Of all the meaningful sports in the USA, NCAA Division I basketball provides the largest number of venues for stadium chasers. But counting these venues is not a trivial exercise. As best as I can tell, the total number of arenas and gyms that can be visited is 392.
How is that number determined? Right now, there are 361 Division I schools playing men's basketball (Hartford and St. Francis Brooklyn are no longer part of this group). There are several chasers who are after this number, which was 351 a few years ago.
Then there are 11 schools where the men split games between two venues. Some are obvious: St. John's (Carnesecca Arena and MSG), UConn (Gampel Pavilion and XL Center) and Villanova (Finneran Pavilion and Wells Fargo Center). Others are less so: Furman (Timmons Arena and Bon Secours Wellness Arena), Northern Arizona (Walkup Skydome and Rolle Activity Center), Seattle (Redhawk Center and Climate Pledge Arena), Seton Hall (Prudential Center and Walsh Gymnasium), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Dugan Wellness Center and American Bank Center Arena), UMass Lowell (Costello Athletic Center and Tsongas Center), Maine (Cross Insurance Center and The Pit), and Wichita State (Charles Koch Arena and Intrust Bank Arena). In these cases, I consider the campus facility to be the primary, with the other secondary. Again, there may be others of which I am unaware. Add these 11 to make 373 men's gyms.
In addition, there are 20 schools where the women play in a smaller, on-campus arena not used by the men. Four of these are in the Big East (Creighton, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence), and three more in the Horizon League (Green Bay, IUPUI, Milwaukee). Memphis and Temple (American), North Carolina and NC State (ACC), Kentucky (SEC), and UNLV (Mountain West) are the other big schools who do this. The remaining seven are smaller schools (Bradley, Evansville, Idaho State, Louisiana Lafayette, Northeastern, Siena, and UNC Greensboro). As I've mentioned, these arenas can be more interesting for the history they possess in terms of memorabilia and the like. Al McGuire Center for Marquette women, the only one I've visited, is a much more enjoyable venue than the Fiserv Forum, so I include these 20 on my list. That makes the grand total of 392.
Counting Venues
This is where it gets confusing. Let's start by examining my breakdown of the goal of 392.
124/361 men's primary, active venue
6/11 men's secondary, active venue
6/20 women
Total: 136/392. This means I still have 256 to visit. But there are other types of venues that help make up the total number of 158 visited.
In addition, there are 20 schools where the women play in a smaller, on-campus arena not used by the men. Four of these are in the Big East (Creighton, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence), and three more in the Horizon League (Green Bay, IUPUI, Milwaukee). Memphis and Temple (American), North Carolina and NC State (ACC), Kentucky (SEC), and UNLV (Mountain West) are the other big schools who do this. The remaining seven are smaller schools (Bradley, Evansville, Idaho State, Louisiana Lafayette, Northeastern, Siena, and UNC Greensboro). As I've mentioned, these arenas can be more interesting for the history they possess in terms of memorabilia and the like. Al McGuire Center for Marquette women, the only one I've visited, is a much more enjoyable venue than the Fiserv Forum, so I include these 20 on my list. That makes the grand total of 392.
Counting Venues
This is where it gets confusing. Let's start by examining my breakdown of the goal of 392.
124/361 men's primary, active venue
6/11 men's secondary, active venue
6/20 women
Total: 136/392. This means I still have 256 to visit. But there are other types of venues that help make up the total number of 158 visited.
Inactive men's home venue: 11 (Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (UCLA), Municipal Auditorium (UMKC), Pritchard Gymnasium (Stony Brook), Royal Farms Arena (Maryland), Fleisher Center (NJIT), GSU Sports Arena (Georgia State), Generoso Pope Athletic Complex and The ARC (St. Francis Brooklyn), Chase Arena (Hartford), Alumni Hall and Webster Bank Arena (Fairfield))
Women's shared venue: 3 (Oakland, Iowa State, Washington). I want to see a men's game at these at some point.
Tournaments: 5 (Boise State in 1995 for the Tyus Edney game, UNC Greensboro in 2015, Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium for March Madness 2021, and Barclays Center).
I enjoy the fact that all but two venue visits (Boise State and Northern Arizona) took place after this blog was started, so they are all documented here. I will keep this page updated every time I visit a new college basketball venue.
No comments:
Post a Comment