BANGOR, Maine — The “new” basketball floor for the Cross Insurance Center was expected to be one with some NCAA Division I tournament history behind it, but that will not be the case now, according to Bass Park director Mike Dyer.
The floors for the NCAA tournament sites are constructed by Connor Sports Flooring in Oak Grove Village, Ill., said Dyer. Connor takes the floors back, resurfaces them and resells them.
“We had one on reserve,” said Dyer, but Connor worked out a deal that will have that floor go to another customer instead.
“It was someone that was in immediate need of a floor,” said Dyer.
The replacement arena for the Bangor Auditorium will have a fresh-out-of-the-box floor instead, said Dyer. It will be built by Connor for Global Spectrum for use in the Cross Insurance Center, which is scheduled to be finished in September 2013.
Global Spectrum has been hired by the city to run the new arena, and Global Spectrum announced in October that Dyer has been hired as the general manager of the facility.
Dyer was not at all upset about the sudden turn of events, which popped up a couple weeks ago.
“We’ll always take new over slightly, even if lovingly, used,” he said.
And the price is right, added Dyer. The deal that was worked out by Global Spectrum special projects manager Dan Rubino gives Bangor the new floor at the same price as the refurbished floor.
“What it boils down to is the discount is what made the difference,” said Dyer. “It’s somewhere around $85,000, about 15 percent off the regular price.”
Global Spectrum was able to make the deal because it can’t take delivery of the floor for several months anyway.
“I don’t anticipate it will be until late February or early March [when the floor arrives],” said Dyer. “Not until we’re sure we have the storage capacity.”
The floor will accommodate a court of NCAA/pro-size, said Dyer, “with high school and NCAA markings on it.”
The college/pro-court is 94 feet long by 50 feet wide, while a full-size high school court is 84-by-50 feet.
While it will mainly handle high school play and potentially some college games, the court also will include small marks to tape down a pro 3-point line, said Dyer.
“The Red Claws have expressed an interest in playing an exhibition game [at the Bangor Auditorium] in the past,” said Dyer of Maine’s Boston Celtics-affiliated entry in the NBA Development League.
The Red Claws, based in Portland, were willing to bring up their own court and baskets to set up because they require special basket supports, said Dyer. The problem was that the Red Claws’ setup wouldn’t fit inside the auditorium because of the immovable steel crossbeams at the ends of the arena.
“There’s 114 feet between the beams and it was impossible to center the baskets and the court,” said Dyer.
“That won’t be an issue with the new floor,” he said.
Dyer believes that Cianbro CEO Peter Vigue, whose company is building the new arena, plans to donate the current floor to a “Y” facility.
It will remain in use through the 2013 high school basketball tournament before being taken up for the final time.
The first parquet floor, which reputedly was donated by the Boston Celtics before the current auditorium’s opening in 1955, still has a presence in Bangor.
It was cut up into pieces of various sizes for sale to the public.
“We still have about 150 pieces of the original floor left,” said Dyer.
Must not have been any company in New England smart enough to put the Floor in.Surprise Surprise Surprise.
Are there any companies in N.E. that manufacture arena hardwood floors?
I’m just happy it’s not made in China
No.
For $60 million…….I would hope that it is a new floor!
Probably could have got a decent price at Marden’s…..
The Red Claws should play some home regular season games at the Cross Arena. They are afterall the MAINE Red Claws. I’m sure the players wouldn’t mind getting out of the pathetic Expo.
I doubt that few folks around here would want to go see them. Unless you are a big Celtics fan, you probably don’t know who those guys are anyway, and the ticket prices would more than likely be pretty high.
Is 15 bucks too high? Thankfully not for me. Aren’t there any sports fans in Bangor? I think there are enough to draw the usual 3000 they draw at the expo on occasion.
Staring at a new arena won’t do anything to fill it. It needs events, a few Red Claws games would be welcome unless of course everyone in Bangor has your negative attitude.
Unfortunately, negativity seems to know no bounds in Bangor. Eastern Maine seems to be full of the biggest bunch of negative nellies that I’ve ever seen!
If you follow these posts it’s the same “negative Nellie’s” over and over.
According to some the Waterfront Concert Series is a dismal failure and people never attend.
The folk festival is something that is a waste of time, it always has the same music year over year and is something people should pay to go to
The existing Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center was fine, didn’t have any problems and it was “good enough for my grandparent it’s good enough for my children when I have them”.
Maybe if we get lucky we can bring back a Class A tournament, even though most Class A teams are in the South ( I know probably wishful thinking) Oh the days of Stearns wiping the court with Bangor :) Who would of believed. It did happen lol
Great memories of Morse edging Stearns in OT and Stearns edging Morse in the Boston Garden NE Finals. Two great Maine teams and 13,909 Maine fans packed Boston Garden !!
Kinda sad that a new arena has trouble fitting a basketball court within. Really?!?
I think Bangor will regret the size of the arena a decade or two down the road – should have been a bigger floor and more seating knowing Bangor has to live with this for the next 50-60 years.
Read the story again. It’s the Bangor Auditorium the Red Claws can’t play in because of space constraints.
But you are right: The city messed up with the new arena. Although I wanted a new arena, I voted against it because the plans were wrong — fewer seats than the current building and no ice.
The new arena is already outdated. Bangor had a chance to kill Portland in getting quality acts. But for some reason, the city opted for fewer seats. If you count the seats for the new arena in the plans, there will be 5,416 — that’s including the luxury boxes. Meanwhile, the current building has a capacity of 5,948 and the city claims the new arena’s capacity will be 5,800. The Cumberland County Civic Center has a capacity of about 6,600, but will be adding about 2,000 seats.
We should also be concerned with whether the city will actually maintain the new arena. The current building is hideous on the outside: broken windows, faded paint, unsightly rust, and exposed rotting beams on awnings to exits. (And, of course, seats that were never replaced when they broke.)
Ryan not sure where you are getting your CCC “will be adding about 2,000 seats” claim.
The CCC seating capacity of the renovated arena “will remain about the same, with about 6,700 fixed seats and space for about 7,500 concert-goers.” http://www.theforecaster.net/news/print/2012/08/28/cumberland-county-civic-center-clears-final-hurdle/133109
I’m not sure where I got that figure, either, as I’m coming up empty even on getting a solid number of the capacity after the renovations. I may have been thinking of a 1995 expansion study for the Cumberland County Civic Center that explored adding as many as 2,000 seats (http://www.cumberlandcounty.org/civic/PDF's/Scanned/Seating%20Expansion%20Feasibility%20Study%20Phase%20One.pdf).
Nevertheless, the Cross Insurance Center’s advertised capacity of 5,800 seats is wrong, as is the claim the arena could accommodate 8,000 for a concert. (Yes, I actually counted all of the seats, which isn’t really all that difficult to do with an overlay of a known number of seats and putting it over opposing sections that have the same number of seats — although counting for the corners wasn’t easy because of an asymmetrical design on the south corners.)
I’ve counted the seats as well and got over 5900 for hockey/full-bowl events and over 6200 for events that utilize the basketball telescopic seating and floor seating. Obviously, there is no ice system currently but you get the point. ADA/companion seating along with club level barstools do count.
Your figures prompted me to check my numbers, which were off. Here’s what I have…
Telescopic seats: 1,687
Bowl seats: 3,247
Ledge seats on north end: 58
Upper-level loge seats: 428
Suite seats: 278
I’m going to argue that ADA seating should not count for fixed seating capacity, for the following reasons: Spaces for wheelchairs are not actual seats; seats for companions of wheelchair users are not up for sale by themselves — they have to be purchased with an ADA ticket. But for interest’s sake, there will be 58 wheelchair spaces on the lower level, with 58 companion seats. For the upper-level loge sections, there will be 23 spaces for wheelchairs, with 35 seats for companions.
Fixed seating capacity for basketball (sorry, folding chairs on the floor don’t count; only telescopic seats) would be 5,698.
Fixed seating capacity for hockey (yeah, Bangor for putting in ice — not) or an event that would use 200×85 of floor space would be 5,208. That’s because to get the size of a rink would require retracting all telescopic seats on the south end.
Fixed seating capacity for shows that would use the entire floor (Monster Truck shows, motorbike races, etc.) would be 4,011. (It’s not too late for the city to think about indoor track. High schools would probably love to hold practices and the weekly meets somewhere other than the University of Maine’s crappy field house.)
For concerts, I originally accounted for about 1,300 folding chairs. But I think 2,000 would fit comfortably. That would increase capacity to 7,640.
Regardless of the event, let’s face it: The 278 suite seats may as well not exist as far as the general public is concerned.
No matter how you look at it, Bangor had a golden opportunity to surpass the Cumberland County Civic Center’s capacity. Would it enable us to get Aerosmith or U2? No. But the CCCC is still going to have a big advantage over us for other acts because of its location and seating capacity. If the Cross Insurance Center offered more seats, I bet acts that would otherwise stop in Portland would just as well skip Portland and come up here, knowing that people in the Greater Portland area would be just as willing to come up here (especially because of Hollywood Casino). Don’t forget that Waterfront Concerts draws more than the Cross Insurance Center can hold.
Wrong again. There are two sets of retractable seating on the south end. One is for basketball and concerts that extends to the floor, the other is similar in shape to the rest of the lower bowl. And ADA seating does count in the capacity as does folding chairs. If a person can be held there, it counts. If they aren’t sold to those who need it, able bodied patrons can use them with a folding chair. I’ve seen it done at most major arenas and stadiums.
So you’re saying that 13 ROWS of telescopic seating have a total rise of only three feet?
One of the plans shows a modified floor plan for basketball, with those seats retracted, leaving 10 rows on that end, with up to 22 rows stored beneath.
Foldings chairs is never counted for fixed seating, for the obvious fact they are not fixed.
And no, it’s not true an ADA spot can be sold if no one with a disability shows up. (It’s exactly like a handicap accessible parking space: Just because nobody’s using it doesn’t mean you can.) That’s because you’re not going to know whether anyone requiring the seat will show up until well after the event begins. Additionally, one wheelchair user may have one companion, while another may have two. The companions get priority. But again, you’re not going to know until everyone who has bought a ticket has bought a ticket.
No. There’s two banks of seating that can be used on the south end. One has ten rows that completes the lower bowl. The other has twenty-three rows that extend all the way to the floor.
If telescopic seating doesn’t count as fixed seating, why do you include the old Auditorium’s bleachers in its fixed capacity?
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone in an official capacity or a BDN reporter would clarify this?
Ryan, one phase of the renovation at the CCCC was to add about 2000 seats. It was nixed however due to cost and the fact that Petrovic (Pirates owner) was not seeking a higher capacity as the Pirates would rarely need more than the 6700 seat capacity. He was more concerned with premium seating, improved concession areas and back of the house improvements. I’m sure you can see why. I still feel that this is an expensive renovation at $33M and it may possibly even reduce overall capacity. If you have a tenant though, you can see why the County Board is okay with this. For concerts and ice shows etc, the renovated CCCC will still not be able to compete with Boston and Manchester area arenas. So, short-sighted it is imo.
You are right about Bangor missing an opportunity to become the largest arena in Maine. With no such tenant and long standing tradition of drawing big crowds, having at least 7500 fixed seats would have made the new arena a great draw as the largest venue for concerts and other events in Northern New England and the Maritimes.
“Bangor had a chance to kill Portland in getting quality acts”.
Really?
To play to whom? The overflow regional crowd that buses in from Waterville?
To be honest when i’ve attended concerts at the civic center it’s amazing the amount of people that come from the bangor area.
I’ve seen quite a few as well. But the CC can also pull in people from NH and northern MA. Bangor has less population within a 2 hour drive.
Anyway, this shouldn’t be a competition, both cities should have the right sized building for their area. I believe that the CC is still the right size for greater Portland. I hope that the Bangor facility is similarly appropriate. Building a barn because some major act might come by once a year is a waste of money.
Actually, one industry expert has said Portland should have an arena with 10,000 seats. The problem is the current arena is barely able to fit where it is and nobody down there wanted to pay for an entirely new building, considering it would require a sizable land acquisition not only to hold a larger building, but parking as well.
As for “Bangor has less population within a 2 hour drive,” don’t forget that Portland falls within such a drive. I really don’t think that many from Portland would prefer to go to Manchester, N.H., to see a show instead of waiting a day or two to drive up here to see the same show (with better parking and better prices for dining out and hotels).
All one has to do is look to the WFC series to see what people will go and see. They have been very successful.
Over 14K at the Journey concert at WFC. Many others 10k plus.
The RED CLAWS have a special setup that will not fit. The new floor and Baskets will be fine. As far as the seating goes, IDK if you attend many games at the Auditorium but there’s barely anyone in stadium seats and a good amount of seats open in the bleachers. Seating will not be an issue. Think positive and hope for it’s success.
But you are looking at Class B,C,D tourneys, Lip Stallions, and Shrine Circus………the Auditorium doesn’t host any other events!
They have Ringling Brothers booked already according to a previous article. When was the last time that came to Bangor or Maine for that matter?
I was talking about the prior post which questioned why more seats were needed by using the current Auditorium as a basis for comparison……apples and oranges.
didn’t they just come to portland?
Not that I could find. Portland Oregon yes.
Blue sky! How’d they do that?
When UMO MBB plays there then that is the closest they will ever get to a NCAA Tourney floor :)
The new Alfond floor was a NCAA tournament floor.
and we all know that has worked wonders
I’m excited about the new arena. There is so much negativity about it from folks. I think it will be great.
It WILL be great! But it is okay to debate the proper sizing and measuring the competition with other arenas in Maine. Bangor only needed an extra 1000-1500 more seats to be able to advertise the largest arena in Maine. They should have done that.
This is clearly “stop the presses” stuff. What’s next? Home Depot runs out of Pergo, so local motel decides to use Armstrong instead?
and we all care about this why ? Next up: the color of the new center’s toilets and if they are new or used.
You have a point. How many people really even had an idea that the arena’s floor was supposed to have come from an NCAA Tournament venue?
But while on the subject of toilets…
There will be 66 toilets, 34 urinals, and 46 sinks. Women will have 50 of those toilets and 24 of those sinks. Men will have only 13 toilets. Only two toilets will be available in family rest rooms, of which there will be two. Another will be available in the first aid room. The ratio of toilets to sinks for the women will be 2.08. The ratio for toilets and urinals to sinks for men will be 2.61. Perhaps the designer figures most men don’t wash their hands anyway…
And if you want to use a water fountain, you may need to get in line: There will be four.
I’m pretty sure everything will be new…