Grading IBA

[pie n eye]

My experience at IBA was excellent! I could not have asked for better.

-The game (remember what we were actually there for?) was top notch. I'm personally glad they gave us a game rather than a blowout.

-There is something quite liberating about being able to watch a game live and drink cold beer. Usually I only enjoy that in St. Louis so it's a nice change to do it in Wichita.

-The arena looks great inside, outside, and especially when it is filled with 14,000 + Shocker fans. It was quite a sight to see that many of us together at once. I couldn't help but think of how big an impression that would make on a recruit.

-LOVED liesurly walking out of the game to River City Brewery for a late dinner and seeing all the Shocker fans there. Seeing people out and about like that after a great basketball game gave Old Town a really cool feel. I agree with you guys about a Saturday game next time.

I just can't say enough about how much my girlfriend and I enjoyed the entire experience last night. I'm already looking forward to next year's game there!

[proshox]

I really enjoyed the overall experience and I know my experience will improve in the future as I learn how to maximize the downtown aspects of IBA.

I can't say my wallet is better off. IBA's cold beverages are really hard to pass-up!

[ShoxFan963]

To add to some earlier comments:

-I got great coverage from Sprint in the lower bowl. I didn't try to get internet using my phone.

-The band was non-existent. Why aren't they playing louder?

-The scoreboard was not meant for basketball. It would be nice to at least bring up the point and foul situation during media timeouts. Maybe even use the little scoreboard screen in the middle of the three screens that just said Intrust Bank Arena all game and use that as a stat ticker.

-With no stats to view, I tried to pull up my ESPN app on my ipod. I tried 3 different public signals(no password required) to get scores and stats, no luck. Most lucky it's static buildup from the arena layout.

-The crowd was loud, but it would have been 20 decibels louder in CKA.

-Nice to have padded seats instead of CKA's hard plastic chairbacks.

I can't complain though I didn't go to the game to get on the internet or use my phone. I would not put those as a deciding factor to have games there or not. I'm sure they will figure out the stat thing on the scoreboard.

[pogo]

I'm thinking a 4:00 game on a saturday afternoon. Time to go to old town for a couple of hours enjoy a beer and some finger food, wander over to the arena, watch the game wander back to old town for a leisurely dinner. Why can't they have trolley service from old town to the arena?

[ShockerEngr]

I'm thinking a 4:00 game on a saturday afternoon. Time to go to old town for a couple of hours enjoy a beer and some finger food, wander over to the arena, watch the game wander back to old town for a leisurely dinner. Why can't they have trolley service from old town to the arena?

They do, the Q-Line runs between the arena and old town. (for free)

[pogo]

I'm doing it the next event.

[Shockerman]

How do you build a new modern arena with all the technology we have and still have a bad seat in the house? That is totally unacceptable.

[ShockBand]

As far as the walk to parking areas goes, I looked on Google Maps to compare my usual walk at CKA (south CC lot) to possible places around IBA. My usual CKA walk got me almost 3 blocks in every direction, meaning nearly to Market to the west, 1st to the north, Washington to the east, and Kellogg to the south.

Getting out wasn't too bad, as we didn't kill ourselves to try and be first out the door. We probably held up about 10 minutes or so, and while the walk/ride down the stairs/escalators was full, it was always moving. After getting to the car, it took about five minutes to get out of the lot and onto a street. That part was no worse than leaving after a game at CKA.

[eeshocker]

Did anyone take any pics of the game? I am an out of towner and would like to see what the arena looked like in a basketball setting.

[ShockBand]

My vantage point for last night:

[pinstripers]

Are you the guy that was sitting next to me?

[ShockBand]

Are you the guy that was sitting next to me?

I was on the aisle on the right end of section 213 row U. If you were sitting next to a guy in a WSU hockey jersey, that was one of my crew.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

http://twitpic.com/3ih1q3

[engrshock]

Basically Quiet Center South. Nice but not CKA.

[fansince80s]

Is there a reason why they could not use the game video that was shot for tv on the scoreboard? The video on the bord looked jacked up with horrible off center angles. Must have been from a camera in the crowd or something.

I still think IBA missed the boat on the lux boxes, I bet IBA lost 3000 seats with that design to take over the south side, but hey at $37k a pop x 16 makes the $$$ i guess.