no state dollars whatsoever, and gives a percentage of it's profits back to the university.

Last year that amounted to $8 million dollars the university received from the athletics department. (It was exactly $8.2 million of an $18.3 million dollar profit)

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"The LSU Athletic Department turned over $8 million to the academic side of the university last year," said Michael Bonnette, LSU sports information director.

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Vols not alone in SEC athletics money to academics

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The PMAC itself is absolutely immaculate on the outside... 

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Well another thing people seem to not be aware of is LSU could take a $60 million hit shortly with the budget. That is a huge number that will be very hard so absorb. It might not even have a basketball team in a couple years much less a new arena. People should be concerned about that more than a new stadium

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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

looks like somebody doesn't know how LSU athletics funding works.

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The PMAC is a showpiece. It is unique, and we should embrace it. It's an established part of LSU's "skyline." It can still be made a little more user-friendly, but overall, it's a beautiful place.

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The inside is nice, but the outside is like everything else built in the 1970's ugly as sin

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We certainly don't need anything bigger,

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No we don't need bigger, but we will need an arena that has suites and premium seating. That is where college athletics is headed. Auburn, OM (when the new arena is finished), Mizzou, Texas A&M, Arky, USCe, and UK all have newer arenas that have the ability to have premium seating. LSU does not.

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"obsolete" nature of the facility certainly hasn't hurt recruiting.

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I don't think recruits care about the revenue a venue can produce, but the admins should. The practice facility is great, but if the new arena is builts where the PMAC, the pf could still be used.