Unfortunately, it took average Joe’s butt-in-seat almost half a season to recognize what it was we had in a coach/team… money opportunity lost.I think a practice facility/football complex is the most important facility upgrade needed. I'm going to look like I'm a UC Bearcat fan, but they are very close to us geographically, in stadium size, and are in a P4 conference. I believe that IU is a much better job, mostly due to being in the B10, but UC is kicking our ass with their stadium and practice facilities. They are way ahead of us, but the $$ is there if we keep winning and selling out MS. I guarantee that the most optimistic budget ever made by the athletic dept for 2024 has been absolutely blown out of the water already, and we still have 1 more home game left. We are talking going from like a $30,000,000 projection to a $60,000,000 haul from football. That's program changing $$ that will get reinvested in facilities and coaches salaries. While the price tag on UC's practice facility was like $130,000,000, Penn St is about to start a $700,000,000 stadium renovation. We can join the facilities arms race if we sellout all our home games every fall.
https://ipf.gobearcats.com/
Memorial Stadium renovations coming?
- Thread starter Pazhoosier85
- Start date
I guess we could have had 5K more for Maryland, but in fairness the weather was not great, and in the end it's not that much revenue lost.
The weather sucked. But it was still a helluva good crowd.
Do players care more about all those amenities or a better paycheck these days?
Who knows how much many/most of the kids are getting paid. I'm still in the camp that the players are still just kids. They want to feel like a big deal.
Almost brought a tear to the eye last weekend when they came over to the student section giving high fives & taking pictures at the end of the game. The place was packed & still rocking. They at least FELT like a big deal. Looking up, seeing the towels waving, hearing the crowd. Feels like real football. I can't imagine that there are too many 21 year olds jaded enough to not care about rah-rah. I'm sure they love the money, but overall I think they just want to matter.
So, long answer to a short question, I think the amenities matter because even the guy playing for, relatively speaking, peanuts can feel like a really big deal playing a big-time sport at a program taking itself seriously.
Most of the stadium renovations being discussed are more fan related vs. player amenities. Ideally these projects will have decent ROIs/paybacks -- more premium seating/suites leads to more revenue each year. There are ongoing maintenance and renovation needs that come up though, such as the press box.
It seems a lot of progress was made on player amenities over the past 10-15 years. At some point I wonder how fancy player facilities can get and it sure seems like the returns on upgrades can become diminishing. Sort of like the difference between a four and five star hotel -- at some point what's the difference and who cares.
It seems a lot of progress was made on player amenities over the past 10-15 years. At some point I wonder how fancy player facilities can get and it sure seems like the returns on upgrades can become diminishing. Sort of like the difference between a four and five star hotel -- at some point what's the difference and who cares.
watching a game from the endzone is horrible. need suites on the sidelines
While also striking the balance of having to pay players. I think the facilities arms race is going to slow as a result.
But we desperately need upgrades to stay in the game.
Lots of decisions to be made of where to spend the money. The one nice thing about facility upgrades is the longevity of the investment.
Update
In an interview with Coach K over the weekend C3 specifically mentioned a commitment from IU to get the "skyboxes" going.
Good to have that confirmation after we lost the momentum during covid.
Bummer our old friend isn't here to deny it. maybe he will finally stop by our tailgate to tell us about it LOL
They also included other sports in those renovations. They have not done one football only project. It’s dumb and insane to not start putting in better facilities. Football is the bus. Start with that dump of a practice facility.
Get some of that North Endzone architecture on the East and West sides and the stadium could really look amazing (looks pretty good now imo except the press box).
Lane stadium shell and press box is nice and matches our stadium. If people don’t know already it’s an almost exact copy of our stadium.
I looked once and found it mildly interesting they didn’t use the same architects we did. Same with Wake Forest. Someone else copied or used Memorial Stadium as inspiration.
The football team has its own locker room, lounge, meeting rooms, and weight room. I don’t know how Mellencamp can be replaced. Where would the new facility go?
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So. Other programs have all that. They can find room if they want to.
Urban Meyer on the BTN show today said facilities did make a big difference. He said it was the first thing recruits see ... facilities and to keep winning you HAVE TO keep up with the facilities. I personally call it an Arms Race for years. He said recruits will compare those to the other schools recruiting him.
They have done a lot to MS the past 20 years but they need to do a lot more. Essentially more of everything. They could double the amount of bathrooms and concessions and that may still not be enough. More seats and add luxury seats for sure. 100% need football player and staff only facilities.
Take a look at what Northwestern of all places is building. It's pretty awesome honestly.
nusports.com
Take a look at what Northwestern of all places is building. It's pretty awesome honestly.
A Bold New Vision for College Football Unveiled at Northwestern - Northwestern Athletics
Northwestern University and the Ryan Family officially unveiled the first public look at the new Ryan Field, a state-of-the-art $850 million sports and enter...
that $850M was one donation by a family ... but I can't remember their name.They have done a lot to MS the past 20 years but they need to do a lot more. Essentially more of everything. They could double the amount of bathrooms and concessions and that may still not be enough. More seats and add luxury seats for sure. 100% need football player and staff only facilities.
Take a look at what Northwestern of all places is building. It's pretty awesome honestly.
A Bold New Vision for College Football Unveiled at Northwestern - Northwestern Athletics
Northwestern University and the Ryan Family officially unveiled the first public look at the new Ryan Field, a state-of-the-art $850 million sports and enter...
They bought the plans. Supposedly they were almost identical. Even the old press box. If you look up lane stadium 1965 you can see it. Then flip over to IU 1960 picture.
Before the expansion years ago the stadium for Va Tech was identical to IU's. You can still see the same design in front of the first rows of seats.
And wake forest has a smaller version of both.
I’d spend half that on a less fancy stadium and use the other half for 40 years of NIL!
Seriously. You could put that in the “Ryan Family NW NIL Trust” and generate enough funds each year to buy a pretty significant team.
We might be on to something….
I would build it on the practice fields and have them practice in MS for a couple years. Keep using Mellencamp during construction, and then tear down Mellencamp and build new practice fields.
And have a tunnel or covered walkway from the stadium exit/entrance that’s already there.
Either gut Mellencamp and rebuild it or put a development center in the Orange lot and connect to both MS and TAH.
Press box looks like an extremely massive version of what I'd end up with if I tried to build my own box utility trailer from off the shelf aluminum extrusions.
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Didn't they just do some rehab of mellencamp? It's nothing to look at from the outside but I thought they did some work inside
Wonder if its feasible to build a new suitable building around Mellencamp so it could be used right up to tearing it down. Decades ago I watched the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne roof raised 42' over 11 hours so a new expansion could be built underneath when raised. Engineers are near undefeatable. Although if they're from PUke could develop Q's.
Since there is no other place to practice indoors, Mellencamp would have to stay upright until the new practice facility was ready to open. It would be the practice fields that would go 1st, unless they decided to build it between AH & MS.
Kind of an interesting dynamic to build a new building around the outside of the existing 1.
You gotta love insurance companies. They sell us something at an exorbitant price that we hope we never have to use. What a racket!
Pat Ryan (executive) - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
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I think it was new turf. Maybe new lighting.
You wouldn't want to tear down your only indoor practice location before you had a new one ready.
Not dissimilar to what we did with The Kelley School. Built a wrapper around it.
