Leatherneck Nation

If I am Matt, I cut through those balcony railings to match the lower level aisles. That way ingress and egress is "seamless". We all like seamless.

Redneck, My wife asked me why I was so red in the face, I said, "I am blushing because of Rednecks comment!" Thanks! jc

sealhall74 wrote:If I am Matt, I cut through those balcony railings to match the lower level aisles. That way ingress and egress is "seamless".

Seal Hall has an interesting idea about getting rid of the railing that separates the main floor seating from the balcony. Wonder if that is capable of being done ????

wiu712 wrote:

sealhall74 wrote:If I am Matt, I cut through those balcony railings to match the lower level aisles. That way ingress and egress is "seamless".

Seal Hall has an interesting idea about getting rid of the railing that separates the main floor seating from the balcony. Wonder if that is capable of being done ????

There used to be gaps in it...are they not there anymore? I know that back in the '90s you could walk along the walkway between the upper and lower sections and go through the railing down to the lower sections. That might have only been when the bleachers were pulled all the way out though, and I think maybe they didn't do that for basketball games due to space restrictions.

One thing I hope they address in the new seating is the area behind the scorer's table. The table is far too close to the stands. With the chairs there for the workers, you can't walk past. Plus, the workers need to have a better buffer between them and then fans. I know for the 20+ years I sat there, it was definitely a problem. They used to resolve it for the women's games by not pulling the bleachers out quite so far, but quit doing that. It's not like we are so short of space that we need every single possible seat.

I remember the gaps in the railings on the upper level. Soon Western shall have the finest Vomitoriums in all the land!

RedNeck wrote:I remember the gaps in the railings on the upper level. Soon Western shall have the finest Vomitoriums in all the land!

Maybe we don't put that in the promotional materials....k?

Good point Scott.

So it looks like Facilities Management is trying to make Lemonade out of the Lemon that is Western Hall, props!

I am curious what the plan is for the end court seating? Anybody have any insight as to what is planed for that?

Western Hall could be a gold mine among the D1 arenas and a huge home court advantage if a couple of things happen:

1. Get enough people in the building to make a little racket. Simply winning may not be enough to make it happen. Will take a culture change IMO.
2. Students absolutely need to be on the north side or the side opposite the benches. That is the seating area closest to the floor. Few D1 arenas let the fans get that close to the action. That can be extra motivation for the home team and extra intimidation for the opponents.

I was there for the D2 NCAA regional back in 1980? and know exactly how loud that place can get. I heard rumors of seating changes for the new Purple Platoon. Not sure what they are but hope this is one of them.

Everyone,
To answer a few questions about the new seating in Western Hall:

Overall the upper railings will have to stay (and be modified to meet current codes) as the lower seating will retract and they will prevent falls from the upper level.

There will be openings in the railings to match the aisles in the lower seating to allow easier access from upper to lower levels.

There will be additional room on the South side behind the scorer's table.

There will not be a "bowl effect" in the new seating. This was investigated and would not work with design of Western Hall and the desire to keep the three running lanes.

The vomitories have been reopened as was the original design in Western Hall to allow much better egress from the seating to the exits.

The upper seating on the North side is being rebuilt with new bleacher seats and will deploy from the back. A new pull curtain will be installed along the railing to allow easy use of the North balcony by teams and others. If you remember when the North bleachers were closed there was a very narrow aisle to get behind them.

There is no plan at this time to replace the end portable seating.

This is a life safety project that was approved and funded by WIU students. The old seating would not deploy without Building services workers getting inside the seating and pushing them open. A tremendous safety concern that has now been alleviated.

SC.