In the sit down interview with Ryan Baker, Lovie hinted that the facility plans could be on the south side of the stadium or the west and that the plans are still in the works. Think it is more likely that he meant south or east side because I don't think they would build in grange grove.
Memorial Stadium Renovation
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Wherever they decide to build, I don't think there was any question that the facility is going to compete with the best in the conference and the country.
In 2005 maybe the SEZ plan MIGHT have been on par. However I must temper that sentiment with wondering if the administration at that time had the same attitude as now. I'm encouraged by that statement. A SEZ facility would not be on par. It's obvious. The administration plus Lovie are going all in and building on par for TODAY. My call is building where the current indoor field is.
This is what the competition put out a couple weeks ago.
https://youtu.be/mSbqXOCTksc
We need to compete with that.
https://youtu.be/mSbqXOCTksc
We need to compete with that.
We need to blow that out of the water.
That's going to be hard to do. I'd settle for "functionally on par" With that said, I don't think it's a $$ thing, to be honest. There are $$$ donors that are simply waiting for the right ideas presented in the right way by the right people. Nobody throws big $$ at mediocrity but they will fight for bragging rights by throwing $$$ hand over fist at ther right plan. So I'm assuming that money is no object. The challenge will be architectural give the space constraints around Memorial. So our building wont be as pretty, but the inside will be pure gold. Guaranteed that the silence on this subject is due to researching what others have done in the last few years and re-scoping things. It hurts in the short run not being able to publicize things more this recruiting cycle...but when they do, finally, come out with the new plan, it will absolutely FLOOR people. I'm preparing myself to be amazed! I'll also call that you'll see Lovie put his money where his mouth is and make a sizeable contribution...7 figures.
We'll see!
DrewD007
- Woodridge, IL
Got a survey regarding Memorial Stadium renovations. Asked about interest in purchasing seats in possible new premium areas such as a scoreboard terrace, club, and loge seats. Also asked about interest in a potential membership club area (that would be either in South endzone or East side) that season ticket holders can get in if they pay an extra amount.
PaytonHighstep
- Downers Grove, IL
Illinois needs facilities for the players first and foremost. That is what will help drive getting better recruits to sign up with Lovie. If donor/fan areas are part of it, so be it, but the stadium upgrades and facilities need blow away the recruits and their families. I get selling to donors and getting the $$ flowing in for the project, but the player/coach areas need to be state of the art and elevate this program to compete with Michigan, OSU, Iowa, Wisconsin, etc.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
think they should consider more student seating in positions of relevance.
What makes Memorial Stadium dull? Bad team and no students near the field. Lovie will change the first.
What do you mean by relevance? At Ole Miss the students are all in the end zone. And they couldn't be louder... problem is the end zone isn't disconnected from the rest of the stadium
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Makes sense since that's where they're going to be spending most of their time. Stadium improvements are mostly for the fans (read: the donors).
Would it be feasible to make the football operations building on the north end? Basically renovate and expand the NEZ to connect to Irwin?
I mean you already have the existing locker room, coach's office, NEZ recruiting area, football-only weight room. Logistically it seems to make sense. And if I remember correctly, there was a lot of multipurpose-type areas built into the NEZ that could be re-purposed and renovated as required.
I mean you already have the existing locker room, coach's office, NEZ recruiting area, football-only weight room. Logistically it seems to make sense. And if I remember correctly, there was a lot of multipurpose-type areas built into the NEZ that could be re-purposed and renovated as required.
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In theory you could, but where would they team work out of while the renovations are going on?
I also think the plan was to use the existing NEZ facilities as a home for some of the Olympic sports.
Although I do agree that the north endzone needs a face lift within the decade.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I am but a meaningless fan, but as far as I'm concerned, there are literally only two things you need to do to make this project a homerun and therefore make Memorial Stadium one of the top gameday atmospheres in the Big Ten (especially with the inevitable continued success of Grange Grove as it becomes more known and our teams get better):
1. Do SOMETHING else with the students, preferrably getting them closer to the field. As others have said, there is nothing wrong with their spot in and of itself ... it's that they were for some strange reason put 25 feet in the air, LOL.
2. Fix the absolute eyesore that is the horseshoe. It looks hideous, no way around it. It looks unfinished, doesn't match the rest of the stadium, is a comical distance from the field and - to top it all off - it somehow looks even worse from outside! Our amazing new scoreboard just highlights its awfulness. Thankfully, this sounds like it is sure to be addressed. :thumb:
1. Do SOMETHING else with the students, preferrably getting them closer to the field. As others have said, there is nothing wrong with their spot in and of itself ... it's that they were for some strange reason put 25 feet in the air, LOL.
2. Fix the absolute eyesore that is the horseshoe. It looks hideous, no way around it. It looks unfinished, doesn't match the rest of the stadium, is a comical distance from the field and - to top it all off - it somehow looks even worse from outside! Our amazing new scoreboard just highlights its awfulness. Thankfully, this sounds like it is sure to be addressed. :thumb:
I don't think you do anything significant structurally to the NEZ. Keep the exisiting weight room and figure out how you want to upgrade and renovate the rest of functional space. Then build an extention onto Irwin that connects to the NEZ. This puts all the essential football spaces together: weight room, locker room, coach office, recruiting area, practice fields, indoor facility. Make the extention big enough to house all the extras you want, without taking out too much of the practice fields.
Translation: we don't have the money to do this right.
It would be so much easier if we were starting from scratch and could push Irwin out to the sidewalk.
Remember you've got an elevation change in there. It's a very tricky little area.
Agree. I was just trying to think logistically. Everything is already in the NEZ, the north corner of the east stands, or Irwin. Ideally this all would have been thought out when the NEZ was done.
Ideally this all would have been thought out when Irwin was done. That's asking for a lot of foresight from RG, but parking this 80 yard field snug up against IMPE and MS made this all much more of a riddle.
Seems clear at this point that we don't have the money to do this properly. So we should come up with a comprehensive master plan and build what's most urgent with the money we can scrounge up now.
This is a mostly meaningless discussion, But I think you would have to do significant structural changes to the NEZ. If you want to change the student seating/NEZ stands, which I think most of us do, you have to completely rethink that area.
Also, the current NEZ facility isn't nearly big enough on the inside (without building significantly up or down) to make the grand facility that is going to compete with the big boys (which is the goal). And again, while that renovation was happening, where would the locker room and offices be?
I wasn't talking at all about the seating situation. Ideally the horseshoe is redone with student seating all the way down to field level. Keep the NEZ seating and structure the same. I was just trying to think about what we have and how we could use it. When the NEZ was done, we had the largest weight room in the country. It's probably still plenty big enough as it's less than 10 years old. With regards to the locker room and offices, basketball seemed to manage that just fine. I'm sure it could easily be planned. I think it's just a little naive to think we're going to build some enormous state-of-the-art facility that replaces everything. I'm talking about taking what we have and adding to it. Build an extention to both the NEZ and Irwin. Make it as big and beautiful as you want.
I don't think that's what this means at all. I deginately think that it means that all the improvements desired will have to be phased in. Work on the stadium :eyesores" will take a back seat. They will do functionality upgrades but the grand SEZ plan is dead I also think it means that he is not going to out in a mini golf course', and some of the truly frivolous stuff that is included in Clemson new facility for example. You can have best in class without being stupid. I remain optimistic that this will be done right.
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