Football Stadium Redo...
- Thread starter charcat
- Start date
Refit and add a retractable roof? Bold. Bold. I may sell most of my season tickets the first year though. You know, just in case.
I went there a few times in my youth and the outside brick walls along with the arches were fairly impressive. The place looked pretty good on sunny days with a decent crowd. They also fit 66K plus in there back in the old days.
Also the place was in need of a lot of attention as the U of M put zero money into it since the 50s, but it was not in bad shape structurally, but those wanting to get rid of it overplayed that angle. The place was very solidly built and was not going to fall down. The concrete below the bleachers probably needed some work, but the exterior walls and interior rooms (offices, classrooms, labs - continued to be used for 10 years after the team moved to the Metrodome.
The main issue with Memorial Stadium were the flat rise of the stands and the large number of seats far from the action in east end zone bowl.
link with tons of pictures and drawings:
https://www.continuum.umn.edu/2016/08/memorial-stadium-remembered/
https://www.continuum.umn.edu/2016/08/memorial-stadium-remembered/
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Reminds one of the Rose Bowl stadium, except it is open on one end. And that stadium remains an icon--hmmm....does this have anything to do with the extreme tendency in Minneapolis to destroy its architectural history?
This old video shows the old stadium in Minneapolis fairly well. We did well to tear down the old place and end up with the current stadium, but the 27 years at the Metrodome were awful. It was a toss up, the old stadium was much better than the awful Metrodome.
If I was in charge, I'd demolish the whole NU stadium and start over, by the lake if possible. If not possible I'd start over on the same site and play at Soldier Field for two years. Third choice is destroy all but he west side and rebuilt on site with some elements of the west side remaining. I'd dump it all and start over for sure.
If I was in charge, I'd demolish the whole NU stadium and start over, by the lake if possible. If not possible I'd start over on the same site and play at Soldier Field for two years. Third choice is destroy all but he west side and rebuilt on site with some elements of the west side remaining. I'd dump it all and start over for sure.
Yes, St. Paul Cat, you are correct in Minneapolis in particular they tended to destroy history and put some really bad things in place after the fact, worse than was done in Chicago. The U of MN has not torn down too manhy of their historic buildings generally, although may near the Mississippi River" are mothballed for good unless some big dollars come through.
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The football field was threadbare and as hard as a paved parking lot. The place was a dump.
Seriously 27 years? It seems like yesterday they built that thing (the Metrodome). Where did the time go?
GlideCat, great ideas. I also had the same thought on utilizing that space but wasn't sure on the cross section. If feasible, this would be a good approach to economize and get the most bang for the buck, plus reduce the seating count. There would be fewer covered seats but I don't think that is a bad tradeoff.
How does eliminating seats, that can be sold for popular games, with a "pile of rocks" economize? It makes the already smallest stadium in the conference into one of a MAC program.
Wasn't referring to Sections 101, 102 and 103. Referring to modifications to the West stands. If feasible, yes, this would also reduce seating. A lot of posters have been in favor of a smaller stadium. As money is always an issue, finding creative solutions to reduce the cost of construction might make a renovation happen. Of course the fallback solution for many is for the Ryans to pony up more funds.
Because 101, 102, and 103 are not real seats now. Unless you are fascinated by the side wall of McGaw because that is all you can see from there. I don't think about economizing. They are just silly looking and embarrassing. If I bought tickets to a big game and ended up in 101, I would be ticked.
So when we eliminate them, we can cut down on visiting fans in the stadium? Awesome.
Anything done to modernize the stadium will mean fewer seats. Supposedly, current capacity is 47K...I think we can manage at around 40K.
Or we can go with ND’s ( your favorite program) model and go to 80,000. Then the attendance will look just like NIU’s to the TV cameras.
