SEZ update, August 2018
- Thread starter RBB89
- Start date
It’s always been pretty up and down. Late 60s and late 80s were good, and there seemed to be some solid crowds scattered throughout. The worst I remember was the DiNardo era. His last homecoming drew an announced 22,000.
But even the first ever game at MS (25,000) and the dedication game in 1960 (3rd home game overall) drew poorly:
(Although the Phil Dickens era didn’t help.)
IU-PU was always a sellout back in the day.
not sure what yr the SEZ bleachers went in, but when the Knothole Club was 1st done, the club sat in a roped off general admission section at the south end of the west stands.
after they put in the SEZ bleaches, they moved the Knothole Club to the south end bleachers. (not sure if it was the 1st yr of the south bleachers or not).
that's when some kids started throwing balls around behind the bleachers, and sliding down the hill.
what people forget, is that MS was a fantastic stadium, from day one.
not sure what yr the SEZ bleachers went in, but when the Knothole Club was 1st done, the club sat in a roped off general admission section at the south end of the west stands.
after they put in the SEZ bleaches, they moved the Knothole Club to the south end bleachers. (not sure if it was the 1st yr of the south bleachers or not).
that's when some kids started throwing balls around behind the bleachers, and sliding down the hill.
what people forget, is that MS was a fantastic stadium, from day one.
It will be nice to have another north/south corridor open, but will the trade-off be another stoplight on the 45/46 bypass? I'd expect there will be another one once the new hospital opens as well.
Now if we can just get some east/west improvements in town. I'm still flabbergasted that they wouldn't extend Hillside through the Switchyard Park. That would have taken a lot off pressure off Grimes/Patterson.
Fullerton Pike is supposed to be the new east-west roadway. The portion between Walnut and Rogers is being upgraded.
Thank God. Navigating the parking lot between Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium is a nightmare. No clear north-south path.
Those old photos are awesome. I can remember playing on the hills on the north end as a kid in the mid 60s. Looking at them now, the whole thing looks so weird with just the 2 sides. Looks totally unfinished to me and it surprises me they built it like that - without enclosing at least one end.
I did the same during the ARE years. Looking back, it just looks awful. Lot of good memories though.
It truly was unfinished too. The east side is shorter because they ran out of money.
You are correct. There is an additional stop light planned for Range Rd intersection with 46 for the hospital. Then if they put one here it will make that traffic even worse. This town could certainly use some traffic planning.
a lot more to a stadium than the blimp shot.
you guys obviously didn't see many other stadiums back in the day.
IU was one of the better ones, and nobody had better sight lines.
as for the end zones, it was assumed from day one that they would be filled in when needed.
like i said above, it was a great stadium from day 1.
A
anon_mya1phvcpf5x4
Guest
Not sure how much taller the west side is over the east side, but they should put a press box / suites that span the entire length of the top of the east side. Doing that would even up the sides and put our press box into the 21st century.
Yes totally agree the next step should be suites along the east stands. It can be done...
Glass has said a new press box is in the long term plans. Don’t know how far off that might be though.
Do I see glass going in? To have the area enclosed will be a big change. I wish they could hurry and put up the video board before the Spring game.
Oh yeah the glass is up. You can see that they had it installed on the first two levels and as of about two weeks ago, they were putting it in up on level three at the time. I believe it’s all installed now...
At least the NEZ board is there now. There was nothing at last year’s spring game.
The only problem with the east side stands is that the sun is directly in your eyes during afternoon games. It can get quite hot in the early games. Would they have more difficulty selling high priced suites to people with that situation?
I have always thought it would be cool to add a second level there with suites between it and the first level, but again you have the sun problem. Maybe they can come up with some solution to that.
Renovate and expand the existing press box and suites and extend the east stand to match the west stand. Boom. Problems solved.
Good point pertaining to the sun issue. Possibly suites could be added to west stand??? May lose some seating capacity but then again that should not be an issue until we consistently sell out. Anyways most I think would agree that should be the next step. Need the higher revenue seats to continue fund our growth.
That’s why press boxes in nearly all north-south stadiums are on the west side, and why the relatively few east-west stadiums have press boxes on the south.
Always liked it up there. Sat there several times prior to my season ticket stints. Usually had tickets lower and would wander up on my own.Anybody miss sitting in the cave up under the press box? VBG
Liked the whole field overview (of course back then I didn't have to look at a misaligned state logo
)... Now I try to sit off center of the 50 so it's less noticeable 10th st stadium was an exception.
east west field with press box on the north side.
were it not for the sun situation, it would be much better for the primary tv view to be from the east stands.
the stadium you see from the east looking west, looks different from the one you see from the west looking east.
not a big deal though. it was a great stadium when 1st built, and even better now.
if we did nothing else, we'd still have a great stadium.
if you want to spend money, spend it on getting more butts in seats through affordability and free student admission.
much cheaper than doing unneeded added infrastructure, and better for recruiting.
I’m not sure there’s a scenario where iu will ever average 50,000 attendance a game, so talk of expansion is purely academic. Suites on the East side would be nice, but there’s never been much interest among the corporate “friends” who would need to lease many of them, and it’s still a fan base that values tailgating more than the actual game. Until that changes . . .
how's that strategy been working out?
ever think about increasing attendance to help recruiting, thus winning, instead of always thinking in terms of the other way around?
But we've got Allen now. And a defense - - for the first time in 25 years. Hang in there, my friend. The future is bright.
You ("Igwinners") had a post about youth ticket promotions clear back on 8/26/17 that I had actually saved to Screen but I'm unable to copy it without bringing an entire 4 page dialogue back... Do you recall any of what you had proposed back then. Seemed like good ideas..., and for goodness sake we need more of them...
As much as I get frustrated with fan support, our attendance is pretty good considering our history. We aren’t that far off from filling the place up.
I'd go one further and say that our attendance has been pretty amazing considering our history.
We've got thousands of loyal fans who've supported the team with regular attendance on Saturday afternoons through many, um, lean years. I think they/we are soon to be rewarded.
I love CTA and hope like crazy that you are right, but after 50 years of watching and eagerly waiting, I'm not holding my breath. If it comes I will let it be a wonderful surprise and enjoy it immensely, but otherwise I will still be quite happy going to the games and being competitive and winning our share.
Other than for a few years under Coach Mallory and a couple back in the forties we are enjoying some of IU's best years already. I really don't want to see it slide back to the one or two win years.
I agree the attendance has been good considering our history. I'm hoping it will improve another notch with I-69 done from Martinsville to Bloomington and then beyond. If we can move up to consistent bowl seasons, perhaps we can start to see it selling out for some of the bigger games and that would be fantastic.
I do not think the administration is thinking about expanding the seating capacity at this point though. No reason to, and I think if it got to be good they would raise the ticket prices before expanding the stadium. It would have to become a really hot ticket item for them to consider expansion and I just don't see that at this point here in Indiana. But I would love to be proven wrong!
I'd like to see Fred give away most of the North Endzone seats (to all but the certain sell out games [such as the Bucket] along with some of the upper corner seats, to accredited youth groups.
Those seats are rarely filled and we might generate some goodwill and gain a few life long fans by a move like this that wouldn't cost us a dime.
Would look a whole lot better to have those seats filled on TV too... (I think this is close to what I'vegotwinners had suggested last summer)...
Those seats are rarely filled and we might generate some goodwill and gain a few life long fans by a move like this that wouldn't cost us a dime.
Would look a whole lot better to have those seats filled on TV too... (I think this is close to what I'vegotwinners had suggested last summer)...
Oh they’re definitely not really going to expand the capacity anytime soon, I think it’s just a fun subject to talk about in terms of how they would do it. Glass and the University architect have said that they could add seats to the east and north ends if need be. After they renovate the locker room and the players lounge, the next big project down the line should be the press box and more suites. That would technically increase capacity, like with the premium seating they’re putting in the south end zone (probably just over 53,000), but it wouldn’t be a significant jump and they usually know that they can fill those because the big donors will buy them for the alcohol and networking.
Those are amazing pictures. Thanks to everyone posting. Good stuff.
I agree with this. When I was in high school I got knothole tickets for all the home games. Made me a lifer. I cannot understand why they don’t do the same thing with all those unsold seats.
They do give tickets to groups like the boys and girls club. Young alumni season tickets are $70 total. Youth tix are $10. There are group discounts with food vouchers. Many people just aren’t interested. There’s only so much you can do unless you win.
Now, with that said, I do think we need to eliminate the overflow student section in the southeast corner, because it’s just stupid, and add a few more ticket price options. I’d like to see them sell discounted ticket prices for families for the new south end zone patio.
That stadium should be an absolute nightmare for visiting teams. Now that it's closed in, a small but sold out stadium that's loud and proud can be extremely hard to play in. You don't need 80k people to produce noise and a legit home field advantage, 52k can easily do it.
Regarding crowd size, I truly believe that Indiana is very lucky to have such a dedicated group of football people that have shown up through the Cam Cameron,Gerry Dinardo, and Lynch years. This university has really screwed up when it comes to pigskin but they've somehow managed to keep a really hardcore 35k in place through decades of skinny times.
I know a few families in Clark County Indiana, where I'm from, who have gone to football games since the 60s!! They're getting on in years though and probably will not be attending many more years. It's those fans who deserve much better from Indiana, they've given TONS of money.......
Regarding crowd size, I truly believe that Indiana is very lucky to have such a dedicated group of football people that have shown up through the Cam Cameron,Gerry Dinardo, and Lynch years. This university has really screwed up when it comes to pigskin but they've somehow managed to keep a really hardcore 35k in place through decades of skinny times.
I know a few families in Clark County Indiana, where I'm from, who have gone to football games since the 60s!! They're getting on in years though and probably will not be attending many more years. It's those fans who deserve much better from Indiana, they've given TONS of money.......
