Ding Ding Ding. I’ve sat there once. That was enough for me
What would you do to improve Memorial Stadium?
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
So they floated the idea but it sank?
The plan got scuttled, submarined if you will, and went off the deep end....
When I tell people about the stadium—and with the 100th birthday coming up I’ve done it a lot—they are impressed by the 2.3 million bricks, but it’s the columns that really gets to them. Our stadium is very special, and it’s something that we must be very careful with.
What about this kind of overhang for the east side upper deck? It would provide shade in the hotter games and you could put better lighting underneath and not have light towers on the ends like we have now.
Attachments
1. Remove sections 110 and 122 in the horseshoe and modify sections 109 and 123 to be the new corner sections
2. Pull the horsehoe as close as possible to the field allowed by the previously mentioned change.
3. Add a 2nd level to the horseshoe with conessions on a back patio behind the last row of the new 2nd level. People prefer to be higher and closer to being lower and further back. So, stack the Horsehoe seats in two levels.
4. Remove rows 65-75 in the East Main, and make rows 60-65 unassigned first come first served. Use the space surrended by rows 65-75 to make lounge type areas. There can be a family area with some kid friendly stuff, or bar type area with a bunch of TVs, or whatever the outreach dictates interest in, etc. Basically a Collonades Club for us plebes. Oversell this area with the expectation that people will be occupied with the accomodations in the rear area.
2. Pull the horsehoe as close as possible to the field allowed by the previously mentioned change.
3. Add a 2nd level to the horseshoe with conessions on a back patio behind the last row of the new 2nd level. People prefer to be higher and closer to being lower and further back. So, stack the Horsehoe seats in two levels.
4. Remove rows 65-75 in the East Main, and make rows 60-65 unassigned first come first served. Use the space surrended by rows 65-75 to make lounge type areas. There can be a family area with some kid friendly stuff, or bar type area with a bunch of TVs, or whatever the outreach dictates interest in, etc. Basically a Collonades Club for us plebes. Oversell this area with the expectation that people will be occupied with the accomodations in the rear area.
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This, courtesy of @Fighter of the Nightman would be great for my last point.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Some posters upthread made arguments for why the seats underneath the East Balcony overhang should remain ... and they were decent. However, the fact is (for better or for worse), we gutted those same seats on the west side in 2006-07, and we lost that classic look of symmetry. Aesthetically speaking, renovating the east to match the newer look on the west is kind of the only move.
EDIT: Another interesting thought I had the other day. If the DIA is concerned about the financials of moving the students back to East Main (which I think everyone can acknowledge would no-doubt improve our home field advantage), I would suggest the following simple solution ... make whatever replaces the Horseshoe be fundamentally more desirable (and therefore more expensive) than the East Main seats. You know where all my 30-something friends in Iowa City want to sit now, regardless of its field position? Here...
Why? Because they're newer and nicer seats than the seats between the sidelines, haha. So, I would suggest the following, keeping this seating map of Memorial Stadium in mind:
1. Move the visiting teams' fans from 109 to 209. It literally doesn't matter if we have not one other Illini fan in the East Balcony ... visiting fans (and especially the marching bands they might bring) should be far away from the field of play. PERIOD! This opens up 109.
2. Demolish the Horseshoe (duh), and build a much taller, more aesthetically pleasing structure. Make whatever replaces it something like Iowa's new North End Zone where people want to be. This allows you to charge enough for those seats that you transfer people out of 107 and 108 without losing a dime.
3. Put the students in 107, 108 and 109 to start. I will accept that 106 might be too "prime" for students, so maybe also give them a portion of the new SEZ structure that replaces the Horseshoe in the seats that are most in the corner. If the students sell these out, open up 207 and 208. Having our overflow student section pin the visiting fans between them and a brick wall sounds great! Lol.
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You and I are on the same page @Fighter of the Nightman with the wishlist.
If there are any stadium renovations they need to give people a reason to go to the game and enjoy it regardless of where they sit. The at home experience is so great now the stadiums need to really celebrate the game, and not just give fans a seat.
There are so many opportunities to make up the "lost revenue" of the east main back rows. First of all, the west main seats sell out before the cheaper seats so I think there is still appetite for premium single game seats that don't require an iFund donation or season tickets. Same thing with the horseshoe. If the stadium is fun, has a good atmosphere, good food, then people will go.
If there are any stadium renovations they need to give people a reason to go to the game and enjoy it regardless of where they sit. The at home experience is so great now the stadiums need to really celebrate the game, and not just give fans a seat.
There are so many opportunities to make up the "lost revenue" of the east main back rows. First of all, the west main seats sell out before the cheaper seats so I think there is still appetite for premium single game seats that don't require an iFund donation or season tickets. Same thing with the horseshoe. If the stadium is fun, has a good atmosphere, good food, then people will go.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Robert's entire thread on this topic is really insightful.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
Forever forced to live with the footprint of the old track. I love track, but it's not a great legacy.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I hadn't heard that switching from the SEZ to the current location for the football facility was Lovie's request rather than Whitman's.
Not gonna lie, I smell a note of Robert assigning a decision he disagrees with to Lovie.
*I* think the option we chose was the better one.
A very common affliction in European soccer as well, with a wave of renovations and new stadia all over the place getting rid of the track footprint.
My one and only game in Ann Arbor (many years ago), I sat in the second or third row behind the Michigan bench. Too close, actually, to get a good view as the players blocked most of the game. Been so long I don't remember how I got those tickets, but I sure remember thinking that was the closest physical distance I'd ever had to a player on the field.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
I had a similar experience at the old Orange Bowl (circa 1985). 3rd row seats, couldn't see as the players were standing on the benches. Had to move back several rows to watch the game.
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MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
Move the visitor section to the upper deck.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
It seems surprisingly rare (and I am sure there is a "good" reason most places like a track having previously been there or whatever) to have what seems like the obviously best solution - elevated stands that are as close as possible to the field. Using Robert's MSU example, the very first seat is safely above the heads of every player, and yet the fans are as close as possible to the field of play for home field advantage purposes:
I suppose some could argue this is what we tried to do with the NEZ, but the problem is it is otherwise separated from the stadium (i.e., it's the most "open" part), and we elevate the students TOO much, with the student section actually being a shockingly huge distance up from even the band. Ugh, this just reminds me that the NEZ is actually a perfectly cool structure that gives the stadium some needed height on that end, it's just a really bad spot for the student section and band, specifically. It's begging to be made into some type of family-friendly concourse area.
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Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
I maintain we need to lower the field
I do not believe for one second that the "water table " in Champagin County is too high. Besides , that is nothing our Engineering school couldnt solve
nor do I believe the "sight lines" dont work
lower the field 15-18 ft
it would be awesome and more intimate and add about 10,000-12,000 seats
I do not believe for one second that the "water table " in Champagin County is too high. Besides , that is nothing our Engineering school couldnt solve
nor do I believe the "sight lines" dont work
lower the field 15-18 ft
it would be awesome and more intimate and add about 10,000-12,000 seats
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove