The Pit is an indoor arena in Albuquerque, New Mexico, serving primarily as the home venue of the University of New Mexico Lobos basketball teams. The facility opened in 1966 as University Arena but gained the nickname "The Pit" due to its innovative subterranean design, with its playing floor below street level. The arena is located on the UNM South Campus and has a seating capacity of 15,411 for basketball and up to 13,480 for concerts, with 40 luxury suites and 365 club seats.
The Pit has frequently hosted NCAA basketball tournament games, including the 1983 Final Four, which featured North Carolina State's upset win over Houston.
History
Before construction of The Pit, Lobo basketball teams played at Johnson Gymnasium, a 7,800-seat multi-purpose gym on the University of New Mexico main campus. Lobo basketball was unsuccessful at the time that Johnson Gym opened, and it was rarely more than half-full for games. In 1962, UNM hired Bob King as head basketball coach, and he immediately transformed the Lobos into a winning program, reaching the finals of the National Invitation Tournament in his second season. Attendance at Lobo home games doubled, tickets were soon selling out, and plans for a larger arena began to take shape.
University administrators wanted a much larger facility while providing fans an unobstructed view from any seat. A suitably large building would normally require support columns, however, leading chief architect Joe Boehning to incorporate a roof designed by the Behlen company, a "stress skin system" made of light gauge metal supported by a series of trusses. The roof was constructed first, just above street level, and the ground beneath was then excavated to form the bowl of the arena. The playing surface lies below grade, giving rise to the now-famous name. There are no supporting pillars in the seating area of the arena, so there are no obstructed views. Its compact area, steep grade, and the proximity of the seats to the floor contribute to its legendary noise level. The subterranean design won international recognition for Boehning. The arena originally had a seating capacity of 14,831 and cost a mere $1.4 million to build, about a fifth the cost of comparable facilities built at the time. The design allowed the foundation to rest directly on earth, eliminating the need for a steel structure to support the concrete, resulting in tremendous cost savings.
The Pit opened on December 1, 1966, with New Mexico defeating Abilene Christian College, 62–53. The building was officially named University Arena, but students were already calling it "The Pit" by the time it opened, and the nickname stuck. The Lobos have enjoyed extraordinary success playing at The Pit, winning over 80 percent of their games there and mounting home winning streaks of over 20 games four times, with the longest streak of 41 straight wins in 1996–98. The Lobos have made 14 NCAA tournament appearances and 17 NIT appearances since the opening of the arena. The Pit has hosted NCAA tournament regionals numerous times and hosted the 1983 Final Four championship. It also serves as the primary venue for New Mexico state high school basketball championship tournaments.
In 1992, the University of New Mexico recognized the coach who made construction of The Pit possible, naming the playing surface Bob King Court in his honor. The court was officially dedicated to King in a formal ceremony on December 1, 1992, the 26th anniversary of the opening of The Pit, a tribute to the contributions King made to Lobo basketball.
Atmosphere and reputation
The Lobos have been among the nation's attendance leaders since The Pit opened. They have averaged over 15,400 fans per game at The Pit since 1966. They finished in the top five nationally in attendance 16 times in their first 20 years at The Pit, finishing second five times, and they were in the top ten all but one season through 2002. Attendance has averaged an astonishing 95 percent of seating capacity, partially due to standing room only tickets pushing attendance beyond stated capacity at times. The top average attendance for a season prior to the 2008 renovations was 17,625 in 1997–98, and the largest crowd to attend a single game was 19,452 on January 17, 1976, against UNLV. Recent renovations have decreased the seating capacity of The Pit, but the Lobos have continued to rank in the top 25 every season.