Rutgers athletics has gone from having outdated facilities without air conditioning to having two best in class buildings under athletic director Pat Hobbs. The arrival of the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center and Rodkin Center has put Rutgers at the top of college athletics in regard to state of the art facilities. The APC is the home and practice facility for men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling and gymnastics. The Rodkin Center is an academic center for all Rutgers student-athletes, as well as home to both men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse programs. It has helped in recruiting and also has greatly improved the experience of Rutgers student-athletes.
The two of the biggest facility needs that remain are the football practice facility and upgrades to Jersey Mike’s Arena (RAC). In June 2022, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy earmarked $100 million for Rutgers athletics in the state budget specifically for renovating Jersey Mike’s Arena and for the development of the proposed indoor practice facility for football.
Hobbs gave updates on the progress of both projects in an interview with Bobby Deren of Scarlet Nation on Tuesday.
When Greg Schiano was hired back to Rutgers in December 2019, having plans to build a practice facility for football was a important part of the negotiations.
“We are doing some final tweaks to the master plan,” Hobbs explained. “We expect that we will release that sometime in the fall. That will then be combined with fundraising efforts around that. What we have talked about publicly in the past is that we need an indoor practice facility for our football program. That is a missing ingredient for Greg.”
Even with NIL now a major priority, Hobbs emphasized the practice facility remains one as well.
In this new world of NIL, it is sort of less of a focus of young people in terms of decision-making. But that is an asset that we actually need for the program. It is long overdue; to replace the bubble or if we continue to use the bubble, we can repurpose that.”
The biggest change to Jersey Mike’s Arena in the almost 50 years since it opened has been the different names of the building. Affectionately known as the RAC, Hobbs is working on a plan for significant upgrades to the home arena for both basketball programs.
“We need an upgrade, we need a renovation of Jersey Mike’s Arena,” Hobbs said. “We are at work. We have an RFP out for a feasibility study. We have actually done the interviews now with the architect so we’ll have an architectural firm getting granular on a renovation; what that would look like. For anybody who is reading this, we will preserve the wild, raucous environment, making sure it remains the Trapezoid of Terror.”
One area he said would serve as an addition and long term benefit is including new elements to help generate more revenue.
“We need amenities. That will drive revenue,” Hobbs stated. “We don’t have enough concession points right now. We don’t have premium areas, whether they are club areas or the like and all of that will drive revenue.”
He added that the long term plan includes making the arena adaptable to be able to hold other revenue generating events there.
“After Northwestern, ours is the smallest arena [in the Big Ten] with 8,000 seats,” Hobbs explained. “We need to find ways to drive revenue within that venue, not just with our basketball program and the other programs that are in there. But it needs to become a smaller concert venue, [with] comedy acts. Things like that can drive revenue. That’s the bottom line.”
As Rutgers athletics continues an upward climb within the Big Ten and on a national level, continuing to upgrade and build new facilities remains an important part of the overall mission. Stay tuned for more updates.
Thanks for reading the The Scarlet Faithful. For more Rutgers Athletics content from The Scarlet Faithful, follow us on Twitter and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can subscribe to The Scarlet Faithful podcast on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. For advertising inquiries or to reach out directly, email at breitmanaaron@gmail.com
RUinChiTown
June 14, 2023 at 11:30 am
I’m looking forward to seeing drawings, timetables and $$$ needed.
Hopefully they can get the RAC to at ll east 10k.
And down the road, w/continuous fb success, Hobbs has the challenge of expanding the stadium to 65k it is intended to be.
thevinman
June 14, 2023 at 12:18 pm
So true about amenities and concession areas. The food sucks at the RAC and you have to wait a long time to get it. They need more rest rooms too.
BataliBoli98
June 14, 2023 at 6:47 pm
Every time that I am at the RAC (it will always be the RAC to me) it boggles my mind that someone approved the plan with the bathroom situation as it stands. It is absolutely ridiculous.
Biochemist01
June 14, 2023 at 4:31 pm
At this point I am ready for a replacement for the RAC for basketball. I would keep the RAC for maybe wrestling, volleyball, and gymnastics. I would build a new facility for men’s/women’s basketball and, potentially, for men’s/women’s ice hockey.
Also need to upgrade the baseball stadium, build a softball stadium, and build a lacrosse stadium.
BataliBoli98
June 14, 2023 at 6:57 pm
I am sure that Hobbs would agree with you. However, who is going to foot the bill? The problem as I see it is that there are many needs, all finely outlined in the article, but simply not the funding. RU’s in-state tuition is already one of the highest in the nation so you can’t justify hitting up the students. We are one of the most over-taxed states in the country so good luck with that. And…the donor pool is seriously lacking. Not to mention that donations for athletics will not just be for facilities anymore but also for NIL. So, donations are split which will mean less for facilities. You really can’t charge more for football tickets as the crowds are paltry already. I just don’t see the revenue streams unless Hobbs basically takes all of the B1G TV revenue and puts it towards a new basketball facility. Time will tell.
Biochemist01
June 14, 2023 at 7:53 pm
I get it BB98. I am just presenting a list of clear needs. Funding is an entirely different issue.
RUinChiTown
June 15, 2023 at 5:49 pm
Actually, the Staye of NJ should foot the bill. Consider the construction and materials jobs! NJ Pols ate always looking to appeal their decisions to unions.
Add a5% tax to tix price (except students) to pay-off to pay-off construction bonds.
In th whole nation, NJ may be the most dysfunctional entity driven by narrow minded greed.
Henry Rutgers
June 16, 2023 at 12:10 pm
Raising the price of season tickets would backfire. We are severely undersubscribed as it is in a very competitive market with what some describe as a marginal product. We’d lose more than we’d gain. Ticket pricing is reviewed every season and modelled for price sensitivity.
Students don’t pay for tickets. They enter a lottery and are awarded tickets based on availability. Pretty much any student can get a ticket for any game. At one time we offered a student season ticket pass which was for a modest fee because the lottery would over subscribe during the 2005-2008 period. Right about the same time we abandoned the Young Alumni plan and never reconstituted it. As I’ve said before, winning solves a lot of problems.
pj43
June 14, 2023 at 4:48 pm
“….For anybody who is reading this, we will preserve the wild, raucous environment, making sure it remains the Trapezoid of Terror.” Pat Hobbs talking about the RAC.
I second that emotion! I like the idea of an on campus facility that is a true home court advantage with strong, vocal student body involvement. If Duke & NOVA can get by with under 10K capacity and still win NCAA titles, then Rutgers can do the same.
Biochemist01
June 14, 2023 at 7:58 pm
The RAC, in which I have had season tickets for over 20 years, is a sub-par venue for fan experience and for generating revenue. I understand that it was built on a shoestring budget that led to serious issues like the restroom situation, as BB98 mentioned above. The concessions space is another large issue as is the lack of luxury/box seating to generate additional revenue. Time for a replacement that can seat at least 10K with much improved amenities.
I am also a wrestling season ticket holder so I spend a lot of time there.
Henry Rutgers
June 15, 2023 at 6:52 am
As someone who holds season tickets and has for decades to football, men’s soccer when we sold them, basketball and wrestling (although I usually donate those) I can’t say I’ve experienced problems with the bathroom lines or getting to a concession. Perhaps it is because we eat at our tailgate before football and usually go over to the Rutgers Club for dinner before basketball.
Being in somewhat of a unique situation of having viewed the preliminary plans the problem I see with expansion is the same one I’ve brought up previously. Yes, all of what Hobbs says is true, yes, we may need more bathrooms etc. However, absolutely no attention is being paid to infrastructure i.e. roads in and out or parking. Should we be fortunate enough to get our wish list completed and fill our stadium to capacity waiting 30-45 minutes to get out of the facility, especially Football from Scarlet or Preferred Green is not acceptable (and those are the wait times for 30,000 announced and 20,000 seats in seats). The plans are incomplete, and Hobbs is not interested in anything beyond a band aid to remedy the complete plan. I’m in the minority of Hobbs detractors.
Biochemist01
June 15, 2023 at 4:19 pm
I agree with your infrastructure arguments Colonel. I nearly added that to my list of facility needs.
Biochemist01
June 16, 2023 at 7:47 pm
Hi Aaron – As a next step in site functionality it would be nice to be able to discriminate new comments from older comments that have been read already. This is a good problem to have.🙂