Best Seat In The House?

[FirefightnRick]

In many if not most football stadiums the best seat in the house is on the front row at the 50 yard line. Not Fouts. The green line represents 33 1/2 yards or just over 100 feet between that same seat and the nearest point of the playing surface at Fouts. Plus, because the moron who designed the facility decided to start the crown at the front row seat rather than at the side line, the viewers' eyes are at the level of the players name tags on the back of their jersey's as they stand on the sideline. And due to the low angle that the stadium's sight line is built on, the increase in distance as you travel further back from the field does not match a proper height. So if you sit up anywhere in the second level your completely removed from a decent game experience. If you will look at the top-left corner of the picture above you can just see where the upper level begins on the other side of the lower section railing and can see that it could possibly be another 65 to 70 feet in distance from the field. With that you can just imagine how far it is from any of the suites up beside the press box? It's amazing we even have season ticket holders at all and see how extremely difficult it must be to talk corporate sponsors into getting involved? To sum it up, you couldn't set out to design a worst arena for watching a football game than Fouts.

The university is losing out on precious opportunities with each passing day that goes by without a game plan to replace this place. It should be number one on the list of things that must get done.

Rick

Edited May 9, 2006 by FirefightnRick

[EagleD]

Good analysis. Just another reason we desperately need a new facility.

Question: Is there still much of a crown with the new turf?

GO MEAN GREEN !!!!!!!!

[gksmith]

Just shows the ideas that built that stadium in 1959 (or so) do not work today.

DYING to get a new stadium.

[SilverEagle]

Just shows the ideas that built that stadium in 1959 (or so) do not work today.

DYING to get a new stadium.

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I don't know how long it was in the planning stage, and I don't know how long it took to build, but it opened in 52. The first game was 9/27/52 against North Dakota.....which we won 55-0.

I've heard many people from that era say that North Texas was known for it's track teams as much (if not more) as it's football teams. The stadium was obviously built to accomodate the site lines for track as much as football.

[bigrobdsp]

wouldnt the cheapest way to get a newish stadium be to dig out fouts and extend the bleachers down? the cost of this would have to be less than that of building a new stadium, and it would keep the stadium where it is which is a pretty good location I think.

[Stan R]

I don't know why we are all worried. 2009 is the date. RV said so so it will happen. Why do you doubt him? Ahhh if you had but a mustard seed..

[LoveMG]

I don't know why we are all worried.  2009 is the date.  RV said so so it will happen.  Why do you doubt him?  Ahhh if you had but a mustard seed.. 

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does anyone really believe there will be a new stadium in 2009? has anyone been asked about giving to the super secret stadium fund?

[Stan R]

does anyone really believe there will be a new stadium in 2009?  has anyone been asked about giving to the super secret stadium fund?   

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It isn't a secret.. There is a fund, you can easliy donate money to it. The question is how much is in it and will we make the 2009 date. I don't have a crystal ball but I'm afraid the news isn't good.

[Eagle1855]

does anyone really believe there will be a new stadium in 2009?  has anyone been asked about giving to the super secret stadium fund?   

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<sarcasm>Im sure SMU is in someway involved in the demise of our stadium plans... </sarcasm>

[Quoner]

does anyone really believe there will be a new stadium in 2009?  has anyone been asked about giving to the super secret stadium fund?   

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Have you offered or asked?

[Guest JohnDenver]

Have you offered or asked?

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Both

[Quoner]

Both

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I didn't mean that sarcastically - if someone got rebuked, ignored, or otherwise pushed aside by the development office on this, it would have more ground.

We all know the odds of that happening are very low.

[ADLER]

The university is losing out on precious opportunities with each passing day that goes by without a game plan to replace this place.  It should be number one on the list of things that must get done.

Rick

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North Texas has got to get a functional stadium designed to replace Fouts. That horrible design that was used for the virtual tour was as poorly conceived as Fouts and would be the death knell of Division 1 football at North Texas.

[eagle60]

Some years back Arizona State had a similiar problem with the lower seats. They whacked off the bottom five or six rows. Funny thing, they left the row numbers the same!

We have the problem of being too fart from the field (was that a typo?) Actually the best seats are down the 30 yard line if I remember correctly. Has anything changed?

[LongJim]

Fouts is WAAAAYYY back from the field, but IIRC, so is Floyd-Casey at Baylor, right? I know when I was there, DKR had the track, as well.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

The distence from the stands to the field serves a very useful purpose. Most of the Coaches realize that few fans can throw accurately at them from that distence ..plus.. they can't hear many of the "encouraging" comments either.

LOL.

Edited May 9, 2006 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[adman]

The distence from the stands to the field serves a very useful purpose. Most of the Coaches realize that few fans can throw accurately at them from that distence

Nor NT QB's in some cases.

[FirefightnRick]

Fouts is WAAAAYYY back from the field, but IIRC, so is Floyd-Casey at Baylor, right?  I know when I was there, DKR had the track, as well.

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Here's a shot of DKR before they removed the track, lowered the field and added extra seats in 1999. But even then the distance from the front row seat to the field was much closer than Fouts is today because there is no curvature at DKR along the sidelines, nor was there an extra 30 feet of space between the seats and track for a long jump pit and other track amenities. Plus, the siteline angle is much steeper at DKR than at Fouts which makes a huge difference regardless of distance.

I can tell what LongJim was talking about when I first saw this photo. At first glance of this shot of Baylors' Floyd Casey one would think that their home side(side the picture was taken from) is just as far away at the "Best seat in the house" as Fouts is. But then upon further review of the next shot:

.....and you can easily tell that the seats are much closer to the field than first thought of. There's no comparison actually. Look at the corners. Fans from that position are nearly sitting on top of the field. Back at the 50 yard line there is some space, but not 100 feet of it. Plus, again Floyd Casey's site lines are at a much steeper angle than Fouts. At our game two years ago in Waco my seats were at around the 30 and half way up and felt I could step right out onto the sidelines. There isn't a bad seat in that house in my oppinion.

I haven't been to every college stadium of course, but I have been to my share of them around the south, and most of them in Texas, and I've been to even more high school stadiums and have yet to find one that places you further away or has worse sight lines than Fouts does when you sit down front.

Rick

[LongJim]

Here's a shot of DKR before they removed the track, lowered the field and added extra seats in 1999.  But even then the distance from the front row seat to the field was much closer than Fouts is today because there is no curvature at DKR along the sidelines

Very true. No question. The track really didn't cause much of a problem at all there as far as the view was concerned.

Floyd Casey's site lines are at a much steeper angle than Fouts.  I've...yet to find one that places you further away or has worse sight lines than Fouts does when you sit down front.

Points well taken, and I agree. Fouts really suffers from the low slope of the stands, which could have helped offset the distance of the field to the stands.

[SilverEagle]

It isn't a secret.. There is a fund, you can easliy donate money to it.  The question is how much is in it and will we make the 2009 date.  I don't have a crystal ball but I'm afraid the news isn't good.

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Well, here's an idea. If there is a fund/foundation set-up for the stadium, then why doesn't the University ask Harry if they can post a banner/link to it on gmg.com? Do they have a banner/link for it on the University's athletic web-site?

Clearly some of the most avid supporters of a new stadium are here on this board. And they could spread the word (and the link) to others who might be interested, but who don't frequent the board as much.

[the green rokemi]

<sarcasm>Im sure SMU is in someway involved in the demise of our stadium plans... </sarcasm>

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That's right, the smuNT conspiracy rolls on! The latest news in the smuNT conspiracy is that LJ is driving a tripped out Escalade with a license plate that says "NW STDM". Now we we know where the money is going

[CMJ]

Before the LA Memorial Colesium got rennovated in the mid 90's(track taken out, field lowered, etc) apparently the lower level seats were similarly bad. And if you were in the endzones you might have been even further away than Fouts.

So my SC contacts tell me.

[kj86]

It isn't a secret.. There is a fund, you can easliy donate money to it.  The question is how much is in it and will we make the 2009 date.  I don't have a crystal ball but I'm afraid the news isn't good.

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Does anyone really feel like there is a capital campaign to raise money for a new stadium? No way! Of course, if you would like to make a donation, they're not going to turn you away. But, there is no current, active, public campaign to raise such funds. As has been stated before, until a significant portion of the total requirement has been satisfied through donations from high-rollers behind the scenes, no public campaign will be kicked off. I believe that when the time comes that a public campaign is announced, the future stadium will already be a reality. In other words, when we hear "Hey, all you Mean Green peons, we're gonna build a new stadium with your help", we can go ahead and start celebrating because it's gonna happen and happen pretty quickly.

[LoveMG]

Does anyone really feel like there is a capital campaign to raise money for a new stadium?  No way!  Of course, if you would like to make a donation, they're not going to turn you away.  But, there is no current, active, public campaign to raise such funds.  As has been stated before, until a significant portion of the total requirement has been satisfied through donations from high-rollers behind the scenes, no public campaign will be kicked off.  I believe that when the time comes that a public campaign is announced, the future stadium will already be a reality.  In other words, when we hear "Hey, all you Mean Green peons, we're gonna build a new stadium with your help", we can go ahead and start celebrating because it's gonna happen and happen pretty quickly.

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the AD just needs to ask the fans for some help in finding a big donor, if that is the plan. maybe the lack of a plan is a plan? no communication about the mystery stadium does not help. i would rather see one of those stupid thermometer signs on that land painted up as donations are given, at least then we know how far away we are from the real thing. hurt me with the truth how bad it is rather than play these mind games.

[Stan R]

  maybe the lack of a plan is a plan?

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yeaaaahhh. now you're talking.. reverse psychology... the donors we'll see that there is no cohesive plan, then they'll think that surely there is a massive master plan under the covers, somewhere in our secret VIP bunker. They'll have no choice but to write massive checks due to the brilliant mind control scheme RV has cooked up.