The Pros & Cons To Western Michigan Hockey’s Lawson Arena

The Western Michigan University Broncos Hockey Team is the center of the Men'd Division 1 college hockey world as they are celebrating their national championship victory over the Boston University Terriers on Saturday April 12th at the Frozen Four in St. Louis. Although they are atop of the country at the moment, the work doesn't stop here as things will be changing soon.

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For the longest, the Western Michigan Broncos have played hockey inside of the historic Lawson Arena on their campus in Kalamazoo. This arena has been great to them as many teams have mentioned the unrivaled atmosphere inside of the arena and many former broncos will tell you how special Lawson is to them. As cool as Lawson may be, the Broncos are looking to move into a new home for their ice sports.

Kalamazoo is building a new arena and event space downtown, and the Broncos hockey team has already announced their plans to play home games inside of the new arena. Personally, I'm not sure this is the best idea but only time will tell. I would like to say that keeping Lawson Arena as the home ice for the Broncos would be ideal but there are still some advantages to using the new space.

Reasons For WMU Broncos Hockey to Leave or Stay in Lawson Arena

Let's start with the reasons why they should stay in Lawson Arena:

• The intimacy: Lawson Arena is a little smaller than most Division 1 college hockey arenas but there is something to be said about the overlapping nature of the fans. The tightness of the arena makes opposing teams feel like the fans are right on top of the ice.
• The loudness/energy: Lawson Arena is one of the loudest in the nature partly due to its small sized and overpacked seats but also because there is a low ceiling that sends all noise crashing right back down and echoing. Also, when people start jumping and screaming, that place is literally shaking.
• Proximity to campus: It's something special when your college sports are played on campus because it creates tailgating opportunities, students are able to get to the events easily, and it adds to the ambiance of the evening.
• Decor: The inside of Lawson Arena is decorated to the liking of the Western Michigan Broncos hockey team and only them, they would have to share the design of the new arena with several teams, changing the feel to the game.

Now, for the reasons why they should move to the larger arena that is coming to Kalamazoo:

• Larger size: It's no secret that the new arena would be significantly larger than Lawson arena and would allow them to sell more tickets and generate more revenue. I think this would be better suited for games against bigger schools like Denver, Michigan, Minnesota Duluth, etc.
• Economic Value Downtown: This would help downtown continue to grow and helps the city of Kalamazoo support the Broncos both physically and financially as the city will be making more money from the visitors.
• Cost Efficient: This would definitely cost the Broncos less money as they would be most likely paying a rent fee to use the facilities, but they wouldn't be responsible for maintaining the ice and many other arena bills that they currently cover for Lawson Arena.

I fall along the lines of staying inside of Lawson arena but there are definitely many reasons why they should move the larger arena when it's finally built. I actually think they should use both arenas and play their conference games and smaller name opponents at Lawson Arena while the large marquee matchups would be played downtown. What do you think, should Western Michigan Broncos Hockey stay in Lawson Arena or move?