When Ohio State officials sought models for the new arena they were planning west of Olentangy River Road in the 1990s, the Charlotte Coliseum was one that caught their eye.
Beautiful as it was, the 24,000-seat Coliseum died in 2007 at the ripe old age of 19. Among the criticisms: It was too big. I thought about that Tuesday while watching the Ohio State beat Akron before a happy throng of 4,698 at Value City Arena.
That crowd and today’s for OSU’s second-round NIT game against Florida aren’t the norm — the ticket office essentially had to start from scratch once the postseason began — but it reinforced thoughts that have nagged repeatedly since the arena opened in 1998: School officials made a mistake when they decided on a 19,000-seat basketball/hockey/entertainment facility that isn’t perfect for any of its uses.