Things you would like to see changed about Crisler
1. Student section on both sides of the court. (understand that until this year the demand had not been there for this, hopefully this year won't kill the student involvement)
2. Remove the NIT banners
3. New seats (if you sit in the gold and get in a section that doesn't get used as much you can bang on the seat and usually dust will fly out)
4. Fill in the seating behind the basket (the amount of wasted premium space there is annoying - not quite sure how to do this without completely altering the landscape of the arena.)
5. New Scoreboard
6. Move press row up to the top of the blue section
any other ideas?
More home wins?
The stench of losing/underachievment is old! More wins please.
The arena could really use a Trey Ziegler (please!)
Less old and more banners.
The building of a new practice facility should be started soon if it hasn't already. After that maybe Brandon gets started on a new basketball arena? Not sure what, if any, other sports need improvement. The new lights at Crisler really help but at when you look at the really nice venues in the conference like Kohl, we are really behind most if not the entire rest of the conference.
I'm not in favor of a new arena. It would cost too much, and would probably have to be in a more inaccessible location (further south of campus, most likely). Crisler's a bit of a walk as it is.
I think Crisler can be fixed up into a very good arena. It has pretty good sightlines, and it has a good capacity (most of the newer places are too big). It just needs a lot of little touches, like new seats and a better sound system.
Our lack of a practice facility is a bigger problem recruiting-wise than Crisler. Thankfully it will be rectified soon.
with a new facility would be the name, honestly. One of the little things that I really like about U-M is how all of our past heroes have buildings named after them and how nothing on campus is the Pepsi Center or the Value City Arena or name-your-company building. Honestly, I'm not even a huge fan of having an Al Glick field house. I get he donated a ton of money and he's probably a great guy, I just love that we have the figures and the finances to name our buildings after them. The fact that our three biggest heroes, Yost, Crisler and Bo have three of the more important athletic buildings named after them is fantastic. They deserve it. If we make a new basketball facility, what happens to Crisler Arena, the name "Crisler"? Obviously this is a tiny issue, but I would be terribly embarrassed to replace something named after Crisler with something named after Merijers.
New (and wider) seats. I'd be fine with a section of bleacher seats if it meant I'd have more space.
Well "Indiana Wolverine" answered my question while I was writing my post, but IMO the interior still seems dark. Wish the lighting could rival that of say Florida's arena.
the NIT banners??? no matter how you look at it those banners are part of michigans basketball history... i'm real sure that the members of those teams would be glad to see something that they worked hard to achieve removed from crisler...
I agree with the new seats. Maybe something w/o cushions that will reverberate sound when they are empty. Keep developing the student section. Fill up the place more frequently. I am not a huge fan of the PA announcer. I wouldn't mind something a little more classic like the football Stadium. Maybe James Earl Jones?
I like how they got new lights. I think they could somehow modernize/ lighten up the concourse area. New scoreboard would be nice. People like to complain about Crisler but it isn't that bad when it is full and the crowd is into it.
Every time I'm in Crisler, I think a Soviet architect designed it. Everything about Crisler feels cold and gloomy.
It does have that kind of late-60s Eastern Europe gloom to it, but Crisler Arena was actually designed by former Michigan football player Dan Dworsky who played on both the 1947 and 1948 undefeated National Championship teams. I've always thought it was kind of cool that one of Fritz Crisler's players designed the arena that's named in his honor. I just hope that it gets the face-lift it deserves in the near future.
1. More/brighter lights. It's a lot better than it was a few years ago, but it still looks way too dark. (I don't think they actually turn on all of the lights, though. Maybe they don't want open seats in the upper deck to show up? Not sure, but there is a deck or two of lights never on IIRC.)
2. New scoreboard. One of the new ones you see in many hockey/basketball arenas would be cool.
3. New seats (I think that's part of the initial renovation anyway).
Side note: Isn't press row already basically at the top of the blue section?
The hue of some lights is just cold. The light temperature of bulbs makes a big difference in the feel of the lighting. Last I remember, the lighting was both cold AND dim. Adding friendly light, and more of it, would make a big difference.
I think the concourses, and artwork and photos, could be improved. Really celebrating the history of Michigan. Almost making the concourses more historical . . . jerseys, video highlights, etc. In a sense, you could say that it would be good to apply the "Disney" touch. Some of this was in the promo on the new building. But the concourses would be a great place to make you proud and happy to be a Wolverine.
Get rid of the PA announcer
Hey fans!
WHO WANTS SOME PIZZZ-ZZAAAAAAA?!?!?!??!?!
As someone who remembers what it was like before this guy... Yeah, he's awful.
The concourse needs a MAJOR makeover. The "Soviet architect" comment is sadly accurate -- it actually reminds me a bit of the old Detroit airport, where entering the international terminal felt more like a prison camp than an airport. I don't know if it's even realistically possible to make the concourse any wider (probably not), but I do know it's possible to make it more cheerful and welcoming than the dimly-lit bare concrete hallway it is now.
and do something about those sad exhibits in the concourse cases. I've done some exhibit design in my time and those are pretty bad.
And make all the seats in the lower bowl hard seats. No cushions. Benches, preferably.
I don't get it, why no cushions? They're ten times (fact) more comfortable than hard back seats.
To keep you on your feet of course!
Hard surfaces reflect sound waves better than soft ones.
But if there are people sitting in the seats...
But if there are people sitting in the seats...
...they should wear hard surfaces.
I agree with most everyone, especially the Ivan Drago training room references. Its like the vehicle that has sentimental value but it needs a paint job, new head lights, a stronger engine, new tires, different bumpers stickers, new upholstery, larger cup holders....Maybe its time for a new vehicle?? Crisler is an example that you can be overly progressive, bad timing, bad design...(edit)Although, the picture of the Charles White fumble in the football showcase, marked with a coat hanger, was pretty cool
1). Crisler needs a logo, like Yost (Michigan Stadium needs one as well, but I want that to be the old art deco lettering, but that is another conversation for another day.)
2). Crisler needs to have consistency and updating of its concourse displays. I love that there is some awesome old stuff in there along with the new stuff, but the mish-mash of it is disjointed.
3). I agree on the video board (HD would be great), and then make use of it as a "theater" style congregational area on campus. Not to hat tip to Sparty, but they opened up Munn early last Friday to let people watch USA/Finland before their game with BGSU. Imagine if Michigan could work it out to have away game viewing parties for football for a small donation to Mott or some such.
4). While not advocating anything crazy, the floor needs some more color. The lack of painted keys bothers me. I know it's difficult to make maize work on a light oak colored key. I would also love to see the Block M at mid-court rendered in Maize with a blue outline, similar to how it is presented at Michigan Stadium. Perhaps a darker stain could make this more effective?
5). Better camera angles. If you ever watch a game at UConn, it has tremendous camera angles, whereas you feel a little high at Michigan when you watch at home.
Crisler is actually a really nice arena in need of some love and care as opposed to starting over. The question is, will it get the love it needs.
(By the way, it never bothers me that Yost is not as "nice" as it could be, because there is an old school charm to it. The fact that on the west side concourse, you can see where the markers were from indoor track back in the 1930s if you look on the wall is pretty awesome and speaks to Michigan's athletic heritage.)
I really like the boxes at the top of the Big Chill logo. Reminds me of a coliseum. Something like that would make a great Michigan Stadium logo.
There was/is a Crisler Arena logo. It was on the ticket stubs back in the day. Might have been for an anniversary year or something, but there definitely has been a Crisler Arena logo in the past. And it was pretty awesome.
Put the Fab 5 banners back up.
What is this you speak of?
and brought Pete Best back with them.
Bigger student section
Liquor license.
New scoreboard, but not as bad as they need a new screen at Yost. I like the scoreboard at Yost witht he Michigan at every corner, but the screen is like a Lite Brite! A videoboard would be nice
Holy large picture, Batman!
Next time use <img src="URL" width=380> as your picture html. That way your picture isn't larger than the text area.
It looks unfinished, like we lost interest half way through.
It can't possibly help recruiting impressionable 17 year olds. You think it doesn't matter? Every year the football team gets at least one kid simply because he likes the helmets.
I disagree. I love that the floor is not littered with paint. I prefer the clean, plain floor. I've always liked it since high school, so I'm sure there's recruits that are the same way.
Whatever way you slice it, the floor is just an on-the-surface issue anyway. I'd be more concerned with some of the more major upgrades that have been mentioned in this thread.
I think the jumbo "M" at midcourt is enough.
Anyway, I think our uniforms are a bigger sell, in both football and basketball, than the playing surface itself.
Plus new seats in true maize rather gold. Bright maize throughout, upper and lower bowls.
There's probably no good way to do it, but that style of wrap-around thin video screen that so many arenas have really livens up a place. It wouldn't work if it was at the top of the upper bowl, that's just too high. And the current configuration of the split between upper and lower bowls doesn't provide the space. You could possibly put a non-contiguous screen around the top of the cement wall that serves as the base of the upper bowl, but I think people walking along the interior concourse would be too tall compared to the top of the wall. To make it work you might have to sacrifice the lower row or two of the upper bowl and build a taller base wall. Too expensive, no doubt.
Paint the Lane blue, and the half circle at the top of the key should have the winged helmet design. That would be sweet!
Most the other sports have latched onto the winged helmet in some form or another - basketball should too!
I could easily see Matt Vogrich taking this up.One year as a student we had seats in the front row by the tunnel . At halftime we would go to the last row and burn one . Bring back ganja row .