With the passing of committed Explorer basketball fan John Glaser, LaSalle University received a generous gift and a notebook detailing how away teams playing in the Tom Gola Arena had an advantage because they weren’t looking at fans behind the hoop.  

Determined to change that, LaSalle University contracted SPST Network Partner FEI for a design-build 3,000+ seat Div 1 basketball arena renovation project in November 2023. With this update, the Tom Gola Arena became the John Glaser Arena and realized a 360-degree seating bowl.  

The seating renovation includes 1,700 permanent seats, VIP seats and platforms using SPS Stadia+Arenas terracing around the arena’s perimeter. Supplementing the permanent seating are Irwin Seating Co. telescopic seating units. These replace grandstand-style lightweight bleachers and enhance the fan experience with more resilient materials. The use of retractable telescopic seating, along with four new access tunnels, allows the athletics teams to use the arena as two practice courts.  

The FEI scope of work also included all-new sports lighting, fire alarm and scoreboard systems; building new men’s locker rooms, concession area, and storage rooms; upgrading the existing restrooms and common areas; and media room upgrades with new finishes. 

From the outset, the team had many challenges, given the basketball arena’s location on the 3rd floor of the existing building. The construction is a poured-in-place concrete clear-span floor that limits the allowable structural loads. All structural connections required careful coordination with the concrete raker beams below. The additional engineering requirements complicated an extremely tight schedule with a completion date of October 2024, ready for the Explorers’ season opener on November 4, 2024.  

The coordination was extensive, with weekly meetings from December 2023 through January 2024. The project team finalized the SPST and Irwin designs so SPST could start fabrication and meet an end-of-May 2024 delivery date. The SPS materials arrived as scheduled and were installed in just a few weeks using light-weight installation plant, crucial to the challenges presented by the floor loading. 

A unique combination of structural steel and structural metal stud framing supports the new permanent SPS terracing.

SPS terraces accept all seating and railing mounting systems and enable quick installation. For the general seating, Irwin’s Solara Seats are beam-mounted on a powdered-coated horizontal system. The team chose Irwin Premium Marquee Fabric seats for the VIP area.