MSU – Hammons Student Center

With the end of the this year’s regular season, and only one season remaining at HSC, I figure I should have an entry for the bears home court. That way I will eventually have a complete listing of all 10 MVC teams. So here is my analysis of our home court experience.

Venue: Hammons Student Center
Capacity: 9000

Arena: HSC isn’t above average by any stretch of the imagination, but it gets the job done. The bleacher seating on either is is attrocious, as well as the poor overall logistics of the arena. Multiple bottleneck points prevent anyone from getting anywhere in any kind of hurry. It appears that whoever designed the arena did not expect it would ever have a crowd of more than 1,000.
City: Everyone knows how much I love Springfield. It’s probably nothing special to the average visitor, but nearby downtown offers ample unique restaurants and venues to out of town guests.
Crowd Involvement: Bears fans are generally enthusiastic, although it sometimes takes a really great play or awful call to fire them up. The newly revived student section is a great, and much needed improvement. There is an unspoken rule that no one sits down until the first basket is made. The big downside is the fact that bears fans are notorious for leaving in the final minues of close games to “beat the traffic” as if they were at a Chiefs game or something.
Team Introductions: The clapping routine is fairly lame, but at least the whole crowd does it.
Concessions: Pretty much your typical arena stuff, with the exception of the enormous ice cream scoops.
Ease of Parking: It’s always easy to find a spot in the parking garage, sometimes in the lot next to it. Either way, it’s never a long walk to HSC.
Restrooms: They are small, have a strange odor, and the sinks are in a terrible position relative to the paper towel dispensers. You also have to rub shoulders getting in or out – again, the logistics are terrible. I see many people skip the handwashing because they can’t get to the sinks. Which is gross.