Thursday, June 28, 2007

Duke envy?

Auburn University trustees heard about the plans for AU’s proposed new basketball arena — and they are BIG plans.

The new facility will have 9,600 seats and cost an estimated $92.5 million.

This is what else AU sports reporter Collin Mickle found out at this morning’s meeting.

The new arena is modeled on Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium — which led to a funny exchange between facilities czar John Mouton and AU Trustee Jack Miller.

“We’re going to get the same intimacy they get in Cameron,“ Mouton said, referring to Duke’s famously small and noisy 9,300-seat arena.

“We want to build the building and then emulate the record,“ responded Miller, a Duke grad.

Like Cameron, as well as Florida’s O’Connell Center and many other top-25 teams’ arenas, AU’s new facility will have student seating around the court on three sides, with “premium” seating for boosters on the fourth side.

Auburn’s athletic department has set aside $4 million for the project; that money will be used to service and manage a bond issue which is expected to bring in $60-65 million. The balance will be raised by arena-specific donations.

There is a slideshow of images of the new arena at our Web site.