The deal is near finalized for #UCLA football to play its home games in SoFi Stadium.

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minnyrules11 said:
I don’t the Chargers fan base is non existent since moving from San Diego. Rose Bowl should renovate and take them.
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The average attendance at Chargers games the last four years (2021-24) has been just a smidge under 70,000 per game.
 





GopherGrit said:
Obviously I'm a lay person, but it would seem like the law can force a team to play at a stadium if they don't want to. All it can do is force UCLA to pay dearly to the city.
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Ask the Twins if the court can force a team to play at a stadium when the team doesn't.
 

Gotta preface this by saying having the Bank on campus with open air is a wonderful thing that I wouldn’t change, and was happy to see happen.

Back when the Metrodome was getting old and every one of its tenants were looking to leave, I wondered how it might transform if the Twins and Vikings got their own stadiums (Vikings in Arden Hills). Perhaps one of those deals where they would turn the Metrodome over to the U for a dollar. All the seats could be switched to maroon and gold and the Velcro/vinyl signs could be replaced with something classy. I wonder if it could have become a decent home for Gopher football and baseball.

I guess we’ll never know and that is probably a good thing.
 

SeaBee_Gopher said:
I went to a couple games at the dome back when I was a student in the 90's. It sucked and it was BECAUSE it wasn't on campus, not because the dome was old, at least to me. I just don't think a shiny new stadium would have mattered much. You've got to have the stadium on campus. Location, Location, Location! The feel is SOOO much better now. The two are not even comparable. The U lost a whole generation of fans to that move. Some of us are slowly trickling back. Another thing I hate now that I'm older is downtown Minneapolis and I don't think I'm alone. Having the stadium away from downtown is a huge plus for many of us.

UCLA will have to have a really good football team for a long time to make a location 12 miles from campus matter. I agree with Maxy that it's likely better, but still not good. What a mess they have on their hands.

Question: Is there an example of a stadium that is NOT on campus that is awesome? I've been to very few so may well not know what I'm talking about. If yes, is there an example of a stadium 12 MILES from campus?
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I wouldn't call it awesome, but Miami has made it work in multiple off campus stadiums.
 




Ope3 said:
They still play the Red River Rivalry though in the Cotton Bowl, probably to Jerry Jones dismay.
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Call it what it is, the Red River Shootout.

If you’re mad they changed “Shootout” to “Rivalry,” congrats, you’ve officially valued a football nickname more than human lives. 🏈🇺🇸
 


Schnauzer said:
Gotta preface this by saying having the Bank on campus with open air is a wonderful thing that I wouldn’t change, and was happy to see happen.

Back when the Metrodome was getting old and every one of its tenants were looking to leave, I wondered how it might transform if the Twins and Vikings got their own stadiums (Vikings in Arden Hills). Perhaps one of those deals where they would turn the Metrodome over to the U for a dollar. All the seats could be switched to maroon and gold and the Velcro/vinyl signs could be replaced with something classy. I wonder if it could have become a decent home for Gopher football and baseball.

I guess we’ll never know and that is probably a good thing.
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I think the dome was a dead man walking.

It's boxes were garbage, no club seating, and since everyone was leaving it had a lot of deferred maintenance ... that's a lot of up front costs, and long term lost.

Some of the renovation ideas floated at the time like adding a suite level would have been damn close to the cost of TCF ... that cost all of 303m ( a bargain in today's terms).

It wasn't much better than if memorial was still around and saying "let's play there". It was basically a facility with seats .... huge up front costs to keep using it, and sub optimal structure if you ever wanted modern club/suites amenities.
 

Unregistered User said:
Call it what it is, the Red River Shootout.

If you’re mad they changed “Shootout” to “Rivalry,” congrats, you’ve officially valued a football nickname more than human lives. 🏈🇺🇸
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I had zero recollection that it ever was "Shootout" and culled "Red River Rivalry" from the Cotton Bowl Stadium's wiki page.

en.wikipedia.org

Cotton Bowl (stadium) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

It changed in 2005, and quite frankly prefer the "Rivalry" tag for nothing else but the the alliteration. "Showdown" has also been used.

en.wikipedia.org

Red River Rivalry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 



forever a gopher said:
The quality of the Rose Bowl isn't very different from many, many college stadiums. Not having a traditional indoor concourse really reduces the clogging that always happens in those. The tunnels into the seating area are really narrow, however, which would probably be problematic when the stadium is full.

I'm sure SoFi is a wonderful stadium. Watching an NFL game there would probably be fun. Honestly, would have no interest in watching a college game there. Much different vibe that doesn't do much for me.
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I did love the outdoor concourse!
 

PMWinSTP said:
This has got to be humor or sarcasm, right?
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Go back and find images of when the Vikes played the Chargers there or watch highlights. Its a bit of hyperbole but not as much as you think.

LA is not a pro football town.
 



oak_street1981 said:
No, the Metrodome was way worse than Memorial Stadium on day one. It was a total pile of stale garbage. Some of the yes men back then should have said no..

None of those assholes had to play one old fashioned, paint on concrete artificial turf form the late 70s and early 80s either.
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The first few games in 1982 at the HHH Dome were anything but stale. They drew over 50,000 for both Ohio U and Washington St sandwiched around a win at Purdue.

The atmosphere was electric for the first Big 10 game at the Dome, 63,000 strong against Illinois for a night game. They flopped and proceeded to run the table in reverse.

Holtz revived it. It was raucous again when Oklahoma came to town for another near capacity night game.

When the Gophers were respectable on the field, the atmosphere was not stale, especially at night.
 

oak_street1981 said:
Wow, someone is actually trying to defend the Metrodome, the worst idea ever?

I was at that WSU game and the Illinois collapse in 1983.. That dump sucked from day one, and was a huge embarrassment for any Gopher fan. Even my dad, an optimist and company man, and a long suffering Rose Bowl attendee in 1961 looked pretty downcast in year one that that shithole.
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And I attended a couple of games Memorial Stadium in which the atmosphere sucked, especially on a rainy dreary day. More than half the seats were in the end zone.

Just look at the attendance numbers from 1971 - 1981.

Your dad should have been more downtrodden about lack of talent under Smokey Joe instead of the Dome.
 


oak_street1981 said:
Finally a defender of the Metrodome
\
And quit making it up.

The atmosphere at Memorial Stadium never brought anyone down, rain or no rain, even as a 13 year old kid I knew that.

This must be a bit

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Oct 1, 1977 I was at Memorial Stadium to see the Gophers defeat Warren Moon and the eventual Rose Bowl Champion Huskies.

Place was half full. Atmosphere that day in Dinkytown...meh.
 

oak_street1981 said:
The air was stale, the turf was abrasive, the sound has horrible, the beer was 3.2 for most of the years, and it was just bad all around.

Glorious sunshine!

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Well over 10,000 empty seats for that one.
 

oak_street1981 said:
Good for you, bud. I wished I had been there that day. My dad had the old "stereo" cranked up to 10 in the the house as he did yard work that day and cooked us some stuff on the grill, and when the Gophers beat UW, my since passed away pops , had some tears going.

No one gives a crap about what happened in Dinkytown in 1977, relative the Metrodome Shitshow.

That decision was so horrible and set Minnesota Football back 30 years, but keep trying to defend that disaster.

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Cool memory. I had a similar memory with my father as well, listening to Ray on WCCO describe the thrashing of the Michigan later that fall. Amazing the Gophers beat both Pasadena participants that 1977 campaign.

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The video link however shows how obvious the move to the HHH Dome was the less worse of the options presented, given the "obvious economic reality" of the situation.
 

oak_street1981 said:
Wow, what strange universe you hang on to, old man. I'd bet big bankroll you are over 63.. old man thinking - keep yelling at the clouds!

Sure I am old, but not that hopeless, , our 95 mile family trip brought us to the old Memorial Stadium, and is a 10 year old kid I knew most of what I witnessed made me feel great. I still chase that today, possibly to Wrigley nest week.

That kept me going into 2009 at TCF. Get real, defending the Metrodome????? get help
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Staying at Memorial was not feasible.

By stating it was the "less worse of the options" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the HHH Dome as a college football venue.

I was thrilled that by 2009 a better option presented itself.
 

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