The Nest | |
![]() Exterior view in 2011 | |
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Location | 1535 East Wooster Street Bowling Green, Ohio, 43402 United States |
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Coordinates | 41°22′31″N83°37′29″W / 41.375343°N 83.624711°W |
Owner | Bowling Green State University |
Operator | Global Spectrum |
Capacity | 4,387 (Basketball) 5,209 (Convocation) |
Surface | Multi-surface |
Construction | |
Broke ground | September 3, 2009 |
Opened | September 9, 2011 |
Construction cost | $30 million ($40.6 million in 2023 dollars [1] ) |
Architect | Rossetti Architects |
Project manager | Gilbane Building Company [2] |
Services engineer | URS Group Inc. |
General contractor | Mosser Construction [3] |
Tenants | |
Bowling Green Falcons (NCAA) Men's basketball (2011–present) Women's basketball (2011–present) Women's volleyball (2011–present) |
The Stroh Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. It replaced Anderson Arena as the home of the Bowling Green Falcons men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball teams, and hosts music concerts and the university's commencement ceremonies. The arena was designed by the architectural firm Rossetti Architects, designers of Red Bull Arena and Rio Tinto Stadium, and engineering firm URS Group Inc. The building opened in September 2011 and seats 4,387 people for basketball and volleyball games and 5,209 for convocation events and concerts. [4] [5]
After almost five decades of service to Bowling Green State University, it became apparent that Anderson Arena was at the end of its useful life due to its limited accommodations. There were only two restrooms in the entire arena and poor acoustics for concerts, and it also lacked air conditioning. The most glaring factor that demanded replacement of Anderson Arena was that it was severely out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. All of these proved detrimental to the university's image and recruiting abilities. [6]
At the men's basketball 2008 home finale against rival Kent State, Kermit Stroh, a trustee of the university from 1993 to 2002, and his late wife Mary Lu donated a university record $8.7 million to the university towards interscholastic athletics with $7.7 million marked for the building of a new convocation center that was to replace Anderson Arena. [7] [8]
After a fundraiser that netted $13.5 million, including the $7.7 million from the Strohs, Bowling Green earmarked $36 million to fund the construction of the new arena, which included a $60 student fee every semester once the building was opened until the loans for the construction of the arena were paid off. As plans for the arena accelerated despite the university's poor financial situation, several students formed a coalition to have a student vote on the Undergraduate Student Government's resolution that the student body supported paying the extra fee, leaving the passage of the resolution to the students in a vote. [9] The subsequent vote was held online in late March 2009, 28% of the student population participated in the vote and approved of the future fee with 2,630 students in favor, while 1,182 were opposed. [10]
Seven sites around the campus were under consideration for the construction of the Stroh Center, including the adjacent parking lot next to Memorial Hall, which houses Anderson Arena and the intramural fields between Doyt Perry Stadium and the Kreischer residence halls. The university ultimately decided to build the arena on a large parking lot along Wooster Street and Mercer Road at the east end of the campus that served as one of two parking lots for students that resided in the dormitories on campus. Ground was broken on September 3, 2009, as Kerm Stroh dug a patch of ground with a backhoe at a ceremony attended by around 450 spectators and media. [11] The first steel beam was installed at the Stroh Center site on January 25, 2010 [12] and the site's topping off occurred during a ceremony on May 3, 2010. [13]
In July 2008, the university announced that a 2-ton, 23-foot (7.0 m) falcon statue would be installed at the entrance of the new arena. The statue was a gift from North Carolina philanthropist, Irwin Belk, and cost $100,000. The statue was designed by the Jon Hair Studio of Fine Art near Cornelius, North Carolina and will be the largest bronze falcon statue in the world. [14] The falcon statue was installed in November 2010 and became part of the Falcon Spirit Plaza at the front entrance of the Stroh Center. [15]
The Stroh Center was designed by Rossetti Architects of Southfield, Michigan and the Cleveland office of the URS Group Inc. engineering firm. A major goal of the construction was to replicate the intimacy of Anderson Arena, while providing athletes and spectators with the modern comforts of a state-of-the-art convocation center. To accommodate this the Stroh Center was built in a theatre-in-the-round design, providing an open walkway allowing spectators to walk completely around the facility without missing the event on the stadium floor. [16] The arena also includes 88 courtside seats, and the furthest seat in the arena, 60 feet (18 m) from the court, is only 5 feet (1.5 m) further from the furthest seat at Anderson Arena. The seat widths at the Stroh Center range from 19 to 22 inches, while the largest seat at Anderson was only 18 inches. The arena also has four restrooms each at the north and south ends of the arena, two for women, one for men, and one for families, and provides four concession areas in the open walkways. [17]
An auxiliary gym at the Stroh Center, called the Schmidthorst Pavilion, was paid for with a $1.7 million donation from Allen and Carol Schmidthorst, [18] while the court for the gym was paid for with a $1 million donation from Bowling Green alumnus Larry Miles. The auxiliary practice gym built with the combined $2.7 million helps the men's and women's basketball teams avoid scheduling conflicts with the arena, an amenity that was not available at the Anderson Arena. [19] The arena also includes four visiting team locker rooms that can accommodate multiple teams that allow it to support events such as high school basketball tournaments. [16]
The main video board at the Stroh Center is 10 feet (3.0 m) high by 20 feet (6.1 m) wide with fixed sponsor elements and decorative cladding developed by Capturion Network LLC. The scoreboard hangs above the west basket and can operate as one large screen or be divided into multiple sections which have the ability to display real-time statistics, sponsor graphics, 3D animations and HD live or recorded video. Along with the scoreboard, Capturion manufactured the scorer's tables and press row, which also feature the company's latest technology. [20] There also is a 3-by-30-foot (0.91 by 9.14 m) "ribbon board" on the east end of the court with a variety of other scoreboards. [17]
The Stroh Center also holds a prominently placed Hall of Fame to commemorate the history of athletics at Bowling Green State University that includes exhibits and display cases that hold items on a rotating basis. There is also a designated area within the arena for cataloging and storing items not currently on display. Before the facilities at the Stroh Center, almost all memorabilia and artifacts related to Bowling Green athletics since the university's opening in 1910 had been stored in boxes in a small room just off the lobby of Anderson Arena in Memorial Hall and voluntarily collected and stored by former Bowling Green men's soccer and lacrosse coach Mickey Cochrane, who is namesake for the Mickey Cochrane Stadium which serves as the home of the Bowling Green Falcons men's and women's soccer teams. [21]
On February 8, 2020, the Hall of Fame was dedicated as the Schmidthorst Heritage Hall following renovations, adding items from the Cochrane Cunningham Archives to the hall. [22]
Harold Anderson, former Bowling Green men's basketball coach and athletic director and namesake for the Stroh Center's predecessor, Anderson Arena, is remembered with the Anderson Club. The Anderson Club consists of an approximately 1,500-square-foot (140 m2) club area and chair back seating for roughly 400 fans. It includes hospitality areas, food and beverage service, high-definition televisions and areas to view the games. The Anderson Club area is located on the concourse level on the south side of the arena at mid-court and seating for fans extends to the floor-level row. [23]
The Stroh Center held its first ticketed event, a concert by Christian rock band Sanctus Real, on August 13, 2011. The first Bowling Green athletic event at the new arena was a women's volleyball match between Bowling Green and Michigan State on September 9. The Bowling Green Falcons defeated the Spartans in four games, 3–1 with the attendance of 2,961 people. [24] The men's basketball team played their first game at the Stroh Center on November 11, a 63–48 win over Howard in front of 3,476 fans. [25] The women's team played their home opener against Purdue six days later, falling to the 20th-ranked Boilermakers 54–53 with 1,932 in attendance. [17] [26]
The Stroh Center Stadium hosted a regular season game between the Bowling Green men's basketball team and the nationally prominent Michigan State men's basketball team during the 2012–13 men's basketball season and hosting first and second-round games of the 2012 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. [27]
In September 2012, President Barack Obama gave a speech at the Stroh Center during his re-election campaign.
Throughout the early years of its existence, the Stroh Center has held concerts with various artists. The most notable have been Chris Young, Florida Georgia Line, Kenny Rogers, and Cleveland-based rapper Machine Gun Kelly. [28] [29] [30] [31] Later performances included B.o.B., Nick Jonas, Kesha, Hunter Hayes, and Kip Moore. [32] [33] [34] [35] [36]
The Hatch, an annual entrepreneurship competition inspired by Shark Tank and organized by the College of Business Administration moved from the Student Union to the Stroh Center in 2015. [37]
The Stroh Center also hosts the Falcon BEST Robotics competition annually in the fall. [38]
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The 1,338-acre (541.5 ha) main academic and residential campus is 15 miles (24 km) south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the natural and social sciences, education, arts, business, health and wellness, humanities and applied technologies. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 as a normal school, specializing in teacher training and education. The university has developed from a small rural normal school into a comprehensive public research university. It is a part of University System of Ohio and currently classified as R2: Doctoral Universities with high research activity
W. Harold Anderson was an American college men's basketball coach at Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo. As a player, he played at Otterbein College, a small liberal arts college outside Columbus, Ohio. As a coach he was one of the first to win more than 500 games on the collegiate level. Anderson was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Slater Family Ice Arena is a 5,000-seat hockey arena on the campus of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. It is home to the university's men's ice hockey team, the Bowling Green Falcons, which plays in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. It was built from 1965 to 1967 for a cost of $1.8 million and opened in February 1967. The arena originally had seating for 2,863 until 1989 when it was expanded to its current size of 5,000. Formerly known as the BGSU Ice Arena, it was renamed in 2016.
Anderson Arena is an indoor arena located in Memorial Hall on the campus of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, and is currently home to the Bowling Green Falcons women's gymnastics team. The arena, which opened in 1960, served as the home arena for the Bowling Green men's and women's basketball teams and women's volleyball team until 2011. Following their season finales in 2010 and 2011, the teams moved into the newly built Stroh Center on the east side of campus. It originally had a seating capacity of 4,700 people for basketball games. For gymnastics meets, the capacity is 2,800.
Freddie and Frieda Falcon are the mascots of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. The pair are anthropomorphized peregrine falcons. They are somewhat of a rarity among collegiate mascots, being one of the few male-female mascot pairs in existence. In 2006 they were both named "Best Collegiate Mascot" at the 2006 NCA Cheer Camp in Nashville, Tennessee at Vanderbilt University.
The Toledo Rockets are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The school's colors are midnight blue and gold.
The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Division. The men's ice hockey team competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA); and men's soccer competes in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), following the MAC shutting down its men's soccer league at the end of the 2022 season. Bowling Green sponsors teams in seven men's and 11 women's NCAA-sanctioned sports and the football team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level for college football. BGSU is one of only 15 universities in the United States that plays Division I FBS football and Division I men's ice hockey.
The Bowling Green Falcons men's basketball team is the basketball team that represent Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. The school's team currently competes in the Mid-American Conference. The team last played in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 1968. Former head coach Michael Huger was fired after the 2022-23 season, and Todd Simon was hired to replace him on March 15, 2023.
The Bowling Green Falcons football program is the intercollegiate football team of Bowling Green State University. The team is a member of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level; BGSU football competes within the Mid-American Conference in the East Division. The Falcons have played their home games in Doyt Perry Stadium since 1966. The stadium holds 24,000 spectators. In their 93-year history, the Falcons have won 12 MAC championships and a UPI national championship in 1959. The head coach is Scot Loeffler.
The Bowling Green Falcons ice hockey team is the ice hockey team that represents Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. The school's team competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. The Falcons last played in the NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament in 2019. The Falcons have won one NCAA Division I championship, coming in 1984, defeating the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in the longest championship game in the tournament's history.
The Bowling Green Falcons baseball team is a varsity athletic program at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, The team plays in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons have played in three NCAA Tournaments, going in 1972, 1999, and 2013. The program has 13 regular-season conference championships, six East Division championships, and three conference tournament championships. The most recent regular-season championship came in 2024. The 1921 team was the first athletic team at the school to win a title, when they finished 6–1–2 in the Northwest Ohio League.
The 2009 Bowling Green Falcons football team represented Bowling Green State University during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Dave Clawson and played in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. They played their home games at Doyt Perry Stadium. They finished the season 7–6, 6–2 in MAC play to finish in third place in the East Division. They were invited to the Humanitarian Bowl where they lost to Idaho.
The Bowling Green Falcons women's basketball team is the NCAA Division I women's basketball team that represents Bowling Green State University. The team plays at the 4,700-seat Stroh Center on the BGSU campus in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons competes in the Mid-American Conference.
The Falcon Marching Band, known also as the FMB, is the marching band of Bowling Green State University. It features a symphonic sound and Big Ten-style chair step marching. Under the direction of Jonathan “Jon” Waters, marching band is the largest student organization on campus. The band performs at all home football games, which are hosted in Doyt Perry Stadium as well as other various university functions.
The 2010 Bowling Green Falcons football team was the 92nd varsity football team to represent Bowling Green State University and the program's 58th season in the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons play in the MAC's east division and are led by second year head coach Dave Clawson. They played their home games at Doyt Perry Stadium. They finished the season 2–10, 1–7 in MAC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place in the East Division.
The 2009–10 Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey season was the Falcons' 41st season of varsity hockey and 39th in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). The Falcons finished the year as the eleventh place team in the CCHA and in the first round of the CCHA Hockey Tournament, they lost to the sixth seed Nebraska Omaha. The team was coached by Dennis Williams in his first and only season as the program's head coach.
Michael Anthony Huger is an American college basketball coach who is an assistant coach for Temple. Prior to Temple, he was the head coach for his alma mater Bowling Green Falcons team. Huger is a native of New York City.
The 2019–20 Bowling Green Falcons men's basketball team represent Bowling Green State University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Falcons, led by 5th-year head coach Michael Huger, play their home games at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio as members of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference.
Ronald Zwierlein is an American athletic administrator who was the athletic director at John Carroll University, Bowling Green State University, and St. Bonaventure University.