Bank United Center Upgrades Summary

Here is the story on the BUC upgrades:

• Capacity will be up to 8,250 for the Georgia Tech game on January 12th. Whether the additional seats can be opened or not is up to the city who must sign off on the increased capacity. It is entirely possible only students will be allowed in the additional seating due to parking issues.
  
• A new video camera is being added for in-game replays immediately .
  
• An in-game ribbon board is being installed after this season.
• An in-game broadcast is being worked on for the scoreboard that hangs from the center of the arena.
  
• Capacity will be raised to 10,000 with additional parking built possibly between the BUC and Ponce De Leon garage in time for the McDonald's All American H.S. game which is being held in Coral Gables in 2009. This means all upgrades and capacity increases should be completed by the end of the 2008-09 season if not sooner.

These are welcome changes. For all the UM Football fans who moan and complain about Miami's spending of money on Basketball and Baseball, having a first class facility that can host events like the McDonald's All American game and fill even more Cane fans for big ACC matchups is critical to the continued growth of the sports program.

Bank United Center Gaining More Seats

Canes fans the long wait is over. The Bank United Center's ugly "terrace" areas which are blocked off are being replaced by seats as I saw personally tonight in the Hurricanes blow out victory over Penn. I will attempt tomorrow to find out what compromise was reached between the university and the City of Coral Gables to add the new seats- certainly UM must build at least one additional parking garage for the Arena. The Georgia Tech game has already been sold out for a few weeks- no word if any additional seats will be open this year or if it will have to wait until next season when the parking situation is dealt with.

In addition, I will have some post game thoughts tomorrow and an update on Anthony King's injury status.