ICY RELATIONSHIP
PROVIDENCE. R.I. — The often tenuous relationship between Providence College and its basketball home hit an unfortunate breaking point Wednesday night.
As the marquee tenant at the downtown Dunkin’ Donuts Center since 1972, the Friars have enjoyed plenty of joyous basketball moments in front of big crowds and national television audiences. This was not one of them.
Despite chilling the building for two days to avert any issues, Wednesday’s mid-60 degree temperatures and over 11,000 fans for a game against Seton Hall, condensation built in at least two corners of the playing floor. In the first half Seton Hall lost its leading scorer, Desi Rodriguez, to a slip-and-fall ankle injury. A concerned officiating crew discussed the conditions at halftime but chose to play on. But when another Pirate and PC’s Rodney Bullock lost their footing, the refs chose to send everybody home early and suspend the game.
Seton Hall’s players and coaches returned to the Renaissance Providence Hotel and awoke Thursday nursing a 56-47 lead with 13:03 still to play. The teams reconvened 15 hours later for what was PC’s first-ever Big East (half) game in its campus gym, Alumni Hall. Despite a Friar push, the Pirates hung on for an impressive 89-77 victory.
“You feel great going back,” said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard. “The only part I have to figure out is Desi [Rodriguez].”
Officials at the Dunk and at PC, meanwhile, are left to sort through many issues. First is how to make sure the basketball court doesn’t morph into a Slip-and-Slide whenever unseasonably warm weather hits town. PC athletic director Bob Driscoll said his staff worked with maintenance personnel at the arena since Monday knowing full well this situation could occur. The Friars play on a wood floor that sits above both a full sheet of ice used by the Providence Bruins and a thick rubber sub-floor. Yet on warm days condensation can work its way to the basketball court.
Last February a similar situation developed in a PC win over Marquette where multiple players from both teams hit the deck but the game was allowed to continue.
“It’s really concerning because I thought we had things under control,” Driscoll said. “I was assured that all the systems were in place, that we had the air conditioning on the right level. So we have to figure it out.”
The arena, which was renovated 10 years ago by the state to the tune of $80 million, does not have a dehumidifier like some other buildings of its size. However, officials at the Dunk say one isn’t needed as long as the HVAC system and ice chiller are synchronized correctly. James McCarvill, the executive director of the R.I. Convention Center and the Dunk’s parent body, apologized to both schools and the fans for Wednesday’s problems and said “the officials made the right call to suspend the game.”
“We have met with building management and mechanical engineers today to discuss plans to improve court conditions and prevent this from happening again,” McCarvill said in a statement. “Our capital-improvement plan already includes a number of measures that should address the problem, including the installation in the coming months of a fully-automated energy management system.”
McCarvill said the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and Convention Center are both serviced by a maintenance budget that was part of the upgrades made to the Dunk in 2007-08. He pointed out that NBA games in both Minneapolis and Philadelphia have been postponed in recent years for similar reasons but said he doesn’t want to see any more occurrences in Providence.
“Just about any dual-purpose arena can run into this problem,” he said. “It’s manageable and we were pretty close on this but everything didn’t go perfectly.”
PC announced that it will offer season ticket holders a credit toward next year’s ticket packages. Driscoll said his department is also “working through details,” on how to credit single game ticket holders even though those moves will cost the school financially.
“It’s a hit for us but in fairness to the fans they lost out on the end-of-game experience,” Driscoll said. “The relationship with the fans is what’s most important to me. I know people were really upset so at the end of the day I think it was the right thing to do and the fair thing to do.”
PC pays a rental fee of roughly $35,000 per game to play 18 games a season at the Dunk. While the school retains its ticket revenue, the building keeps all concession, luxury suite and parking fees. That relationship is strained, however, and the two sides haven’t agreed on a lease for other issues since 2009.
“I haven’t signed one because I don’t think the deal has been fair and equitable,” Driscoll said. “There are upgrades and upkeep that needs to be done on a consistent basis. We want a hundred percent commitment to our program and I think we’re getting closer but we’re not there yet.”
McCarvill said he values PC as a tenant and thinks the two sides can agree on issues like the rent, revenue sharing and needed updates to the facility.
“We’re working on an extension and trying to craft a deal that’s equitable to both sides,” he said. “They would like some long-term cost certainty, which I understand. I think we’re pretty close to a deal.”