In a season that saw both Marist men’s and women’s basketball play at a much-improved level from recent years, Marist Athletics has seized on the opportunity to utilize multiple marketing initiatives to drive fan engagement.
In February, they released new throwback uniforms called the “Marist 87s.” Now, they have conducted a court design contest that allowed fans to digitally submit designs for a chance to be chosen as the new McCann Arena playing surface when it is re-done this summer.
The contest, which began in early January and accepted submissions until Feb. 17, allowed fans to download a PDF template of the court and design it however they wanted but had three requirements: the MAAC Conference logo had to be present and unaltered, the court lines and boundaries had to remain the same and the playing surface had to be wood-colored.
The idea originated with associate athletic director and director of external affairs, Harrison Baker. He came up with the concept during his time at Tulane where, back in 2019, Baker was the associate director of graphic design and digital strategy for the Green Wave. When the school’s football field needed some work, he produced the idea of allowing fans to submit designs that could be chosen for the new football field.
“I thought the process at Tulane was awesome and we came out with a really good product…” Baker said. “Overall, the design was well received.”
Just like at Tulane, Baker suggested the idea of a contest at Marist when it became apparent that McCann Arena’s playing surface had started to appear a little bit old. The court is in fine shape and does not negatively impact gameplay in any way, but has not been re-done since 2011. As a result, some of the wood has taken on a yellowish tinge and no longer looks as bright and nice as it once did.
“Our court now is really solid as is; it’s a great playing surface, the wood that we have is still the wood that everyone’s using,” Baker said. “We took it [re-doing the court design] as an opportunity to do some cool marketing things behind it.”
Each summer, the court goes through standard maintenance including the re-finishing of the playing surface. Since the current court was put in place in 2011, it has accumulated roughly 13 layers of coating that now rest atop the hardwood. Those layers are what lead to the slow discoloring of the court over time.
When the court is re-done this summer, the wood and structure of the court itself are not actually being replaced. Instead, the roughly 13 layers of coating and the current design will be pulled back, stripping the court all the way down to its original hardwood for a new design to be placed upon.
“What they do is they sand it down, it could be maybe a quarter of an inch or so, to what’s called bare wood so there’s no colors, there’s no finish, it’s kind of like a fresh wood surface,” said Darren McCormack, associate athletic director for facilities and operations.
McCormack showed a model piece of basketball court that displays how the court is structured to help describe what exactly is going to be done. The top layer of wood is the playing surface itself, while additional layers of supporting wood sit beneath it. All of that rests on top of a thin cushion that separates it from the poly urethane surface on the bottom.
Model section of basketball court shown by Darren McCormack.
The only part of the court that is being altered this summer is the very top surface seen in the model. Everything else that is under the top layer of wood will remain the same. There will come a point, McCormack said, that the actual wood itself will need to be replaced. The top layer can only be sanded down for a new design so many times before it loses its structural integrity. However, the McCann court has not reached that point yet.
Baker said the contest brought in roughly 40 unique submissions, some of which Marist shared on social media. One of the released designs features a silhouette of the Walkway Over the Hudson, the train-turned-pedestrian bridge that crosses the Hudson River just south of Marist’s campus.
“I think somebody did a silhouette of the walkway, which I thought was really, really cool,” said Tyrell Walden-Martin, associate sports information director and social media coordinator for Marist Athletics. “I know I would like to see some kind of silhouette representing Marist or the town of Poughkeepsie.”
It may be difficult for the bridge to be incorporated on the new court because of legal issues and rights fees, but even if it cannot be featured, its inclusion in a design showcases the creativity that fans used in their work. Another design released on Instagram featured a silhouette of the McCann Center itself while most designs featured different colored wood on the playing surface, different colors on the sidelines, different center-court logos and more. One design was even based on the popular video game, Minecraft.
The Minecraft–themed submission is perhaps the most extreme example of someone who submitted a design for fun without expecting their design to actually win. Obviously, Marist is not going to base their entire basketball court for the next decade-plus on a video game, which is why they are not letting fans vote on which submission will win. Instead of a vote, Baker, Athletic Director Tim Murray and McCormack will sit down together and decide which design – or designs – will win.
That is right – multiple designs could win.
“There may be multiple winners if it’s like, ‘Okay, they did something really nice here and they did something really nice here; how can we blend those two things together?” Baker said, suggesting that certain elements of different designs may be combined to create the final product.
McCormack’s role in the design-selection process is a little bit different than that of Baker and Murray. Because of his work managing facilities and operations, McCormack is mostly focused on the feasibility and functionality of the new design. That includes knowing the wear and tear the court faces in terms of both athletic use and the moving of equipment on the court and, most importantly for the new court design, understanding which colors will look best long term.
“No color lasts or looks better longer than colors,” McCormack said. “Damage and wear and tear show up much more [on a colored court] both to the naked eye and on the TV.”
With that in mind, it seems plausible that Baker, Murray and McCormack could lean in the direction of a more minimalist design that incorporates fewer intricate colors.
“I think we’ll land somewhere more minimalistic and simpler than a lot of the off the wall intricate designs,” he said. “But I think we can do something that will pop to the eye and be really nice, even aside from maybe someone who doesn’t like that simpler, minimalistic approach.”
Baker said that Marist Athletics plans to release the new design after the men’s and women’s basketball seasons are over, likely in early April. The winner(s) will receive four standard tickets to any single Marist basketball game next season, as well as four sideline tickets to a select game.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Gavin Hard; Photo from Marist Athletics
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