I know they’re taking bids from architects at the current moment. From what I’ve heard, they’re planning to select a firm by early January.
New UCA Arena-Basketball and Possibly Volleyball
Awesome, thanks for the updates! I’m moving back to Conway soon and really looking forward to going to games with my little boy. We went to SEMO and the UofA game and he’s loved it. A new arena would be really cool.
17 days later
Proposals are due 1/6/25, with determination of from in late January. Hopefully we will hear something around then. Below is the Request for Proposal.
I’m hopeful and excited that a new arena will draw a better attedance at games. Not to mention help with recuriting and hopefully using it for other things.
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Mulerider I agree! I hope a new arena will get the Conway community to come out and see these teams and then keep coming back!
I really want to see the fans be able to get closer to the action. I know they’ve added the lower seats on the one side and that helped, but I would like it to be like that all around.
I would love to see us have something like High Point’s Qubein Center. It seats 4500 for basketball. It also has some suites up top, which would add to the revenue-generating potential.
Troy’s Trojan arena (5200)
GCU’s Global Credit Union Arena (7000)
I like the idea of Suites, but I’m sure many would have to be pre-sold because that could be a gamble. Aren’t many of the UALR ones unsold?
I like High Point’s, but think it would be too costly. I like a mix maybe between Troy’s and GCU’s. The video boards mid court would be sweet but much more expensive than we have now.
I like UNO Lakefront Arena. Circular arena with capacity nearly 8800. The upper seating is in the dark in this photo but I’ve been there and a new version all purple of this would be nice. Don’t look at the outside of that arena. Ugh.
bearcountry That’s nice and clean.
LOL! The outsides is…unique.
About 4500 would be a great size. High points looks cool for sure.
MountainBear Yeah, I’ll be curious for the capacity. I’m sure they will want to host events such as graduations in it. See below for Top 10 crowd records. Wikipedia says capacity is 6,000. I would be ok with 5,000-7,000 in the right shape. Arkansas State I think built too big, but they are getting better at basketball now so not sure.
Farris Center Top 10 Crowds for Men’s Basketball
Rank Date Opponent Attendance
1. 1/20/10 Nicholls 5,297
2. 3/7/90 Harding 5,188
3. 11/21/12 Arkansas State 4,127
4. 2/19/92 Hendrix 3,500
⅐/80 Hendrix 3,500
6. 1/25/07 Southeastern Louisiana 3,450
7. 1/30/89 Hendrix 3,400
8. 2/24/83 Hendrix 3,344
9. 1/28/91 Hendrix 3,100
10. 1/26/84 Hendrix 3,000
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I think 7000ish would be a good size for graduation and to start having concerts and events like that there.
Man our attendance is atrocious! I know we haven’t been good in a while and hopefully that improves. I would LOVE to see us develop more consistent regional OOC rivalries with teams like A-State and Missouri State. We’ve got Little Rock. I also want to see us have home and home with some larger teams like Memphis.
JoshUCA It would be fun to play Arkansas Tech and Harding even if they are throw-away games (exhibition games) . While Hendrix and CBC are in town, they are much too low for attendance purposes. We don’t need to even think about playing Champion Christian (or a similar team ever again, it’s pointless).
I think we need to play UAPB, UALR and A-State every year. Would love to get regular games against Tulsa, Missouri State and LA Tech.
I think we are a long ways away from doing a home and home with a team like Memphis. I wish though. I would argue Ok State and Witchita State as well possibly.
7 days later
Conway High is conducting its May graduation this year at Estes Stadium.
The UNO arena I showed above can hold 10,200 for graduation and holds many concerts and theatrical performances there yearly.
Honestly, it’s time UCA had a multipurpose arena for all those things. Also it’s time Conway High had a place IN TOWN to hold its graduation. UCA can provide that. Make a little money too with the concerts it can hold.
bearcountry I think I agree with that except the concert thing. They already host concerts at the theater on campus. Not sure if they want to get into that business with Little Rock so close by. Especially with places like The Hall, Simmons Bank Arena, Rev Room, etc. Not to mention I think Hot Springs has a tough time filling up their arena regularly with events.
It’s all a delicate balance. I will be curious though if they will do a upper deck and lower deck or just one level.
As of now, my guess will be two levels because of the small footprint it sits on currently. Maybe something similar to Grand Canyon in that regard without a big middle video board (like High Point).
All that being said, originally I said 5,000-10,000. I think now I would see somewhere between 6,000 and 9,000 in a modern bowl setting.
Also, look at Alaska Airlines Arena in Anchorage, Alaska. It could work. Jack Stephens is fine for UALR, but I hope it’s more of a bowl like Simmons Bank just a smaller version. Maybe UCA would want a big walkway like Jack Stephens Center though.
17 days later
Any update on the new arena plans? Looking forward to hearing what’s in the works.
I’m going to speculate that UCA will downsize the arena capacity to around 4,000 seats at best because of cost coupled with the fact that game attendance is historically poor. Hope I’m wrong…
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Well, game attendance is poor as UCA has never finished in top half of their conference for as long as they’ve been D1. But hopefully Schulman can change that.
4 days later
Jmb3125 I don’t see them going smaller due mainly to graduation. The main issue I see is timing and location. How/where are the teams going to play if they want to build it in the same footprint as the Farris Center? It will probably take too long to build even if they start as soon as a season is over to be ready for the next.
JoshUCA I wonder if they would try to use Conway High School’s or Hendrix’s. That or schedule a bunch of away games early in the season. That puts you at about 9 months if you are thinking Mar 1st-through the end of November. I don’t see how that is anywhere close to possible. Do we know yet if they are doing a complete teardown or keeping the skelton of the overall building?
At this point, could UCA build on any empty land of theirs? My guess is they don’t have any unless you demolish some buildings.