CSU plans to add party porch to Moby Arena

Hoping to capitalize on the success of the New Belgium Porch in its on-campus football stadium, CSU’s athletic department is planning a similar party-deck area for Moby Arena.

School officials have been reluctant to speak publicly about the plans but have shared them recently at meetings with boosters.

The porch will be built on the west side of Moby Arena, replacing the 500 or so seats in the upper level above the concourse, according to a handful of boosters who have seen the plans and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Fans would be able to purchase and drink beer on the porch but would not be allowed to take it outside of the area.

“I think it would be very popular,” one booster said. “I’m pretty excited about it.”

Colorado State University athletic director Joe Parker and deputy AD Steve Cottingham acknowledged two months ago that the school was working on the project after former men’s basketball coach Larry Eustachy mentioned it to reporters. Parker and Cottingham said at the time they were not ready to discuss the plans in detail. Both declined requests made through a school spokesman last week and again Wednesday to talk further about the project.

Although CSU sells beer throughout its new football stadium that opened last fall, beer has not previously been available at Moby Arena, the 8,745-seat facility where the Rams’ basketball and volleyball teams play their home games.

More: Hello from the other side: My evening on the New Belgium Porch at CSU

One source involved in the plans said the school has no plans to sell beer in the general seating areas of Moby Arena because of concerns about spills and cleanup. The seats below the concourse level are retractable and sit on top of the hardwood floor that is used for basketball and volleyball practices and graduation ceremonies for CSU and Poudre School District high schools.

The porch area would contain two to three tiers, lined with rails that drinks could be set upon, much like the two tiers that line the New Belgium Porch in the open north end zone of CSU’s football stadium.

Access would be limited to fans who purchase a membership as an add-on to their season tickets. Memberships to the New Belgium Porch at the football stadium cost $200 apiece last season and were capped at 1,200 people.

“In this day and age and the trend of arenas and stadiums, so much of it is centered around the entertainment aspect,” one booster said. “Instead of going to a game, you say you’re going to an event. That’s kind of how I see this whole thing. It just adds to the pleasure of the Moby experience, especially to those who might not be there necessarily for the game itself.”

Average attendance at CSU men’s basketball games last season was 3,341, the lowest it has been in 10 years and second-lowest average in the arena’s 52-year history.

Boosters were not told whether the university had lined up a sponsor yet for the porch at Moby. Spokesmen for New Belgium, the Fort Collins brewery that produces the popular Fat Tire beer and a CSU-branded Old Aggie lager, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

More: New Belgium founder Jeff Lebesch shares insights on life after beer

New Belgium paid for construction of the porch bearing its name at the football stadium as part of the $4.3 million sponsorship agreement.

No estimates were available Thursday about what it would cost to build the porch at Moby, but it likely would be done in conjunction with other planned work at the facility that opened in 1966.

The university is planning to upgrade locker rooms for several sports programs at Moby now that the football team has moved its locker room and offices to the new stadium. Plans also call for improvements at Moby for the softball and women’s soccer programs, which practice and play their home games on fields south of the arena.

The porch is “a great idea for that space,” one booster said. “And you’d think it could be done relatively inexpensively. I can’t remember what they floated out there in terms of what it might cost.”

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310) and 10:45 a.m. Saturdays on Denver’s ESPN radio (AM 1600).