Fresno State stadium

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PMWinSTP

PMWinSTP

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Curious about others' take on Fresno's stadium, atmosphere, etc.

My group was close to the field by the endzone. Long hike up and down. Built into a hill I think. Crowd seemed into it for most of the game but by mid 3rd Qtr, the home side was maybe 1/3 to 1/4 full...a lot of fans left.

BTW, Fresno also does things every commercial break and most every key game situation is sponsored (Red zone, etc), with a lot of announcer time.
 

I thought their stadium looked very nice on TV. Fresh new turf probably helped that impression but overall I thought it looked very nice and it looks pretty big for a Group of 5 stadium.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Curious about others' take on Fresno's stadium, atmosphere, etc.

My group was close to the field by the endzone. Long hike up and down. Built into a hill I think. Crowd seemed into it for most of the game but by mid 3rd Qtr, the home side was maybe 1/3 to 1/4 full...a lot of fans left.

BTW, Fresno also does things every commercial break and most every key game situation is sponsored (Red zone, etc), with a lot of announcer time.
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The stadium is definitely old and not well-designed. We were in the 20th row on about the 45-yard-line and had amazing views. The fans around us were mostly nice and reasonable - other than the three wannabe gangsters a couple rows in front of us who stood up and challenged us to go outside and fight in the second half. Security removed them quickly though.

As far as the amenities, it was ridiculous that there were no bathrooms on the lower half of the bowl on either side. You had to go all the way up to the top (about 60 rows for us) just to use the restroom. Also, if you wanted to buy alcohol, you had to go all the way back down the stairs outside to the area with the tents. Also couldn't believe they didn't have portable toilets down in the booze area. The lines to bathrooms and concessions were pretty brutal as well.

The Fresno State tailgate we got passes to before the game was really good. Amazing tacos and free drinks. Overall, it was a good environment and an exciting game - would have been brutal leaving the stadium if we didn't pull it out.
 


Looked like a nice set up
 


WriterGoph said:
The stadium is definitely old and not well-designed. We were in the 20th row on about the 45-yard-line and had amazing views. The fans around us were mostly nice and reasonable - other than the three wannabe gangsters a couple rows in front of us who stood up and challenged us to go outside and fight in the second half. Security removed them quickly though.

As far as the amenities, it was ridiculous that there were no bathrooms on the lower half of the bowl on either side. You had to go all the way up to the top (about 60 rows for us) just to use the restroom. Also, if you wanted to buy alcohol, you had to go all the way back down the stairs outside to the area with the tents. Also couldn't believe they didn't have portable toilets down in the booze area. The lines to bathrooms and concessions were pretty brutal as well.

The Fresno State tailgate we got passes to before the game was really good. Amazing tacos and free drinks. Overall, it was a good environment and an exciting game - would have been brutal leaving the stadium if we didn't pull it out.
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Yeah, looked like they had a nice little fan party area by their practice field just down the hill on the away side of the field. Agree on the biffys and concessions. Got a couple hot dogs and the grill (full of fully cooked dogs) was right next to the cashier but she disappeared for 2-3 minutes before coming back with the dogs in her hand. Interesting.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Yeah, looked like they had a nice little fan party area by their practice field just down the hill on the away side of the field. Agree on the biffys and concessions. Got a couple hot dogs and the grill (full of fully cooked dogs) was right next to the cashier but she disappeared for 2-3 minutes before coming back with the dogs in her hand. Interesting.
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it looked like the seats were pretty close to the field with OK sight lines crouw had a lot of energy. It was a much better environment than I have ever seen during any game on TV from Northwestern for sure.
 


We were on the goal line, 6th row. I woke up with hamstrings a-burning from going up and down what had to be 5 stories of stairs. Amenities as mentioned were outdated and sparse. Other than that, it’s a beautiful ballpark. Fans were okay, outside of the incident in the 2nd half.
 



HoustonTXGopher said:
Except the checker board pattern started about a yard and a half into the end zone. Very confusing!
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I think the idea is that it lets the refs see where the line is.

If those white boxes were touching the out of bounds lines ....
 

Fresno area native here. Stadium needs a lot of upgrades but Fresno has had a tough time getting money in to upgrade. Crazy that all of those good years under Pat Hill didn't amount to better upgrades in their facilities.
 


NoelarBear said:
Fresno area native here. Stadium needs a lot of upgrades but Fresno has had a tough time getting money in to upgrade. Crazy that all of those good years under Pat Hill didn't amount to better upgrades in their facilities.
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Agree.

The turf and lighting was very good. Sight lines were nothing compared to TCF but pretty much on par for an older stadium design. Replay, mic for official, obnoxious and loud PA announcements and overall the outside stadium services were pretty shabby. Their fans were good and deserve better. Looked like there were ample tailgate opps next to the stadium.

Overall, I give the inside a B+ and outside areas it a D-.
 



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