SPORTING PROPOSITIONS

As talk of the new sports arena heats up, so have questions about its design. The arena has been promoted as a utilitarian, “no-frills” facility. All well and good when considering cost factors. But now people are beginning to worry that we’re going to end up with a concrete tomb with hard wooden benches. Not so, say the architects with Harwood K. Smith and the City of Dallas. While they say they are in the “design development” stage and have “nothing precise to report at this point in time,” we were able to gather these bits and pieces. The facility will have cushioned seats. The first several rows will be moveable, telescoping seats to give the arena flexibility. The facility “will be comparable to The Summit in Houston, though the two will look nothing alike.” However, it will not have the Summit’s closed circuit replay screens, though allowance will be made for possible later inclusion of such a system. It will have no private clubs, no private boxes, no restaurants – “and no fancy carpets.”

As talk of the new sports arena heats up, so have questions about its design. The arena has been promoted as a utilitarian, “no-frills” facility. All well and good when considering cost factors. But now people are beginning to worry that we’re going to end up with a concrete tomb with hard wooden benches. Not so, say the architects with Harwood K. Smith and the City of Dallas. While they say they are in the “design development” stage and have “nothing precise to report at this point in time,” we were able to gather these bits and pieces. The facility will have cushioned seats. The first several rows will be moveable, telescoping seats to give the arena flexibility. The facility “will be comparable to The Summit in Houston, though the two will look nothing alike.” However, it will not have the Summit’s closed circuit replay screens, though allowance will be made for possible later inclusion of such a system. It will have no private clubs, no private boxes, no restaurants – “and no fancy carpets.”