A Tour of the Horizon: UWGB’s Resch Center
For round two of the tour around the Horizon League, I ventured up to Green Bay, Wisc., and the Resch Center, home of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix.
Opened prior to the 2002-’03 season, the Resch Center has already seen its’ fair share of entertainment, not to mention home of Phoenix men’s basketball.
The Resch Center serves multiple purposes for the small Green Bay community. In addition to its home of UWGB basketball, it serves as the home arena for Green Bay Gamblers hockey of the United States Hockey League, which is celebrating their 25th year of play. It also plays as the home arena for the Green Bay Blizzard of the AF2, arena football league.
The Resch Center is located in the ‘stadium district of Green Bay. Next door is the Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena, the old home of Phoenix basketball. Then across the street from the front entrance is the Don Hutson Center, the practice facility for the Green Bay Packers and then a half-block away is Lambeau Field.
The facility, within the opening months of its inauguration, hosted acts such as Cher, Tool, Cyndi Lauper, James Taylor and John Mellencamp. In addition, the Resch Center has hosted a few WWE events.
As for the features of the arena, it is one of the most elaborate of its kind. Over 500 panes of tempered glass make up the entire front section of the facility, resulting in over 40,000 sq. feet of glass. Over 8,000 cubic yards of concrete and more than 3,200 tons of steel was used to erect the building. There are also nine miles of fiber and 35 miles of voice/data cable wires throughout the building.
As for the playing area, a four-sided color video board hangs above the court. The floor was made by Horner Flooring Company. They have manufactured floors for the NCAA Final Four and the NBA All-Star game for the past 17 years.
The opening game of the facility came on November 30, 2002 against the Wisconsin Badgers. The opener shattered the school’s single-game attendance record when 9,705. The capacity for basketball is 9,877. The second largest attendance was earlier this season against UW-Milwaukee when over 7,500 people saw the game.
A beautiful new building and a growing basketball program, the Resch Center will be a building that will remain occupied for many years to come.
