Evansville v. Valpo

[vu72]

Was just watching Illinois State take down Evansville on their home court.  Evansville is a similar school to Valpo with Valpo having the edge in national ranking, endowment etc.

So why is Evansville playing in a HUGE arena (although while battling foe second place in the Valley the place is one-third full) while Valpo plays in the ARC?  I would much prefer the atmosphere in the ARC and the difference must be the city and state putting up funds for their arena.  Evansville has about 350k of residents and Valpo, maybe 35k.

[IndyValpo]

So why is Evansville playing in a HUGE arena (although while battling foe second place in the Valley the place is one-third full) while Valpo plays in the ARC?  I would much prefer the atmosphere in the ARC and the difference must be the city and state putting up funds for their arena.  Evansville has about 350k of residents and Valpo, maybe 35k.

You answered your own question....twice!

[bbtds]

So why is Evansville playing in a HUGE arena (although while battling foe second place in the Valley the place is one-third full) while Valpo plays in the ARC?  I would much prefer the atmosphere in the ARC and the difference must be the city and state putting up funds for their arena.  Evansville has about 350k of residents and Valpo, maybe 35k.

At the ARC last night 2/11/16 :

Disappointing 2312 in attendance 

Evansville had the Ford Center 1/3 full? The Purple Aces had 4195 in attendance per the below box score. The Ford Center seats 10,000 so 4195 is 42.0%. The ARC seats 5,400 so 2312 is 42.8%. Not much difference except Evansville is in a larger town and gets more attendance.

http://gopurpleaces.com/documents/2016/2/11//UEvISU_Box.pdf?id=3494

[FWalum]

Was just watching Illinois State take down Evansville on their home court.  Evansville is a similar school to Valpo with Valpo having the edge in national ranking, endowment etc.

So why is Evansville playing in a HUGE arena (although while battling foe second place in the Valley the place is one-third full) while Valpo plays in the ARC?  I would much prefer the atmosphere in the ARC and the difference must be the city and state putting up funds for their arena.  Evansville has about 350k of residents and Valpo, maybe 35k.

Having had a child go to UE and also sitting on one of their boards, I have a pretty good grasp on what has gone on at the university.  VU is very similar and directly in their crosshairs, they do recognize that VU is ahead of them in the things that you mentioned.  They also have a heavy emphasis on engineering, much like VU. They have an unbelievable study abroad opportunity at UE's British campus Harlaxton College.  Yes, they would rib me about being in a MUCH better conference. 

How did they get there??? They were a national power in the NCAA Div. II winning the national championship 5 times.  Even after moving to Div. I in 1977 attendance for games at the old Roberts Stadium was typically 10k or more.  During the 92-93 season they averaged 11,740.  They may have only had 4195 at the Illinois State game on a Thursday night, but they had over 10,000 for the Wichita State game 12 days before and 8,000 for the ISU game.

Yes, the city and county have put up money along with the Tri-State Ford dealers adding 4.2 million for naming rights.  Here is a complete breakdown: The cost was around $127-million. Around 50-percent of that came from a Downtown Taxing District. Most of the other half is from riverboat gaming receipts, and the rest is food and beverage tax.  UE pays between 10-12K per game to play in the arena.

I am not sure where you got your population estimates.  If you are just looking at the city sizes then Evansville is about 120,000 with Vanderburgh county at about 173,000 and Valparaiso with 33,000 and Porter County at 160,000.  If you are looking at Metropolitan statistical information then Valparaiso belongs to the Gary Metropolitan Division with a population of 685,000 while Evansville is the anchor of the Evansville, Northern Kentucky and IL Metropolitan area with about 350,000.

[FWalum]

A nice video of UE's Harlaxton College manor house.  In comparison Downton Abbey looks like a barn.

! No longer available

[vu72]

Was just watching Illinois State take down Evansville on their home court.  Evansville is a similar school to Valpo with Valpo having the edge in national ranking, endowment etc.

So why is Evansville playing in a HUGE arena (although while battling foe second place in the Valley the place is one-third full) while Valpo plays in the ARC?  I would much prefer the atmosphere in the ARC and the difference must be the city and state putting up funds for their arena.  Evansville has about 350k of residents and Valpo, maybe 35k.

Having had a child go to UE and also sitting on one of their boards, I have a pretty good grasp on what has gone on at the university.  VU is very similar and directly in their crosshairs, they do recognize that VU is ahead of them in the things that you mentioned.  They also have a heavy emphasis on engineering, much like VU. They have an unbelievable study abroad opportunity at UE's British campus Harlaxton College. Yes, they would rib me about being in a MUCH better conference. 

How did they get there??? They were a national power in the NCAA Div. II winning the national championship 5 times.  Even after moving to Div. I in 1977 attendance for games at the old Roberts Stadium was typically 10k or more.  During the 92-93 season they averaged 11,740.  They may have only had 4195 at the Illinois State game on a Thursday night, but they had over 10,000 for the Wichita State game 12 days before and 8,000 for the ISU game.

Yes, the city and county have put up money along with the Tri-State Ford dealers adding 4.2 million for naming rights.  Here is a complete breakdown: The cost was around $127-million. Around 50-percent of that came from a Downtown Taxing District. Most of the other half is from riverboat gaming receipts, and the rest is food and beverage tax.  UE pays between 10-12K per game to play in the arena.

I am not sure where you got you population estimates. If you are just looking at the city sizes then Evansville is about 120,000 with Vanderburgh county at about 173,000 and Valparaiso with 33,000 and Porter County at 160,000.  If you are looking at Metropolitan statistical information then Valparaiso belongs to the Gary Metropolitan Division with a population of 685,000 while Evansville is the anchor of the Evansville, Northern Kentucky and IL Metropolitan area with about 350,000.

The population number came from the county I guess.  As for their England study program, studying at Cambridge can't be too disappointing!