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MCKALE CENTER RENOVATION REACTION
It was a big weekend for Arizona Athletics. Our soccer team won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2005. We won the football game, two volleyball matches, two swimming and diving meets and we also hosted our first regular-season men’s basketball games in the renovated McKale Center. This was a milestone for us because those basketball games were the first games included in our season ticket package, meaning it might have been the first visit to McKale for many of our longtime supporters since last season.
We appreciate those of you who have shared your feedback on the various items that made up the renovation, including the seating, hand rails, restrooms, concessions and the fans ability to navigate the arena. While the majority of the comments have been positive, we have also received some constructive and helpful criticisms. As with any major construction project, we knew there would be kinks to work out during the first few games and we are pleased to let you know we are already working on some of the concerns that have been brought to our attention. We wanted to use this opportunity to answer some of your questions.
Let’s begin with the new seats. The width of the new seats is either the same or larger than the seats that were previously in McKale. Before the renovation, the seats in McKale were between 16” and 18” in width. The new seats are between 19” and 21” in width. Seat widths are measured from the middle of the arm rests, and not by the base of the seat.
In response to a large number of requests from fans prior to the renovation, we added cup holders to each seat. The new cup holders do create a narrower entry into the seat, thus diminishing the functional seat width by about one inch on either side. In response to this issue, we are replacing one arm rest with no cup holder for all 19” seats.
The new seats also have higher chair backs, which has generated some concerns about leg room. Standing at 6-foot-5, I can certainly understand that leg room is a precious commodity, so I sympathize with those of us that are affected by this change. The new seats are padded “mid-back” chairs, which are built to provide greater support and comfort, in particular, for users who are average or above-average in height. In addition to the added height, these seats rest slightly back in their mounted position. It’s a different feel but we appreciate you adjusting to this change.
We also heard about the aisles narrowing slightly, which occurred for a couple of reasons. First, in an effort to provide the safest environment possible for our fans, we made the decision to add hand rails in the aisles so many aisle widths reduced by at least one foot to allow for the handrail to be used for both ingress and egress simultaneously. Second, we added one seat to some rows that previously had an odd number in order to create pairs and minimize singles using this space. For example, if a row was previously 15 seats across, it now has 16 seats, evening out the seating options for fans.
A number of you have asked about the limited floor access. Most modern facilities limit access to the floor level for a number of reasons with the most important ones being security and safety. The old silver flip down step that was located at the base of the stairs was unsafe and not to code. In addition, the renovation was the right time to add fan amenities upstairs on the concourse, while enhancing locker room space for the student-athletes on the lower level. Access to the arena on the east side will improve once construction of the new elevator and equipment services areas are completed near the end of December. Specifically, additional points of entry and exit will be available through the southeast tunnel to the left of the men’s basketball offices. Currently, these are closed.
The addition of new restrooms was an important part of the renovation, and tripling the number of toilets is a significant improvement. Adding this number of restrooms was not possible on the interior of the upper concourse. In order to achieve this increase, we needed to locate the new restrooms on the exterior concourse. This decision was also made as part of the plan for enhancements in a future phase of renovations to McKale – enclosing the outer concourse.
Lastly, we were happy to have most of our new concession stands up and running for the first two games. As you may have noticed, the stand in the northeast section of McKale wasn’t quite ready for the weekend, but we do anticipate all of the concession stands being available for tonight’s game. TVs will also be installed in these areas so you don’t miss any of the action while you pick up your food and drinks.
We know many of you have been attending games at McKale for a very long time, and these renovations have introduced a number of changes. We tried to make every decision involved in the renovation with the student-athletes and fans’ best interest at the forefront. We appreciate everything that our fans do for the athletics department and we hope to see you enjoying events in McKale for a long time to come.
A LETTER ON PARKING AND SHUTTLES FOR FOOTBALL GAMES
At the beginning of the football season, we discussed the transition from the Sun Tran Shuttle to the Park Ave. Garage Cat Tran Shuttle as well as the new addition of the Sun Link Streetcar. We also tried to do a better job of educating our fans on all the parking options available on game days through our parking webpage, arizonawildcats.com/parking. We hope you’ve had a pleasant experience getting to and from our games. With one home game left, I wanted to share a letter I received last week from one of our season ticket holders.
Dear Mr. Byrne,
This letter is in regards to the last-minute changes in shuttle buses for the football games. I wrote you a letter questioning this happening and you personally called me and explained the situation. I really appreciated that. The reason for this letter is to let you know the shuttle situation has turned out great. Everything from the parking to the shuttles is better than the previous set up.
Therefore, I’m telling you, you can quit worrying about this area and worry about some other things.
Sincerely yours,
Steve Turner
Green Valley, Arizona
We’ll always look for ways to improve our process and make things as convenient as possible for those of you that attend our home games, but it was nice to see that, at least for Steve, this year’s parking and transportation set-up has gone well. By the way, I really got a kick out of his last paragraph.
MEN’S BASKETBALL HEADING TO MAUI INVITATIONAL
We’re all no doubt excited to cheer on the men’s basketball team in Maui next week, whether from on the island or from afar. As you know, we’ll open the Championship Round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational against Missouri at 3 p.m. MST on Monday. The game will be televised on ESPN2 with John Sciambi on play-by-play and UA great Miles Simon as the analyst.
Depending on the result of the first game, we’ll play either Kansas State or Purdue on Tuesday, Nov. 25. A win on Monday would put us in the 5:30 p.m. MST game on Tuesday, while a loss would put us in the noon MST time slot.
The other side of the bracket features BYU, Chaminade, Pittsburgh and San Diego State. We’ll play one of those teams on Wednesday, Nov. 26 in our third game in Maui, with the opponent depending on the results of the first two games. Make sure to check arizonawildcats.com for that game time, as well as all the latest information on Arizona Athletics.
TIME TO RENEW SOFTBALL SEASON TICKETS
Softball is gearing up for yet another great season in Hillenbrand Stadium and the team is looking forward to seeing you there in a few months. For all current season ticket holders, your renewal deadline is this Friday, Nov. 21. Make sure to get your renewal in before the deadline to ensure you keep your same seats for the 2015 season. Click HEREto renew now.
If you don't have season tickets already you can purchase today as well. ‘Candrea's Corner’ is the place to cheer on Arizona softball and season tickets in that general admission area are on sale now. Click HERE to buy your tickets today.
A-CLUB UPDATE
Thank you to all of our alumni letterwinners who traveled to Tucson for Arizona’s 100th Homecoming celebration. We have heard from a few of you who have not received all of the information regarding A-Club Letterwinners events. In an attempt to reach all letterwinners and make sure everyone is connected with Arizona Athletics, we have mailed out a Contact Information Update form. Please take the time to complete the form with all the necessary information and mail it back to us. This process will help ensure all alumni letterwinners are receiving important information in a timely manner. If you haven’t sign up for the A-Club, I strongly encourage you to visit the A-Club website and activate your FREE membership by clicking HERE. Please feel free to download the update form by clicking HERE and send it back to us at the following address:
Mailing Address
A-Club Letterwinner Association
1 National Championship Dr. #246
PO Box 210096
Tucson, AZ 85721
CATS IN THE COMMUNITY
The Wildcats continued their work in the community last week. Here is a sample:
Nov. 12 - Alyssa Hasslen (track & field) visited Valencia Middle School and talked about experiences in college and as a student-athlete.
Nov. 14 - The football team visited the Wildcat fans at Diamond Children’s Medical Center.
Nov. 15 - Wanasa Zhou and Jessica Vasilic (women’s golf) worked at the Special Olympics Bowling Competition.
Our student-athletes are looking to continue volunteering in the Tucson Community. If you know of a non-profit that would benefit from the helping hands of our student-athletes, please let us know by submitting an online request by clicking HERE. We won’t be able to fulfill every request, but we try to get to as many as we can.
TWITTER TRIVIA
Congrats to Ashley Gurevits (@AshleyGurevitz) for being the 10th person to answer last week’s question correctly. Here was last week’s edition:
Q: Last week, six individuals and four National Championship teams were inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, with former football head coach Dick Tomey being one of the individuals. How many victories did Tomey, UA’s all-time winningest coach, tally during his 14-year tenure at Arizona?
A: 95
Here is this week’s question:
Q: How many individuals have earned All-America honors while playing in the Arizona women’s basketball program?
In order to be eligible for the weekly prize, you must respond with your answer by tweeting to me @Greg_Byrne using the hashtag #ByrneTwitterTrivia. We’re going to change up the selection process and choose a winner randomly out of the group that answers the question correctly. Once you’ve won, you’ll have to wait at least six months to win again, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play along. I really enjoy awarding prizes so good luck.
COMPLIANCE CORNER
As the holidays quickly approach, student-athletes often use their roles to help the community and raise awareness for certain causes. Charities and other nonprofit agencies may use a student-athlete to support its charitable activities as long as certain conditions are met. To request the use of a student-athlete’s name, picture or appearance, please read the online policies to ensure compliance within various departmental and NCAA regulations. These policies can be found online HERE. For more information on how a student-athlete might be able to help support your nonprofit, please contact Lacey John, Assistant Director for Community Relations and Special Events, at lpjohn29@arizona.edu.
ARIZONA NUGGETS
Volleyball is ranked 13th in this week’s AVCA Poll, its highest ranking in nine years … After the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Soccer’s Gabi Stoian ranks second in the Pac-12 with 33 points (13 goals, 7 assists) … At 8-2, Footballhas won eight games for three straight seasons for the first time since 1973-75.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Here is a look at the upcoming events for Arizona Athletics (Home events in BOLD). All times are listed as Mountain Standard Time. To purchase tickets for home events, click here. To access live stats from your desktop or mobile device, visit ArizonaLiveStats.com.
Thursday
No Events Scheduled
Friday
12:00 p.m.: Diving hosts Wildcat Diving Invite
6:00 p.m.: Soccer at Texas A&M (NCAA Tournament)
6:00 p.m.: Women’s Basketball at Texas Tech (Radio: KTUC AM 1400)
9:00 p.m.: Volleyball at Washington (TV: Pac-12 Networks)
Saturday
12:00 p.m.: Diving hosts Wildcat Diving Invite
1:30 p.m.: Football at Utah (TV: ESPN) (Radio: TuneIn)
8:00 p.m.: Volleyball at Washington St. (Live Stream)
Sunday
11:00 a.m.: Diving hosts Wildcat Diving Invite
Monday
3:00 p.m.: Men’s Basketball vs. Missouri (in Lahaina, Hawaii) (TV: ESPN2) (Radio: TuneIn)
Tuesday
Noon or 5:30 p.m.: Men’s Basketball vs. Kansas St. or Purdue (in Lahaina, Hawaii) (TV: ESPN/ESPN2) (Radio:TuneIn)
11:00 a.m.: Women’s Basketball vs. UC Santa Barbara (Live Stream) (Radio: KTUC AM 1400)
Wednesday
TBA: Men’s Basketball vs. TBA (in Lahaina, Hawaii) (TV: ESPN/ESPN2) (Radio: TuneIn)
6:00 p.m.: Volleyball vs. USC (Live Stream)
WEAR THE COLORS – SHARE THE PHOTOS
Thank you for wearing the colors and sharing your Arizona pride! If your photo submission did not make this week’s edition of the Wildcat Wednesday, please check our “Wildcat Wednesday” album at facebook.com/ArizonaAthletics.
NOTE: Please submit photos for Wildcat Wednesday with an original email to uofaad@arizona.edu using the subject line ‘Wildcat Wednesday photo.’ Also, please ensure all submissions are clear and properly lit. We also ask that you identify everyone in the photo so we can highlight them accordingly.
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