Its not quite the new practice facility for Men's Hoops that many have longed for, but this is still a HUGE development for CU Athletics:
Creighton will break ground Oct. 16 for the construction of the D.J. Sokol Arena and the Ryan Athletics Center. The $12 million project, which was announced Thursday, will be on the northeast corner of Webster Street and Florence Boulevard, near the school's Morrison Soccer Stadium.
Creighton hopes to be playing its women's basketball games in the new arena by the 2008-09 season. As the Civic looks for new tenants, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and its hockey team are one possibility.
The new Creighton arena will seat 2,500 to 3,000 for athletic events and could accommodate 4,000 for concerts and meetings, Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen said. The arena will serve as the home of the volleyball and women's basketball teams, which now play home games at the 9,000-seat Civic Auditorium.
"The arena will have seating on all four sides and will create a more intimate environment for our volleyball and women's basketball teams," Rasmussen said. "It will be a quality facility, one that will take care of the needs for both of those programs."
The arena will be built thanks to donations from Wayne and Eileen Ryan and family and David and Peggy Sokol. It will be named for the Sokols' son, who died in 1999 after a lengthy battle with Hodgkin's disease.
They hope to be playing in the arena as early as next season. Contrary to some people who have expressed concern over spending money on women's sports over the athletic department's bread winner, Mens Hoops, I say "Bah!". I know we all love the Civic, and having no CU sports calling it home seems like the end of an era, but be realistic. The Civic is a dump, its cavernous for women's sports, and Jim Flanery and his CU Women's Hoops team deserve a first-class facility. Good for them.
Along with this is a remodel of the Hilltop, i.e. the Vinardi Center. This is to become the home of CU Men's Hoops, with the women practicing out of the Ryan Athletic Center. Rumors persist as to the extent of this remodel; I've heard all sorts of wild theories, none of which I can substantiate. What is known is that come 2008, the Vinardi Center will be all Men's Hoops, and frankly, that's cool.
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