Gies Memorial Stadium

#51      
Mr. Tibbs
Pikeillinifan said:
This would be a great solution, would not be a huge cost, would be a very cool spot to watch, and with all the video boards, even if it were obstructed viewing. Do this until there is a bigger or better SEZ plan, but it would fill that gap and create a cool place for people to enjoy the game. USC does this, too, and probably some other places.
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undoubtedly, JW has numerous options for that real estate already under consideration for near future . memos about what other schools are doing are already in a file . for obvious reasons, nothing was considered for this fall . next year or 2028, maybe . selling out all games goes a long way in moving this stuff along .

JW will take note if he sees another B1G school or another P4 school finds a way to make $2.5 million from previously ignored space. Weather it’s suites , seats , or beer garden, it’s not going to be used solely for OL & DL spacing in practice or pregame warmups forever
 
#52      
kmunt09
Anyone else notice the hype video before the team runout did NOT include any of the old footage (Rose Bowl, Casey Washington Penn State, Michigan 2024). I'll admit, I didn't until my wife mentioned it.

Another random note, we left the game after Katin's rushing TD, and the scoreboards on the BACK of the jumbotron were NOT playing the game live. Just static Illini promotional advertisements.
 
#53      
JucoIllini10
Fly Illini Fly! said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2095952362422550600
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I really enjoyed the opening hype video and team run out as well as the 4th quarter hype up sequence. They definitely put some time and effort into trying to improve the fan experience. If you get a chance, definitely come out for a night game this season (Nebrasak is the only game currently scheduled for night).

The opening hype video has orange slime/ooze slowly covering everything. It won't happen but all I could think was it would have been hilarious/awesome if they pulled off the Baron oil bath scene from Dune using Coach Bielema but make it all orange....
Dune Baron.gif
 
#54      
hhoene
kmunt09 said:
Anyone else notice the hype video before the team runout did NOT include any of the old footage (Rose Bowl, Casey Washington Penn State, Michigan 2024). I'll admit, I didn't until my wife mentioned it.

Another random note, we left the game after Katin's rushing TD, and the scoreboards on the BACK of the jumbotron were NOT playing the game live. Just static Illini promotional advertisements.
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I noticed the backside screens as well. Makes me wonder if they have later plans for once the trees are out of the way.
 
#63      
Illini92and96
Ryllini said:
It should be Harvester of Sorrow, but not until our crowd can embrace having fun.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2096390638950326329
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Wow. That Virginia tech opening gave me goosebumps. Can we use the big scoreboard to (re)train our fan base? Like dog training, use food to entice them. Free fries to stand, cheer, be quiet, etc. maybe one coupon every drive we hit 100db?
 
#65      
TwinCityBreaker
I'd be very interested to hear an overall review of the change to gameday experience after the upgrades (video boards, sound, light show, wifi, concessions, etc). From the broadcast, it looked much more hyped and modern at the commercial breaks. And, the main video board certainly looks imposing on our southbound drives. As an Illinois expat who can't attend games, I'd love a firsthand take.
 
#66      
chiefini
TwinCityBreaker said:
I'd be very interested to hear an overall review of the change to gameday experience after the upgrades (video boards, sound, light show, wifi, concessions, etc). From the broadcast, it looked much more hyped and modern at the commercial breaks. And, the main video board certainly looks imposing on our southbound drives. As an Illinois expat who can't attend games, I'd love a firsthand take.
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From our seats in the west main on the 40, the overall experience was definitely enhanced and greatly improved, with two most important: 1) the new board video’s color and clarity and ease of watching were all outstanding, and 2) it was LOUD! The sound system was really, really loud. Only flaw in the big board, I found it confusing and difficult to find the down and distance under it though with the quarter, time, and time out numbers. The ribbon boards were fantastic for this, especially the huge one above the students that clearly showed the down and distance and the one on the east balcony directly across from us that did the same. The color Orange (sometimes as orange paint special effects) was emphasized at all the important moments with the board and light shows, especially in the new video with Enter Sandman at the end of the third quarter and after TD’s. We wondered why they had moved the Freaky Fast race with Red Grange to a little bit earlier in the 3rd quarter, and this was why. They also moved the student Block I card stunt, which was awesome, to the 1st quarter instead of halftime, maybe a one off because of the heat and fear of students leaving? I thought the two hype guys worked well together. The one from the basketball game was not as annoying as during the bball games, and the other guy was pretty good getting the I-L-L chant going at the beginning of the game. They had a guest celeb wind the siren twice, Joey Chestnut at the beginning of the game, and again at the beginning of the 2nd half, Kylan Boswell, which is new. As far as the WI-FI goes, I made a post on FB with ease (which is unusual), and I could easily scroll ILLoyalty and text. I didn’t buy any concessions except for water so I can’t speak to food or other drinks.
 
#67      
89illini
chiefini said:
From our seats in the west main on the 40, the overall experience was definitely enhanced and greatly improved, with two most important: 1) the new board video’s color and clarity and ease of watching were all outstanding, and 2) it was LOUD! The sound system was really, really loud. Only flaw in the big board, I found it confusing and difficult to find the down and distance under it though with the quarter, time, and time out numbers. The ribbon boards were fantastic for this, especially the huge one above the students that clearly showed the down and distance and the one on the east balcony directly across from us that did the same. The color Orange (sometimes as orange paint special effects) was emphasized at all the important moments with the board and light shows, especially in the new video with Enter Sandman at the end of the third quarter and after TD’s. We wondered why they had moved the Freaky Fast race with Red Grange to a little bit earlier in the 3rd quarter, and this was why. They also moved the student Block I card stunt, which was awesome, to the 1st quarter instead of halftime, maybe a one off because of the heat and fear of students leaving? I thought the two hype guys worked well together. The one from the basketball game was not as annoying as during the bball games, and the other guy was pretty good getting the I-L-L chant going at the beginning of the game. They had a guest celeb wind the siren twice, Joey Chestnut at the beginning of the game, and again at the beginning of the 2nd half, Kylan Boswell, which is new. As far as the WI-FI goes, I made a post on FB with ease (which is unusual), and I could easily scroll ILLoyalty and text. I didn’t buy any concessions except for water so I can’t speak to food or other drinks.
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Very accurate report, Chief. Turn down the volume, put the score on the scoreboard, change the music mix.
 
#68      
blackdog
chiefini said:
From our seats in the west main on the 40, the overall experience was definitely enhanced and greatly improved, with two most important: 1) the new board video’s color and clarity and ease of watching were all outstanding, and 2) it was LOUD! The sound system was really, really loud. Only flaw in the big board, I found it confusing and difficult to find the down and distance under it though with the quarter, time, and time out numbers. The ribbon boards were fantastic for this, especially the huge one above the students that clearly showed the down and distance and the one on the east balcony directly across from us that did the same. The color Orange (sometimes as orange paint special effects) was emphasized at all the important moments with the board and light shows, especially in the new video with Enter Sandman at the end of the third quarter and after TD’s. We wondered why they had moved the Freaky Fast race with Red Grange to a little bit earlier in the 3rd quarter, and this was why. They also moved the student Block I card stunt, which was awesome, to the 1st quarter instead of halftime, maybe a one off because of the heat and fear of students leaving? I thought the two hype guys worked well together. The one from the basketball game was not as annoying as during the bball games, and the other guy was pretty good getting the I-L-L chant going at the beginning of the game. They had a guest celeb wind the siren twice, Joey Chestnut at the beginning of the game, and again at the beginning of the 2nd half, Kylan Boswell, which is new. As far as the WI-FI goes, I made a post on FB with ease (which is unusual), and I could easily scroll ILLoyalty and text. I didn’t buy any concessions except for water so I can’t speak to food or other drinks.
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For the wifi I posted a video to Instagram and it almost immediately uploaded which was awesome. My friend was in the middle of a fantasty football draft on the ESPN app and he was able to finish it while in the stands.
 
#71      
Fuze
Obviously, the light show was getting plenty of media attention, between us being the only P4 game on at the time and the new scoreboard hype, and, to no surprise, people were commenting on us "stealing" Enter Sandman. Those people comment whenever anyone uses it for anything CFB related tho. I have the same feelings about using Thunderstruck as our walkout song. There are probably 60+ FBS schools that use it. There's no way we can't get a more original one. At least we still let the band play as the team exits the tunnel, which can't be said for every school using Thunderstruck.

There are just so many songs with a similar vibe that go unused in college football. I just don't get why we insist on recycling the same three songs. Enough schools do it. We can be more original.
 
#75      
Fighter of the Nightman
I will join the chorus of fans who loves the new scoreboard, but I wanted to post these mockups since it seems a bunch of new photos have been posted since last week showing new angles of the new scoreboard. I know, I know ... we can't add capacity, offensive linemen would have nowhere else to practice in the C-U MSA, Josh actually personally despises me, etc. :ROFLMAO: This is just for fun. :cool:

With that said, I found a great angle of the scoreboard that (IMO) shows JUST how close we are to having the SEZ in a spot where it can truly look SO much better without costing us much money, if at all.

Current State | This is what the new scoreboard and Horseshoe looked like just before the home opener.
IllinoisVideoboard_13-1536x864.jpg



Update #1 | Simply fill in the gap of empty space to make the EXACT same Horseshoe structure merely match the first row of seats to either side of it. Again, this is what we would NORMALLY expect like one year after the track was removed, lol ... this is hardly a "renovation!" :ROFLMAO: However, I think it makes a huge difference visually, and this could become an absolutely perfect spot for the student section if we can just get that first row down closer to the action...
dfd.png

BOOM. For almost zero cost, you have made the cheapest seats in the stadium all of a sudden a place practically MADE for a wall of students. Again, the issue with the current student section is NOT that it's in the end zone seats ... it's that they're set up so far in the air in the most open part of the stadium where they have a disproportionately small impact on our gameday atmosphere and crowd noise.


Update #2 | For those of us who think the architecture of GMS is a priority (should be all of us!!), then you just slap a brick wall of some kind that honors the look of the stadium behind the last row of the Horseshoe. This (A) ties the stadium together better aesthetically, (B) provides the necessary height to trap more crowd noise / be more imposing and (C) leaves the option open down the road to add a second deck of seats if demand for attendance skyrockets due to continued success.
Map 2.png

The DIA probably wouldn't want to pay for the quality / style of architecture from the original towers, but hey ... it's Chat GPT's best effort. :ROFLMAO: Seriously, though ... what more do we need out of the SEZ? The only reason to keep waiting to do anything is if we have some massive long-term plan, but why do we NEED a long-term plan?! The 2016 rendering would spend countless millions that could go toward other things when a fix like the one shown above addresses practically every current issue with the setup and costs a fraction of the price...
 
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