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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Mar 5, 2023 15:36:08 GMT -5
Actually a season at the palestra would be fun! They might even end up with more students at the games if they did a good job with organizing buses. students barely go now and there were hardly any students at the Palestra game against Temple. I dont see this generation of students hopping on a bus to get to a game. Paying $20 a pop for parking also doesn't sound like a lot of fun. You of all people cannot complain about where the team plays when renovations are being done. |
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Post by festushagan on Mar 5, 2023 16:28:01 GMT -5
Again, with the name calling!
Palestra is a terrible option for a number of reasons which we can debate in a civil manor, at least I can.
Lastly, saying I'm not a supporter of the program proves how ignorant you are of my support over the years.
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Post by theneumann64 on Mar 5, 2023 16:50:20 GMT -5
Again, with the name calling! Palestra is a terrible option for a number of reasons which we can debate in a civil manor, at least I can. Lastly, saying I'm not a supporter of the program proves how ignorant you are of my support over the years. OK, where should they play if they couldn’t play at Gola due to renovations? Not being from the area, I’m legitimately wondering if there are better options that I’m just not aware of. |
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Mar 5, 2023 16:51:22 GMT -5
students barely go now and there were hardly any students at the Palestra game against Temple. I dont see this generation of students hopping on a bus to get to a game. Paying $20 a pop for parking also doesn't sound like a lot of fun. You of all people cannot complain about where the team plays when renovations are being done. I didn't complain. I said the students don't go on campus as it is now. They didn't show for the Temple game at the Palestra, and I doubt they will show next year if it is there. As far as not wanting to pay $20 a pop for parking. That's not complaint, it's the reality. For some of us in the burbs, the Palestra is actually more difficult to get to than La Salle's campus on a weeknight. At least we can take the turnpike to 309 to get to La Salle. There's really no alternative route to the Palestra other than the Schuylkill parking lot at that time of night. |
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Post by golasalle on Mar 5, 2023 17:37:23 GMT -5
You of all people cannot complain about where the team plays when renovations are being done. I didn't complain. I said the students don't go on campus as it is now. They didn't show for the Temple game at the Palestra, and I doubt they will show next year if it is there. As far as not wanting to pay $20 a pop for parking. That's not complaint, it's the reality. For some of us in the burbs, the Palestra is actually more difficult to get to than La Salle's campus on a weeknight. At least we can take the turnpike to 309 to get to La Salle. There's really no alternative route to the Palestra other than the Schuylkill parking lot at that time of night. Some of us in the burbs will take the train to Penn Medicine station. Easy two block walk to Palestra. Have done it many times. |
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Mar 5, 2023 18:29:29 GMT -5
I didn't complain. I said the students don't go on campus as it is now. They didn't show for the Temple game at the Palestra, and I doubt they will show next year if it is there. As far as not wanting to pay $20 a pop for parking. That's not complaint, it's the reality. For some of us in the burbs, the Palestra is actually more difficult to get to than La Salle's campus on a weeknight. At least we can take the turnpike to 309 to get to La Salle. There's really no alternative route to the Palestra other than the Schuylkill parking lot at that time of night. Some of us in the burbs will take the train to Penn Medicine station. Easy two block walk to Palestra. Have done it many times. have done it as well, but on weeknights the idea of a 25 minute drive to the train station for an hour train ride, and then the reverse going home when the trains only run every hour out to Chester County is not all that appealing. |
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Post by festushagan on Mar 5, 2023 18:45:59 GMT -5
Excellent point, days of palestra games (attending) are over for many of us.
Also, being a bit long in the tooth, I'm not walking two blocks at night times 2 for personal reasons.
Attendance will crater and that's saying something!
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Mar 5, 2023 19:19:28 GMT -5
Listen and this is to all of you. If the school does what we have hoped they would for over a decade and the cost of that is the obvious need to play home games somewhere else, a complaint that ‘I don’t like where they’re playing the temporary home games’ is ludicrous and exactly why this board sometimes has a rep of being a bunch of whiners.
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louth
Utility Bench Player
Posts: 127
Likes: 328
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Post by louth on Mar 5, 2023 21:25:22 GMT -5
Doesn’t Central have a gym renovated by Cal Rudman a few years ago? If so could save money and still be accessible from LSU parking? We don’t draw crowds.
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Mar 5, 2023 21:27:58 GMT -5
I don't hear people complaining, Joe, but it is fafurally correct for me and others to say it is more difficult.to get to amd from the Palestra on a Wednesday night. I get that a solution will be needed IF (and thats a big if because nothing has been announced) the school moves forward with renovations and I won't complain. It is also OK for people to say...games at the Palestra don't work for me, and I'll take a season off from my season tickets and make some weekend games at the Palestra.
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Post by theneumann64 on Mar 5, 2023 21:51:37 GMT -5
I don't hear people complaining, Joe, but it is fafurally correct for me and others to say it is more difficult.to get to amd from the Palestra on a Wednesday night. I get that a solution will be needed IF (and thats a big if because nothing has been announced) the school moves forward with renovations and I won't complain. It is also OK for people to say...games at the Palestra don't work for me, and I'll take a season off from my season tickets and make some weekend games at the Palestra. This is fair, but it does sort of seem like there’s an implication that there’s a better option out there. Do you think there is? |
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Mar 5, 2023 21:55:07 GMT -5
You’re also saying ‘I won’t complain’ while complaining.
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Post by calsufan on Mar 5, 2023 22:34:10 GMT -5
Listen and this is to all of you. If the school does what we have hoped they would for over a decade and the cost of that is the obvious need to play home games somewhere else, a complaint that ‘I don’t like where they’re playing the temporary home games’ is ludicrous and exactly why this board sometimes has a rep of being a bunch of whiners.  |
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Mar 6, 2023 9:18:56 GMT -5
I don't hear people complaining, Joe, but it is fafurally correct for me and others to say it is more difficult.to get to amd from the Palestra on a Wednesday night. I get that a solution will be needed IF (and thats a big if because nothing has been announced) the school moves forward with renovations and I won't complain. It is also OK for people to say...games at the Palestra don't work for me, and I'll take a season off from my season tickets and make some weekend games at the Palestra. This is fair, but it does sort of seem like there’s an implication that there’s a better option out there. Do you think there is? The school needs to look at the data on attendance and figure out a solution. La Salle tends to not be data-driven in decision making though. Does an 8700-seat arena (the Palestra) make sense for a weeknight game? The attendance at the Temple game this year would say no, and games at the Gola on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year averaged an attendance of 1235. Is a 15% full Palestra an option, or is there an alternative? Louth mentioned Central's gym...maybe La Salle HS gym?...I don't know the capacity of either venue but they are certainly close enough to the school to be viable for student and alumni attendance, although the stigma of playing in a HS gym would persist. Arcadia's gym has a capacity of 1500, and none of our Tuesday or Wednesday games had that many in attendance. The max was Duquesne with 1473. 4 of the games were below 1200. I would hope the school is looking at this, but let's be honest...planning and execution hasn't exactly been the athletic department's forte over the years. Weekend attendance has been higher. Saturday games have average attendance of 1846. That includes Homecoming which had 2517. You won't get that number off campus, but we will keep it in there. Maybe you do these games at the Palestra since getting there on a Saturday afternoon isn't as difficult as a weeknight, or maybe you just do the highly attended ones there. But even then you're talking about a Palestra that's only 25% full max. We had exactly 4 home games this year with attendance over 2000: - 2517 on a Saturday against Wagner (Homecoming...which won't get 2500 off campus next year) - 2134 on a Monday afternoon against St. Joe's (which I'd expect us to get at the Palestra as well) - 2019 on a Saturday afternoon against UMass (accepted students day on campus, and tickets were given to HS kids and their parents - won't be a factor off campus) - 2176 on a Saturday afternoon against Loyola Chicago (last game of the season and Senior Day) So you asked if there was a better option than the Palestra for every game, and my answer is Arcadia University (3.5 miles up the road) for weeknight games, and the Palestra for bigger games (like St. Joe's) and Saturday games. |
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Post by las71 on Mar 6, 2023 9:44:46 GMT -5
I think the problem we will run into with high school and DIII gyms is availability. These schools have 1 gym and other than La Salle hs have men's and women's teams along with intramurals. Penn has a separate practice gym for it's men's and women's teams so scheduling may be easier there although it's hard to disagree that we don't need a facility that large and access can be a problem. Practice is another problem aside from where to play our home games. Then we have to find a facility for our Women's team as well. It's clear that this is complicated but the simple fact is that we have been clamoring for an upgrade forever and we have to realize there will have to be a difficult year for our men's and women's teams, staffs and the fan base. I will renew my season tickets when this happens just to support the program and frankly hope the problem of where to play happens soon so I can renew for the new facility while I can still remember the directions to La Salle.😁
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Post by theneumann64 on Mar 6, 2023 9:52:42 GMT -5
This is fair, but it does sort of seem like there’s an implication that there’s a better option out there. Do you think there is? The school needs to look at the data on attendance and figure out a solution. La Salle tends to not be data-driven in decision making though. Does an 8700-seat arena (the Palestra) make sense for a weeknight game? The attendance at the Temple game this year would say no, and games at the Gola on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year averaged an attendance of 1235. Is a 15% full Palestra an option, or is there an alternative? Louth mentioned Central's gym...maybe La Salle HS gym?...I don't know the capacity of either venue but they are certainly close enough to the school to be viable for student and alumni attendance, although the stigma of playing in a HS gym would persist. Arcadia's gym has a capacity of 1500, and none of our Tuesday or Wednesday games had that many in attendance. The max was Duquesne with 1473. 4 of the games were below 1200. I would hope the school is looking at this, but let's be honest...planning and execution hasn't exactly been the athletic department's forte over the years. Weekend attendance has been higher. Saturday games have average attendance of 1846. That includes Homecoming which had 2517. You won't get that number off campus, but we will keep it in there. Maybe you do these games at the Palestra since getting there on a Saturday afternoon isn't as difficult as a weeknight, or maybe you just do the highly attended ones there. But even then you're talking about a Palestra that's only 25% full max. We had exactly 4 home games this year with attendance over 2000: - 2517 on a Saturday against Wagner (Homecoming...which won't get 2500 off campus next year) - 2134 on a Monday afternoon against St. Joe's (which I'd expect us to get at the Palestra as well) - 2019 on a Saturday afternoon against UMass (accepted students day on campus, and tickets were given to HS kids and their parents - won't be a factor off campus) - 2176 on a Saturday afternoon against Loyola Chicago (last game of the season and Senior Day) So you asked if there was a better option than the Palestra for every game, and my answer is Arcadia University (3.5 miles up the road) for weeknight games, and the Palestra for bigger games (like St. Joe's) and Saturday games. Thanks. That’s a very helpful answer. I’m not sure I love the optics of playing in a high School gym (here’s where we make the jokes about Gola) but I think a D-2 or D-3 gym may work if the financials are much better than at the Palestra for weeknight games |
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Post by theneumann64 on Mar 6, 2023 9:54:10 GMT -5
This is also the point where I clarify that I'm treating this purely as an academic exercise, because I don't think any announcement about the facilities is imminent.
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Post by thelasallelunatic on Mar 6, 2023 10:04:15 GMT -5
I'm out on playing at beaver... but I like the discussion.
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Post by hoopsguest on Mar 6, 2023 10:13:36 GMT -5
HS courts are 10 feet shorter in length than college floors. Some high schools have a college size floor though. Not sure about Central. The team did play one or two exhibitions there when Gola was first renovated.
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Post by big5explorer on Mar 6, 2023 10:18:20 GMT -5
Thinking a bit outside the box here….why go to Penn for games when Temple has a nice gym, and they are closer.
Technically, what is the difference between asking Penn to borrow their court and asking Temple? Also, I believe we actually have someone on our coaching staff who used to be at Temple, but his name escapes me. Maybe he could arrange something.
;-)
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Post by hykos1045 on Mar 6, 2023 10:27:50 GMT -5
Maybe we can just play all "road" games. Wouldn't hurt our NET...
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Post by festushagan on Mar 6, 2023 10:39:21 GMT -5
Options are for the administration to explore, but I do like the conversation and tone amongst the posters.
As mentioned earlier, no announcement has been made so all this conjecture might be for naught.
Sorry to appear negative to some here, but La Salle basketball has been under achieving for quite a long time, a couple to few exceptions, and yet we support it in as many ways as we can.
When I review where we are now and where we were from the 70's on, it's difficult to be positive, thanks.
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Mar 6, 2023 12:06:22 GMT -5
Sorry to appear negative to some here Why change now dude |
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Post by diehardexplorer on Mar 6, 2023 12:07:18 GMT -5
if the arena renovation really does happen (the school now has a little less than 10 months to start construction and every day that goes by without an announcement makes me think it won't happen), i think the way to go is spread the games out over multiple facilities. one place probably won't work due to scheduling conflicts with the host schools. i think that they would not have a problem getting places to play. all of the local universities could use the rental revenue.
here's how i would do it, estimating around 18 home games at max.
the palestra (6 games) - villanova, temple, penn, st joe's (pa), possibly vcu and/or dayton, and maybe cincinnati will be giving us a return game since they won't be in temple's conference after this year and they have a local kid on the roster (skillings from roman). they may even be able to do a doubleheader or two with penn to help fill the place.
jefferson u magee arena (capacity 2200) (8-9 games) - as many games as jefferson can make it available, try to get as many of the a10 games there as possible. they currently rent it out multiple times a year for high school games so i'm sure they could get more revenue out of la salle. it's a nice place and there's a parking garage. 10 minute bus trip for the students.
arcadia u (capacity 1500) (4 games) - out of conference buy games that you're lucky to get 1k to attend. another short bus trip if they can get students to go.
temple's mcgonigle hall (3900 capacity) may also be an option or maybe they'd even be willing to do a doubleheader or two at liacouras since they typically don't even fill half the place.
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Mar 6, 2023 12:19:23 GMT -5
Maybe we can just play all "road" games. Wouldn't hurt our NET... They shouldn't schedule a single OOC home game. |
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Mar 6, 2023 12:41:47 GMT -5
Duquesne used a combination of PPG arena (walking distance from campus), Robert Morris (4000 listed capacity - 20 miles from campus), and D3 LaRoche (1000 listed capacity - 10 miles from campus) during their renovations.
Average attendance at 4 games at RMU - 2181 (3 of the 4 were weekends - lowest was 1478 against St. Louis - a weeknight)
Average attendance at 4 games at La Roche - 1099 (all weeknights)
Average attendance at 6 games at PPG Arena - 3194 (mostly weeknights). One of those games drew 7001 to see Obi Toppin and Dayton on a Wednesday)
Average across all games was 2306.
Weekend Average was 2424, weekday average was 2259.
Average for A10 games - 2853
Prior to that in 2018-2019, their average home attendance on campus was 2295.
Weekend average was 2522, weekday average was 2012.
Average for A10 games was a lot higher - 2953.
Point is their average stayed the same, even using a very limited capacity arena for 4 of them. But they also played 6 of their 14 home games at an arena in walking distance from the campus. We don't have that option, and I think to blanketly move all the games to the Palestra will be a disaster, like all the games at the Spectrum were years' back before The Gola opened.
I LOVE diehards's idea to use Textile/Philly U/Jefferson - hadn't thought of that.
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Post by theneumann64 on Mar 6, 2023 12:59:24 GMT -5
Duquesne used a combination of PPG arena (walking distance from campus), Robert Morris (4000 listed capacity - 20 miles from campus), and D3 LaRoche (1000 listed capacity - 10 miles from campus) during their renovations. Average attendance at 4 games at RMU - 2181 (3 of the 4 were weekends - lowest was 1478 against St. Louis - a weeknight) Average attendance at 4 games at La Roche - 1099 (all weeknights) Average attendance at 6 games at PPG Arena - 3194 (mostly weeknights). One of those games drew 7001 to see Obi Toppin and Dayton on a Wednesday) Average across all games was 2306. Weekend Average was 2424, weekday average was 2259. Average for A10 games - 2853 Prior to that in 2018-2019, their average home attendance on campus was 2295. Weekend average was 2522, weekday average was 2012. Average for A10 games was a lot higher - 2953. Point is their average stayed the same, even using a very limited capacity arena for 4 of them. But they also played 6 of their 14 home games at an arena in walking distance from the campus. We don't have that option, and I think to blanketly move all the games to the Palestra will be a disaster, like all the games at the Spectrum were years' back before The Gola opened. I LOVE diehards's idea to use Textile/Philly U/Jefferson - hadn't thought of that. I don't think we should play all of our home games in Pittsburgh so count me out on following Duquesne's model.  |
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Post by gymrat67 on Mar 6, 2023 13:06:40 GMT -5
Moved this to Facilities since it is on topic for that. You must've received the same email I did asking for 60 alumni to make a $100K donation over 4 years. I applaud the effort to raise the money, but again...there was no plan announced in the email, no renderings, no proposed schedule. Just an ask for $$$ on the hope that they will raise enough to move forward. That should have started Day 1 of the announcement of the Glaser gift. Assuming that the University Administration will not / cannot allow the $6 million+ Glaser Life Insurance Trust bequest to lapse by default through inaction, then actual construction of the long - proposed TGA / Trumark Arena Renovation must commence this calendar year, 2023. This would appear to require La Salle to play at least all of its MBB and WBB home games for the 2023 - 2024 basketball season off - campus, e.g., at the U of P Palestra, Temple University Liacouras Center, Drexel University's Daskalakis Athletic Center ( DAC ) or somewhere else. Given the lead times typically involved in making, scheduling and announcing such rental arrangements, vis-a-vis both the A-10 Conference teams and our scheduled OOC opponents, IMO one would have expected the University's Administration and Athletics Department to have made some form of formal announcement on these subjects by now. The silence thus far has been deafening. I have to say that I was surprised at the dearth of reaction to the disturbing implications of my post of January 23 above.  |
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Post by a10champion15 on Mar 6, 2023 13:16:27 GMT -5
I'm sure they'll figure out a plan. Definitely helps that Dunphy has connections and relationship across the area. diehardexplorer post probably ends up being somewhat accurate |
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Post by jb71 on Mar 6, 2023 13:39:14 GMT -5
Interesting comments and suggestions regarding alternate locations. I'm hopefull there will be a major redesign and I'd likely attend some of the games....But I shudder a bit at the prospect of keeping current players and attracting upgraded players to a program offering daily bus trips to practice and no home court for a year... Been waiting a looong time for a resurgence as I count the years....decades... going by...I hope that light at the end of the tunnel is another L-Train...
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