Rutgers athletics has seemingly always been playing a game of catch-up with its facilities, with a decent amount of work that still needs to be done to bring the university’s facilities to the same level as the rest of the Big Ten. One of the most pressing needs in terms of facilities is to renovate Jersey Mike’s Arena (JMA), or the RAC, whichever you prefer to call it.
Rutgers currently has a naming rights deal with Jersey Mike’s for the rights to have their name on the side of the basketball arena.
However, as a part of the contract, Rutgers must either build a completely new basketball arena or severely renovate the existing arena by 2029. If they fail to do either of these options, Jersey Mike’s has the option to suspend the sponsorship agreement it has for the building, which is currently a 20-year, 28 million deal. However, if a major renovation is done, it could provide both parties with an opportunity to rework the contract, which could lead to a further financial contribution from Jersey Mike’s. (If they are open to it, of course)
Rutgers athletic director Keli Zinn has already made it clear that they intend to renovate the arena and that they are in the hunt for a design firm that is going to take a look at the building. Before he unceremoniously departed from the university, former AD Pat Hobbs had several renderings of a renovated stadium made based on input from fans, which are pictured below.
During a podcast recorded with The Knight Report, Zinn talked about how everything that is going to be done to Jersey Mike’s Arena is meant to enhance fan experience, and that nothing about the current arena damages the actual play on the court. The areas that Zinn talked about on the pod revolved around the arena’s bathroom situation, its lack of premium seating, the navigation of the building, and its seating capacity to a certain degree.
“The only thing that stands in the way of us being a premier program in those programs (basketball, gymnastics, wrestling) is that competitive arena.”
We have broken down the renovations to the arena that we here at OnTheBanks feel are necessary to bring JMA into the modern age. These improvements include a 360-degree open concourse to improve circulation and sightlines, a new external lobby to modernize entry flow, better concession management, significantly expanded restroom capacity, and club and premium seating upgrades that put the arena on par with the rest of the Big Ten.
We submitted what we believe to be the arena’s needs to Microsoft Copilot to see what kind of solutions it would come up with as to how Rutgers could resolve this issue. It came up with several renovations that could be made to the arena in phases, so that the bill isn’t all footed at once. It should be noted that this information is all according to the information gathered by the AI, and could be inaccurate, as has been the case with AI before.
The exterior and entryway design it came up with features a grand glass lobby and an expanded and upgraded outdoor plaza. The glass lobby will have better natural light for pregame flow and will house ticketing operations, the team store, and escalators to the upper concourses. The expanded outdoor plaza will be an outdoor gathering space for fans that features integrated LED boards for hype videos, scores, and event announcements, and space for food trucks and pep-rally events. It could also serve the general student population at Livingston if implemented correctly.
The seating and bowl enhancements it came up with attempt to keep the steep geometry of the arena so as not to lose the competitive advantage, while adding courtside boxes, a mid-level club seating area, and adding to the existing student section area. To do this, the lower courtside stands on either side are made steeper so as not to lose as much seating capacity. This plan won’t add significant additional seating; the financial advantage of the plan is from the premium seating. Copilot also suggested something it called the “Rowdy Club,” which is an elevated deck with standing room terraces right behind or above the student section for donors who want to hear the noise of the arena and be a part of it.
Concessions and hospitality improvements proposed by Copilot include two signature bars that overlook the court on the concourse and a premium club kitchen for donor events; this is where revenue can be generated. Technology and game presentation improvements include 4k screens on the center-hung board, LED ribbon boards around the bowl, and an upgraded surround sound system.
Improvements for the media areas were suggested as well. These improvements include better wifi for the whole arena and upgraded press facilities.
The premium seating areas will also have special entrances for those sitting in those areas.
A dedicated recruiting lounge was also proposed by Copilot.
What do our readers think of these proposed changes? Let us know in the comments below if there is anything that we missed in terms of renovating the arena. This is meant to be the first installment of a series where we take a look at the facilities around campus and what improvements need to be made for each. We will discuss what these renovations might cost in total in our next part of the series.
