All Things New Football Practice Facility Thread

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Curseislifted33

Curseislifted33

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Another step in the right direction by Mr. Teague IMO.

The ‘U’ has officially selected a well-known master planning firm to sketch out how the school can realistically move forward with athletic facilities in the next 5-15 years.
 

Not sure why Ms. Rayno uses the term "Target Field's POPULOUS" when they also designed TCF Bank Stadium. I think TCF is a bit more relevant to the story.

I don't really get her though, so who knows.
 

NateDawgUM said:
Not sure why Ms. Rayno uses the term "Target Field's POPULOUS" when they also designed TCF Bank Stadium. I think TCF is a bit more relevant to the story.

I don't really get her though, so who knows.
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Possible oversight? I think Populous was still HOK Sport back then.
 

GoAUpher said:
Possible oversight? I think Populous was still HOK Sport back then.
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Didn't she say in the article that Populous was formerly called HOK Sport and then also cite previous works including TCF Bank Stadium towards the end as a footnote?.. Just seems the typical view of the U being 2nd rate in this city to me. Refer to the company as "you know, the one who did the awesome Target Field" instead of the more relevant (and accurate) "you know, the company who already worked with the U to make the gorgeous TCF Bank Stadium a year before Target Field opened." Just my take.
 

The woman went to UNC and is a an unapologetic tarheel fan... of course she doesn't know jack sh!t about the cities
 


Yeah, referring to them as Target Field's POPULOUS just makes no sense here. Obviously different if they hadn't been involved at the U before or if TCF Bank Stadium was 50 years ago.

Anyway, this would appear to be a great move. I mean, what a concept - to have an idea of what your needs will be and plan accordingly so you can get fundraising underway and not be caught with your pants down when Seibert starts to crumble (which everyone knew was a matter of time 20 years ago). Wow. Hard to believe this didn't exist previously. Great job to partner with someone who can identify costs and space requirements, etc.
 

Looking at the blog post, I would not blame Amelia, but the web editor.

Blogs on newspaper websites are just submitted like a story, and the editor titles it.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Looking at the blog post, I would not blame Amelia, but the web editor.

Blogs on newspaper websites are just submitted like a story, and the editor titles it.
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If it weren't for media bashing, GopherHole would dry up.
 





per Doogie Q&A with Teague:

How involved have the POPULOUS folks been so far? (Editor's note: they were hired a few weeks ago to develop a facilities master plan.)

They were here last Wednesday to Friday. They interviewed every coach and senior staff members. They've been great. They'll be back at us in probably two weeks with the next steps. ... We have to do a practice facility for the basketball teams. Football needs a support facility of some type. After that, there's an array of Olympic sports that need upgrades.

and this tid-bit:

• Benedict, in charge of the football team, said immediate facility upgrades he's efforting include locker room expansion at the practice facility and office space tinkering for the coaches.

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...king_hard_on_Martell_Webster_settlement101912

Go Gophers!!
 

Wonder what they'll decide to do with Williams Arena.
 

Doogie tweet: "The Populous people got back to #Gophers AD N. Teague w/ some stuff: $50-$60M for football office upgrades (would be at current location)."

Go Gophers!!
 



I usually park on the west side of I-35 in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood and walk to the game from that direction but for the Purdue game our group parked on the northeast side of the stadium north of the bus lane that goes to the St. Paul campus and past all of the grain elevators.
I was surprised at the amount of land that is over there. There is enough room for a football stadium if they had wanted to go in that direction and there more than enough room for dare I say it, a new Williams Arena and practice facility.

Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Iowa State has got a video out showing off their new football facility, including indoor practice field, offices, locker room etc. Will be interesting to see what Populous and the athletic department decide upon.

 

maroonfive said:
I usually park on the west side of I-35 in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood and walk to the game from that direction but for the Purdue game our group parked on the northeast side of the stadium north of the bus lane that goes to the St. Paul campus and past all of the grain elevators.
I was surprised at the amount of land that is over there. There is enough room for a football stadium if they had wanted to go in that direction and there more than enough room for dare I say it, a new Williams Arena and practice facility.

Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The land to the east of the university is an untapped resource, especially with the light rail infrastructure being built.

It's simply too valuable at this point to be used as low-rise industrial parks and low-grade office buildings. I'm sure the U has looked at this area and it's probably covered in some million dollar study gathering dust in red tape land.

I think there are legal issues to going after the grain elevator land, which I believe is owned by BNSF. The U could stand to be more aggressive though in acquiring some land in that area. There's just nowhere else left to grow in any other direction.
 

BleedGopher said:
Doogie tweet: "The Populous people got back to #Gophers AD N. Teague w/ some stuff: $50-$60M for football office upgrades (would be at current location)."

Go Gophers!!
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This has to be a typo by Doogie, doesn't it? How could football offices (much less just football office upgrades) run $50-60 M? You could build 3 state of the art practice facilities for that.
 

EG#9 said:
This has to be a typo by Doogie, doesn't it? How could football offices (much less just football office upgrades) run $50-60 M? You could build 3 state of the art practice facilities for that.
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USC's McKay Center ran $70m. I'm guessing by "football offices" he means total football facilities, including practice field(s), weight training facilities, etc. By that measure, $50-$60m should be at least what we aim for if we don't want it to be obsolete in 10 years.
 

EG#9 said:
This has to be a typo by Doogie, doesn't it? How could football offices (much less just football office upgrades) run $50-60 M? You could build 3 state of the art practice facilities for that.
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Yea, that confused me too so I asked for clarification:
What would that include? With numbers that high it would sound like a major reno or rebuild.
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Here was his response:
Correct. Underground parking even. Just about a full rebuild. Full interviews airs Sunday morning at 7:40 a.m. on @1500ESPN.
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So it looks like these numbers are for the big time upgrades, not just the office space.
 

More from Doogie:

"The Populous people in charge of developing a master plan for facility upgrades have presented the department with some feedback already. Teague said he got a plan for a $50 million to $60 million football facility that could also include renovations to the Bierman Building. That cost would include underground parking even in addition to a new weight room, indoor practice field, offices for the coaches and more. The three main goals: a new football building, a basketball practice facility and a new academic center. The new football building would go in the existing place, not at TCF Bank Stadium."

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...ching_Twins_made_a_run_at_Ervin_Santana110212

Go Gophers!!
 

per Doogie:

"Benedict said they'll be getting more feedback from the Populous folks next week. The grand master facilities upgrade will include a new indoor practice field exclusively for the football team. Benedict along with Teague, regents, and donors got a tour of Nebraska's setup two weeks ago. Expect whatever the "U" decides on to mimic in many ways what they have in Lincoln. For example, they have two indoor facilities for their athletes to use in the winter. What that means here is that the current indoor football practice field would be maintained. The final product will include a ton more than just a new indoor field. For the football team alone, the coaches will have new offices and other space, the training room will be expanded greatly and will likely include hydrotherapy. There will be much, much more."

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...d_Brandon_Roy_out_of_retirement_for_now112812

Go Gophers!!
 

Major money in play here. Too bad I didn't win the Powerball last night - I was going to donate $5 mil to the football program.
 

I heard some good news on this front, but I don't know if its true or not. Things are moving faster than one would expect.
 



4four4 said:
From what I have heard Teague is really working him.
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well, yea, we know kill took him to nebraska a few months ago on a private jet; he took him when they played nu last week; he honored him at halftime a few weeks back and let him do the coin flip before a game. yes, we've heard that teague is working him.
 

Go4 said:
well, yea, we know kill took him to nebraska a few months ago on a private jet; he took him when they played nu last week; he honored him at halftime a few weeks back and let him do the coin flip before a game. yes, we've heard that teague is working him.
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My source is in the athletic department.
 


Gopher Equipment ‏@GopherFBEquip
Tomorrow also starts our move to stadium locker room until January. Practice locker room renovation starts Monday at 6am. Will look great!
 

A major part of the locker room renovations are the new lockers. Here's a picture of one of the new lockers (note the iPad screen) and although it's cut off towards the bottom, SKI-U-MAH will be present on every locker!

lockers.jpg
 

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