Jun 2, 2015, 1:42pm EDT Updated Jun 2, 2015, 2:02pm EDT
Steve Watkins
Cincinnati Business Courier
Xavier will expand Cintas Center to the north to add a weight room that's twice as big as… more
Xavier University is investing $25 million to revamp its Cintas Center basketball arena with a renovated club lounge area, a new hospitality area for spectators with pricey seats and a dramatically upgraded WiFi system.
Xavier won’t make the changes all at once. It has so much to do that it’ll spread the project over seven years.
“It’s such a great environment,” Xavier athletic director Greg Christopher told me on Tuesday. “We didn’t want to move the team out for a year, so we’ll take small bites. Our hope is that every year for the next seven years when fans come back for basketball they’ll see something new.”
Xavier came up with a five-page list of changes and upgrades it wants to make to its 10,250-seat on-campus arena. Some are aimed at improving student-athletes’ facilities. Others will boost the fan experience.
This is the first major renovation of Cintas Center since it opened in 2000.
“A lot of people don’t realize the building is 15 years old,” Christopher told me. “It needs some improvements.”
Xavier plans to revamp the Joseph Club, an area behind the south basket that’s open to about 1,400 fans to eat, drink and sit at tables to socialize during games. It will remove the glass that separates that area from the court and make it a more open space. The club holds 200 fans at a time.
It also plans to add other hospitality areas, including a club for ticketholders of new courtside seats that it has added the last two years. Xavier will also add more courtside seats this season, Christopher said.
“We’ve gotten some negative feedback from fans that there’s not enough space in the Joseph Club,” Christopher said. “We’re looking at creating some other spaces in the facility.”
It’ll even add cupholders. The arena lacks those. Most other stadiums and facilities now feature them, so fans expect a place to set their drink while in their seats.
Its list of things that need to be done include a new roof – “it's approaching the end of its useful life,” Christopher said – a big upgrade to the WiFi system and high-definition TV systems. When the arena opened in 2000, cellphones, WiFi and high-def TV weren’t commonly used. Cintas Center still isn’t equipped for high-def TV, but it will be. And Christopher said its WiFi system gets overloaded anytime the arena draws more than 3,000 to 4,000 people. That’ll change.
The first set of projects Xavier will undertake are aimed at improving student-athletes’ facilities. Xavier is building a new strength and conditioning facility by expanding Cintas Center to the north, Christopher said. That will double the weight room space. It will expand its sports medicine facility into the old weight room space, tripling the area it has to treat athletes’ injuries. And it’ll open an academic center that will locate student-athletes’ tutoring, study halls and academic offices in one place for the first time. That center will go in the old dining hall space...................
http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinna...ws&u=nBaExrqRSIS0+8tOrwQRvSDJvwN&t=1433269721
Steve Watkins
Cincinnati Business Courier
Xavier will expand Cintas Center to the north to add a weight room that's twice as big as… more
Xavier University is investing $25 million to revamp its Cintas Center basketball arena with a renovated club lounge area, a new hospitality area for spectators with pricey seats and a dramatically upgraded WiFi system.
Xavier won’t make the changes all at once. It has so much to do that it’ll spread the project over seven years.
“It’s such a great environment,” Xavier athletic director Greg Christopher told me on Tuesday. “We didn’t want to move the team out for a year, so we’ll take small bites. Our hope is that every year for the next seven years when fans come back for basketball they’ll see something new.”
Xavier came up with a five-page list of changes and upgrades it wants to make to its 10,250-seat on-campus arena. Some are aimed at improving student-athletes’ facilities. Others will boost the fan experience.
This is the first major renovation of Cintas Center since it opened in 2000.
“A lot of people don’t realize the building is 15 years old,” Christopher told me. “It needs some improvements.”
Xavier plans to revamp the Joseph Club, an area behind the south basket that’s open to about 1,400 fans to eat, drink and sit at tables to socialize during games. It will remove the glass that separates that area from the court and make it a more open space. The club holds 200 fans at a time.
It also plans to add other hospitality areas, including a club for ticketholders of new courtside seats that it has added the last two years. Xavier will also add more courtside seats this season, Christopher said.
“We’ve gotten some negative feedback from fans that there’s not enough space in the Joseph Club,” Christopher said. “We’re looking at creating some other spaces in the facility.”
It’ll even add cupholders. The arena lacks those. Most other stadiums and facilities now feature them, so fans expect a place to set their drink while in their seats.
Its list of things that need to be done include a new roof – “it's approaching the end of its useful life,” Christopher said – a big upgrade to the WiFi system and high-definition TV systems. When the arena opened in 2000, cellphones, WiFi and high-def TV weren’t commonly used. Cintas Center still isn’t equipped for high-def TV, but it will be. And Christopher said its WiFi system gets overloaded anytime the arena draws more than 3,000 to 4,000 people. That’ll change.
The first set of projects Xavier will undertake are aimed at improving student-athletes’ facilities. Xavier is building a new strength and conditioning facility by expanding Cintas Center to the north, Christopher said. That will double the weight room space. It will expand its sports medicine facility into the old weight room space, tripling the area it has to treat athletes’ injuries. And it’ll open an academic center that will locate student-athletes’ tutoring, study halls and academic offices in one place for the first time. That center will go in the old dining hall space...................
http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinna...ws&u=nBaExrqRSIS0+8tOrwQRvSDJvwN&t=1433269721
