| Comcast Center Set to Become
UMD's Athletic Command Center This Fall
|
Cole vs. Comcast
|
| |
Cole |
Comcast |
| Year Opened |
1955 |
2002 |
| # of Seats |
nearly 14,600 |
17,100 |
| # of Student Seats |
4,000 |
4,000 |
| # of Bathrooms |
4 |
37 |
| # of Concession Stands |
4 |
12 |
| # of Luxury Suites |
0 |
20 |
| SOURCE: The University of Maryland athletic department
|
By Kenny
Beck
Maryland Newsline
Friday, March 1, 2002
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The new $124 million Comcast Center will serve as headquarters to nearly all of the
University of Maryland’s athletic teams beginning this
fall.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will play to larger, more comfortable audiences as they make the switch from Cole Field House to the
470,000 square-foot Comcast Center. The
new facility will seat 17,100 fans in its climate-controlled
environment--about 2,500 more than Cole.
The new arena promises wider seats, more legroom, wider concourses and a
video scoreboard with monitors throughout to help bring fans closer to the
action, said Joe Hull, interim senior associate director of athletics. Thirty-seven bathrooms
and 12 concession stands should lead to shorter lines before and during the
game. Cole had only four of
each. Despite the greater seating capacity, the number of student tickets distributed for each
home game will remain the same, at 4,000, Hull said.
|
The Comcast Center will replace Cole Field House as
the University of Maryland's athletic headquarters. (Photo by Maha Ezzeddine)
|
Located in Lot 4 next
to the Arena Drive Parking Garage--not far from state Route 193--Comcast will be more than just
a basketball arena, Hull said. It will
feature multiple practice courts, a weightlifting and conditioning facility,
a wrestling practice area, locker rooms for multiple sports, an equipment
issue room, a sports medicine and training facility and Heritage Hall, a
multi-purpose convention-style area with 20 luxury suites.
Fans looking to shop
for the latest in Terrapin gear can do so at the merchandise outlet inside.
Additionally, the academic support and career development center will
move from Cole into a 7,000-square-foot area of Comcast. But
not
everyone views the move as good news. The switch could mean a long walk for athletes living on south
campus or in Leonardtown hall, who frequently use the academic support center to put
in mandatory study hours, visit tutors or keep advising appointments.
Freshman Joe Sargent lives in Kent Hall on South Campus and is an infielder on the baseball
team. “It’s going to make
it a lot harder to get your hours in, because it is so out of the way,” he
said of the move. “A
20-minute walk there and back is going to be very inconvenient.”
The coaches of nearly every athletic team at Maryland, except for football,
will have their offices inside Comcast, as will the media relations staff.
Football coaches and staff will remain in the Gossett Football Teamhouse at
Byrd Stadium.
This means some coaches' offices will move farther from their team’s locker room or home
field.
Construction of the arena, which began in June 2000, is projected to
cost about $107 million, Hull said. The University of Maryland contributed $48.9 million through private
resources and donors; the state
of Maryland paid the other $58 million. The State Highway Administration gave additional funds for
infrastructure, bringing the total cost of the project to $123.5 million.
Despite these costs, ticket prices are not expected to undergo a drastic
change, Hull said. The only increase in
prices would result from inflation, he said. Season ticket prices
to the Comcast Center will not be announced
until August, once home schedules are finalized, a ticket office
representative said. This year, season tickets to
men's basketball games at Cole cost $445 for 17 home games.
University of Maryland donors will have first crack at sought-after tickets. Donors who have given anywhere
from $25,000 to $1 million to the
Terrapin Club will be able to select from the 4,000 lower-level seats
directly behind the student section, according to a Terrapin Club brochure.
The student section of Comcast will begin at floor level as it did in Cole,
but instead of being limited to the sides of the court, it will wrap
around the length of the floor, including behind the visiting team’s
basket.
Some predict that these
seats will be the most popular in the students’ section. "You get to
harass the visiting team," said Brad Tomaski, a junior kinesiology
major at the university. "Why not have a part in distracting the players the whole game?"
At least one elected official from Maryland
hopes the move will portend a bright future. Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer, an alumnus
and member of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, said he hoped the new digs will "propel
[the basketball teams] to many more
Final Four appearances, and even some National Championship games and
titles."
Copyright ©
2002 University of Maryland College of
Journalism
Graphics by Nicole M. Richardson
Top of Page | Home Page
| 
Home Page
