Sacramento State’s Colberg court, otherwise known as the Nest, underwent a few renovations but the job is far from complete.

Athletic Director Terry Wanless said it would cost $2 million to to $3 million to renovate the gym and the university can’t do it without outside funding.

Wanless also said the campus needs a multipurpose arena able to seat 6,000-8,000 people.

“The concern I have is that if you put in this case millions of dollars into an old facility, you can’t really upgrade it enough to make it the facility you truly need,” Wanless said. “So in some regards, it would almost be a waste of time and money to put significant amount of money into the gym as we now know it.”

Sac State has made small improvements to the facility including repainting, new banners and lights. The 56-year-old gym was made to be a venue for various sports of the athletic department and the physical education department.

The gym has 1,200 bleacher seats with the ability to add additional bleacher seating behind the removable basketball hoops. But the capacity does not compare to UC Davis Pavilion gymnasium, which seats 8,000 people.

UC Davis had an average of 1,748 per game in 2010, but has a record of 7,926 for a single basketball game in 1999. Sac State’s average attendance for 2010 was 680 – a far cry from the Aggie counterparts.

Some schools are getting new arenas with high capacities.

Weber State’s Swenson Gym can seat 1,000 spectators. Montana State’s Shroyer Gym has the capacity of 2,000 spectators. Idaho State recently-built Holt Arena has the capacity of 8,000 spectators. Eastern Washington University’s Reese Court has the capacity of 6,000 spectators.

Instead of modern air conditioning units, the Nest uses large fans to cool the gym down.

Prior to every practice and game the staff wheels out the baskets because the gym is too small for permanent hoop structures – another inadequacy of the gym.

Despite the outdated features of the Nest, Hornet athletes remain concentrated on their performance and not the gym.

“My focus when I walk into a gym is just on winning the game ahead of me,” men’s basketball player John Dickson said.

However, not all athletes are satisfied with the condition of the gym.

“Most of the girls on my team came from high schools with better gyms than ours,” women’s basketball player Mallorie Franco said. “That says a lot in itself.”

The players aren’t the only ones who notice the poor condition of the gym.

“Everything about the facility – restrooms, snack bar, locker rooms and the bleachers – are pretty beat up,” said men’s basketball head coach Brian Katz. “It is clearly a sub-par college facility.”

But having the gym remain relatively the same over the last 56 years is sentimental for Hornet athletic alumni.

Lack of air conditioning can become a winning strategy for the volleyball team.

“I love our home gym and the heat can be a home court advantage,” said women’s volleyball head coach Ruben Volta. “I played on this court when I went to school here, so it just is home to me.”

Some teams don’t need more seats.

“We have an average crowd of about 400 people and we only open the north-side bleachers, which makes it a good fit for our team,” said gymnastics head coach Kim Hughes. 

Wanless said the current economic situation makes the necessary funds to renovate the gym extremely hard to get.

Katz said all of the coaches recognize that the athletics department is doing their best with the funds available to them.

Either way, the money to fund such a project has not surfaced – yet.

Nicole Bee can be reached at [email protected].