Gies Memorial Stadium

#51      
JKR
Illinisam said:
Was it Lovie who made the decision to not have the south endzone remodel? I think they were smart to place it exactly where it is now connected to the Indoor practice facility. My question is why do you think Guenther put the weight room under the North Endzone bleachers instead of just adding to the indoor practice facility? I wonder if that weight room design limited what the north endzone seating are could have become, especially on both sides of the current seating areas. I know that weight room is used by the other Illinois athletes, but it seems like a better plan might have prevented the redundancy of two weight rooms near MS. Just seems like the north endzone space could have been better utilized. Wonder what Josh would have done that Guenther didn’t.
Click to expand...
My momory is that the weight room was placed in the north endzone in 2008. The Smith Center wouldn't be built for another decade.
 
#52      
Fighter of the Nightman
Looking at these pictures of the scoreboard and how "planted" or "permanent" it looks, it got me thinking that the future of the SEZ seems to most likely involve...

A) Leaving the new scoreboard as is.
B) Because of (A), leaving the back of the SEZ stands as is.
(C) Because of (C), all renovations to the SEZ stands would either go up (e.g., a balcony either side of the scoreboard), go forward (i.e., fill in the gap in front of the current Horseshoe) or do both ... but it will not go "back" toward the street at all.

I tried to get Chat GPT to enlarge the scoreboard to match the size of the new one, bring the SEZ stands down to field level and then add a small balcony on either side of the scoreboard with architecture that matched the rest of the stadium. It went a little wild and probably designed something too grand for the DIA's appetite for an SEZ renovation (for example, on the third edit it transported the scoreboard way up higher into the air, lol...), but I thought I would share anyway. :ROFLMAO:

MS Reno.png


I think any version of this type of thing we might get would instead build around the scoreboard, so imagine both the balcony and the scoreboard lower and probably only additional seats on either side of the scoreboard.
 
#53      
fuddrules
IllinoisMan said:
I drive by every day - it's really looking huge! Having said that, I realized yesterday that some/all of those mature trees are...probably going to be cut down? The press release said:

Even if those occupy something like the upper 30 ft of this 69 ft scoreboard it seems unlikely that someone standing on the sidewalk/street would have an unobstructed view. Perhaps they'll be on the "wings" though, in which case maybe the more central trees would survive? Though the fact that none have been taken yet might say something because they're literally right in the middle of the ongoing construction.
Click to expand...
The trees have already been cut down that are going to be cut down. Rosenthal wrote a tribute and had a service for the "trees" when it happened.
 
#56      
IllinoisMan
fuddrules said:
The trees have already been cut down that are going to be cut down. Rosenthal wrote a tribute and had a service for the "trees" when it happened.
Click to expand...
I think you're thinking of the pine trees about a year ago. There are existing trees right next to the road and are mostly/all Northern Red Oak according to the Campus Tree Inventory. I looked again as I drove home and from the road one doesn't really get an unobstructed view of the scoreboard structure for nearly the entire First to Fourth span. If all of those trees remained then one would have to be standing well into the State Farm Center lot to get a clear look. I took a pic from my car to show what it looks like from the street side - I was approximately even with the middle of Grange Grove when I took it.
 

Attachments

  • mem-trees.gif
    mem-trees.gif
    294.6 KB · Views: 88
#57      
fuddrules
IllinoisMan said:
I think you're thinking of the pine trees about a year ago. There are existing trees right next to the road and are mostly/all Northern Red Oak according to the Campus Tree Inventory. I looked again as I drove home and from the road one doesn't really get an unobstructed view of the scoreboard structure for nearly the entire First to Fourth span. If all of those trees remained then one would have to be standing well into the State Farm Center lot to get a clear look. I took a pic from my car to show what it looks like from the street side - I was approximately even with the middle of Grange Grove when I took it.
Click to expand...

You may be right. Just seems odd the trees stay through construction and then get removed at the end.

I've always thought that area back there could be expanded into a beer garden or family garden type area with some proper excavation. But that wouldn't have anything to do with the Kirby trees.
 
#58      
hhoene
Once the board is up the trees will come down.

Apparently they tried to do both at the same time. That would have been a nightmare of logistics for that much to be happening at one time in a small space.

I'm sure the construction guys are also wondering why the trees couldn't come down first. Would've made their job easier instead of having to work around the trees.

Not sure when the brick wall comes down.

I heard some of the designs for the area below the board are still undecided.
 
#59      
Illinisam
Does someone have a pic of the brick wall? I’m drawing a blank if it’s the curved wall of the outer ring of the horseshoe exterior. If a new south endzone is ever done I figured those big trees along the road were going to come done eventually.
 
#60      
Illinisam
Illinisam said:
Does someone have a pic of the brick wall? I’m drawing a blank if it’s the curved wall of the outer ring of the horseshoe exterior. If a new south endzone is ever done I figured those big trees along the road were going to come done eventually.
Click to expand...
Also, has there ever been talk of permanently blocking Kirby between 1st and 4th streets and creating an exclusive sports area? Just keep it open area between SFC and Memorial Stadiums? That would definitely give more room to the south endzone area and open up maybe a bigger promenade. I also would renovate the railroad track overhang near Neil street like the one they have for ‘campustown’ and call it ‘sportstown’. It would give a special feel of entering the University’s sports facilities since they seemingly are all along Kirby Street.
 
#61      
fuddrules
Illinisam said:
Does someone have a pic of the brick wall? I’m drawing a blank if it’s the curved wall of the outer ring of the horseshoe exterior. If a new south endzone is ever done I figured those big trees along the road were going to come done eventually.
Click to expand...
Use google maps then use the little man and go to street view along Kirby. You can best see the wall, dead center of Memorial Stadium, where the band enters. That's where the wall is closest to Kirby. After that, it follows the curvature of the south stands and is hidden behind the fence/curtain when looking from the road.


You can also see it in this picture taken by Robert, where it closest to Memorial Stadium:


Bottom right, you can see it, where it gets closer to Kirby:

 
#62      
blackdog
Illinisam said:
Also, has there ever been talk of permanently blocking Kirby between 1st and 4th streets and creating an exclusive sports area? Just keep it open area between SFC and Memorial Stadiums? That would definitely give more room to the south endzone area and open up maybe a bigger promenade. I also would renovate the railroad track overhang near Neil street like the one they have for ‘campustown’ and call it ‘sportstown’. It would give a special feel of entering the University’s sports facilities since they seemingly are all along Kirby Street.
Click to expand...

As someone who lives in town that idea would absolutely never fly. Kirby/Florida is a major east/west artery that avoids the main campus congestion so no chance the city governments would allow it to be closed off.
 
#64      
WWWWRocU
I can see temporary bleachers put up every football season to accommodate those watching the exterior video displays from across the street.
 
#65      
krushalot2005
Would a potential solution be to tunnel it? For, I'd imagine you would just need to trench it, which is cheaper than true tunneling and build above that.
 
#66      
blackdog
krushalot2005 said:
Would a potential solution be to tunnel it? For, I'd imagine you would just need to trench it, which is cheaper than true tunneling and build above that.
Click to expand...

People are losing their minds over temporarily closing two lanes on Prospect for repair work. Good luck getting anyone to agree to a major project like that which would again require closing the road for a pretty substantial period of time.
 
#67      
Dkayak
blackdog said:
People are losing their minds over temporarily closing two lanes on Prospect for repair work. Good luck getting anyone to agree to a major project like that which would again require closing the road for a pretty substantial period of time.
Click to expand...
Which East-West streets have any real capacity? Windsor, Kirby, Springfield, and University. Kirby is a vital artery, midway between Windsor and Springfield and a full mile from each. So divert Kirby traffic to Green St and St Mary’s Road? I wouldn’t blame the locals for being up in arms over the idea. Every day would be like gameday traffic. Awful.
 
#68      
DReq
Dkayak said:
Which East-West streets have any real capacity? Windsor, Kirby, Springfield, and University. Kirby is a vital artery, midway between Windsor and Springfield and a full mile from each. So divert Kirby traffic to Green St and St Mary’s Road? I wouldn’t blame the locals for being up in arms over the idea. Every day would be like gameday traffic. Awful.
Click to expand...
And that would be understandable given that you are doing it for perhaps 7 games? It would also make getting in and out of SFC an additional nightmare too. CU doesn't work without a through Florida/Kirby.
 
#69      
Bucktown
DReq said:
And that would be understandable given that you are doing it for perhaps 7 games? It would also make getting in and out of SFC an additional nightmare too. CU doesn't work without a through Florida/Kirby.
Click to expand...
If space is needed on the north side of Kirby for the stadium they could cantilever something like at Wrigley field along Sheffield. Closing the street makes no sense. I do also like the idea of a pedestrian bridge over Kirby from the horseshoe to get people across Kirby without blocking traffic before and after games.
 
#70      
Dkayak
Bucktown said:
If space is needed on the north side of Kirby for the stadium they could cantilever something like at Wrigley field along Sheffield. Closing the street makes no sense. I do also like the idea of a pedestrian bridge over Kirby from the horseshoe to get people across Kirby without blocking traffic before and after games.
Click to expand...
Simply removing the Horseshoe fans from that street crossing wouldn’t allow Kirby to open. Many more fans need to cross to/from the doors on the East and West sides. You couldn’t funnel all south-exiting fans through the Horseshoe. And Kirby must be closed anyway due to access needs of ADA shuttles, Marching Illini, and a slew of emergency vehicles.

Seems like Kirby must remain closed on game days and open the rest of the year. Feel free to cantilever anything you like, but that’s an extremely long distance to the field.
 
Last edited:
#71      
Redbull
BalloonsTheElephant said:
Not sure where to put this, but since this is a stadium discussion, it's semi-prevalent.

Here's a hypothetical question:

Say you are seated in a row and say your family takes seats 1-4 of 12 total seats. A couple takes 11/12. Then a couple comes and sits in 5/6. Even halfway through the game, no one shows up for the other seats. As the 5/6 guy, would you move over or keep your assigned seats?

I was at a baseball game today with this exact scenario. 80 degrees in the sun, just sitting shoulder to shoulder for the entire game. No one ever sat in the other seats and the couple left multiple times to get food/drinks.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Rules..,Just like the commercial…they are becoming their parents
 
#72      
oldman
krushalot2005 said:
Would a potential solution be to tunnel it? For, I'd imagine you would just need to trench it, which is cheaper than true tunneling and build above that.
Click to expand...
That is a $20M to $30M underpass, with all the water problems associated with lowering the playing field 12 feet.
 
#75      
Shief
Mr. Tibbs said:
how was the underground Undergrad library built ? it’s 25 ft deep
Click to expand...
'Don't throw shade on the corn'.

The underground Undergrad Library likely has a thick dam wall around the outside and boatload of French drains to keep water out. Lowering GMS's field ~10 ft could be done in a similar way but would be costly. The first few sideline rows would likely need to be removed to put in that dam wall and drain system. The dam would likely also need to shore-up the ground beneath the sidelines, to keep things from collapsing. If that goes well, then the field can be lowered, new stands built, etc.
 
Back