ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center

With the exception of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains surrounding the city, perhaps the most dominant landmark in Johnson City, Tenn, and certainly the ETSU campus, is the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center, better know as the Mini-Dome.

The Dome has been the home of Buccaneer basketball for the past 22 years. The Dome will play host to the 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The Mini-Dome is unique in that the facility undergoes a major metamorphosis each year between the passing sports seasons. A couple of times each year, the facility is transformed into a first-class indoor track facility. The Mini-Dome served as the site of the Southern Conference Championships in 2003, as it has been numerous times in the past. It will also serve as host of the Atlantic Sun Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships during the winter of 2006.

Finally, the Dome serves as the home of the Buccaneer tennis teams in various tournaments and dual matches during the season.

The Dome offers players and spectators the comforts of 78 degree temperatures in the winter and cool 68 degree marks in the warmer months. The climate is maintained by 1,140 tons of air conditioning, provided by the university’s chiller plant and by steam heat from the campus power plant.

In 1994, more than 14,000 people packed the Dome to see the former Charlotte Hornets take on the Atlanta Hawks in an NBA exhibition game.

The facilities housed within the Mini-Dome include the main basketball floor, Gentry Field, two auxiliary basketball courts, a six-lane, 280-meter track, six racquetball/handball courts, six tennis courts, a rifle range, two gymnasiums, a strength training facility, several locker rooms, and a physical education research laboratory. The offices for most of ETSU’s varsity sports are also housed in the Dome, as well as the athletics administration and athletic media relations offices.

In addition, the facility houses the Pirate Club Lounge, where contributors to ETSU athletics are entertained before and at halftime of athletic contests. The Ward Room, where other Pirate Club functions, press conferences, and athletics staff meetings are held, is another of the Dome’s many offerings.

The ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center has undergone several renovations and improvements in recent years. In 1996, the strength training facility was enlarged to 7,200 square feet, making it one of the largest in the southeast. The facility received a $200,000 facelift, as it was redesigned and reequipped. The track received a new tartan surface five summers ago, including a polyurethane base with three different levels: smooth for basketball, slight granulation for tennis and heavier granulation for track.