New-York tribune., 1919-06-29
10000 to See
CladiatOrs i'm
Toledo Arena
Mammoth Bowl to Cost
$l5O,OOO; Four Times
Size JEFF johnson Plant

*TOLEDO, June 2S.-Thrusting its
raw, yellow skelton skyward, the huge
bowl-shaped arena, costing $l5o,O0o
and originally planned to seat $4,000
persons. is rapidly nearing completion
for the contest between Willard and
Dempsey.
The arena is located in Bay View
Park. municipality owned plot Of
ground sixty acres in extent and d.
rectly north four miles from the heart
of the city. Before being turned over
to Tex Rickard. promoter of the cham
pionship contest, the park had been
used as recreation centre. and the
arena rests on the site of two baseball
diamonds.
On the north side of the park "a
Maumee Bay, and to the east is the
Maunee River. Encircling the plot H.
a road of crushed stone. The park is
of artificial construction, most of IL
being filled-in land, but it is ideally
situated in every respect. 1t Is per
fectly fiat and treelcss. making the
work of the engineers constructing the
arena easier than it otherwise would
have been.
Some idea of the immensity of the
arena may be obtained from the fact
that 1T is four times as large as the
arena in which Jack Johnson battered
Jim Jeffries to defeat in Reno. New.
and capable of seating four times 90
many persons.
l,750,000 Feet Of Lumber
Approximately 1,75O,000 feet of lum-
Der has been used in the structure Not
bolt has been used the entire build
ing being held together by nails, OF
which two carloads, or $4,000 pounds.
have been driven. All new lumber has
entered into the construction. and this
will be sold after the contest
Precautions for safety have been
taken in the construction. Careful
tests were made of the ground to find
out whether it could carry the great
human weight which would rest upon
it. The carrying capacity of the lum-
sber and the tensile strength cf the
nails were determined, and margin
was allowed for safety
Although the structure was originally
planned for $4,000 persons. load Of
10000 persons was taken as the basis
of the estimate. and, instead of allow
ing It's pounds per person, al is done in
ordinary construction for "live loads"
an average of 200 pounds was taken.
This gave a total ''live load' of 1900
tons. but to allow even further
amount of safety margin construction
was based upon load of 10000 tons.
As an insurance against any settling
should rainy weather on the day of the
match, or even few days before, cause
the structure to settle slightly. heavier
footings we're used. This entailed an
additional expense of about $3,500 but
Promoter Rickard decided it would be
cheap for the greater safety afforded.
Four Grand Entrances
Nor is the actual safety of the spec
tators the only thing which has been
considered. Every effort has been made
to make it certain every ticket holder
will get the seat to which his ticket en-
titles him. To take care of the big
crowd there will be four grand en-
frances, one each at the north. south,
east and west side of the arena.
AT each of these will be four run
ways. one each for the $40. SIS and
S25 seats, while the fourth will take
care Of the $50, $40, $50 and $50 ticket
holders. In order to obtain entrance it
will be necessary to pass muster Of
three separate ticket takers to guard
against any one not holding ticket
slipping by.
Several hundred discharged soldiers,
all having seen service in France, will
act as ushers and guards at the arena
They will be armed. Bank clerks have
been engaged by Promoter Rickard in
handling the ticket sales at the arena
and at the downtown headquarters on
the day of the contest.
Precautions against rushing" at the
gates also have been taken. Outside
the arena eighty feet distant will be
barbed wire fence, or ENHANCEMENT,
eight feet high and half mile long, to
keep the crowd away from the en-
frances. Closer to the arena will be q
board fence twelve feet high, sur
mounted by barbed wire, while at the
top of the arena itself will be five
foot fence of barbed wire, with armed
guards stationed every twenty-five feet.
The $40, sis, s25, and $40 and $40 seats
also will be separated from each other
by barbed wire to prevent occupants Of
one section moving into better seats.
How Seats Arc Arranged
There will not be a stairway in the
entire arena, which is coo feet ac~oss
Entrance to the various sections will
be along inclined runways, with q
grade OF one foot TO every SIX leet.
making the climb scarcely noticeable.
The runways to the so seats, which
Will be tnlrty-four feet from the
ground, will be 180 feet in length
An allowance of eighteen inches seat
way has been made for each ticket
holder. The rows will be two feet
apart for all seats cheaper than $50
and eight inches more for the $50 ana
$50 seats. The seats themselves will
be ten inches in width, giving four
teen inches leg room between rows.
The only difference be:yeen the cheap
est seat and the top-priced row is that
the latter allow slightly more leg