New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

[Prairiehaas]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

20 years ago we could walk up at Coughlin Alumni and get essentially a pick of seats for nearly any game. That has changed now to the point you need a season ticket to guarantee any seat at all at certain games. That in a facility so bad there are people interested in SDSU football that will not attend any game. The school is growing, the alumni base is growing, interest in SDSU athletics is growing. Building too small will hold back attendance in the future just as the current facility is holding back attendance now. I fear 18500 is not going to big enough in another 20 yr.

[goon]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

Maybe it was just me, but when they started taking out seating from Frost I thought it was bad. since our record attendance for basketball was set, we have taken more and more seats out of frost. Yet the arguement was made that it put a premium on tickets and season tickets in particular. So season ticket sales have gone up but and attendance has been good, but how is it different between basketball and football on the size of the arena? Football we will only sell out 18K 1 game a year when we play NDSU, probably the USD game as well but im still not sure of it the first few years. yet most everyone who really wants to go to the game right now can go. I know some dont go for different reasons like not enough bathrooms easy access for elderly. Right now it seems Frost sells out a few games a year with many less then diserable seats with poor views having to be used.

Basically why did people support having fewer basketball seats 6-7K when we could easy fill that or exceed it, yet with football we want a stadium for 18K, which means we could have doubled the attendance last week and still not had it sold out. If having fewer seats optimized season tickets for basketball, why does the theory not hold true for football? I understand the future growth needs to be considered. So why does that not factor into the size of Frost? we went from about aprox 9K to less then 7K at frost, to me it seems we are leaving money out of the gate since the facility is not able to meet the current demand of fans, yet alone 10-20 years from now as the football stadium will acount for.

So here is what I am getting at, football is going beyond what we will need for the short term to account for growth yet maybe 50 years from now be to small. Currently for Frost, its to small now IMHO with worse seat views and fans and students further from the court. Frost if anything needs to be expanded in some way shape or form to get to 10K. the changes at frost as good as a home court is, is really lacking in many many ways, just as CAS is going to be getting bigger, which is argued as a good thing, the last 10-15 years Frost has gotten small/fewer seating yet that was also said to be a good thing. Guess I dont know why its good to limit the size of one facility like Frost. I guess older alumni or season ticket holders dont care about the fewer seats at frost since the changes have been made to benefit them. I dont have the time with work or family or to buy season tickets for basketball and football so I rarely go to basketball games since many changes have taken place compared to before them.

Also are we banking on the size of the new football stadium for 1 major game a year, or for avg attendance for the year. to hvae a football stand that fits 18K 1 game a year will seem silly to some when we are usually going to be for avg attendace way below that for the near and possibly extended future IMO. I think the size is just fine for football.

[jack power]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

If State was building a new Basketball arena,i guarantee we would adjust the size for future growth just like they're doing with the football stadium.

[goon]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

If State was building a new Basketball arena,i guarantee we would adjust the size for future growth just like they're doing with the football stadium.

I would hope so, but many of the current changes were made with the intention of lowering the ammount of seats to put a premium on them. Didnt make sense to me then, still doesnt now when you limit fans.

[OldHare]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

I would hope so, but many of the current changes were made with the intention of lowering the ammount of seats to put a premium on them. Didnt make sense to me then, still doesnt now when you limit fans.

It should not be seen as limiting fans at this point rather than maximize the season ticket sales. This year is another example that more reserved seats can be sold as the programs have success. More money flows to the Jackrabbit Club, athletic department(plus donatons required to purchase seats), and there are normally plenty of seats for general admission.

[goon]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

It should not be seen as limiting fans at this point rather than maximize the season ticket sales. This year is another example that more reserved seats can be sold as the programs have success. More money flows to the Jackrabbit Club, athletic department(plus donatons required to purchase seats), and there are normally plenty of seats for general admission.

Shouldnt that be the case for the football stadium too? Limiting overall number of seats will push for more season ticket sales..... since we cant even get more then 8K for a rival team who both are looking to salvage their season. so there were still plently of seats for football for this game with the current stadium size.

[jack power]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

I would hope so, but many of the current changes were made with the intention of lowering the ammount of seats to put a premium on them. Didnt make sense to me then, still doesnt now when you limit fans.

I know Frost is the next up for remodel after the indoor performance facility is done. We will have to wait to see what that entails exactly.

[OldHare]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

I am not sure I would say that season ticket sales have been elevated since there are many reserved seats to buy at CAS. The new stadium will have chair seats from 10 yard line to 10 yard line. That will give a large increase to potential buyers. The suites will increase the annual income for the people that lease that space. There is a bunch of money to be collected yet to pay for this facility; I would expect that continued success on the field will insure the growth needed for completed. Many fans missed last week since there seemed to be less "on the line" for the Jackrabbits. That may be a marketing need as we have noticed the yotes have done some advertising for their team in Sioux Falls and probably Sioux City.

[Kemo]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

Shouldnt that be the case for the football stadium too? Limiting overall number of seats will push for more season ticket sales..... since we cant even get more then 8K for a rival team who both are looking to salvage their season. so there were still plently of seats for football for this game with the current stadium size.

Football and basketball are different beasts in terms of fan support.

Football is more of an event centered around a game, where as in basketball, the event is the game.

Casual fans are generally more attracted to football because they are looking for something to fill their weekends, and football has all the additives of tailgating, the marching band, other special events (i.e. parades), an excuse for being outdoors, and limited opportunity to experience them. In basketball, you generally show up for the game, it lasts a couple hours, then you go home (plus there are many more opportunities to attend and games are played during the week, which limits those who have to travel). So if you're not much of basketball fan, this might not appeal to you.

To finally answer your question: Football has much more growth potential due to it's ability to attract people who don't mind watching the sport, but need incentives other than just the game itself, while basketball, since the game is the event, needs to focus on drawing and retaining basketball fans, which chair back and reserved seating helps accomplish.

I think it's tough for us on this board to understand the thinking of the casual fan because, since we are actually spending additional time on a message board discussing sports, we are more hardcore than these people. For instance, I could care less about concession stand access since I don't like leaving my seat and missing the game; Well, the causal fan does care about this. I'm still fairly young and don't care if I have to walk up a ton of steps to get to my seat; Guess what, the causal fan does. I can live with sitting on cold metal/wood bleachers in order to watch my alma mater play football; Casual fans can not. I want the best seats possible so I can have the best view of the action; However, many causal fans find it more important to just be a part of the event rather than having the best view of the game played on the field.

In conclusion of the this ridiculous essay that I can't believe you actually read: Don't shortchange the new stadium's ability to significantly increase attendance at games.

[OldHare]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

The main thing to remember that many of the changes in these facilities is for more income to be generated. The rest of the seating etc is numbers that sound good. Attendance will always help, but the base income from suites and season ticket holders is the base of your budget for expenses. Winning should always improve the base.

[TK22867]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

The new stadium will have chair seats from 10 yard line to 10 yard line. That will give a large increase to potential buyers.

Might want to clarify that comment. It's a bit misleading.

[yoteforever]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

I have not seen plans for your new stadium, and I'm sure it will be very nice. I just want to give you a heads up that Illinois State just finished a stadium build, and I had the privledge to see it Saturday. If you ever have been there for a game, memory will tell you that there was a permanet side, and the visitors had like three rows of bleachers, or mostly just walked the sidelines behind the team. Well, they put a new structure on what was the visitors side, and have skyboxes and a 7500 square foot reception/ entertainment room that looks out over the field on the 4th floor of the skyboxes. They left the old side as is, which deters from it a little, but their new side is extremely nice functional.

I don't know of the plans or photos are on their website or not, but if you have the chance, take a look at them. And maybe it's similar to your plans, or maybe not as nice, I don't know, I just know it is new and looks good to me.

[OldHare]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

Might want to clarify that comment. It's a bit misleading.

If you have a chance to buy general admission, it probably would not include a chair seat. Is that what you meant? The chair seats is part of the language for the new facility that was available for the regents at the last meeting and will be voted on in the future. What is misleading???

[TK22867]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

If you have a chance to buy general admission, it probably would not include a chair seat. Is that what you meant? The chair seats is part of the language for the new facility that was available for the regents at the last meeting and will be voted on in the future. What is misleading???

Here is the language from the BOR document "Seating between the 10 yard lines will be chair backed self-rising fixed seats. Bench seating will be provided outside of the 10 yard lines and in the south end zone." Seems to be very clear.

A "chair-backed, self-rising fixed seat" is a seat just like they have in the Arena. I could be wrong, but I would be shocked if all of the seating on the west side between the 10 yard lines are of this type. They are very nice, but also limit the amount of seats that can be installed.

The origin of my response to your comment was, however, based on the drawings included with the same original BOR document. The drawings do not match the language in the document. That drives me absolutely bonkers!

[rabidrabbit]

Re: New SDSU Football Stadium Site Plan

SDSU has clearly shown that a winning program, in a facility that can handle it would be in the 20000 for football, and 10,000 for basketball. Unfortunately, an 1.5 hour basketball game is tough sell with wonderful SD winter weather. Get back to double header special weekends, and 4 hours of entertainment, SDSU can get those kind of crowds 2 to 5 times in a season. It is more likely that I will never make it back for a basketball game or tourney, but if I do, I will have scheduled that LONG in advance, and will be expecting to get a good seat. Was back for the 2012 USD FB game, but had to settle for a general admission tix (which was a good bleacher seat) or get buried up in a corner for the Nebraska WBB game the following afternoon. SDSU basketball has been great the last two seasons, and hopefully will be exciting and winning again this season. Hope Frost is stuffed for the NDSU and USD games, and that Jacks fans turn Frost into the BIGGEST rabbit den for Denver also. Let's stuff Frost multiple times and then worry about need to expand.