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Jersey Mike's Arena
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Jersey Mike's Arena
Jersey Mike's Arena, commonly known as the Rutgers Athletic Center ("the RAC"), is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Piscataway, New Jersey on Rutgers University's Livingston Campus. The building is shaped like a truncated tent with trapezoidal sides on the north and south ends, and is home to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the wrestling, volleyball, and gymnastics teams.
New Jersey governor William T. Cahill announced support for a new arena for Rutgers basketball during a game against Princeton in 1971 at the badly outdated "Barn" on College Avenue. He set a goal of a 10,000 seat venue, and provided $250,000 for feasibility studies. A bond issue passed that November, and by July the following year, the Rutgers Board of Governors unveiled a request for proposals. There were plans for a 13,000 seat arena in downtown New Brunswick, which turned out to be unfeasible. Instead, the university made plans for an arena on Livingston Campus, which would host 11,000 seats for basketball, ice hockey, and aquatics. One administrator opposed larger plans, hoping the university would not become "a basketball or a football factory".
The Rutgers Athletic Center was ultimately designed by architect Robert Hillier. Originally, he proposed a larger structure with modern amenities, however, the budget was limited to $8 million. Working with the cheapest structural materials he could source, the arena would have four massive support columns, and provide for 8000 seats, yielding a trapezoidal design. The arena has an off-white concrete facade and thin metal roofing. Construction began in 1975.
The arena opened on with a 102-96 exhibition game win against the Soviet Union national team on November 21, 1977. This was followed up by the official home opener against rival Seton Hall nine days later, yielding an 81-76 win. The fans liked the then-new arena as an upgrade from "the Barn". It soon became apparent that the acoustics of the design made the venue very loud when it was full. Hillier credited the steep seating arrangement and materials used for amplifying the sound.
The National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets played at the arena from 1977 to 1981, in between their time at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, and the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The arena was known as the Rutgers Athletic Center until 1986, when it was renamed for Louis Brown, a Rutgers graduate and former member of the varsity golf team, who made a large bequest to the university in his will. Despite this, it was usually referred to as "the RAC" by students, alumni, fans, and players.[citation needed]
The arena was upgraded with air conditioning for the first time in 2016, at the insistence of newly hired coach Steve Pikiell. He also had weight room and locker rooms updated. The bleacher section behind one of the baskets was upgraded the next year with premium seats and bar high-top tables, which increased revenue from that section by 40%. The Big Ten Gymnastics Championships were hosted at the venue in 2017. The venue hosted the Big Ten Wrestling Championships in 2020.
The arena was equipped with wi-fi in 2020 by the Rutgers IT department for $62,000, using off the shelf parts from Ubiquiti, which contrasted with million-dollar bids offered by outside vendors. The team opted to put equipment in the rafters instead of under seats, citing research that basketball fans are uploading more than downloading data. The design of the venue made it simple to install for each half of the main seating areas. the impact of the metal roof on radio signals also impacted the deployment. Once in use, the team found 10 to 20 percent of fans accessed the network on average.
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Jersey Mike's Arena
Jersey Mike's Arena, commonly known as the Rutgers Athletic Center ("the RAC"), is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Piscataway, New Jersey on Rutgers University's Livingston Campus. The building is shaped like a truncated tent with trapezoidal sides on the north and south ends, and is home to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the wrestling, volleyball, and gymnastics teams.
New Jersey governor William T. Cahill announced support for a new arena for Rutgers basketball during a game against Princeton in 1971 at the badly outdated "Barn" on College Avenue. He set a goal of a 10,000 seat venue, and provided $250,000 for feasibility studies. A bond issue passed that November, and by July the following year, the Rutgers Board of Governors unveiled a request for proposals. There were plans for a 13,000 seat arena in downtown New Brunswick, which turned out to be unfeasible. Instead, the university made plans for an arena on Livingston Campus, which would host 11,000 seats for basketball, ice hockey, and aquatics. One administrator opposed larger plans, hoping the university would not become "a basketball or a football factory".
The Rutgers Athletic Center was ultimately designed by architect Robert Hillier. Originally, he proposed a larger structure with modern amenities, however, the budget was limited to $8 million. Working with the cheapest structural materials he could source, the arena would have four massive support columns, and provide for 8000 seats, yielding a trapezoidal design. The arena has an off-white concrete facade and thin metal roofing. Construction began in 1975.
The arena opened on with a 102-96 exhibition game win against the Soviet Union national team on November 21, 1977. This was followed up by the official home opener against rival Seton Hall nine days later, yielding an 81-76 win. The fans liked the then-new arena as an upgrade from "the Barn". It soon became apparent that the acoustics of the design made the venue very loud when it was full. Hillier credited the steep seating arrangement and materials used for amplifying the sound.
The National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets played at the arena from 1977 to 1981, in between their time at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, and the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The arena was known as the Rutgers Athletic Center until 1986, when it was renamed for Louis Brown, a Rutgers graduate and former member of the varsity golf team, who made a large bequest to the university in his will. Despite this, it was usually referred to as "the RAC" by students, alumni, fans, and players.[citation needed]
The arena was upgraded with air conditioning for the first time in 2016, at the insistence of newly hired coach Steve Pikiell. He also had weight room and locker rooms updated. The bleacher section behind one of the baskets was upgraded the next year with premium seats and bar high-top tables, which increased revenue from that section by 40%. The Big Ten Gymnastics Championships were hosted at the venue in 2017. The venue hosted the Big Ten Wrestling Championships in 2020.
The arena was equipped with wi-fi in 2020 by the Rutgers IT department for $62,000, using off the shelf parts from Ubiquiti, which contrasted with million-dollar bids offered by outside vendors. The team opted to put equipment in the rafters instead of under seats, citing research that basketball fans are uploading more than downloading data. The design of the venue made it simple to install for each half of the main seating areas. the impact of the metal roof on radio signals also impacted the deployment. Once in use, the team found 10 to 20 percent of fans accessed the network on average.
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