Football Stadium Redo...
- Thread starter charcat
- Start date
Can’t believe I am doing this, but I have to agree with Turk. Tear down and rebuild as the cost for any type of significant upgrade is likely to be close to as much as the rebuild. Cue Glide Cat.
Gopher stadium is better than Stanford Stadium, but none of the Charm of the old Minnesota horse shoe stadium that was torn down in the 1970s.
30 years after building the “New” stadium, you end up with an aging building with no character that needs significant renovations and still has no charm.
Learn from others mistakes. Dont squander your history
30 years after building the “New” stadium, you end up with an aging building with no character that needs significant renovations and still has no charm.
Learn from others mistakes. Dont squander your history
It is sad to me because I love the traditional, historic look. But from a pure cost/benefit/risk analysis standpoint, starting over will probably make the most sense. Toss in a nice parking garage while you're at it.
What’s our history? Tan cement towers? Can someone explain the historical significance of those to me then? Were invading hordes repelled from invading the North Shore from such towers? Are they symbolic of the climb for higher academic achievement? What?
From what I understand, the old Minnesota Memorial Stadium (the Brick House) was a wreck. Short sighted as it may have seemed at the time to tear it and Metropolitan Stadium down and combine three sports into the indoor Metrodome, ultimately, there are now two beautiful and one butt-ugly (Vikings) stadiums in or near downtown Minneapolis, which is where they should be, not stuck out in some suburb.
The old Minny stadium was a dump and had zero charm. And yes I went to a game there.
We like the towers. They represent home where we watched many, many games. They represent our personal history. Not really that hard to understand.
Have you ever enjoyed a tailgate in a parking garage? If the design of cities were approached from a cost/benefit/risk analysis standpoint, the entire world would look like the average shopping mall, which as it turns out, much of the world does. I've had a rethink of my original take on this--I don't believe we should tear any of the existing stadium down, unless it is demonstrated with cost/benefit/risk and DESIGN analysis of the current stadium that it can't be brought up to contemporary aesthetic and space standards through addition and renovation for a cost at least less than a tear down and rebuild, then it should probably be torn down. It is cramped, old and unpleasant in many respects and if that cannot be rectified (which I believe it could be), then so be it. Are the towers architecturally significant? No. are they historically significant? Not really. Are they at all significant? Yes, to preserve our memory of our past associations with NU and NU football. Should they be recreated in some fashion in a new stadium? Probably not. Why is new better? The west stands are a very nice, well scaled place to watch a football game (with better seating, restrooms, interior surfaces and decent food). If a University is dedicated to thinking things through, then why not think this through and part of that is thinking about the embodied energy that went into building what is there now, and why waste that simply to build a new something that sooner or later someone will only want to tear down and build new again?
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Other recent new stadiums
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Akron
Central Florida
I like the Akron one too, though TCU is the way to go.
Looks like a Ryan Field "crowd" for a non conference game. Looks like lots of parking spaces though.
The Zips will feel right at home then when they visit Ryan Field this September!! Dang!!!
If that’s it, it’s not. But I was wondering if there was something more as I’ve been going there since 1988, season tickets since 1993, and have no such personal feelings about two tan, cement monoliths.
Maybe I’m just cold that way.
No, you're not cold. You're just different than I am. I guess it's similar to the decision to move from an old house.
"Can we afford a new one?"
"I'll miss this place with all of our personal history."
"It sure would be nice to have a new home."
My kids have more fond memories of our old house than I do. A part of them wishes we still lived there.
I have very fond memories of our dump of a stadium. The things others want from a new stadium aren't even on my list of priorities. I park. I tailgate with friends and family. I enter, sit, stand on 3rd down, leave and tailgate some more. Our seats are great. I have no problems with the bathroom. I never eat hotdogs (inside at least). So do I want others to spend a great deal of money that will be reflected on ticket prices? No. However, if we go new. I'll get over it.
I do not really disagree with your thoughts. I just know that working with an old structure, the costs tend to skyrocket during construction as the assumptions made by the designers are proven wrong one after another. Not the fault of the designers, they do not have x-ray vision or omniscience. There will be nothing localized about such a renovation. Entire systems will have to be replaced. Codes allow small areas to be upgraded without touching the rest as long as it is not more that some percentage of the total value. This will be above that percentage. In most old structures, that means that they are like a museum of electrical wiring through the ages and plumbing through the ages and who knows what is going to be found. The NU engineering department will get several theses out of it. The contingency for this will need to be extreme.
I personally will be hopeful that they can maintain the existing façade and have no problem with a reduction in seating to accomplish it. But the risks of schedule and cost overruns are much more prevalent with a renovation of that type.
So you're the one. I always wonder who that guy is. Now we know.
Yeah, and I'd apppreciate it if you'd stop telling me to sit down.
Subjective statement.
A new stadium will cost probably about $150M more than a significant renovation of the existing stadium. If the stadium has a design life of 25 years, then that is about $4 per person per hour of use. That is just football and does not account for graduations, high school band competitions, and other things for which football stadiums are traditionally used. To some people, they would find that an excellent use of funds. Others a complete waste. People that do not attend football games would consider any upgrade a waste. From each point of view, they would all be right.
The enjoyment of the game day experience is about as subjective as it gets. To some, the old bench seats are fine. To others, the chance of sitting in the cold rain on a metal bench ruins the entire day. Others have given up their season tickets as they have gotten older because of the discomfort of the physical plant and still others will probably go straight from the stadium to the mortuary without once thinking about wanting a change.
Some will want the best and the newest and it is not worth spending any money at all if we do not go all out. Others will want to pinch pennies until Lincoln screams and get just enough to say that something was done.
In my world, it is not my job to make these decisions. I just provide cost estimates, explain risks, and build things.
I get it. I do. My perspective as a fan who started in the late 80s, and was die hard from my first game on campus on October 1, 1988, is that Dyche/Ryan always represented to me that we were the 'have nots' of college football. Opposing fans did, and still do, laugh at the place and call it a 'high school stadium'. Burns me way more than it should.
So there were no elements I 'loved' of the old place, regardless of what was accomplished there, and I always saw our success on the field as the first step to a complete renovation of NU football that would put us consistently on par with the upper echelon of the Big Ten. The demolishing of the stadium would be the last vestige of the 'old NU', the record loss streak, the administration who thought losing was intrinsic and beneficial in keeping with our academic mission, the epic beat-downs, all being bull dozed away.
I was thrilled with the concept of the Sunday-Friday practice facility, on campus, and on the lake, but knew that the stadium is what is most visible to people outside the program, including recruits. And being that I came into NU as an avid college football fan, almost choosing to go elsewhere just to be a part of a school and community with a more prestigious athletic program to follow, I have probably been thinking more "forward, forward, forward....." than others who better appreciated NU football, even in the dark ages, for different things.
All that said, after going to many games at the old and new Soldier Field over the years, Ryan already is my favorite place to watch a game, rebuild or not. Tough to get to, but that won't change. But I really think it beats the hell out of Soldier Field. To me, a rebuild is all about the flashy packaging of something new and impressive to outsiders and recruits.
God, I really am so shallow.
How about holding some high school championship or all-star games there? Or maybe playing the Lacrosse games there. Is their room for a track and if so bring Track and Field back to NU. Get a hockey team and invite the Black Hawks to play an exhibition game or maybe even the "Winter Classic". Play a Bears game! Oh wait that has been tried. Hell do it again and screw the Evanston pols and the neighbors. Rodeos anyone?
Reminds me of the movie Green Berets. In homage to a fallen soldier they named something after him. The one soldiers wish was Primus Privy. Actually I forget the guys name but you get the gist.
Provo's Privy. I took a girl on a date to that movie. I was such a dumb***.
Because television coverage is so important, totally redo the East stands and make them awesome !worry about the West stands later
True, renovations can be VERY labor intensive, especially if the designers didn't figure absolutely everything out ahead of time. Therefore you want to have a very experienced commercial renovation designer as part of the team.
Yeah, and just after that total transformation, Dr. Shapiro would retire and they'd hire an anti-athletic president (it's happened before)--but at least you would have gotten your total transformation, as the ship began to sink again. I say don't put a curse on what's already happened--be grateful for what we have..
Like just about every other college football Stadium in America. I guess a cow pasture and wooden benches will do.
Everything I said applies to when you have the best of the best as far as design teams go. If you use inexperienced people, it would be much, much worse.
Tan on the exterior, but white inside? Or did we just blow their "historical significance" by painting them a different color? Speaking of "invading hordes" they sure haven't done much to keep the Buckeyes at bay.
We need a retractable dome roof and a bigger jumbo tron. Change the bleachers to ones with seat backs. Concessions. Bathrooms. That's it. Leave most of it and refit. Like Welsh.
Replace the seats that cannot see the jumbotron under the deck with expanded concessions, indoor seating, and restroom areas similar to the club level seats at Titans Stadium.
Replace sections 101, 102, and 103 with anything. Kids play area, swimming pool, pizza joints, a big pile of rocks. Anything would look less weird than those seats.
