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gophmeister

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I was sifting through photos of stadiums on flickr today. When you compare TCF to other stadiums it is significantly more impressive edifice. A lot of stadiums look cobbled together. They may have a fancy addition but they look pretty ramshackle otherwise. We're in the bottom half for capacity and we don't have all the game day tradition yet (that will come in time), but I doubt recruits don't come away impressed.
 



Very true that many of the stadiums look somewhat ramshackle (even the stadiums of historical college football powers). As an example, I recently stopped off in Lincoln on the way to Denver and checked out the Huskers stadium (never visited it in person before and only saw glimpses of it on TV). First, let me get this out of the way: Yes, I am sure it is very impressive with 80,000 red clad screaming fans. Yes, we currently can't hold a candle to that kind of widespread fervent support. Now on to the physical critique of the structure. The outside of the stadium as you walk up was very unimpressive to me. While large (not Beaver Stadium large though) it has lots and lots of gray concrete and exposed structural beams. I was honestly disappointed as I walked up since I was excited to see one of the great college football stadiums and what I saw was totally underwhelming (I may have had too high of expectations I guess). Anyway, to see the inside, I followed a sign that directed me to the self guided tour of the stadium and as I walked up I saw more gray and cracking concrete with chain link fencing everywhere (when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere). It was on top of the ticketing booths and to all sides. Additionally, the self guided tour was nothing more than a chain link fence tunnel that directed you to a chain link lined balcony in the stadium near the student section (it was literally a chain link tunnel and made me feel like I was entering Stillwater Prison). This allowed you to view the interior. While the inside was more impressive than the outside it did look cobbled together like an earlier poster said. You could obviously tell that different areas were added at different periods (not all sections looked to be at the same elevation or angle, different construction materials, different seats, etc.) One thing that did impress me was that because of the age of the stadium it did feel pretty intimate for a place that holds as many people as it does. I am sure it really rocks when its filled up. All in all, not really what I was expecting. It definitely makes me appreciate what the U did in designing TCF and I'm confident it will be top notch facility for a 100 years. Now we just need to fill it up consistently so we can have 80,000 screaming maroon and gold clad fans like Nebraska does. Hopefully I will see this in my lifetime.
 

koppco1 said:
Very true that many of the stadiums look somewhat ramshackle (even the stadiums of historical college football powers). As an example, I recently stopped off in Lincoln on the way to Denver and checked out the Huskers stadium (never visited it in person before and only saw glimpses of it on TV). First, let me get this out of the way: Yes, I am sure it is very impressive with 80,000 red clad screaming fans. Yes, we currently can't hold a candle to that kind of widespread fervent support. Now on to the physical critique of the structure. The outside of the stadium as you walk up was very unimpressive to me. While large (not Beaver Stadium large though) it has lots and lots of gray concrete and exposed structural beams. I was honestly disappointed as I walked up since I was excited to see one of the great college football stadiums and what I saw was totally underwhelming (I may have had too high of expectations I guess). Anyway, to see the inside, I followed a sign that directed me to the self guided tour of the stadium and as I walked up I saw more gray and cracking concrete with chain link fencing everywhere (when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere). It was on top of the ticketing booths and to all sides. Additionally, the self guided tour was nothing more than a chain link fence tunnel that directed you to a chain link lined balcony in the stadium near the student section (it was literally a chain link tunnel and made me feel like I was entering Stillwater Prison). This allowed you to view the interior. While the inside was more impressive than the outside it did look cobbled together like an earlier poster said. You could obviously tell that different areas were added at different periods (not all sections looked to be at the same elevation or angle, different construction materials, different seats, etc.) One thing that did impress me was that because of the age of the stadium it did feel pretty intimate for a place that holds as many people as it does. I am sure it really rocks when its filled up. All in all, not really what I was expecting. It definitely makes me appreciate what the U did in designing TCF and I'm confident it will be top notch facility for a 100 years. Now we just need to fill it up consistently so we can have 80,000 screaming maroon and gold clad fans like Nebraska does. Hopefully I will see this in my lifetime.
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I hope that you took the opportunity to go and see the Nebraska experience room along with the trophies as well as the weight room in the north stadium which was part of the major addition they did about 5 years ago. There are definitely some sections of the stadium that have yet to be updated and are likely to be done when they add approximately an additional 10K seats and luxury boxes in the near future.
 


There's the stadium itself, and the stadium experience on gameday. We have an fantastic stadium, that will serve us many decades after all of us are gone. But someday TCF will be show its age. It will be fine, we'll patch it up. Just like we should have done with Memorial Stadium, we just had the bad fortune to need renovations at the same time that the state wanted to shove us into the Dome.

I saved a program and a newspaper from the opening game at TCF. It's sealed up in an envelope in my basement. It can sit there and be forgotten about for decades. Hopefully, some day, someone will open it up and read about the first game at this stadium. We all know about it, but for future generations, that first game will be just legend. They would be as curious about the first game there as we might have been about the first game at Memorial Stadium. That's the thing about right in the middle of history, you can't see it then and there.

I love that college stadiums can last for a century, while in the pros after 20 to 30 years, they want a new one. Someday TCF will be one of those really old beloved stadiums. Every legend had a beginning.
 

RodentRampage said:
I love that college stadiums can last for a century, while in the pros after 20 to 30 years, they want a new one. Someday TCF will be one of those really old beloved stadiums. Every legend had a beginning.
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Do you ever think a day will come when TCF Bank Stadium (or whatever it's called by then) will be the oldest stadium in the BigTen (or whatever it's called by then)?

Or will these schools just keep renovating and renovating and adding and adding?
 

MrGopher said:
Do you ever think a day will come when TCF Bank Stadium (or whatever it's called by then) will be the oldest stadium in the BigTen (or whatever it's called by then)?

Or will these schools just keep renovating and renovating and adding and adding?
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That's hard to say. You would think that these stadiums can't all last forever, but people are really reluctant to give up their stadiums. It's why giving up Memorial Stadium stung so much. A lot of your heart and soul gets tied up in a stadium. It just needed some fixing.

TCF should be built to last a long time. I looked up the ages of the other stadiums. Unless a new member is added with a newer stadium, I have to think that someday, TCF will be the oldest stadium in the Big Ten. But while I think that, it's hard to really imagine it. It's sort of like imagining that mountains will eventually be worn away to nothing.

Most of the other stadiums were built in the 20's, with Wisconsin's built in 1917. Indiana's was built in 1960, 49 years older than TCF. I looked up Beaver Stadium, and it looks like it is listed as being built in 1960, but the Wikipedia article said that 1960 was when it was dismantled and moved across campus.

I want my great-great grandchildren to go to games at TCF. They can enjoy the atmosphere of 50,000 people (or more!) packed into that old venerated stadium. Maybe they will think back to the days when TCF was new.
 

gophmeister said:
I was sifting through photos of stadiums on flickr today. When you compare TCF to other stadiums it is significantly more impressive edifice. A lot of stadiums look cobbled together. They may have a fancy addition but they look pretty ramshackle otherwise. We're in the bottom half for capacity and we don't have all the game day tradition yet (that will come in time), but I doubt recruits don't come away impressed.
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This is why I was so impressed by what Michigan did with their addition. From what I've seen it looks well done versus completely tacked on. Its also why its clear the U did a bang up job on TCF. Because should an expansion be needed to the stadium it will happen in a way that is natural/a complete fit with the current exterior.
 



GoAUpher said:
This is why I was so impressed by what Michigan did with their addition. From what I've seen it looks well done versus completely tacked on. Its also why its clear the U did a bang up job on TCF. Because should an expansion be needed to the stadium it will happen in a way that is natural/a complete fit with the current exterior.
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Not that we're close to needing it, but I still really want to see the drawings or blueprints of what an expanded TCF would look like.

I understand the concept of how it will be done (we've discussed it at length several times) but pictures would be so much better.
 

If Memorial Stadium was still around today, it wouldn't be an old stadium by Big Ten standards. It would be tied for 6th oldest. (counting Nebraska as a Big Ten stadium, and counting Beaver Stadium as being built in 1960).

I never got to see a game at Memorial Stadium. My dad did take me to some basball and football games at Metropolitan Stadium, but we didn't get to the Twin Cities very often back then. I listened to games on the radio (late 70's). Watching a Gophers game on TV was a rare treat. I just never really occured to me that I could get to a Gophers game back then. I wish that I could have begged my dad to take me to a Gophers game, we could have made a weekend of it, I could have had a Gophers game on Saturday, and he could have gone to the Vikings on Sunday.

I've never even seen the stadium, I was off in the Air Force when it was torn down. But I do have a piece of it, I was given a segment of the bleachers from Memorial. It sits over one of the doorways in my house.

Someday, TCF will be a venerated old stadium. And someday, hopefully in a century or more, it will be torn down. I hope that when that dark day comes that TCF is remembered as fondly as Memorial was, even by those who have never seen TCF.
 

Lets take a trip through time. The year is 2108, we're celebrating the 100th season of football in TCF Bank Stadium, long since renamed "Tim Brewster Stadium". The defending Big Ten champion Gophers open the season with a visit from the defending National Champions, the Kent State Golden Flashes. When some suggested replacing the stadium, angry mobs took to the street, and officials had to barracade themselves in their offices until a statement could be released saying that renovations would take place and the Gophers would be at Tim Brewster stadium for decades more to come.

Fans line up to get the most common ballgame food, sushi and grits. Some are still fans of an obscure food from the old days called a "hot dog", but that's hard to find these days. The new holographic scoreboard is due to be replaced, and drinks are delivered by robots.

The Big Ten Conference is now the a 32 member Big Ten Athletic Association. Officials are looking at reorganization, because the Big Ten West Conference is too top heavy, with Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern and Bemidji State in the same conference, no one else can compete. The Gophers hope to win the INCAA (International Collegeiate Athletic Association Tournament), and play in the championship game at the Sun Bowl, one of the most prestigious locations in all of college football. The game against perennial cellar-dweller Ohio State is expected to be the least attended game of the season.

Some of the fans at TCF like to look back at history, when teams played such primitive offenses such as the Spread. Some things come back into favor, there was a trend to use the Notre Dame Box for a while. And, in the 100th season in the venerable stadium look back to when this stadium was brand new. They wouldn't trade their old beloves stadium for a new one, but they try to imagine how the excitement at being there when history began.

Ok, the scenario is awfully far-fetched. But if we could actually make it to 2108, I imagine that it might be as bizzare as this one is. If we lived in 1910, and were asked to make predictions about 2010, our predictions would probably be off. We likely would have predicted the Ivy League being a major power, for example.
 

RodentRampage said:
Lets take a trip through time. The year is 2108, we're celebrating the 100th season of football in TCF Bank Stadium, long since renamed "Tim Brewster Stadium". The defending Big Ten champion Gophers open the season with a visit from the defending National Champions, the Kent State Golden Flashes. When some suggested replacing the stadium, angry mobs took to the street, and officials had to barracade themselves in their offices until a statement could be released saying that renovations would take place and the Gophers would be at Tim Brewster stadium for decades more to come.

Fans line up to get the most common ballgame food, sushi and grits. Some are still fans of an obscure food from the old days called a "hot dog", but that's hard to find these days. The new holographic scoreboard is due to be replaced, and drinks are delivered by robots.

The Big Ten Conference is now the a 32 member Big Ten Athletic Association. Officials are looking at reorganization, because the Big Ten West Conference is too top heavy, with Minnesota, Illinois and Northwestern in the same conference, no one else can compete. The Gophers hope to win the INCAA (International Collegeiate Athletic Association Tournament), and play in the championship game at the Sun Bowl, one of the most prestigious locations in all of college football. The game against perennial cellar-dweller Ohio State is expected to be the least attended game of the season.

Some of the fans at TCF like to look back at history, when teams played such primitive offenses such as the Spread. Some things come back into favor, there was a trend to use the Notre Dame Box for a while. And, in the 100th season in the venerable stadium look back to when this stadium was brand new. They wouldn't trade their old beloves stadium for a new one, but they try to imagine how the excitement at being there when history began.

Ok, the scenario is awfully far-fetched. But if we could actually make it to 2108, I imagine that it might be as bizzare as this one is. If we lived in 1910, and were asked to make predictions about 2010, our predictions would probably be off. We likely would have predicted the Ivy League being a major power, for example.
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100 years from now, is there beer in the stadium?
 




Unregistered User said:
100 years from now, is there beer in the stadium?
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No, and not anywhere else to speak of in the country, but people are still arguing about it online. Although the internet is no longer on computers, there's a chip in your head.

And people smuggle in insta-beer. It's a packet of fast-acting genetically modified yeast, sugar and beer flavoring. Just drop it into water, and in 5 minutes, it's beer!
 

The Bank may be a hundred years old in 2109, but The Barn will be 180 years young and still going strong. :)

In a hundred years, the band will finally march down university avenue because all the traffic will be at least thirty feet above in flying cars.

And North Dakota will have changed its mascot 14 times because anyone would be offended by being the mascot of that crappy school.
 

After the TCF naming rights are up what do you think the U will do? Rename the stadium something fitting and traditional (ie Memorial, McNamara, Bierman, etc.) or will they go for more money and another naming rights/extend TCF's?
 

Ski U Master said:
After the TCF naming rights are up what do you think the U will do? Rename the stadium something fitting and traditional (ie Memorial, McNamara, Bierman, etc.) or will they go for more money and another naming rights/extend TCF's?
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Probably extend it.
 

Ski U Master said:
After the TCF naming rights are up what do you think the U will do? Rename the stadium something fitting and traditional (ie Memorial, McNamara, Bierman, etc.) or will they go for more money and another naming rights/extend TCF's?
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Well, consider this....

the lettering on the north exterior says TCF[space]BANK STADIUM. That's Eight spaces between columns for the 'TCF Bank' part of it.... MEMORIAL also has Eight characters. So does Nagurski, so does McNamara.
 

Ski U Master said:
After the TCF naming rights are up what do you think the U will do? Rename the stadium something fitting and traditional (ie Memorial, McNamara, Bierman, etc.) or will they go for more money and another naming rights/extend TCF's?
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It'll come down to money. If the money is needed or can't be replaced (or is really, really good) then they'll extend or seek a new naming partner.
 

They will probably extend the naming rights or sell them off to a different company. It's hard to tell what the situation will be like in 30 years, TCF might not be in a position to buy naming rights by then.

Like a lot of people, I wasn't fond with having some company's name on our stadium. But it was either than or not have the stadium at all. I'd love to see it named Nagursku Stadium, or perhaps named after some outstanding Gopher between now and when the naming rights expire.
 

RodentRampage said:
They will probably extend the naming rights or sell them off to a different company. It's hard to tell what the situation will be like in 30 years, TCF might not be in a position to buy naming rights by then.

Like a lot of people, I wasn't fond with having some company's name on our stadium. But it was either than or not have the stadium at all. I'd love to see it named Nagursku Stadium, or perhaps named after some outstanding Gopher between now and when the naming rights expire.
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Yeah the corporate naming rights were a necessary evil, it's better to have a corporate named stadium than to still be in the Metrodome.
 


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