A new playing surface is to be installed in The Convo by Aug. 15, marking the first time the floor has been changed in the sporting facility's 35-year history.
About once every seven years the floor of The Convo must be sanded down, Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh said. But, due to the number of times it already has been sanded, the athletic department has no choice but to replace the floor.
"You literally go right down to the wood and sand to smooth off the nicks and gauges in the floor," Boeh said. "But if you keep sanding it, sanding it, sanding it, eventually you begin to run out of wood. The floor would not be safe to stand one more sanding because it would not be safe to stand on."
Assistant Athletics Director of Facilities and Operations Julio Freire said parts of the floor are buckling, and some pieces already have had to be glued to the floor due to overuse.
Despite the changes being made, however, the new floor will look similar to the current one, Boeh said. The only possible changes in the floor that might take place will result from possible rule changes issued by the NCAA that would push the men's three-point line back and make the lane trapezoidal.
"The floor will look very similar with similar graphics and, pending on NCAA rulings, the paint may change," Freire said. "If so, we're fortunate because we're redoing the floor anyway. We're preparing drawings for both the current situation and the possible."
Other changes that will take place for sporting facilities around campus include new scoreboards in five facilities.
Because of a new 10-year contract with Pepsico Inc., the athletic department will receive $800,000 in new scoreboards, including new video scoreboards in Peden Stadium and The Convo next year. Bob Wren Stadium, Ohio Softball Field and Chessa Field will also receive new scoreboards.
In Peden Stadium, the south-end scoreboard will display a 16-by-20 foot video scoreboard, while the north-end of the stadium will feature two video scoreboards, Freire said.
The Convo also will receive video scoreboards, each with full replay capability to replace the original scoreboards now in the arena.
"I think that's something that the fans really enjoy," Ohio men's basketball coach Tim O'Shea said. "They'll have to be careful not to replay it when there's a bad call because we've had enough bad calls; we don't need to see them over and over again and get people riled up. But I think it just adds to the excitement. During timeouts it's a nice way to keep the crowd engaged."
Those two projects are scheduled to be complete by July 31, while the new scoreboards in the baseball and softball fields - both with inning-by-inning scoring - and the scoreboard in the soccer field will be completed by mid-June.
"Our oldest scoreboard will not be three years old, whereas before that was our newest," Freire said of Pruitt's field scoreboard.
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