$500,000 Curtain for Crisler (Raoul)

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:41:37 GMT

This sounds like something from Enron-era corporate America, but Dave Brandon announced today in a blog post (Title IX at 40 and Michigan Athletics) that the latest phase of the Crisler renovation will include the addition of a $500,000 curtain that can be hung from the ceiling around the lower bowl for women's basketball games and gymnastics events:

Look at women's basketball now.

The Michigan Athletic Department just invested $23 million in the new William Davidson Player Development Center. When you walk through the doors you look to your right, you see the men's team meeting rooms and offices. When you look to the left, you see exactly the same meeting rooms and offices for the women's team. The locker rooms and players' and coaches' lounge facilities for both teams are exactly the same.

We will also invest $500,000 for a curtain to be suspended from the Crisler Center ceiling. This curtain will circle the upper bowl and will help create a louder and more intimate setting and an overall improved atmosphere for crowds of 5,000 or less. And we are doing this specifically to help our women's basketball and women's gymnastics teams and their fans.

Bricks and mortar aren't the only improvements we have seen for the program. After women's basketball head coach Kevin Borseth decided to return to Wisconsin-Green Bay to be closer to home and family, we searched for the best candidate in the country.

We hired Kim Barnes Arico from St. John's. She built the Red Storm into one of the elite teams in the Big East Conference, guiding St. John's to four NCAA Tournament appearances. Last season, the Red Storm advanced to the Sweet 16. We expect her to accomplish great things here at Michigan.

We are setting a new standard for support and winning championships -- a standard for both our men and women sports programs. We are striving to be the "leaders and best" in everything we do.

Baumgardner, in an annarbor.com article, notes:

The University of Arizona hung a similar curtain at its 14,545-seat McKale Center in 2008 for an estimated $650,000.