How would Gopher Football look in 2022 if the team had never moved out of Memorial Stadium?

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Abandoning Memorial stadium was not THE problem, but it was a symptom of larger problems that had emerged. It was the ultimate representation of a large-scale disinvestment in major college football in the region (both in terms of money and market interest) and a preoccupation with the much larger mission of being seen nationally as a “major league market” — not a college town.
 

fmlizard said:
Wasn't there a point at which the Dome was helping with recruiting? When it was an opportunity to play in a brand new NFL stadium? Those were the worst Gopher teams of all.

There were like 60k people there to watch the Gophers lose 84-13 to Nebraska. Now, half as many show up to watch the Gophers beat up teams they mostly lost to in the Dome era.

Worse attendance has coincided with much improved football and stadium experience.
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The opening of the Dome pretty much coincided with Lou Holtz's tenure. If recruiting improved, it was because of Holtz.
 

disco said:
I think a big question is how much it would have cost to renovate it, and what would the end result be?
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The figure I have always heard was $15M for renovations in the early 80's and they didn't have the money or think they could raise it. Not certain, but I think that was more to renovate what they had rather than making sizeable improvements.
 

Many great memories of driving down from the Iron Range with my Dad, and bussing over from the Criterion Restaurant on Univ. Ae in St Paul. The place was a monolith to a kid... but other than memories, I'm sure that in the end, we are better off across the street.
 


2nd Degree Gopher said:
The figure I have always heard was $15M for renovations in the early 80's and they didn't have the money or think they could raise it. Not certain, but I think that was more to renovate what they had rather than making sizeable improvements.
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Thst number was more like 40 million to rennovate. President Keller had no interest in bringing Memorial up to code let alone the fundraising for it. President Haselmo was from Norway and thought football should be replaced with Men's soccer. The new pool and aquarics center got put in under Haselmo in the middle of the shell of old Memorial. Staying in the old stadium would not have done a dang thing for Gopher football. It was a dump with poor site lines, amenities as was the Dome. Shameful thing was it was war Memorial. I believe they preserved the old Memorial Arch. It is in Alumni center. Wish there was a way to incorporate it into the newer stadium. Sid pushed for Dome so he could line his pockets with parking revenue from the 4 lots he owned over by the Dome.
 
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We'd have two Minnesota teams in the NFL right now.
 

I attended a number of games at Memorial. Several of them were with my HS band as part of the annual "Band Day" event. Later on, I went to a few games at Memorial while I was a student at Augsburg.

the place had no amenities. bleacher seats, limited concessions, limited restroom facilities, etc.
So - as noted by other posters - it would have been fairly expensive to upgrade the place. Probably would have had to keep the exterior shell and gut the inside, then rebuild.

Considering the fight to fund the MetroDome, I can't imagine that the State Legislature would have provided much if any funding. So the U would have had to come up with.......$40-million or more.
Given the climate with the U administration at the time, that was not going to happen.

Speaking of Sid, at one point he was pushing an idea to build a stadium on the State Fair grounds to replace the grandstand, with the idea that the Gophers and Vikings could play there, and on game days, they could open some of the State Fair food vendor stands. that would have been unique.
 




short ornery norwegian said:
I attended a number of games at Memorial. Several of them were with my HS band as part of the annual "Band Day" event. Later on, I went to a few games at Memorial while I was a student at Augsburg.

the place had no amenities. bleacher seats, limited concessions, limited restroom facilities, etc.
So - as noted by other posters - it would have been fairly expensive to upgrade the place. Probably would have had to keep the exterior shell and gut the inside, then rebuild.

Considering the fight to fund the MetroDome, I can't imagine that the State Legislature would have provided much if any funding. So the U would have had to come up with.......$40-million or more.
Given the climate with the U administration at the time, that was not going to happen.

Speaking of Sid, at one point he was pushing an idea to build a stadium on the State Fair grounds to replace the grandstand, with the idea that the Gophers and Vikings could play there, and on game days, they could open some of the State Fair food vendor stands. that would have been unique.
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I always thought the State Fair stadium concept was cool. Plus it's technically next door to the St. Paul campus. I think a big bugaboo there was traffic ingress/egress, though The Bank probably isn't much better.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
Do you have a source for that number? $40 million in the early 1980's seems really high. The cost to build the Metrodome was only $68M.
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Without a roof, the $40 million seems quite reasonable if comparing it to the HHH Dome.
 

Ope3 said:
Without a roof, the $40 million seems quite reasonable if comparing it to the HHH Dome.
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To renovate an existing building? 40 years ago? Paul Giel cited the $15M figure and I was under the impression he wanted to move to the Dome so he inflated that number.
 

Ope3 said:
Long time ago, but quite sure they were in Memorial. Also had labs and other stuff in there. I don't think I am misremembering it.
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There were definitely racquetball/handball/squash courts in the bowels of Memorial Stadium - I played there many times.

The courts’ ceilings were slanted, due to the seating configuration of the stadium. That made for fun, interesting games!
 



2nd Degree Gopher said:
To renovate an existing building? 40 years ago? Paul Giel cited the $15M figure and I was under the impression he wanted to move to the Dome so he inflated that number.
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depends on the degree of renovations. Sure, they could have improved it a little for $15 million. But to really make a stadium attractive with better seating, bathrooms, concessions, modern amenities, suites, etc would have cost a lot more. so the $40 million figure is - as I recall it - for more of a total "rebuild" as opposed to "renovation."
 

Here's a good thread on the topic.

Memorial Stadium

anyone of you ever attended a game there? was it that bad? could it have been renovated?
gopherhole.com gopherhole.com

There were some pie in the sky talks about building a dome over it - that could have been the $40 million figure.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
depends on the degree of renovations. Sure, they could have improved it a little for $15 million. But to really make a stadium attractive with better seating, bathrooms, concessions, modern amenities, suites, etc would have cost a lot more. so the $40 million figure is - as I recall it - for more of a total "rebuild" as opposed to "renovation."
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Oh sure, I don't doubt that they could have come up with a way to spend $40M and dramatically improve Memorial, but I don't recall that was ever even a realistic consideration, at least not when they were finally deciding whether to stay in the Dome (after the first couple of year "trial run") or fix up Memorial and return to campus. My memory is that they were looking to make make more modest improvements to get things up to code, fix the things that were broken or falling down, etc. That is where Giel's $15M figure came from.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
To renovate an existing building? 40 years ago? Paul Giel cited the $15M figure and I was under the impression he wanted to move to the Dome so he inflated that number.
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I'm sure $15M would have improved it, but it would have just been the "lipstick on a pig" type of remodel. Fresh paint, bleachers and bring it up to code.

Having been there to a couple of games late 70s, and seeing it while on campus in '87. It would have needed the $40M treatment. Something like Northwestern is doing now with their stadium, essentially gutting it and starting over with everything but the exterior.

The track around the field meant if felt every seat was distant from the action. 2/3rds of the seats were in the End Zones.
 

Ope3 said:
I'm sure $15M would have improved it, but it would have just been the "lipstick on a pig" type of remodel. Fresh paint, bleachers and bring it up to code.

Having been there to a couple of games late 70s, and seeing it while on campus in '87. It would have needed the $40M treatment. Something like Northwestern is doing now with their stadium, essentially gutting it and starting over with everything but the exterior.

The track around the field meant if felt every seat was distant from the action. 2/3rds of the seats were in the End Zones.
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I don't dispute your opinions on what should or could have been done or what that would cost. My point is just that what they were actually considering doing was the lipstick version of the renovations, not the more extensive reno you suggest was necessary.
 

Ope3 said:
Long time ago, but quite sure they were in Memorial. Also had labs and other stuff in there. I don't think I am misremembering it.
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Yeah that is correct under the stands there were rooms and stuff. Not u set the field tho. And yes tunnels did run from the memorial to Williams and mooch. Vendors were constantly moving equipment and food.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
Yeah that is correct under the stands there were rooms and stuff. Not u set the field tho. And yes tunnels did run from the memorial to Williams and mooch. Vendors were constantly moving equipment and food.
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Yes, I did mean underneath the structure not ground level or the playing field.

I remember the tunnels too, had a dungeons and dragons feel to it.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
I don't dispute your opinions on what should or could have been done or what that would cost. My point is just that what they were actually considering doing was the lipstick version of the renovations, not the more extensive reno you suggest was necessary.
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Maybe both were discussed at different times.

The $15Mil version at the time ('82) of the move. The $40Mil version when there was a last gasp movement to get them back on campus before they built the Aquatic Center (circa '88-'89).

Memory is fading on that part. Just educated guess.
 

disco said:
Here's a good thread on the topic.

Memorial Stadium

anyone of you ever attended a game there? was it that bad? could it have been renovated?
gopherhole.com gopherhole.com

There were some pie in the sky talks about building a dome over it - that could have been the $40 million figure.
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Thanks for the link to the old thread. This discussion got me curious, so I looked to see what I could find. Here's an article that discusses the topic. My recall of Giel's number is the high end of his range "Giel cited remodeling costs between $10 million and $15 million." Here is the link for anyone who wants to wade through it.

Memorial Stadium: An Unfair End?
 

pk2 said:
There were definitely racquetball/handball/squash courts in the bowels of Memorial Stadium - I played there many times.

The courts’ ceilings were slanted, due to the seating configuration of the stadium. That made for fun, interesting games!
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Thanks for cosigning.
 




Ope3 said:
I'm sure $15M would have improved it, but it would have just been the "lipstick on a pig" type of remodel. Fresh paint, bleachers and bring it up to code.

Having been there to a couple of games late 70s, and seeing it while on campus in '87. It would have needed the $40M treatment. Something like Northwestern is doing now with their stadium, essentially gutting it and starting over with everything but the exterior.

The track around the field meant if felt every seat was distant from the action. 2/3rds of the seats were in the End Zones.
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If it would have ended up like Soldier Field did, it would have been a disaster.
 

disco said:
If it would have ended up like Soldier Field did, it would have been a disaster.
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Hopefully for Northwestern's sake they learned what not to do.
 

Why is Williams Arena beloved? That has not brought success to the Gopher basketball program.
 

maroonfive said:
Why is Williams Arena beloved? That has not brought success to the Gopher basketball program.
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With a sparse crowd, can really tell it needs a new paint job at minimum. Crowd shots behind the bench, looks brutal.
 

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