20 worst stadiums to watch a college football game (Northwestern is only BT team)

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There was some occasionally realized potential, but generally speaking, that article was pretty poor. It seems out of line to take a shot at Idaho for drawing “a mere 14,744 a game” when the Kibbie Dome only holds 16,000 and the Vandals are a horrendous FBS team that by all rights should drop down to FCS. It’d be interesting to see an article that looked at things like stadium design, amenities for regular and premium fans, ease of access, scoreboards, sound systems, facilities for the teams, and so on. As for Northwestern, I saw the Gophers lock up with the Wildcats in the rain back in 2001 and was struck by how small, basic (at least on the visitors side), and haphazardly expanded Ryan Field looked considering it had recently had $30,000,000 of renovations. You looked around and wondered where and how they spent the money.
 

BleedGopher said:
Next year's road opponent, Colorado State is also on the list:

http://www.thrillist.com/travel/nat...-worst-stadiums-to-watch-fbs-college-football

Go Gophers!!
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The scenery around the CSU stadium is maybe the most breathtaking of any college football stadium, basically it's built into the foothills of the rockies.
The stadium always struck me as interesting, but very spartan. Kinda like a mix between a european soccer field and an ancient greek ruin, but all cement.
I'm very much looking forward to that game at CSU, it's a fabulous small college town with good food and bars. Plus great sidetrips around the area and state within a short drive.
 

Ryan Field is a bit basic and the atmosphere isn't great, but the sight-lines are awesome and there really isn't a bad seat in the house. Pretty decent place to watch a game if you ask me.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Ryan Field is a bit basic and the atmosphere isn't great, but the sight-lines are awesome and there really isn't a bad seat in the house. Pretty decent place to watch a game if you ask me.
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Most of the sight lines are good but if I remember right from my visits there they have some seats down in the ends that are not angled towards the field but instead face straight ahead and give you a few of the back portion of the endzone. Have not been there in a few years so maybe they have addressed this by now.
 


Those goofy seats still exist. Not only do they face the wrong way, they have a sort of erector set look to them from the rear. Unless it was a big game and no other seats were available, I can't imagine buying those voluntarily.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Ryan Field is a bit basic and the atmosphere isn't great, but the sight-lines are awesome and there really isn't a bad seat in the house. Pretty decent place to watch a game if you ask me.
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It's definitely not a stadium with modern amenities, but it's very easy to walk up before game time (at least when the Gophers are playing) and get a great seat for cheap, and you're close to the field, plus it's only 2 miles from my house, so I can't complain about the place.
 

Looks like Duke didn't want to stay on this list for long: Duke to launch Wallace Wade Stadium renovations

Buffalo cracks me up only because Baylor has a home-and-home series with them, showing how Baylor is still Baylor (and probably always will be).

UTSA should get a break for being a brand new football program. I think it's great that they get to play in such a nice facility as a startup. The article also neglects to mention that their first game ever drew 56k fans.

Rice Stadium is a really nice facility with good sightlines and an overall good design (although it is a bit dated and in need of renovation). It hosted the 1974 Super Bowl, which many stadiums can't claim. For a school with only 6,400 students (3,800 undergrads), the place is massive. Rice doesn't even have 70,000 alumni.

I've never been to Apogee Stadium, but don't get the hate for it solely because it is LEED certified or in Texas. Most on-campus construction in our state is LEED certified. It's not a bad design, and is still a very new facility.

The Kibbie Dome, that should be the real number one on the list. College football shouldn't be played in a barn, and the separate name for the same facility during basketball games is just ridiculous.
 

Ole said:
The scenery around the CSU stadium is maybe the most breathtaking of any college football stadium, basically it's built into the foothills of the rockies.
The stadium always struck me as interesting, but very spartan. Kinda like a mix between a european soccer field and an ancient greek ruin, but all cement.
I'm very much looking forward to that game at CSU, it's a fabulous small college town with good food and bars. Plus great sidetrips around the area and state within a short drive.
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+1 with that description

To the author of the article:
1) First, its proper name is Sonny Lubick Field @ Hughes Stadium,
2) If he uses a photo taken with the foothills in the background it is quite scenic,
3) Tailgating there is a great time with tons of room / friendly fans,
4) They sell beer in the stadium, and
5) As you pointed out - it's a great town with tons to do.

I've been to 4 games and 1 summer scrimmage there and not once have I thought of it as being a bad place to watch a game. Aside from the summer scrimmage, there were 30,000+ with a great atmosphere (scenery, tailgating, viewing game etc.)

If he entitled his article "Ugly Looking Empty Stadiums" then I would agree.
 





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