McArthur Court
Facts:
Opened: Jan. 14,1927, with a
men’s basketball game against
Current seating Capacity: 9,087
Men’s basketball 2000-01
home attendance average:
home attendance average
5,150 (led Pac- 10 for 4th
Women’s basketball 1999
2900 attendance: 5,852 (Duck
wo men’s all-time season high)
*;■ fit fiftfc -mmy
Women’s basketball all-time
single-game attendance:
Photo Illustration by Jonathan House Emerald
New sports arena proposal
interests campus, city alike
■ Officials like Charles Rusch’s
proposal, but agree that the idea
needs more discussion, funding
By Marty Toohey
Oregon Daily Emerald
The revelry from McArthur
Court’s 75th birthday bash has barely
ended, and already people through
out Eugene are pronouncing the ven
erable stadium ready for retirement.
More than one month after Mac
Court turned 75, former University
architecture professor Charles
Rusch proposed a new 16,000-ca
pacity sports arena to host Universi
ty basketball games. His proposal,
delivered to the City Planning Com
mission Feb. 18, didn’t give many
specifics or blueprints. But he
pegged the area on Franklin Boule
vard near Hilyard and Patterson
streets — next to the site of the soon
to-be-erected federal courthouse —
fora location.
Rusch said he proposed the spot
primarily to ensure that city road
construction in the new courthouse
area will not prevent future arena
construction.
But some city and University offi
cials said the plan is a “dream are
na,” and people shouldn’t expect to
hit a new location any time soon for
Duck games and events.
“It’ll be another three, four or five
years before we can start seriously
talking about a new arena,” Universi
ty Vice President Dan Williams said.
City Planning and Development
spokesman Mike Sullivan said, “It’s
too early to get much of a read on
this,” and City Councilor David Kel
ly said the idea “is interesting but
needs a lot more discussion.”
Kelly, whose ward includes the
University and will include the new
federal courthouse, said he has
mixed reactions about the propos
al. He said that the area “is certainly
ripe for redevelopment,” but wor
ried that the arena and surrounding
amenities could “siphon off the en
ergy and enthusiasm from the core
of the new downtown before it’s had
its renaissance.”
Williams agreed that the idea is
interesting, and one the University
had not considered, but the Athletic
Department currently has other pri
orities.
“We’ve already got a $90 million
(Autzen Stadium renovation) proj
ect going,” he said.
In many ways. Mac Court is not
keeping pace with the growing Uni' -
Gening out of‘The Pit’
A former University professor has proposed to build the new arena near the
site of the new courthouse. The building would provide ample parking for events
E Broadway
To Franklin Blvd
Proposed
site
Heather Gee-Pape Emerald
versity. It is the smallest sports are
na in the Pacific-10 Conference, it
costs more to maintain the venue
than other Pac-10 arenas, and it
lacks luxury seating, Williams said.
He added that the venue is “too old
and worn out” to be renovated.
Williams said the University had
assumed it would eventually build
a new basketball arena in the
Autzen Stadium-Moshofsky Sports
Center area. The advantages of
Rusch's proposed site include bet
ter parking, more space to build, uti
lization by community groups and
the possibility of incorporating the
city as a financial partner, according
to Williams.
The proposed arena would also
host social events, like concerts, and
would be by far the largest such
structure in Lane County. The pro
posed arena could host performing
acts that Eugene residents would
otherwise have to drive to the Rose
Garden or the Gorge Amphitheater
at George, Wash., to see.
Sullivan said the idea is “intrigu
ing,” and could help develop the
area around the courthouse.
“No one’s really tried to pin down
any specifics, though,” he said. “I
couldn’t even say” whether Eugene
will ultimately support the proposal
or contribute financially to it, he said.
Athletic Department spokesman
Dave Williford said he “couldn’t be
gin to guess” how much a new arena
would cost without more detailed
information, but said it is “realistic
and safe to say that it could run in
the$100 million range.” . , .
Any funding for the arena would
come from donations, stadium prof
its and possibly city money, but
University general funds and Ore
gon University System money
would not be used.
Rusch, a member of Eugene’s
planning commission, envisions the
arena as a focal of the area around
which shops, restaurants and clubs
could cluster and create a nightlife.
He suggested that it would be a better
use of the area along the Willamette
River than the businesses currently
there, such as McDonald’s, Dunkin’
Donuts and Pizza Hut.
Kelly added that discussions of a
new arena might divert much need
ed attention and alumni donations
from the School of Music’s pro
posed performance center.
If talks with the University do not
become serious until the middle of
the decade, however, Kelly said the
new downtown plans could flower
and the performance center could
gather the necessary funding and at
tention.
“I don’t dismiss the (arena), but
I’m not on board yet, either,” he
said. “Let’s let this cook for a while.”
If the proposal turns into a new
arena, or any new arena is built,
Williams said Mac Court will con
tinue to host activities as well as
wrestling, volleyball and possibly
women’s basketball.
“People enjoying basketball at
Mac Court should not feel threat
ened,” Williams said.
E-mail reporter Marty Toohey
at martytoohey@dailyemerald.com.
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