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The University of Oregon’s new $227 million, 12,500 seat arena that will replace aging McArthur Court will be named after Matthew Knight, the late son of Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The announcement was made at Portland’s Rose Garden arena. Matthew, Phil Knight’s eldest son, died in a diving accident in 2004 while in El Salvador. He was in the country taking part in charitable work for an orphanage. Knight, who rarely speaks publicly made the announcement. As reported by the Oregon Daily Emerald, the student newspaper of UofO: "He inherited his father's love for sports but if his father rooted for Georgetown he made sure he rooted for Connecticut. If his father rooted for Duke he made sure he rooted for North Carolina," Knight said. "But that line stopped at the University of Oregon. He loved Oregon sports and indeed in the last five years of his life he went to more Oregon games than I did, and that's saying a lot."
In related news, season and single game ticket prices were released for Matthew Knight Arena, which is scheduled to open for the 2010-2011 season. Although single-game tickets will average $28, season ticket prices will be far higher due to a new requirement: a separate annual Duck Athletic Fund donation for men's basketball tickets. As reported by the Oregonian: A main floor reserved season ticket for men's basketball at McArthur Court is $492. The new price of a similar ticket will be about $1,000 annually including ticket price and DAF donation. That doesn't include a onetime construction fee, payable over up to five years. Including the construction fee, a seat in the 100 level of the arena (there also are 200 and 300 levels) for the first five seasons will cost $1,330-$1,630 annually. The worst seats in the lower bowl will cost $840 for each of the first five seasons.
Are the prices too high? U of O contacted 5,000 season-ticket holders to get feedback. "They've told me time and time again: 'We're looking forward to this, but I hope we can afford it,' " Jim Bartko, UO senior associate athletic director said. "And we haven't forgotten them. They're critical. We can't afford to lose them." The Oregonian reports that 1,200 seats at Matthew Knight Arena will go to donors who give at least $25,000 to the athletic-department legacy fund. That fund was started by Phil Knight who kicked off the drive with a $100 million donation. The cheapest seats in the house – 3,000 of them in the upper level will go for $15 apiece or $270 for a season ticket.
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