It’s December in Syracuse. It’s cold, it’s wet, and anyone with a decent amount of common sense would be warming up to the fire right now. But you don’t have common sense; not on game day, at least. You’ve ruined your new snow boots on your way to the place any basketball fan within the city limits wants to be: a Syracuse basketball game at the Carrier Dome. You and 30,000 others draped in Orange erupt at every basket. An opposing player clanks a free throw off the right side of the rim and you think to yourself, How could anyone come in and win here?
Well, according to one ESPN writer, there are four different places in the ACC alone more frightening to visiting teams than the Dome. As I’m sure anyone reading this already knows, that’s ridiculous.
According to this list, Duke, Virginia, Louisville and North Carolina all have bigger home-court advantages than what the Carrier Dome gives Syracuse.
I’ll give you a moment, and when you’ve read that enough times to realize it isn’t a typo feel free to keep scrolling down.
It’s not like the Carrier Dome should be No. 1 here. Cameron Indoor has been around for over 75 years and the Blue Devils have been consistently winning there for long enough to make this race¬†a blowout. But there’s no way Syracuse falls lower than No. 3 (behind Duke and North Carolina).
You’re trying to tell me Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center (22,090 capacity) and Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena (14,593 capacity) come even close to comparing to the home-court advantage the Carrier Dome’s 35,446 fans give Syracuse? This is the Carrier Dome which has won 14 attendance crowns since opening in 1980. The Carrier Dome which hasn’t fallen below No. 4 in average attendance since 1982. The Carrier Dome which in 20 seasons has had a higher average¬†attendance than the maximum capacity of both Louisville’s and Virginia’s arenas.¬†Yeah, that makes sense.
I’m no blind follower, though. I’ll hear you out. So tell me, ESPN, what makes Louisville a tougher place to play than Syracuse.
The youngest arena in the ACC also happens to be the most complete. It has amenities that could turn the game into an afterthought with premium lounges on the east and west stands of the lower tier, a bar overlooking the Ohio River and plenty of monitors to not miss any of the game.
Oh, it has nice seats. I had forgotten this helps teams win basketball games. How silly of me.
Luckily, there is a way to correct this error. You can vote for which stadium you think is the ACC’s toughest to play in here.¬†Give us justice, Orange Nation.
Posted: Nathan Dickinson
