legger Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 INDIANA'S LARGEST GYMS 1. New Castle 9,314 2. East Chicago Central 8,296 3. Seymour 8,110 4. Richmond 8,100 5. Marion 7,560 6. Elkhart 7,373 7. Michigan City 7,304 8. Gary West 7,217 9. Lafayette Jeff 7,200 10. Southport 7,124 I am pretty excited about EC Semi State. Huge fan of wrestling but for many years had to limit number of friends and family that went with me to dangerously crowded Merrillville gym. Good bye Merrillville, Hello roomy EC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Nothing will Beat that finals atmosphere though Linn's Prodigy and legger 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backtothemat Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Fab Jr: What about your BBurg boys under the lights at The Ford Center in Eville (yes, I said boys plural)? Who needs a HS gym? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 That's fine but the closeness of merriville while annoying for the first 2 rounds is so cool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backtothemat Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 That's fine but the closeness of merriville while annoying for the first 2 rounds is so cool... There's no place like home, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ontherise219 Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 I will miss merrillville too. The first 2 rounds were a little tight but the semis and finals were always great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 There's no place like home, eh? When fans are a foot away from the action it's always better...if Evansville kept the lights down itd be better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpunkyPotato Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Not too familiar about the others but in my opinion New Castle is one of the best. Lots of room and the atmosphere is great. It is also said that it is one of the most intimidating places to wrestle too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warsawwrestling Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 The top fifteen in total seating capacity in the UNITED STATES are as follows: State City Venue Capacity 1 Indiana New Castle New Castle Fieldhouse 9,325[1] 2 Indiana East Chicago John A. Baratto Athletic Center 8,296[1] 3 Indiana Seymour Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium 8,110[1] 4 Indiana Richmond Tiernan Center 8,100[3] 5 Indiana Marion Bill Green Athletic Arena 7,560 [4] 6 Texas Dallas Alfred J. Loos Fieldhouse 7,500[1] 7 Indiana Elkhart North Side Gymnasium 7,373[1] 8 Indiana Michigan City "The Wolves' Den" Gym 7,304[1] 9 Indiana Gary West Side High School Gym 7,217[1] 10 Indiana Lafayette Jefferson High School Gym 7,200[5] 11 Indiana Southport Southport High School Gym 7,124[5] 12 Indiana Washington "The Hatchet House" 7,090[6] 13 Indiana Columbus Memorial Gymnasium 7,071[5] 14= Arizona Chinle Wildcat Den 7,000[7] 14= Kentucky Somerset Pulaski County High School Gym 7,000[8] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backtothemat Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Ford Center: 10,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warsawwrestling Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 I was talking high school gyms. Find it odd that there is only a Texas High School at 6 and then the next one is 14th. Indiana has 12 of the 13 biggest gyms. Indiana has some big gyms! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backtothemat Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 I know. I was just being a smart a#@. warsawwrestling 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XCard Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Hoosiers love of that game played with that pumpkin looking ball IMO has contributed to the number of High Schools on that list.......I would venture to say Texas probably dominates a list like that for football stadiums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warsawwrestling Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Hoosiers love of that game played with that pumpkin looking ball IMO has contributed to the number of High Schools on that list.......I would venture to say Texas probably dominates a list like that for football stadiums. Texas 1st, Ohio 2nd, than most of the rest are Texas. XCard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeamGarcia Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Can't believe Muncie Central Field House isn't on that list . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Can't believe Muncie Central Field House isn't on that list .Muncie Central is the next IN school on the current list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD92 Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 How often are those gyms even close to being filled now on a regular basis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwilly Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 How often are those gyms even close to being filled now on a regular basis? They are not filled. At times they are if there is a big game or big recruit, but most of these gyms are in small manufacturing towns where weekend games were local entertainment for many years The closing of factories resulting in the loss of jobs hindering growth has heavily impacted these towns. People leave with the jobs; thus, leaving empty gyms. I grew up going to games in the 80s, and can tell you Marion, Muncie, Anderson, Richmond,etc gyms were packed back then. 8 out of 10 years thru the 80s an NCC Conference team played in the single class state championship game,and won 4 times. it was a different time. That said, there are some fairly large football stadiums throughout the state as well. (& NO I am not comparing these to other states like Texas or Ohio). I have yet to see these stadiums full for any game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 At Garrett they used to have games at the Fort Wayne Coliseum because their gym was too small back then. They had two 7' guys on their team at one point. Now they have a nice size gym, but rarely does it get close to capacity. Like Dwilly said though, back in the 1970's and 80's going to a game on Friday night was the thing to do. There were 52 screen theaters, shopping, internet, a million restaurants, etc back then. People like to claim that class basketball hurt Indiana, but fail to realize that it probably saved it. jpt189 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpt189 Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 The hatchet house in Washington was a full house for about a 8 year stretch during the Zeller era Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripleB Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 yeah class bball didn't hurt it at all...lol.... SooperBod 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Between 1980 and 1997 there was a 220,000 drop in attendance...at $3 a head that's over $600,000 in revenue. 1997 786,024 (last season of single class)1996 786,8521995 812,8591994 775,6701993 839,5451992 861,124 1991: 903,430 (decrease) 1990: 981,395 (increase)1989: 965,042 (increase)1988: 940,838 (increase)1987: 916,872 (decrease)1986: 946,705 (decrease)1985: 994,899 (decrease)1984: 1,036,261 (decrease 32K)1983: 1,064,987 (decrease of 12K makes it even for two years)1982: 1,076,886 (rise in attendance of 12K)1981: 1,064,764 (rise in attendance of 55k)1980: 1,005,778 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleJimmy Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 What are the attendance figures from '97 to date? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD92 Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 This is what I found from 97-08 after a quick google search. As you can see, it is noted that in 1998 (first year of class basketball) attendance dropped 352,000. 2008 427,9742007 456,9602006 474,8812005 497,2662004 475,0232003 474,0882002 438,4302001 457,0102000 387,7101999 429,1401998 434,752(first year multi-class -352,728 fans in one year) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwilly Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 yeah class bball didn't hurt it at all...lol.... I don't think it hurt it as much as people think. Like I said, many lost jobs in these towns depleted population. There goes your fanbase. Also technology has not helped. Back in the 80s I still remember getting up to change the channel, and there were few "hit" shows on. Now we all have 10 shows DVRd, and 300 stations to click thru, not to mention Ipads, Xbox, PS4, etc. Causes are many fold, but the reality is times just changed. There was a time those gyms were full every night, but class basketball is not why they are empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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