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Villanova Reopens Finneran Pavilion Following $65M Renovation

Villanova on Friday night "held its grand reopening" of the re-named Finneran Pavilion, which underwent a $65M offseason renovation, according to Joe Juliano of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. The building "honors William Finneran, a 1963 graduate of the university," for his $22.6M gift to the project. Villanova AD Mark Jackson said that the three goals of the project "were met: a modernized Division I facility, a satisfying fan experience, and a means of generating revenue." The entire undertaking was "funded by 1,069 donors." Jackson said that the mission now is "working out the bugs because 'we've got things we've got to figure out and then we have to deliver.'" Jackson: "We'll have hiccups and we'll have headaches, but we're excited about it." Juliano noted the arena "sports LED video screens, 3-D court projections, and state-of-the-art audio-visual technology." The building also has a "new main entrance and a lobby with a display of the program's championship trophies and an interactive history." During the renovations, Villanova's men's team played last season at Wells Fargo Center, while the women's team's used Jake Nevin Field House (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 10/6).

FIT FOR THE CHAMPS: THE ATHLETIC's Dana O'Neil wrote the building was "literally gutted from floor to ceiling," and "even the roof was temporarily removed." O'Neil: "Where once you felt as if you were walking into a nondescript high school gym, the new two-story entrance is a gleaming, tech-stuffed tribute to all that is Villanova basketball history." It has the "perfect combination of razzle-dazzle and simplicity that suits" the school. The "fact that Villanova claimed two national titles in three years while playing in a 34-year-old arena that was more yells and thistles than bells and whistles is the true wonder." The original Pavilion’s style was "more utilitarian blah, the hallways cramped and dark, concessions straight out of a high-school gym, and the space managing to be cavernous and yet utterly useless at the same time" (THEATHLETIC.com, 10/8).

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