The arena is outstanding, but it is too big. Building it with a capacity of 15k wasn’t a good decision. I realize it was built a time of great optimism in MU hoops, and no one was predicting the kind of precipitous fall-off in attendance numbers that we’ve seen not only at Mizzou, but across the country. At the same, even though we would often pack Hearnes (which seated about 13k for basketball, I believe), it was kind of a leap to think that we were going to find another 2000 fans every game.
The program would be much better served by an arena somewhere in the neighborhood of 12k seating capacity, methinks. When we’ve had good years recently, we seem to get about 10-12k in the arena for most league games. Even if we come back to national prominence at some point under Cuonzo, I’m not sure they’re ever going to actually fill 15,000+ seats.
The program would be much better served by an arena somewhere in the neighborhood of 12k seating capacity, methinks. When we’ve had good years recently, we seem to get about 10-12k in the arena for most league games. Even if we come back to national prominence at some point under Cuonzo, I’m not sure they’re ever going to actually fill 15,000+ seats.
