New Stadium

FirefightnRick · January 18, 2007

but as far as enclosing the fans around the field and utilizing around the same capacity, I thought they might work.

Interesting, that seems to be exactly the common denominator with all of those designs. Which goes directly back to the message that ADLER has been trying to convey here and the soccer folks seem to fully understand this. You put your loyal, season ticket, money spending fans nearest to the field while at the same time creating a home field advantage for the team.

Rick

kj86 · January 18, 2007

These are the endzone seats I imagine. One end is our AC - the other end is like the far endzone in this pic:

Seems like this design would work well for us. Put the suites/press box at grade level with no upper deck on one side (imagine Jones/SBC with the pressbox just behind those brown-looking seats). Then, build big on the opposite side and have the same endzone arrangement as you noted above.

Finally, it's settled.

Cowtown · January 18, 2007

Froggies have been itching to add suites and were contemplating knocking off the upper deck and adding suites ontop of the alumni side, but figured it would take more than a year to pull off and didnt want to play next season off campus.

So they are adding suites to the south endzone concourse. From what I hear they will have the closest suites to the field in the country.

Think about this, knowing how big Amon Carter feels, if they took off the upper deck it wouldn't be much larger than what we have now.

AnotherEagleFan · January 18, 2007

Think about this, knowing how big Amon Carter feels, if they took off the upper deck it wouldn't be much larger than what we have now.

Never thought about it... but true. But I still want to start NEW.

Cowtown · January 18, 2007

Oh, i'm not making a case for Fouts, just saying we dont need 40,000 right off the bat. I would be happy with 30,000 and no endzone seats. Then if we ever need to add, add the endzone.

Never thought about it... but true. But I still want to start NEW.

AnotherEagleFan · January 18, 2007

Oh, i'm not making a case for Fouts, just saying we dont need 40,000 right off the bat. I would be happy with 30,000 and no endzone seats. Then if we ever need to add, add the endzone.

I totally agree. Just make the 30,000 really nice.

January 18, 2007

One other point. Double-decking the alumni side will help provide a sunshield for the students.

NTPhiKap99 · January 18, 2007

I totally agree. Just make the 30,000 really nice.

Why build a stadium which with any luck would already need to be expanded within a couple years. We already pull aorund 25k for our bigger games and with the current buzz around the team and a hopefully bright future that shold continue to increase. Also with an increasing student body and the fact that we are atleast three years from having a new stadium we have to anticipate an increase. We have to plan a stadium to hold atleast 40000. I agree if we continue to average 15000 then smaller may be better but if we only pull 15k then do we really deserve a new stadium. If the team gets better and people still don't show up then I think the stadium debate is null.

ColoradoEagle · January 19, 2007

Agreed. Part of what people aren't considering is that the atmosphere and view are so bad at Fouts, that it really keeps a lot of people away. It just doesn't feel like college football, it feels like a glorified high school game. That doesn't have anything to do with the coaches, players, fans, or anything else. It's all on Fouts. Once a real college stadium is built, people are going to come out just to be a part of the college football atmosphere. Students, alums, and even (gasp) people who never attended North Texas. On top of that, throw in games against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Baylor, SMU, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, etc.

Build it 40,000-50,000, and let the on the field product and marketing worry about filling the stadium.

PlummMeanGreen · January 19, 2007

We just have one helluva' propensity to think small at UNT--most my adult life as an NT Ex we seem to just always have.

Maybe that's why the TTech and UH Systems continue to leap tall buildings at a single bounce while we at UNT, ie, a school that is projected to have 43,000 students sooner than later AND............ located in a metro area of approx. 6 million population within 1 hour of our main campus) are still talking about building a, uh, 30,000 seat stadium? Folks, that's the size of Troy U's football stadium and most of the Bottom 25 football schools in NCAA D1-A. Troy, Alabama population: Could it even be 25,000? They will probably be the dead-on choice to win the SBC this next Fall, too, because they know how to do very much with so little. At UNT during most of the past, we seem to do so little with so much.

Yet some of you are right on target with your projections of a 40-50,000 seat stadium idea (at least 40K for starters) because (IMHO) that will give us a golden opportunity to leave the bottom one third of NCAA D1-A football playing schools behind forever if we can only leave our poor past hiring habits behind, too, that is, those habits that (bascially) have us where we are today (even as the 4'th largest university in Texas). :huh:

10,000 additional seats (with a 40K seat stadium) and playing a school even Central Florida had no problem scheduling (UT-Austin) and others similar, can really bring in on an annual basis how much more gate receipts?

Let's say $20 tickets X's 10,000 when 10,000 Aggies come to Denton? Or 10,000 OSU Cowboy fans? Or 10,000 Baylor fans? Or 10,000 TCU fans? Or 10,000 UT fans? Or 10,000 Sooner fans (don't laugh, TCU hosted them not all that long ago).

$20 tickets X's 10,000 fans at UNT's new football stadium? Scheduling one school such as the above aforementioned per year at the Mean Green Village's new football stadium that can bring 10,000 additional fans to a 40,000 seat stadium over a 10 year span of time is $2,000,000.00 (if my math is correct). What can we do with that kind of money? Maybe give our upwardly bound coaches who have been getting MG football in the Top 25 a la Boise State some pay raises (among many other possibilities)?

A 40,000 seat stadium versus one that is 30,000 could very well help UNT think in terms of aiming its football ship well beyond CUSA, too. FWIW, we may have to hurdle over that league anyway due to continuing politics that probably won't change in any reader of GMG.com's life time (and that is even if you are a teenage poster, too).

Can we really discount the idea of being TCU's Mountain West Conference travel partner with a 40K seat stadium over one the size of most of the rest of the Bottom Quadrant of NCAA D1-A which is...................30,000 seats and maybe a handful above that (such as SMU has now)? How many of you have said SMU has ham-strung themselves with that small of a stadium in a part of University Park that is impossible to get to on Game Day and once there--to find a parking place. :blink:

UNT has many, many wealthy alums that UNT (quite frankly) has done a poor job of finding them first and then developing them (second) thru the decades. The late Robert Randall Onstead of Houston was one such NT Ex. (That NT Ex almost out-bid Drayton McClane for the Houston Astros MLB team and after a handful of us let UNT know back in the 80's that he was an NT Ex well...................long story short.......................they finally got Mr. Onstead involved, but a year or so before his death on a summer vacation 2 or 3 years ago. As far as UNT and the Robert Randall Onstead Story: He who hesitates loses?

There's a guy over here in Fort Worth who has literally "concreted" half of our main campus, UNT Health Science Center @ Fort Worth and half the city of Fort Worth who is an NT basketball letterman who could be very valuable toward our building a new football stadium if UNT officials would get serious with him and truly inspire him to want to get involved.

Don't let anyone tell any of you we don't have wealthy alums and friend$ of our alma mater, because that would just be yet another UNT urban tale.

Edited January 19, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

January 19, 2007

Now I've slept a few times since the presentation but I believe that phase 1 was for 32,000 seats and was to cost $45 million. Phase 2 was to expand it to 50,000 proximo and the total cost was to be $60 million.

Now, if I'm correct, that would mean that we would be going direct for the completed stadium of 50K provided we can raise the full amount.

The only time that we could fill a 50,000 seat stadium would be for Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and maybe LSU and Arkansas. At least we might not have to always be the road team with a great stadium like that.

ColoradoEagle · January 19, 2007

The only time that we could fill a 50,000 seat stadium would be for Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and maybe LSU and Arkansas. At least we might not have to always be the road team with a great stadium like that.

And that last sentence is really a good point for the near future implications of a large stadium. We get to schedule a mid-level BCS program like Oklahoma State, sell out the stadium or come very close to, and get the same money we would if we were on the road in Austin or Norman. Long term, building a stadium this size gives us a more realistic chance of ending up in a BCS conference. Every other sport is in DFW except for BCS football, and decent college basketball. I can't imagine it will be the same situation 20-30 years from now. The question is whether it's TCU or us, or both that end up in a BCS conference.

SilverEagle · January 19, 2007

Now I've slept a few times since the presentation but I believe that phase 1 was for 32,000 seats and was to cost $45 million. Phase 2 was to expand it to 50,000 proximo and the total cost was to be $60 million.
Now, if I'm correct, that would mean that we would be going direct for the completed stadium of 50K provided we can raise the full amount.
The only time that we could fill a 50,000 seat stadium would be for Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and maybe LSU and Arkansas. At least we might not have to always be the road team with a great stadium like that.

Well, back in 1952, if the University felt that it could regularly fill a 20K stadium with a student population of approximately 8K, then I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities to think we could regularly fill a 50K stadium with a 32K student population and a 90K+ alumni population in the area.

ColoradoEagle · January 19, 2007

I'm glad they built it so that should 20,000 people ever show up for a track meet, we'd be prepared. :blink:

NTPhiKap99 · January 19, 2007

I'm glad they built it so that should 20,000 people ever show up for a track meet, we'd be prepared.

That was great foresight too bad Michael Johnson worked out at Baylor and not here at our third class track stadium.

AnotherEagleFan · January 19, 2007

Now I've slept a few times since the presentation but I believe that phase 1 was for 32,000 seats and was to cost $45 million. Phase 2 was to expand it to 50,000 proximo and the total cost was to be $60 million.
Now, if I'm correct, that would mean that we would be going direct for the completed stadium of 50K provided we can raise the full amount.
The only time that we could fill a 50,000 seat stadium would be for Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and maybe LSU and Arkansas. At least we might not have to always be the road team with a great stadium like that.

I think they are talking about my comment about "30,000 but make it nice" And I do think that we should start with 30 ok 32,000 as in the presentation. But go ahead and if at all possible put all of the bells and whistles in at that point not at the expansion. which I would imagine would be after we average 28,000 per year. Interest on 15 million adds up.

NTPhiKap99 · January 19, 2007

I think they are talking about my comment about "30,000 but make it nice" And I do think that we should start with 30 ok 32,000 as in the presentation. But go ahead and if at all possible put all of the bells and whistles in at that point not at the expansion. which I would imagine would be after we average 28,000 per year. Interest on 15 million adds up.

This why our program may never succeed! Our own fans think small and think we can't possibly get any better in the near future. Win and they will come build it and more will come. I understand building a stadium with an expected expansion project but that is to go from 40 or 45 to 50-60 when it is needed in 20 or 20 years or how ever long. Building a small stadium now that wouldn't even hold the student body makes no since at all. The point of this project is to do it right and to build for the future, do don't think we will have done anything right if we just rush into building a small 30000 seat stadium which we would already have marked for expansion before it is finished. If we are ever going to shake the stigma we've got we have to think big and act big otherwise lets just go back to D1-AA where some people on here think we obviously belong.

Green Mean · January 19, 2007

This why our program may never succeed! Our own fans think small and think we can't possibly get any better in the near future. Win and they will come build it and more will come. I understand building a stadium with an expected expansion project but that is to go from 40 or 45 to 50-60 when it is needed in 20 or 20 years or how ever long. Building a small stadium now that wouldn't even hold the student body makes no since at all. The point of this project is to do it right and to build for the future, do don't think we will have done anything right if we just rush into building a small 30000 seat stadium which we would already have marked for expansion before it is finished. If we are ever going to shake the stigma we've got we have to think big and act big otherwise lets just go back to D1-AA where some people on here think we obviously belong.

Right there with ya brotha....because this this Todd Dodge has given us a new era of leadership for the FB program...maybe we need to get a bunch of us great thinkers together and replace all the old farts who act and think and believe small and become new and better leaders so we can advance. Thoughts??

Edited January 19, 2007 by Green Mean

Stan R · January 19, 2007

Right there with ya brotha....because this this Todd Dodge has given us a new era of leadership for the FB program...maybe we need to get a bunch of us great thinkers together and replace all the old farts who act and think and believe small and become new and better leaders so we can advance. Thoughts??

Personally I could care less if you do it at 30 or 45K. But if you're telling me I have to wait 10 more years before we have enough money to afford a 45K seat stadium, then I have a BIG problem with that. We need a new stadium yesterday. It all boils down to how much can you raise and in what timeframe. Based on prior experience I think we should capitalize on what we have now and move forward with the stadium as quickly as possible. If that means 30K, so be it.

ColoradoEagle · January 19, 2007

To me, a 30k stadium in 2007 is equivalent to a 20k stadium with a track in 1951. Bad decisions that do nothing but negatively affect the school.

AnotherEagleFan · January 19, 2007

Chicken or Egg????

So tell me how many home sellouts did I miss last year? Or during the "glory" years of winning the sunbelt???

UNTFan23 · January 20, 2007

I think it costs roughly 1.25 to 1.5 million per 1000 seats built. If you want to build a 45,000 seat stadium, keep in mind it'll take a couple extra years to get that shiny new stadium everyone wants due to the extra capacity some people here are ~~asking for~~ demanding.

Talk is cheap ... the new stadium ... isn't.

trud1966 · January 20, 2007

Personally I could care less if you do it at 30 or 45K. But if you're telling me I have to wait 10 more years before we have enough money to afford a 45K seat stadium, then I have a BIG problem with that. We need a new stadium yesterday. It all boils down to how much can you raise and in what timeframe. Based on prior experience I think we should capitalize on what we have now and move forward with the stadium as quickly as possible. If that means 30K, so be it.

To be fair, true, we do need a new stadium yesterday. But honestly, do we deserve one? This program at best has been mediocre at times. We did manage to get to 4 bowl games, but by no means of putting up a fight against any OOC teams. People need to realize/associate that one of biggest reasons for a new stadium is due to the revenues generated BY OUT OF CONFERENCE GAMES. If we cant put up a descent fight against those teams, what's the use in building something to hold 45K? Even if the facility holds 65k and only 20K continue to show up, schools like UT and LSU would just assume pass on the idea of coming here. Step one is to get Dodge in place, and get his feet underneathe him. If his sucess follows him here, I'd wager the money and financing will come amazingly fast by way of corporate sponsors, possibly someone with naming rights to the stadium. Never know, Dodge Cars could step up at some point. There could be a plaza outside the stadium to show off their products. That alone is worth a fortune to a company like that. People need to stop thinking that the only money is coming from the gate count and the occassional rich guy donating a cool mill every 10 years.

Edited January 20, 2007 by trud1966