June 13, 2007

By Ann Green, The Greenville News

Fans who've long complained about sightlines at Furman basketball games in Timmons Arena could see some improvement following a construction project set for late this summer.

"After 10 years, we've had an opportunity now to live with Timmons Arena, and we're going to reconfigure the setup for basketball specifically," said Furman athletics director Gary Clark.

A section of the arena stage will be removed. A long vertical bar, blocking the view for some spectators, will be gone. There will be continuous seating to the floor of the arena, and with these closer courtside seats, the goal is to give Timmons Arena a more intimate feel.

The team benches and the scorer's table will be moved to the home side of the court.

In addition, the scoreboards will be positioned nearer the court. "We'll hang those parallel to the end of the court, kind of over seats in the end zones. They'll come off the walls and hang off rafters, squared up with the court, and be more visible to everybody," Clark said.

For a typical basketball game, Timmons will seat about 2,800 people under the revamp, but the arena can be reconfigured so that 5,000 seats are available for events such as concerts or graduation ceremonies, Clark said.

The work is scheduled to start in August, so it shouldn't interfere with summer sports camps taking place at Furman in the coming weeks or with basketball practices for the Furman men's and women's teams this fall.

The project will cost about $250,000, Clark said. Officials at Furman talked about possible changes to the arena for a couple of years before coming up with a plan they liked.

No modifications will be made to the exterior of the building.