NFL Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson was at Wofford Univ. on Friday for the opening of Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, where a "sold-out crowd ... marveled at the venue," according to Whisnant & Fox of the SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL. The "ivory facade stadium was paid for by donations from Richardson, along with his wife, Rosalind." Wofford students "waited in line Wednesday morning in cold, rainy conditions for a shot at one of the 350 student tickets" for Friday’s game against South Carolina. The 123,000-square-foot facility "seats 3,400 for basketball games," and the venue "can hold 4,400 for speakers and concerts." Four "large video boards, one in each corner, are prominently featured in the basketball arena." In addition, "two LED ribbon boards and three LED corner boards flash advertisements and promotions during breaks in the action." ESPN's Wendi Nix, a Wofford alum who sits on the school's BOT, said that she would rank the new venue "right up there with any she has attended." Nix: "You can have bigger and you have grander, but I don’t think you can have better anywhere in the country" (GOUPSTATE.com, 11/10). The AP noted Richardson was "honored during a halftime ceremony as Wofford students chanted, 'Jer-ry, Jer-ry' several times throughout the game" (AP, 11/10). In South Carolina, Todd Shanesy wrote the new arena is "sure to be the envy of the mid-major sports world." Friday's game had "long been sold out" and tickets in the arena "never even actually went on sale to the general public." The arena was "built with a single gift from Richardson" (GOUPSTATE.com, 11/10).
