Football's future upgrades

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Football's future upgrades

I'm curious to see how we draw for both Cal Poly and Southern Utah before I'm convinced this attendence tanking in the late season is a thing of the past. No question CAS is a superior game atmosphere to Howard Field, however I have to marvel at people referencing Howard Wood as a dump and it's not large enough when CAS has a long way to go to being a quality facility. It wasn't that long ago we were playing with an inferior scoreboard and have numerous other issues to address that will take time and money. I wonder what the master plan is to address the concession stand issue as I believe we are leaving a lot of money on the table at both Coughlin and Frost when we have capacity crowds. Many people just abandon the idea of purchasing something when they see the long lines.

[joeboo22]

Re: Football's future upgrades

CAS is nothing special by any means but it is leaps and bounds better then howard wood..... i never noticed how much nicer it is watching a football game in a stadium without a track until I watched a game in yankton...... Thats enough there to keep the game in Brookings not to mention that Howard Wood holds less..... The only place where Howard Wood beats brookings is the fact that it has the artificial turf.... And you talk about turning people away at Frost and CAS..... How many times have they sold a near capacity crowd at Frost? Not to many and if there is so many people deciding not to go to football games why are the crowds so high?
Now if Sanford or another big business came to Brookings and said we will give you $250,000 and pay your expenses get the game contract all lined up and everything then I could see SDSU doing it but I don't see that happening....

[thebluehatman]

Re: Football's future upgrades

Now if Sanford or another big business came to Brookings and said we will give you $250,000 and pay your expenses get the game contract all lined up and everything then I could see SDSU doing it but I don't see that happening....

Sanford is in a giving mood

[SUPERBUNNY]

Re: Football's future upgrades

Sanford is in a giving mood

There you go dangling a carrot in front of the whole Jackrabbit Nation!

Spill the carrots!

SUPERBUNNY

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Football's future upgrades

CAS is nothing special by any means but it is leaps and bounds better then howard wood..... i never noticed how much nicer it is watching a football game in a stadium without a track until I watched a game in yankton...... Thats enough there to keep the game in Brookings not to mention that Howard Wood holds less..... The only place where Howard Wood beats brookings is the fact that it has the artificial turf.... And you talk about turning people away at Frost and CAS..... How many times have they sold a near capacity crowd at Frost? Not to many and if there is so many people deciding not to go to football games why are the crowds so high?
Now if Sanford or another big business came to Brookings and said we will give you $250,000 and pay your expenses get the game contract all lined up and everything then I could see SDSU doing it but I don't see that happening....

Reread my post. I did not say we are turning people away. I indicated we are losing revenue in the concessions area, because people are not willing to stand in the long lines during near capacity games. If large crowds are going to be the norm at CAS and when people return to Frost we do not have the capacity to maximize concessions revenue. My point also was until we get to the level of NDSU in Football and sell every game out we should be exploring all options inside and outside of Brookings. I agree its preferred to have not have a track around a football field, but let's face it these stadiums are not so massive that's it affects the proximity to the field that much! I prefer CAS, but don't have the extreme negative view of the Sioux Falls venues as others apparently do.

[thebluehatman]

Re: Football's future upgrades

There you go dangling a carrot in front of the whole Jackrabbit Nation!

Spill the carrots!

SUPERBUNNY

Not dangling any carrot. Just stating the obivious that he is looking for projects that are worth the time and money to donate to and advance the state.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Football's future upgrades

I indicated we are losing revenue in the concessions area, because people are not willing to stand in the long lines during near capacity games. If large crowds are going to be the norm at CAS and when people return to Frost we do not have the capacity to maximize concessions revenue. My point also was until we get to the level of NDSU in Football and sell every game out we should be exploring all options inside and outside of Brookings. I agree its preferred to have not have a track around a football field, but let's face it these stadiums are not so massive that's it affects the proximity to the field that much! I prefer CAS, but don't have the extreme negative view of the Sioux Falls venues as others apparently do.

I agree on the concession thing. Although with Aramark taking over and charging $3 for candy bars, there no doubt has been an uptick in concession revenue.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Football's future upgrades

No question CAS is a superior game atmosphere to Howard Field, however I have to marvel at people referencing Howard Wood as a dump and it's not large enough when CAS has a long way to go to being a quality facility. It wasn't that long ago we were playing with an inferior scoreboard and have numerous other issues to address that will take time and money.

I agree with JGII. CAS has great potential. However, for now it also has portable johns behind wooden bleachers on the visitors side, a locker room a couple blocks away that forces the opposing team to cross a street and walk across campus in spikes, a playing field likely to turn to mush at least once a season, and other shortcomings. I don't think we have bragging rights over Howard Wood at this point.

[joeboo22]

Re: Football's future upgrades

Here is the thing.... even with the flaws they are still drawing good crowds.... I don't remember what the attendance was when SDSU played at Howard Wood a couple of years ago but it must not of been that great if we haven't gone back.... Howard Wood has field turf but other then that its a pretty crappy stadium also....

So all being said it appears that having portable johns and wood bleachers haven't been a problem at attendance or donations heck by showing the flaws gives a reason for people to donate.....

[State_fan]

Re: Football's future upgrades

The big thing HW has over CAS is the field turf and the fieldhouse. And that field turf would be nice to have this weekend at CAS. As far as bleachers go, I'd rather sit on temporary wood bleachers at CAS than anywhere at HW. The track around the field blows, puts fans too far away from the field, and kills the atmosphere. Off memory I think the attendance for the one and only game at HW was against Cal Poly (or was it Cal Davis?, can't remember) and had around 7k. It wasn't a great turnout, but then again, they didn't market the game very well either (as the sports authority probably could).

[JimmyJack]

Re: Football's future upgrades

The big thing HW has over CAS is the field turf and the fieldhouse. And that field turf would be nice to have this weekend at CAS. As far as bleachers go, I'd rather sit on temporary wood bleachers at CAS than anywhere at HW. The track around the field blows, puts fans too far away from the field, and kills the atmosphere. Off memory I think the attendance for the one and only game at HW was against Cal Poly (or was it Cal Davis?, can't remember) and had around 7k. It wasn't a great turnout, but then again, they didn't market the game very well either (as the sports authority probably could).

It was UC Davis and you're right, attendance was a little more than 7,000.

[EQguy]

Re: Football's future upgrades

You give the fieldhouse too much credit at Howard Wood. There really isn't all that much room there. Frankly our set up at CAS is as good as Howard Wood.

I have been to several FCS stadiums and I'll tell you that the visitor accomodations at Frost are pretty good. SDSU has played at stadiums with longer walks (Montana, Southern, Poly, Davis (Toomey) to name a few) and dressed in locker rooms smaller than 1/2 of what SDSU has at CAS.

[SD-STATE]

Re: Football's future upgrades

You give the fieldhouse too much credit at Howard Wood. There really isn't all that much room there. Frankly our set up at CAS is as good as Howard Wood.

I have been to several FCS stadiums and I'll tell you that the visitor accomodations at Frost are pretty good. SDSU has played at stadiums with longer walks (Montana, Southern, Poly, Davis (Toomey) to name a few) and dressed in locker rooms smaller than 1/2 of what SDSU has at CAS.

Our present visitor accomodations are probably better, space wise, then our own locker rooms. And you are exactly right about the state of other visitor accomodations at other stadiums. You could add SUU to that list of small junior high locker rooms, players literally right on top of each other there.

[CatchEmAll]

Re: Football's future upgrades

Who cares how good the visiting team accomodations are. The worse the better IMO. You don't want the visiting team in the lap of luxury for cripes sake. That's part of the home field advantage. Make them uncomfortable from the minute they step off the bus. Walking from the HPER is no concern of any visiting coach. They could care less. When the new facility is built they need to crap up our current lockerroom even more and let the visitors use that.

[EQguy]

Re: Football's future upgrades

That was pretty much my point. I just got there in a more round a bout way.

By the way the worst visitor accomodations I have seen are Montana State's. Southern Utah is nearly a palace in comparison.