Carver-Hawkeye Arena Needs an Upgrade

To say Carver-Hawkeye Arena is busy during the winter months would be an understatement. 

Not only is the venue home to Iowa's popular basketball and wrestling programs, it also hosts occasional gymnastics and volleyball events during the season. 

A high volume of games means a high volume of fans walking through the doors. There's no question Iowa has one of the most loyal all-around fanbases, but each time I walk in the doors to cover a game at Carver, I'm reminded of how outdated the facility is. 

I always arrive early to cover games to avoid the crowded concourse, but that's only a temporary fix. Getting to the concession stands or restrooms after gates open is always a difficult process in any arena or stadium, but there's not a lot of space to get around in Carver-Hawkeye. 

When the venue is often filled at or near capacity, you're forced to bump shoulders with strangers - an uncomfortable experience for many. 

I've always advocated for CHA to be renovated, and the 2025-26 season completely confirmed that. Prior to becoming publisher of HawkeyeRoundtable, I spent 1.5 years as the men's basketball reporter for The Daily Iowan. 

Working at the DI is one of the best memories I'll ever have, and it allowed me to travel to a ton of cool places. We didn't travel much during the final season of Fran McCaffery's tenure, but we did make the trip to Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska for the regular season finale. 

I'm not going to compare a 13-year-old arena to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which turned 43 earlier this year, but I am going to stack it against two other venues in the Big Ten - Michigan State's Breslin Center and Wisconsin's Kohl Center. 

I visited both arenas for the first time this year, and immediately after stepping foot in both, I quickly realized how far behind Carver-Hawkeye Arena is. 

Let's start with the Breslin Center. The arena opened in 1989 (six years after CHA), but it looks like it just opened five years ago. The success of Michigan State's basketball program definitely helped Breslin get a nice renovation, but it's the perfect venue for fans and media alike. 

The concourse has plenty of space for fans to walk, and the media facilities are top-notch. The same goes for the Kohl Center, which opened in 1998 but also has an incredible game day experience for fans. 

I can't remember if the Breslin Center also had this feature, but the Kohl Center had a restaurant/bar for season ticket holders and donors, which is something you don't see in many college basketball venues. 

I was also really impressed with how both facilities had luxury suites inside them. I'm not sure if Michigan State added them into the original plans when building Breslin, but I'm sure Wisconsin implemented them when the Kohl Center opened. 

The unusual bowl shape of Carver-Hawkeye Arena makes it hard to bring it up to par with some of the Big Ten's best arenas, but it absolutely needs a revamp. 

Athletics Director Beth Goetz is trying to raise funding for renovations, but what would those entail when the funding arrives? I would start by removing all of the seats and adding newer, wider ones. Not only are the seats small, their brown color just isn't visually appealing on TV when the arena isn't full. 

That would be a great start to bringing Carver-Hawkeye closer to modern standards, but outside of that, I don't have many other suggestions. CHA definitely needs a renovation, and I fully believe Goetz will make that happen within the next five years. 

If you could make one change to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, what would it be? 

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