Timmons Arena near Greenville, SC

Basic Information

Stadium: Timmons Arena

Location: Travelers Rest, SC; north side of Greenville (34.91793, -82.43728)

Owner: Furman University

Primary sport: basketball

Year constructed: 1998

Listed capacity: 3500

Date last visited: March 2022

Arena information: https://furmanpaladins.com/sports/2019/6/6/timmons-arena.aspx

Summary Review: 2.5 stars (out of 5)

One of the newer NCAA Division I basketball arenas, Timmons Arena is a nice small basketball arena that is more functional than extravagant.  The arena did not seem to resonate noise very well when I came here, although it was hard to judge because I was here for a conference basketball tournament.  Thus, only a few people cheered at any given time, and I never got to hear what an entire crowd in full throat would sound like here.  The plastic seats are chair-back but not particularly comfortable.  Seats in the lower tier offer good views of the court, but the gradual grade means that seats in the upper tier seem rather distant.  The video boards are just projections onto screens.  This is not uncommon for small arenas but less than ideal.  In summary, you will never mistake Timmons for a top-tier basketball arena, but it competently serves the function for which it was designed.

Detailed Review:

Gameday Atmosphere: I came here for an NCAA Division II conference basketball tournament, so I don't have enough information to judge the Furman gameday atmosphere.  It was a good neutral site for the event I attended.

Seating: mostly plastic chair back seats; they are tight and unpadded.

Court View: the view is great from the lower tier of seats.  The upper tier seems rather distant with people on the walkway between the tiers blocking your view.

Audio/Video: the audio is loud and clear.  The video consisted only of a couple screens on either end of the court.  While I have seen worse, the video is not really up to present-day standards: good NCAA Division I arenas have a large scoreboard and videoboard over the court.

Concessions/Hot Dogs: concessions are near the arena entrances.  As I said in my review of Paladin Stadium next door, Furman University has some of the best hot dogs around.

Pedestrian Flow: double doors at only 2 points allow access from the concourse to the seating area, and the doors can be a bottleneck while entering or exiting.

Parking: thanks to Paladin Stadium's parking lots, there is plenty of parking nearby.  All of it was free for the event I attended.