Koch Arena: Raise the Roof

[ShockerPrez]

Lets just play the big games outdoors in Cessna Stadium. We can pioneer cold weather basketball gear. And since we will be used to playing a large portion of our games outdoors, as opposed to other teams just needing to worry about 1 game, talk about a home court advantage!!

[C0|dB|00ded]

Would it be possible to take the durrent roof off and set it aside, build a concentric circle support structure that would be 25' or so than the exisiting ourer wall. This would provide a large ground floor corridor that could be used for additional concessions, restrooms, meeting rooms, study rooms, etc., in addition to escalators and staircases to the new upper seating. This wall would be two times the height of the existing structure. At the top, there would be this 25' cooridor with all the amenities. The new seats would be cantilevered from the new structure and could provide 10-15 rows of seats around the entire circumference. For example, the closest seat would be directly above the current entryway (row 21). I'm estimating that this would create perhaps 5,000 additional seats, with access to the seats would be from the top.

The roof to the new support structure could have it's roof around the outside ring be essentially an extension of the existing roof, which could be re-attached as the middle of the new roofline.

Looking at what they do with major league ballparks, I would think this would be possible, but have no clue as to the cost of doing it, of course. See the link for the type of design. http://www.ballparktour.com/New_Cantilever_Dia.gif

Cool idea. Let's keep 'em coming Shocker fans!

I think WSU moving all or at least some of the games downtown would be more of a realistic option for the athletic department (there's a comment which is sure to rile up the cut-off-their-nose-to-spite-their-face anti-IBA crowd).

Anyway, I'll play along because however unrealistic expanding/replacing CKA may be, these discussions are fun. Is 12k-13k big enough? Wichita is notorious for building things without future growth in mind. I think 15k-16k is more likely what we would need for the future. If the Wichita MSA averages a 5% growth rate its population will be around 800,000 by 2050, which is probably a conservative estimate. That's a lot of new Shocker fans, especially if Bardo can get our student body north of 20,000. If an expanded/new CKA has only 12k-13k seats, we'll be having this same discussion the moment the damn thing opens for business.

We can't go downtown. We lose too much profit, we lose too much tradition, we lose too much home-court advantage, and it's just low-class to play your college basketball games in a rented municipal center.

I doubt it's architecturally feasible to expand Koch to 13.5k, noway could we go to 15-16k. We would have to rebuild the entire thing and that would cost as much as IBA. The cost of completely rebuilding Koch Arena could start a football program. I think when you build a basketball arena too big you lose a lot of the environment that Shocker basketball fans have enjoyed over the years. Allen Fieldhouse is still loud with 16k fans but that is because it is a small arena and the fans are packed into the place on wooden benches. Phog would probably comfortably seat around 12-13k with chairs.


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[Signman]

According to Kirk Seminoff in his "Shocker Handbook" on page 18 it says "when the arena was under construction. WU officials were told that it would cost $125,000 to raise the roof to put in a balcony that would add 7000 to 8000 more seats." Keep in mind that the original construction costs were 1.4 million. By the 80's the "Raise the Roof" idea had grown to $13 to $14 million. By now I'm sure we will need at least a Trillion dollars, just like Shocker Football. Maybe Obama could hook us up.

Phog Allen's comment about the new state of the art "Roundhouse". "Wichita built a wonderful fieldhouse here, but they made it too small".

[Kung Wu]

Phog Allen's comment about the new state of the art "Roundhouse". "Wichita built a wonderful fieldhouse here, but they made it too small".

All I can say is phug Allen, what does he know? :)

[C0|dB|00ded]

No sketches of the new and improved Koch Arena yet?

This place is a friggin' cesspool.


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[WstateU]

No sketches of the new and improved Koch Arena yet?

This place is a friggin' cesspool.


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Here ya' go Cold! Sorry, I'm not sure this would even qualify as a sketch. :pride:

[Manhattan_Shocker]

Maybe we don't need to raise the roof. Could it be possible to dig down to achieve more seating? I don't know..maybe I'm crazy.

[pinstripers]

We could add seats if we made the court smaller.

[rrshock]

Maybe we don't need to raise the roof. Could it be possible to dig down to achieve more seating? I don't know..maybe I'm crazy.

IIRC, there is a water issue just below the floor. I may be wrong about that but there is a reason they can't put holes for volleyball net poles in.

[Manhattan_Shocker]

IIRC, there is a water issue just below the floor. I may be wrong about that but there is a reason they can't put holes for volleyball net poles in.

That makes sense. Does anybody think a expansion would ever happen? I hope so.

[wu_shizzle]

Here ya' go Cold! Sorry, I'm not sure this would even qualify as a sketch. :pride:

Hand to God, best post I've read in a long time.

[1972Shocker]

Here ya' go Cold! Sorry, I'm not sure this would even qualify as a sketch. :pride:

Hope that new upper dome (or at least the luxury boxes) come with a full 360 degree rotation. Perhaps 1 revolution every 30 minutes. That way all the seats would enjoy midcourt views may 4 times per game.

[C0|dB|00ded]

That is solid work @WstateU:! You even included the handle at the top so it looks like a crock pot. We could call it Shocker Basketball at the Crock!

Okay, WstateU drew a helluva sketch. Who is going to top it?


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[C0|dB|00ded]

Hope that new upper dome (or at least the luxury boxes) come with a full 360 degree rotation. Perhaps 1 revolution every 30 minutes. That way all the seats would enjoy midcourt views may 4 times per game.

I like it! Perhaps we could just make the court rotate instead. It would put Vanderbilt's home court design advantage to shame..


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[1972Shocker]

I like it! Perhaps we could just make the court rotate instead. It would put Vanderbilt's home court design advantage to shame..


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Especially if you could speed up the rpm's during opponents possessions.