Thought About It & I Don't See The Need For A Carrier Dome Center Court

As soon as we found out that the Syracuse Orange would be hosting the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels this upcoming basketball season, people started asking whether or not this might finally be the year to put a court at the center of the Carrier Dome.

Brent Axe posed the question on Syracuse.com and came to the previously-understood conclusion that it's doable but expensive...

"It would need to be a stand-alone event because we’ll need to re-seat the entire building," said Pete Sala, Carrier Dome Managing Director, to Waters in the 2010 story. "It would be very difficult to make it part of the season-ticket package."

..."It’s all doable," Sala said. "It’s just a matter of moving the scoreboard controls to a different location, which is possible.

I can see the value in the spectacle of it all. Syracuse...Duke...Boeheim...Coach K...the reborn ACC...a never-before-seen setup. It's a larger than life execution of a larger than life event.

And yet, when I really think about it, it still seems unnecessary.

If it's about attendance, we pack the Dome just fine in the current setup. We got 35,012 in there for the Georgetown game (which never happened). We've crossed the 30K mark plenty of times before that. We'll do it again for sure when both Duke and UNC come to town.

We've had NCAA Tournament Regionals in the Dome with the current setup and they've worked just fine. Schools like Duke, Louisville, Texas and Florida came through and the NCAA seemed pleased enough with the conditions that they'll be back here again soon.

Ultimately, moving a court to the center of the Dome sounds great in a vacuum, but, throw in the hassles, costs and any added-value gained and it still doesn't seem THAT necessary. The Dome will be no less loud if the court remains where it is. Syracuse fans will be no less excited and rowdy. And the atmosphere will be no less exciting.

But that's just me. What do you think?