New for the 2011-2012 seasons, the America East Daily Word, a collaboration between AmericaEast.com and AExtra, will recap the previous day's games and on goings on our nine campuses and provide links to previews, recaps, features and exclusive coverage.

Imagine the starting lineup introductions at an NBA game – spotlights, shadows, neon glows. Now picture that with a whole lot of red.

New theatrical lighting is one of the many planned upgrades and renovations to the Stony Brook Arena which will undergo a $21.1M facelift starting in June. School officials announced the commencement of the project this morning.

Among the renovations will be a new bowl seating configuration, luxury boxes, a VIP lounge, digital scoreboards and video boards at each end of the court. Most importantly, the Stony Brook basketball team will move from 1,800-seat Pritchard Gym to the spacious new 4,000-seat arena which Director of Athletics Jim Fiore plans on selling out every game.

“We think the stars are aligning, and we have two years to upsell and make this Pritchard on steroids, Pritchard squared,” Fiore told Newsday’s Greg Logan. “We're going to invest in the infrastructure to sell it out regularly, not just one game.”

The arena, as it currently stands, has only hosted three games over the last three seasons – an NIT game back in 2010, an ESPNU game in 2011 and the men’s basketball championship this past March.

Check out the rest of Logan’s piece in Newsday and artist rendering of the new facility.

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