Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports
Bloomington, IN- There are some major changes coming to the Indiana Hoosiers‘ basketball venue. It was announced last week that a multi-million dollar renovation was coming to Assembly Hall. The administration didn’t want to build a new venue as it was going to be too costly. Plus, Assembly Hall is one of the most unique arenas in all of basketball, and with all of the tradition no one really wanted a new home for the Hoosiers.
So plans for the renovation were announced.
Part of the plans are to restructure the south end of the facility. They’re going to put some luxury suites and redo the section behind the south basket. Then they’re going to totally redo the south lobby making it more luxurious. From there the university is going to renovate the concession stands and bathrooms and also add more bathrooms in the arena.
There will also be a new state of the art video board and escalators installed.
All of that, though, is going to cost money.
That’s where the name change comes around.
There used to be two Assembly Halls – both in the Big 10. The Illinois Fighting Illini and Indiana played home games in Assembly Hall. The Illini’s arena got a name change as it’s now called the State Farm Center. Starting in 2016, Indiana’s Assembly Hall will be known as the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The Skjodt (Pronounced Scott) family donated $40 million to the renovations of the arena. That was enough to pretty much cover all the upgrades which is why Indiana is going to name the arena after the 1980 graduate.
Changes are coming to Bloomington. The only thing Hoosier fans are really concerned with adding is another banner.
