McKale Center is no more. Not on game night. The name is the same, but all has changed. Little things. Big things. Even the shade of red on the striping on the UA uniforms has been subtly altered.
It is now a 21st century basketball arena that, if beer were sold and dancing girls posed for cameras, could pass for an NBA experience.
The UA hired AECOM to redesign the look and feel of the 42-year-old building. AECOM? Itβs the global design, architectural and engineering firm that remade facilities for the NBAβs Grizzlies, Hornets and Nets, the same firm that has touched up and made modern the fan experience at Dodger Stadium, Green Bayβs Lambeau Field and Seattleβs CenturyLink Field.
Simultaneous to Arizonaβs renovation, AECOM completed (in the same seven months) a face-lift of Illinoisβ State Farm Center, which now rivals any arena in Big Ten basketball. (The Illini drew 15,626 for Fridayβs opener against Georgia Southern.)
Whatβs new at McKale besides theater lighting, 14,700 seats, restrooms and concessions areas?
PA announcerΒ Jeff DeanΒ brings a professional sound to the arena. Dean has done PA work for the Arizona Coyotes and at the Dodgersβ spring training facility at Camelback Ranch. Dean isnβt overcooked like too many NBA voices. He is very good.
McKale Center is a financial resource like none other in the Pac-12. Even the foot-rests on the player and coach seats has a Wells Fargo advertisement. New, more upscale sponsors debuted on Friday: Farhang & Medcoff, for instance. Priority Lending. Larry H. Miller Dealerships.
During the many timeouts, rather than listening to the UA Pep Band play a fight song, Dean often reads advertisements. Even the Zona Zoo has, perhaps unwittingly, stepped up to help the cash registers ring. On Friday, they displayed βbig-headβ images of mega-donorsΒ ColeΒ andΒ Jeannie Davis, whose largesse is helping to pay for the planned $80 million makeover.
What other student section in college sports holds up big-heads of boosters?
Twenty-five years ago, when Arizona emerged as a top-10 basketball power, associate athletic directorΒ Bob BockrathΒ was the first in the Pac-12 to figure out how to squeeze as much money as possible from a home basketball game. He hired a corporate group to erect a βnoise meterβ on the upper east-side faΓ§ade, and once the noise subsided, Bocky began pumping advertisements into fan consciousness β always facing TV cameras β which at the time was unknown to college basketball arenas.
It took 175,000 man-hours for AECOMβs renovation of McKale. It took round-the-clock shifts, spring and summer. When Cal, UCLA and Washington remade their basketball arenas, all had to move off campus for one season.
At McKale, the Wildcats didnβt move. But when you take a seat at the top college basketball theater in the West, youβll think you did.
