Tennessee Prepares to Open 25,000-Seat Basketball Arena Soon

Twenty-five-thousand unobstructed views of Tennessee’s new homecourt has basketball Coach Don DeVoe dreaming of big-time recruits, and school officials thankful the long overdue arena is almost ready.

The media was taken on a tour of the $30 million arena the other day. Volunteer Athletic Director Doug Dickey said he plans to open the facility during football season so basketball fans can pick their own season seats.

The arena, two years overdue, is located next to the 92,000-seat Neyland Stadium on the banks of the Tennessee River and, when completed, will be the largest on-campus college basketball arena in the country, Vol officials say.

The bowl-shaped lower seating area contains 10,000 seats while the upper deck will seat about 15,000, including an estimated 3,000 on benches on the top eight rows.

A 25-foot-wide concourse surrounds the 10-story arena, which is 85% complete, and will more than double the concessions available at Stokely Athletic Center, the former home of the Vols.

The seat farthest from the court in the new arena is still 15 feet closer than the seat farthest from the court at Stokely, architect Joe Goodstein said.

The Lady Volunteers, defending NCAA champions, will inaugurate the facility on Dec. 3 against Stetson in the first half of a basketball doubleheader that also pits Tennessee’s men against Marquette.

Ticket prices will remain $8 per game, $10 for eight doubleheaders scheduled in the 1987-88 season, said Dickey, who estimates the university needs to draw crowds of 16,000 per home game to break even.

“This gives us the finest basketball facility in the world,” said DeVoe. “It will makes us more attractive to the nation’s best players.

“In the past we haven’t actively recruited West Coast players. But now, why not? We’ve got a great place for anyone to play,” DeVoe said.

Dyron Nix, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, said DeVoe used the new arena to help convince him to come to Tennessee from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and he’s especially glad to see it nearly finished.

“I’m really impressed. This is my first time in here,” Nix said after the tour. “The challenge is going to be filling it up. We’re going to have to come up with some really exciting basketball.”

Basketball will make up about half of the arena events every year, according to Tennessee officials. Concerts by performers who regularly draw 15,000 or more and conventions will also be scheduled.

The media tour was led by Ray Bell of Ray Bell Construction, a Tennessee-based firm which took over midway through the project when the university and the initial contractor agreed to break off their contract.

“We did have problems but we turned them all around,” Bell said. “The arena will open Dec. 3 and there will be a basketball game here.”

Bell’s firm had to replace parts of 48 concrete supports which hold the upper deck of seats in place. A lawsuit over the dispute is in federal court and could ultimately determine how much the university pays for the new arena.

The original $30 million for the project was made up by $7 million in state funds, $10 million in county funds, $5 million from an anonymous donor and $5 million raised by the university to match that donation, and a separate $3 million donation from the Vols’ athletic fund.