I know this subject has been talked about before but

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Rog

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Apparently we will see sell out this weekend and probably more this season.

This must include the "Viking" bleachers.

Sooo- Why are they still talking about removing them this year? Some in the adminstration have said that they want to keep the end zone clear
for the view of downtown Mpls.

My comments:
1. Who cares about that view?
2. Are they already thinking about building one of the 10,000 seat additions on the 3rd deck?
2. Or are they over careful and satisfied with the sales with the "Viking" seats removed?
 

I care about that view, and how nice it is or was to hang out or walk around in that area.

Nobody at the U has mentioned a word about expansion..... they just borrowed a ton of money for the new athletic facilities. That clearly is the priority.

I haven't heard anyone official comment on the temporary seats in any way since Norwood was sending stupid txt messages.

I'm not sure those seats are as big a deal / valuable as folks make them out to be.

Recruiting, fund raising for the athletic facilities, and being good enough to fill all the seats all the time would seem to come long before you throw in some seats because you had a couple sellouts.

Temporary seats, expansion..... that all seems WAY ahead of the horses at this point.
 

I personally would like them removed because the beer plaza that was there before was awesome.

It is only like what 3000 seats? were probably not ready to build the addition. Most likely a few years after we are competitive for some time will be able to do that.

Let's just keep consistently selling out and build out the upper decks when it is necessary, but keep the beer garden open!!!
 

Good question. I have a beer bet on this very topic. I say they will remove the temporary bleachers and my brother-in-law says they will stay. I personally hate them. We sit in 117 and look down that way all the time at the big scoreboard. I liked the "open plaza" view.
 

Rog said:
Apparently we will see sell out this weekend and probably more this season.

This must include the "Viking" bleachers.

Sooo- Why are they still talking about removing them this year? Some in the adminstration have said that they want to keep the end zone clear
for the view of downtown Mpls.

My comments:
1. Who cares about that view?
2. Are they already thinking about building one of the 10,000 seat additions on the 3rd deck?
2. Or are they over careful and satisfied with the sales with the "Viking" seats removed?[/QUOte

I've heard they are going to remove them. If they do keep them, I hope they change the color. I agree about the view, and in regards to that I think they made a mistake in not centering the scoreboard, so they would have a view of dt Minneapolis.
Click to expand...
 


My thoughts:

1. They look cheap. It's an aesthetic thing for me, I don't really like them there because it doesn't fit with the rest of the stadium (brick and concrete, maroon and gold).

2. This year's home schedule will not be matched in coming years. Getting TCU, Nebraska, Michigan and Wisconsin at home means it is a very attractive schedule for people to attend and to purchase season tickets. Next year's home slate is not nearly as attractive, with Oregon State, Iowa, Rutgers, Purdue, Northwestern. The year after, we get MSU, Nebraska and Wisconsin, but also Maryland and Illinois (and no P5 non-conference opponent at home). We will be lucky to match our home attendance from 2015 in 2016, barring a bunch of wins down the stretch for the Gophers.

3. Ticket prices are going up again (at last I heard) so wouldn't be surprised if there is a dip in the number of people buying season tickets next year.

It's great that we're attracting a ton of people this year but I say get rid of those seats until the stadium is selling out consistently for "less attractive" P5 games. Even then, I'd like to see them implemented more seamlessly with the surrounding architecture.
 

They are being removed after this season, not sure why this is so hard for people to understand. They are ugly, and not needed. I can't wait for them to be gone.
 

Rog said:
Apparently we will see sell out this weekend and probably more this season.

This must include the "Viking" bleachers.

Sooo- Why are they still talking about removing them this year? Some in the adminstration have said that they want to keep the end zone clear
for the view of downtown Mpls.

My comments:
1. Who cares about that view?
2. Are they already thinking about building one of the 10,000 seat additions on the 3rd deck?
2. Or are they over careful and satisfied with the sales with the "Viking" seats removed?
Click to expand...

1. The Tribe cares because they put 10 million into the plaza. I care because the bleachers are ugly the way they are now. There is a veterans memorial as well that can be viewed from the stadium.
2. There can never be a 3rd deck or addition above because at the last minute, the foundation for that possibility was scrapped.
3. they have bigger fish to fry than to give away those seats for 20 bucks.
 

DMB123 said:
They are being removed after this season, not sure why this is so hard for people to understand. They are ugly, and not needed. I can't wait for them to be gone.
Click to expand...

Well stated.
 





DMB123 said:
They are being removed after this season, not sure why this is so hard for people to understand. They are ugly, and not needed. I can't wait for them to be gone.
Click to expand...

Source?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

gopherjay said:
2. There can never be a 3rd deck or addition above because at the last minute, the foundation for that possibility was scrapped.
Click to expand...

G-Jay, please provide a source for this. I have not heard this from anyone else and would like it substantiated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



Less appealing schedule and ticket prices up. They will remove them.
 

gopherjay said:
1. The Tribe cares because they put 10 million into the plaza. I care because the bleachers are ugly the way they are now. There is a veterans memorial as well that can be viewed from the stadium.
2. There can never be a 3rd deck or addition above because at the last minute, the foundation for that possibility was scrapped.
3. they have bigger fish to fry than to give away those seats for 20 bucks.
Click to expand...

I believe the Tribal Nations plaza is actually the area outside of the the stadium. Everything I can find about the plaza only references features on the outside of the stadium. Your second point is not true. The stadium is built to support a third deck. Please link to a source if you believe differently.

The bigger reason to remove the temp bleachers is the concourses were not designed to support an extra 3,000-4,000 people. TCF can support the traffic for two years, but moving to a permanent installation of seats would be better served with design changes to supporting infrastructure, and an integrated seating solution in the plaza area vs. erector set bleachers

The bleachers will be gone, and that plaza will once again be a great place to congregate and still enjoy the game.
 

I went to my first game at TCF this year and did sit in those bleachers. It was a real pain to get out after the game because they just direct you back to the main gate. They did not open any of the gates on the plaza.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Gopherdrummer said:
I believe the Tribal Nations plaza is actually the area outside of the the stadium. Everything I can find about the plaza only references features on the outside of the stadium. Your second point is not true. The stadium is built to support a third deck. Please link to a source if you believe differently.

The bigger reason to remove the temp bleachers is the concourses were not designed to support an extra 3,000-4,000 people. TCF can support the traffic for two years, but moving to a permanent installation of seats would be better served with design changes to supporting infrastructure, and an integrated seating solution in the plaza area vs. erector set bleachers

The bleachers will be gone, and that plaza will once again be a great place to congregate and still enjoy the game.
Click to expand...

They remove the bleachers at the end of every season (they were not there for the spring game this year.), so I see no issue with the bleachers not returning. I want them gone as soon as possible.
 

gopherjay said:
2. There can never be a 3rd deck or addition above because at the last minute, the foundation for that possibility was scrapped.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should alert the University that the information on their web page about TCF Bank Stadium is wrong:

STADIUM SEATING
50,805 Capacity of stadium, expandable to 80,000
 

HopHead said:
Maybe you should alert the University that the information on their web page about TCF Bank Stadium is wrong:

STADIUM SEATING
50,805 Capacity of stadium, expandable to 80,000
Click to expand...

The ramps for the additional seating were built when the stadium was originally erected. I have seen them and they truly do exist.:rolleyes:
 

t-docious said:
I personally would like them removed because the beer plaza that was there before was awesome.

It is only like what 3000 seats? were probably not ready to build the addition. Most likely a few years after we are competitive for some time will be able to do that.

Let's just keep consistently selling out and build out the upper decks when it is necessary, but keep the beer garden open!!!
Click to expand...

That space was best when it was just an open area. That area is not big enough to consistently put stuff there. When crowds gather it is hard to move through. I hated that damn beer garden. I also hate the temporary seats. I have seats in that endzone and having to constantly walk through a bunch of drunk people every time I needed to leave my seats was not fun. You can get beer throughout the stadium. Buy your beer and go back to your seats and watch the game. If you are more interested in drinking with your friends than watching the game then stay home.

Holy crap I sound old, but the stupid beer garden and temporary seats drive me nuts. I am hoping next year I will finally be able to fully enjoy my seats again.
 

I followed the construction of the stadium quite closely. I read everything I could get my hands on while it was being built, and after.

1. It was pretty clear that future expansion was targeted for a third deck, and new seating could be built in 10,000 seat increments. Stadium and U officials said over and over again that even with an expansion the west end was intended to remain open.
2. It was said multiple times that the original plan did not call for expanded seating in the west end zone, beyond temp seating
3. This "footings" stuff is silly. I'd like to see a link to any source anywhere that could back that up. It would have been HUGE news back in 2009.

Comparably, it has been a real struggle to fill TCF Bank Stadium. Much more of a struggle than I originally anticipated (although I didn't anticipate Brewster fallout, or the city/university assault on tailgating and gameday culture either). With that in mind, it is wonderful to see the stadium, including the temporary seating being filled by home-team fans for Gopher games this year. Perhaps that fragile seedling has indeed taken root. But, given the original expansion plans for the stadium, as well as the difficulty overall in filling it... why would the U now scrap the plan and slap on west end zone seating? I don't see that happening. Prices are going up. Fast. I'd say the right approach is to keep a very watchful eye on the effect the price increases have on the season ticket base (the biggest of the 3 price hikes are next year and the following). Hopefully, this year isn't an anomaly. Assuming the stadium capacity goes back to 50,805 next season, I'd say wait to see if a backlog of season ticket holders and consistent sellouts develops. If so, the funding model should be quite easy to go back to dust off the actual stadium expansion plans that have been there all along.

After years of disappointing attendance in TCF Bank Stadium, I think it doesn't make a lot of sense to start slapping on end zone seats and scrapping architecture plans after one season of sellouts. That seems a little knee jerk... like switching QB's every time there is an incomplete pass. :)
 

Schnauzer said:
I followed the construction of the stadium quite closely. I read everything I could get my hands on while it was being built, and after.

1. It was pretty clear that future expansion was targeted for a third deck, and new seating could be built in 10,000 seat increments. Stadium and U officials said over and over again that even with an expansion the west end was intended to remain open.
2. It was said multiple times that the original plan did not call for expanded seating in the west end zone, beyond temp seating
3. This "footings" stuff is silly. I'd like to see a link to any source anywhere that could back that up. It would have been HUGE news back in 2009.

Comparably, it has been a real struggle to fill TCF Bank Stadium. Much more of a struggle than I originally anticipated (although I didn't anticipate Brewster fallout, or the city/university assault on tailgating and gameday culture either). With that in mind, it is wonderful to see the stadium, including the temporary seating being filled by home-team fans for Gopher games this year. Perhaps that fragile seedling has indeed taken root. But, given the original expansion plans for the stadium, as well as the difficulty overall in filling it... why would the U now scrap the plan and slap on west end zone seating? I don't see that happening. Prices are going up. Fast. I'd say the right approach is to keep a very watchful eye on the effect the price increases have on the season ticket base (the biggest of the 3 price hikes are next year and the following). Hopefully, this year isn't an anomaly. Assuming the stadium capacity goes back to 50,805 next season, I'd say wait to see if a backlog of season ticket holders and consistent sellouts develops. If so, the funding model should be quite easy to go back to dust off the actual stadium expansion plans that have been there all along.

After years of disappointing attendance in TCF Bank Stadium, I think it doesn't make a lot of sense to start slapping on end zone seats and scrapping architecture plans after one season of sellouts. That seems a little knee jerk... like switching QB's every time there is an incomplete pass. :)
Click to expand...

Anyone that has any questions about this subject........read this post.

SPOT ON.
 

This program (not just FB, the entire athletic program) needs all the revenue it can get. Extra seats = more paying fans = more revenue.
Another 3-thousand seats per game x $50 a ticket = 150,000 additional revenue x 7 home games = 1-million dollars in added revenue for the season.

If the U of M athletic department is so flush that it can turn down a million dollars in order to have a better view, that's wonderful. In my experience, money usually trumps aesthetics.
 

Clark W. Griswold said:
That space was best when it was just an open area. That area is not big enough to consistently put stuff there. When crowds gather it is hard to move through. I hated that damn beer garden. I also hate the temporary seats. I have seats in that endzone and having to constantly walk through a bunch of drunk people every time I needed to leave my seats was not fun. You can get beer throughout the stadium. Buy your beer and go back to your seats and watch the game. If you are more interested in drinking with your friends than watching the game then stay home.

Holy crap I sound old, but the stupid beer garden and temporary seats drive me nuts. I am hoping next year I will finally be able to fully enjoy my seats again.
Click to expand...
http://i.imgur.com/91sn32Q.jpg
 

Killjoy said:
The ramps for the additional seating were built when the stadium was originally erected. I have seen them and they truly do exist.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I too, have seen the pedestrian ramps leading to the roof. Would be a huge gaff to build ramps with no footings.
 

Clark W. Griswold said:
That space was best when it was just an open area. That area is not big enough to consistently put stuff there. When crowds gather it is hard to move through. I hated that damn beer garden. I also hate the temporary seats. I have seats in that endzone and having to constantly walk through a bunch of drunk people every time I needed to leave my seats was not fun. You can get beer throughout the stadium. Buy your beer and go back to your seats and watch the game. If you are more interested in drinking with your friends than watching the game then stay home.

Holy crap I sound old, but the stupid beer garden and temporary seats drive me nuts. I am hoping next year I will finally be able to fully enjoy my seats again.
Click to expand...

Ummm.......I'm pretty sure that when the beer garden was open......beer was not sold at stands. When the temp seats went in (for the Vikings), they started selling beer throughout the stadium. If that continues after the temp seats are removed......you should have nothing to bitch about.
 

I assume the "beer garden" won't be there anymore as beer is everywhere now, and that seems fine.

Before the temp stands they did have some random tents back there, maybe a food or some promotional thing but really those didn't take up much space.
 


gopherjay said:
Nope
Click to expand...

Why do you expect people to just believe you on this? Where did you hear this? This goes against literally everything that has been reported, communicated, disseminated, etc.
 


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