Stroh Center: Hitting the homestretch

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Jim Elsasser, Associated
Athletic Director gives a tour of the Stroh Center Monday Afternoon. (Photos: Andrew
Weber/Sentinel-Tribune)

The main court is ready to go with a giant BG Falcon logo painted right at center court.
The chairback seats around the court are installed.
The retractable bleacher seats which will surround the floor and include seating for students and the
band will start being installed at the end of this month. Rest rooms, concessions stands, locker rooms
and coaches’ offices are framed and work can be done to get them ready for everyday usage.
It all adds up to the construction of the Stroh Center being in the "homestretch," according to
Jim Elsasser, the associate athletics director at Bowling Green State University.
"It’s been a tremendous experience to be part of the construction process of the Stroh,"
Elsasser said Monday. "Every day that you come in, you see something different and you’re one step
closer to the reality of having a state-of-the-art facility on our campus."
Elsasser gave a media tour on Monday for the Stroh Center which will be the home of the Falcons’
volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball teams starting this September.
"The building itself is right on time from the construction standpoint," Elsasser said. The
Stroh Center is being built along East Wooster Street on the old Lot 6 parking lot and will seat 4,400.

"What we’re looking at right now is for the building to be completed sometime at the end of May,
first of June," Elsasser continued. "That will give us an opportunity to move the furniture
and the fixtures in here and then get the folks that will be in the building in there so at July 1, the
building is open and ready to go for activity."
The next milestones from a construction standpoint will be the installation of the bleachers while the
main video board, which is 10 feet high and 28 feet wide and will be over the bleacher seating on the
west side of the arena, will be installed in late February or early March, Elsasser said.

A panoramic photo of the
Stroh Center.

The next step will then be all the finishes, including final painting and staining, installing flooring
and then getting into the millwork for the custom cabinets and the lockers.
Some of the more notable changes from Anderson Arena are the chairback seats. Currently seats in Anderson
Arena are a maximum of 18 inches wide. In the Stroh Center, the smallest chairback seat will be 19
inches wide with the majority measuring 21 of 22 inches wide. For Anderson Club members, the chairbacks
will be padded on both the seat and the back.
"There will be more leg room and more seat area in the Stroh Center," Elsasser said.
Also there will be 80 chair seats courtside across from the team benches. Elsasser said the "Jack
Nicholson" seats will be on either side of the media table.
Another major improvement from Anderson Arena will be the number and location of rest room facilities.

"From a code standpoint and experiencing what you do in Anderson Arena for rest rooms, it’s going to
be night and day being in the Stroh," Elsasser said.
He said there will probably be two rest rooms for men, three for women and another four family rest
rooms.
The concessions will also be improved, with a full commissary and a full kitchen in the building.
"There are four dedicated concession stands that are part of Stroh, both on the North and South side
of the concourse," Elsasser said. "All the food prep can be done right here in the facility
and provide a greater menu with some of the equipment they are going to install."
The first Falcon athletics event scheduled is a volleyball match on Sept. 9 against Michigan State.

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