Colonial Life Arena

Colonial Life Arena

Home of South Carolina Gamecocks basketball

Opened: November 2002

Seating Capacity: 18,000

Location: Corner of Greene and Lincoln Streets in Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina

Games seen in Database Era: 138 between December 19, 2007 and November 3, 2013.

Latitude: 33.994825 N

Longitude: 81.037378 W

Distance from my house point-to-point (as the crow flies): 37.63 miles

Driving time from my house: 56 minutes

The Colonial Life Arena was built largely through the initiative of former South Carolina athletic director Mike McGee, who wanted a replacement for the then-35 year old Carolina Coliseum. The Carolina Coliseum was a functional 12,000 seat arena for Gamecock basketball, an arena that was the right size for a team that mostly struggled in SEC basketball. But McGee envisioned an arena that could enhance USC's position in not just basketball but drawing other events to the Columbia area. With USC largely responsible for all entertainment options in Columbia, the Colonial Life Arena was to be Columbia's super moder state-of-the-art arena designed to bring big-name concerts and other marquee entertainment events back to Columbia. 

But McGee's dream has largely not come to fruition. As the arena was being built, stubbornness by the state governenment over the Confederate battle flag flying on the State House grounds has led to the NCAA banning the Colonial Life Arena and other South Carolina stadiums from hosting pre-determined neutral site NCAA Tournament games. The Harlem Globetrotters will also not come to the CLA for the same reason. The Colonial Life Arena has been successful in obtaining country music concerts and other touring shows, but other big-name music groups have mostly chosen other venues such as Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena when visiting the region. The Colonial Life Arena is still a major source of entertainment revenue for Columbia, but it has not been as successful as planned. Could the aging Carolina Coliseum been able to be just as successful had the CLA never been built?

The Colonial Life Arena opened in 2002 with a women's basketball game between the Gamecocks and rival Clemson. Being a rivalry game with only one dollar admission in the building's grand opening, the game sold out. It is the only time the South Carolina women's basketball team has ever sold out, or ever come close for that matter to seeling out the 18,000 seat arena. The men have not had much success either, having not sold out any game in two years now and only five times since their last NCAA Tournament Apperance in 2004. Since the construction of this state-of-the art arena, the Gamecocks basketball program has shown little sign of improvement. After a promising start that did not last under Darrin Horn, the Gamecocks hope that new coach Frank Martin can finally turn a program around that has not won a single NCAA Tournament game in 40 years.

Now, it's finally time to grade our first stadium...

Seating Capacity: A

As mentioned, the Colonial Life Arena seats 18,000, way more than the Gamecocks' average which has been around 9,000 tickets sold per game the last few years. Some may not like the emptiness of the place during most games. But what it means is that your average fan can easily come in and grab a decent seat at an affordable price if he or she wants to. Outside of games against Kentucky and other college basketball superpowers, you pretty much have your pick of seats in the upper deck for each game. And most games you should be able to find a lower deck seat as well, although season ticket sales make it hard for the average fan to get multiple seats together in the lower bowl along the sideline. 18,000 seats is way more than at even some powerhouses like Florida (12,000 seats) and Duke (9,000 seats). So while some fans may not like the emptiness of the CLA, it has tremendous benefits to the average fan who just wants to see a college basketball game.

Quality of Seats: B+

All 18,000 seats at the Colonial Life Arena are actual chairback seats with decent padding. You will not feel uncomfortable sitting in your seat. Unlike at some other multi-purpose venues, each seat is positioned well towards the court. No seat (even behind the baseline) is too far from the court. When the arena first opened, some season ticket holders who were located in the front rows of the upper deck complained about the proximity to the court compared to the old Carolina Coliseum. But compared to most large arenas, every seat is relatively close to the floor. That cannot be said of NBA arenas like Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena, where a large number of suites creates great distance between spectators in the upper deck and the game on the court.  The one knock preventing an A grade here is that the seats in the lower deck are not well tiered. No seat is too high from the court in the lower deck, which does not make seeing the game over those in front of you easy particularly the closer you are to the court itself. It is particularly a problem if you are seated towards the back of the student section seats along the side of the court, which are placed in a mosh-like pit that allows season ticket holders above to be able to see over the standing students. But if you are in the back rows of those standing students, you will only be able to see half the court even when standing.

Attractiveness/Uniqueness: F

Nothing says "generic basketball arena" quite like the Colonial Life Arena. If you could picture the most generic looking arena, it would likely look something like the CLA. It is just a simple round structure of garnet seats that has no features that stand out. If I saw an artistic rendition of every college basketball arena, I would probably have a hard time picking the Colonial Life Arena out even though I have been to it more than any other stadium. The only distinctive feature is the rail diving the student moshpit from the rest of the stands. And unlike at some other places with similar features such as NC State's RBC Center and Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium, it is not all to distinctive at the CLA. The Colonial Life Arena is a bland arena with a semi-professioanl corporate feel. It has nothing to offer to excite a fan upon seeing.

Concessions: A-

Any food option you might want at the Colonial Life Arena is available. Your standard nachos and hot dogs are always available. Other popular items like chicken fingers, burgers, and a Little Caesars Pizza stand are available. Ice cream stands are also usually available on the concourse as well, as are Teriyaki chicken stands. And there are a whole bunch of items I am missing as well that I cannot think of off the top of my head. The only food selection problem I know of is concerning drinks, with water,  two flavors of Powerade, Sprite, Coke, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero usually the only drinks available (if you get lucky, sometimes Cherry Coke is available as well). You can easily get a meal at the Colonial Life Arena, and even vary that meal if you come here often. But that meal will likely cost you 50 percent more than at a restaurant, usually going for around $11 here. That is nothing like major professional stadiums where a meal usually costs well over $15, but not like smaller venues where you can get a small meal for somehwere between five and seven dollars.

Parking: B

The best part of Colonial Life Arena parking is that there is very good access into the lots coming off the main road (Assembly Street) and you can usually park within short walking distance of the arena. The Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center lot as well as the lot caddy corner to the main entrance at Lincoln and Greene Streets is as close to the arena as most VIP lots are, yet the general public can access them for $5. There is no free parking at the CLA however, a bit of a knock on it compared to most mid-major arenas (even USC's rival from the ACC in Clemson offers some decent free parking). Access in and out of the lots is usually easy, but recent construction has closed off Greene Street and Assembly Street which can cause some hassle. Access to Assembly Street can also sometimes be difficult after a crowded game, as can getting out of the lot itself from some of the back lots a couple blocks from the arena.  But other times, access can be easy. And generally that is the case with the sparse crowds that come to see the struggling Gamecocks.

Lighting: B

The CLA is much better lit than most college basketball arenas. But that is what you would expect from a multi-purpose venue well designed for televised games in a major conference. The lighting is easily good enough for television, but nothing much more. Recommended camera settings are generally around ISO 1600 with an exposure set between 1/200 to 1/500 with a f-stop of 5. If you are not worried about freezing fast action with a camera, you can usually shoot at ISO 800 with an exposure around 1/125 or 1/160.  And for wide shots of the arena with a f-stop of 4, you can shoot at ISO 200 with an exposure of 1/40. If you are taking pictures of what is going on in the stands (especially the upper deck), much slower exposure times are obviously needed. Like at many arenas, the lower deck is pretty well lit but not as much in the upper deck. 

Fans: B-

Most games the arena is pretty much empty. But remember my evaluation is about quality of fans rather than quantity. That also varies here depending on the stature of the games as well. For some games when USC is struggling and playing a guarantee game, there are only a few hundred students who are all sitting. But for the rare big SEC game, you can get a few thousand students all standing. When the Gamecocks beat #1 ranked Kentucky in 2010, the atmosphere could not be matched at any college basketball arena in the country, not even Duke. But that is not very typical, and you can get the most sterile atmosphere possible during guarantee games and when the team is struggling. It was sad that in the 2011-12 season that the biggest crowds came when the bandwagons of Kentucky and Ohio State mostly filled the seats. For most games, you get a mix. The atmosphere can get a bit sterile, but you can usualy get about 20 members of the student section going most of the time. The South Carolina student section is the "Garnet Army", wearing t-shirts with the school colors of garnet, black, and white in a camouflage design. Student activity in the Garnet Army has waned in recent years with the lack of a successful basketball team, but there remains a few devoted students. Most notably is Carlton Thompson, who graduated from South Carolina about 40 years ago but still sis in the baseline seats of the student section every game. He is known locally as "Basketball Jesus" or "Baseline Jesus" for his devotion to both Gamecock basketball teams and his hippie-like apperance with a beard and long hair. While the building is mostly empty, the fans are mostly knowledgable with a few loyal diehards still waiting for a good team to arrive.

Other Stuff: B+

The Colonial Life Arena is a very modern facility. It has everything a fan needs to enjoy the experience. The concourse is very wide and fan friendly. In addition to the concessions stand, there are extensive souvenir stands and marketing/spirit stands on the concourse. There is even a bounce house on the concourse for kids. The scoreboard is state-of-the-art, and the arena for all its sterility has a nice feel to it. It may not be attractive in being unique, but the building is very clean and made to look as modern as possible. It almost feels like a NBA arena for the city of Columbia. While that has its plusses, it also has its minuses as well. Security can often be a bit tight (especially for the high school state championships, which apparently require metal detectors while Gamecock games do not) and seems to have gotten tighter lately. I never had a problem bringing in a small DSLR in past years (my current camera is a good point-and-shoot), but I saw one fan confronted about a DSLR recently he had brought to take pictures of his daughter performing at halftime of a USC women's game. The CLA staff also threatened to revoke student signs handed out by USC marketing staff for a January 2012 game that promoted the football team's first ever 11 win season (the football team was being honored at halftime of that game). The Colonial Life Arena is very much a professional arena, with both good and bad qualities in that sense.

Summary: The Colonial Life Arena can often have a sterile, corporate atmosphere. The arena was originally going to be known as the Carolina Center until naming rights were sold to Colonial Insurance to become the Colonial Center just before the building opened. Among corporate names, the Colonial Center had a name that sounded good and I still often refer to the building by that name. I was a bit disappointed when the arena became the Colonial Life Arena in 2008 when Colonial changed its full name to Colonial Life Insurance. The arena feels too much like a NBA arena. But it is not quite all the way to being a NBA arena. Fans are much more vocal and active than at say a Charlotte Bobcats game. Even if the Bobcats were to shock the Miami Heat, you won't see the Bobcat players invite fans to push past security and storm the court like what happened when the Gamecocks upset Kentucky three years ago. The gameday environment is still better here than at a NBA game. And tickets are plentiful and affordable, with seats at $15 for the upper deck and a lower deck seat costing just $18. And for a really good deal go watch the South Carolina women for $7 and see a NCAA Tournament team play. A game here is only slightly more expensive than a mid-major game. Granted the Gamecocks do not play better basketball than what we see from many mid-majors, and you will still get better bang for the buck at most mid-major games. But if you are looking for a decent quality sports option in the Columbia area much more affordable than Gamecock football and more accessible than Gamecock baseball, make a trip to the Colonial Life Arena. 

Overall GPA: 2.875