I've thought about this for awhile and the more I think about it the more I think they need to turn 6th Street into a festival type of atmosphere. That means closing it down for traffic, building some mixed-use(commercial-residental building on the north side(Not the U's mission but an opporunity to increase cash to help the U's mission). The also need to keep the space between TCF and 6th clear of building unless they are directly related to increasing atmosphere on campus. Think about it having an open space with a few people grillin' up hamburgers and brats to sell(maybe a brew or two if they are private owned and are able to do it). While it is not tailgating for those who wish to go that route, it is great for those who are going to use the parking ramps north of 6th-it's up to 13200 people which is alot. On the bottom level have a few dive bars and grills. Overall have a really lively atmosphere and hopefully it will wrap around to 23rd and semi-connect DT and SV.
I have attached a few picture of what I'm think the first is of idea of mixed use building(not ideal but it works). The second is of The Grove at Ole Miss(also not dead-on for what I'm going for it gives you an idea of what I'm going for). The 3rd is one of who I would hope to show up at the street fest deal(hey, it works at Ole Miss)
Boiler, I like where you are going with this about 6th street, but too many things are in motion that will make your idea impossible. First of all, there are already three buildings dedicated to biosciences already built. It is being zoned to support buildings of research, not entertainment. There will be skyways connecting a series of devoted, professional departments of some of the best minds at the university. This will bring in actually a ton more money to the U than will a few bars and restaurants. This is clearly a place for work, not living or playing.
This is the other end of the spectrum of Bruininks' mission to better the U. This is him and his board of regents following through on the commitment to be one of the top three public research universities in the world. He has already angered many many people by spending so much money on the stadium (certainly not me, I'm super excited about it!!) but he really needed to come through and be serious about the academics at the U. More bars and gameday support at the expense of academic prowess would destroy him in many people's eyes. North of 6th street is made for all 357 days when there is not gopher football (except for the parking ramps).
That said, I would look south for the things you seek. The corner south-east of the stadium looks to be your party grove and I hope it is beautiful. I hope the plaza in front of Williams arena is also a pre-game area, as well as the lawn in front of McNamara. The stadium village area south of TCF as well as dinkytown will thrive on gameday (especially now that there will be very little alcohol sold inside the stadium).
I think this is all planned out pretty well. The stadium is oriented towards campus and so should the gameday atmosphere: tailgating, partying, celebrating victories, etc. Around the 'backside' of the stadium is where more of the real business of the university (research, teaching, and learning) is done (and it will be gorgeous as well). The proximity of all this makes sure that when all these people show up for football games they will see that we are passionate about our sports but they wont escape the fact that this
is a da,m good university academically too.
