Did UH and Architects in the resdesign of Fertitta leave any room for expansion?

Cougar Basketball
21

Maybe we could add some plywood box seats like the classy ones at the hof

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22

smaller and tighter arenas are the way to go
i have absolutely no issue with the capacity.

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23

Agreed.

Don’t they still sell a bunch of those tickets to scalpers?

Unless and until

  1. We sell out the entire stadium except students and visitors
  2. To UH fans (no scalpers)
  3. At increased prices
  4. And there is a significant waiting list


the expansion topic is WAY premature.

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24

Fertitta Center is the perfect size, IMO.

It is a spectacular venue for watching college basketball. I doubt there is a bad seat in the place.

Sampson has said the goal was for Fertitta Center to be small, packed and the hottest ticket in town; hence the 7,100 size.

Bigger is not better.

I guess if the club side was redone to mimic the other side, be more seats. But I have zero issue with the way it is today.

I don’t want to see any changes to Fertitta Center seating.

Tickets being so hard to come by, and thus, crowd being so overwhelmingly UH is a huge advantage. While most games are sold out, it is going to be so awesome when most every seat is actually filled with loud, screaming UH fans. Getting there, for sure. A lot of people haven’t realized yet how good this team actually is. Those of us here certainly have. :laughing:

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25

Can’t you usually grab tickets on Stubhub or a secondary site? Also, I have already seen someone say on here that they sold their tickets to the Alabama game for a huge profit. I really hope that doesn’t become the norm for our fanbase while in the Big12.

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26

Don’t mess with the Fertitta Center. Remember how Bud Adams ruined the Astrodome by removing our iconic scoreboard for additional seats? That did not end well


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27

The seats next to each scoreboard seem to be a complete waste. We could find away to fill them and possibly expand in that area.

28

It’s perfect as is.

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29

@Cougarpad i found the video. Jacob McFarlands recruiting visit.

And Sampson tells McFarlands group he wanted only a 7K - 8K size arena. To make UH basketball be a hot ticket

(1:50 in the video)

I see your point about maybe 8K might have been better.

Sampson was at Oklahoma for many years. That arena has almost 11k seating capacity. And im sure its half full; 3/4 full most of the time. Very rarely full capacity

For once, smaller is better!

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30

Well if we had a center hung scoreboard then those two big scoreboards could be taken out and replaced with seats to selll, but a center hung scoreboard would mean volleyball I am assuming could not use the facility for games. One of the options they were looking at in the how they were going to design the Hoff was to build 4 big support beams on the outside that would enable them to raise the roof. I think the center hung scoreboard actually would be much better honestly but that doesnt look like an option. Those scoreboard on both sides of Ferritta take up quite a bit of what would be seats. At least 200-300 seats my guess.

31

No. FC is not designed for expansion because the existing structure was not designed for expansion.

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32

Hear me out on this: how about we add some “suites” to the concourse using painted plywood for the walls?

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33

I really hope you are being facetious

34

The scoreboards are tremendous so it would be silly to go back to a center hung board.
What I am speaking of is the little area connected to each which appear to be fitted for suite areas. Why don’t we use them or sell the seats.?

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35

Yes, sorry. I figured most that have been around for a while would know it was a “tribute” to the suites added to The Hof that ruined the ability to see the court while walking around it or waiting in line at the concession stand.

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36

Those were nice

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38

The original HP was 10,600 seats. It was awesome.

I always like having things bigger or the very least designing for an upgrade expansion, but
my unprofessional take is that it would be difficult ($$$) to try and build an upper deck on FC.

And remember too that we could not maintain sellouts at HF later even with the success of Phi Slama Jamma. Houston fans are fickle and have a history of walking away. FC is small, but probably the right size all things considered.

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39

I also wish that there were more seats in the arena. The two suites next to the video screens was such a waste. Khator and Pezman, for whom they were built, are NEVER in them entertaining. Good architects know how to redesign for more seating at minimal cost. The key is how long it will take to recoup that cost.

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40

In order to add seating, I think it would be necessary to raise the ceiling and probably the roof. That would probably be prohibitive.

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41

Yeah the only way I could see an expansion woud be going up but not sure how that work without having to go out some which there is no room.