My review of first time in TCF

[at the bar]

I went into TCF stadium for the first time on Saturday during the Gophers practice. Here are a couple of first impressions.
1) Nothing looks cheap -everything is first class quality. I didn't realize that the outdoor club level seats have cushions on the bottom. They have plastic backs like other seats but nice cushions on the bottom.
2) Upper level seats have a better view of the field than lower deck seats. Even the top row of upper deck offers a great view. The U couldn't ask for big $ for suites & boxes without a great view and those seats that appear way up there offer a great viewing angle.
3) The bathrooms were locked so I couldn't see them to see if they have TVs but the concourse has many TVs to get you updated while getting a hot dog.
4) The steps to the upper level from the concourse are only wide enough to allow one person to go up and one person to go down at the same time. I wish the steps were wider to allow for the rush at half time and after games. This is my biggest worry.
5) The locker room is awesome and the pictures of past players above each locker is a great idea.
6) Seat backs are worth the $50 (includes taxes & fees). They were very comfortable.
7) The scoreboard sound is great and can be turned up very loud!
8) The end zones appear even more red when you stand on the field. I'm sorry to complain but they now have lots of black pellets toward the top and once those get worn down into the turf more, I would think the end zones would get even lighter in color.
9) The railings going up the rows are low enough that they do not block your view while sitting down. However, there are taller railings at the first row in front of the gates that will block the view of some in the first or second row quite a bit.
10) Hall of Fame room is still far from being completed.
11) The last 5 or so rows of the upper deck on the home side are under the overhang that covers the pressbox. Those will be great seats when it rains as it should provide some protection.
12) Goldy's was open and while they still may be getting in some merchandise they did have two Nike home replica jerseys for sale. The jerseys were #7 Decker and ................#5 Gray. Does Goldy's know something that we don't about the starting QB?

 

[husker70]

I am not that excited about number 7

On your list. The sound being turned up. We have a Marching Band, and 55,000 fans who needs sound amplification? Oohh, yeah the NFL

 

[Schnauzer]

Nice list. I can live with it but the red end zones have bugged me from day one. But, to put things into perspective I wouldn't trade the brick field wall for a better shade of maroon in the end zones.

Several people have mentioned how nice the second deck is for viewing. My seats are near the top of the first deck so I am hoping for great views as well. I avoided the second deck because with only one concourse, it looked like a lot of steps for every trip to the bathroom or concession stand.

 

[cduff]

4) The steps to the upper level from the concourse are only wide enough to allow one person to go up and one person to go down at the same time. I wish the steps were wider to allow for the rush at half time and after games. This is my biggest worry.

I see where you are coming from, but at the same time only one row of people can walk down the aisles of the upper deck at once, so I don't think this will be too much of a problem. It's actually probably better that they don't allow several rows of people to walk up the stairs at once, because once you get into the seating area there would be a jam of people waiting to file into a single line to walk up the stairs. It's probably better they keep the crowd of people in the consourse rather than blocking the view from the seats.

 

[icepirate13]

2) Upper level seats have a better view of the field than lower deck seats. Even the top row of upper deck offers a great view. The U couldn't ask for big $ for suites & boxes without a great view and those seats that appear way up there offer a great viewing angle.
?

Great to hear. Our seats are on the very top row. My son and I are getting pumped for Saturday and beyond!

 

[mplsbadger]

Great to hear. Our seats are on the very top row. My son and I are getting pumped for Saturday and beyond!

I toured a long time ago before seats were put in and at the time I thought I might just get the 'last chairback' seat, so I went up and sat where that seat would be (on the endline in the last row of the upper deck). It was a great view and felt way better than my old dome seats in row 12 of 212. You won't be disapointed.

 

[gophermartin]

Color of maroon

This is where I come down on this topic. I'm with Schnauzer. The field color can be fixed in future years or even during the season if it is a must have.

Note the gap of color on the maroon. I love our shades of gold and marron on the jerseys....but that 'M' and the 50 and the endzone....appear to be different colors too.

Not whining...just wishing the jerseys and field would be closer in sync with each other...and again I like the current shade. I don't want to become USC or Iowa State.

 

[icepirate13]

I toured a long time ago before seats were put in and at the time I thought I might just get the 'last chairback' seat, so I went up and sat where that seat would be (on the endline in the last row of the upper deck). It was a great view and felt way better than my old dome seats in row 12 of 212. You won't be disapointed.

Section 208...row 32

 

[GopherCrazy]

7) The scoreboard sound is great and can be turned up very loud!

I am assuming you mean the music. I dont think ive seen this mentioned on here before, but the fans they have in the scoreboard to cool the thing off when its on are LOUD AS HELL!

of course, the stadium was empty so with the crowd and band going, you probably wont notice it unless your sitting in the seats in that top corner by the score board...

By the way, is that a visitor seating zone? would be great to just dump the visitors next to those huge turbines for the whole game instead of Gopher fans!

 

[Boondoggle]

the color of the "m" in the middle of the field looks more like usc's scarlet color than minnesota maroon.

 

[at the bar]

Yes, I was referring to the loud rap music and motivational speeches that the scoreboard was playing during practice. The visiting fans will be sitting up near the scoreboard in the upper deck corner.

You can really see the difference in color between the field and seats in the Decker/Weber picture. Maybe that will be on the punch list before the stadium is completed.

 

[GoAUpher]

the color of the "m" in the middle of the field looks more like usc's scarlet color than minnesota maroon.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the "official" color scheme though. Take another look at ATTF's recent photos, the maroon from the block M at the 50 is the shade being used on all the signage throughout TCF. Its the color of the huge block M on the back of the scoreboard. The end zone maroon is closer to that shade then the purple-ish maroon of the seats or the brown-ish maroon of the jerseys. We've gotten used to the darker shades of maroon but the "official" shade is definitely lighter. The fact is, the U has never kept the colors totally consistent. Throw in the difficulty of matching different material (Field Turf, plastic, etc) for the colors and this is what you get.

 

[TCF=UnitedWeStand]

I visited a couple of weeks ago and loved every bit of it - I'm not sweating the colors at all; everything looked great.

 

[swmngo4]

I've never been able to figure out why the U hasn't been able to stick with one maroon with uniforms, clothing, signage, fields, seats, posters, etc. Yes, in some ways it's a small thing...but on the other hand, it's a very obvious thing that everyone can see clearly. To me, it can be a difference between a big time program that pays attention to details and a small time program that doesn't have the resources or effort to deal with the "minor details".

I mean really...if Texas and Tennessee can figure out how to keep their very unique shades of orange consistant between uniforms, fields, seats, signs and every licensed product we should be able to do that same with maroon. While reading this every one of you could picture in your heads "Texas orange" and "Tennessee orange". You can probably even picture the difference between USC maroon and Florida State maroon in your heads. Why can't the Gophers have a stable color like all these schools do. We really should be able to do better than that Weber/Decker picture shows.

But, again...don't get me wrong. If having 3 or 4 maroons is the only thing wrong with TCF...I'm very happy. The maroon problem has been around a long time and the new stadium just demonstrates the problem clearly.

 

[at the bar]

Good points swmngo4

You want to build a brand and while having maroon and gold as colors doesn't make the U unique like the Texas burnt orange, having some consistency should be more important at MN. I like the "brown" maroon that Nike uses on the hockey and football jerseys but the "red" maroon is used more often.

 

[WAGopher]

The official University colors are posted at this website:
http://www1.umn.edu/brand/standards/color.php

As you can see, the seats are more off color than anything else. Our maroon doesn't have any purple, which the seats obviously do.

The brown in some of the maroon we see, is most likely from an item using the dark secondary maroon color, which does seem to have some brown in it. From my limited color experience, matching colors between different materials can be very difficult.

I love everything about the new stadium, and I can see how some people will be disappointed over some of the colors.

 

[gophermartin]

Great find. That field color on the M is off too just as much as the seats. (opposite directions).

The seats are too...but will be filled on game day.

I'm more wondering about the endzones and M and jerseys matching.

I bet this is the emperor has no clothes on scenario initially. I'd love to see a blog entry or new story on it.

"hard" to match doesn't cut it for the jerseys and field colors. Say no to scarlet USC and Iowa State.

GM

 

[at the bar]

I was also surprised that Gold Country did not have any cold weather gear that I saw. There were some hooded sweatshirts and a vest but I hope they carry heavy jackets later this year for the late season games.