Love itI 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.This is just for fun.
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.
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!"
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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.
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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.
Gies Memorial Stadium
I love it too. But if they say no to more seats why not what USC has done?
Attachments
I don’t think we want to use USC as an example of how to use space in the stadium to generate enthusiasm do we? Kinda looks like they could be selling fruits and vegetables there on a Saturday afternoon. /s
One of the players mentioned that the run out of the tunnel when they had all the freshman students in the stadium a couple weeks ago was louder than the one at the game. They were running into a wall of sound from excited kids instead of middle aged fans. All the energy and noise from those 12,000 kids last weekend floated right over their heads. Sticking them in the other endzone could be a game changer for the on field atmosphere.
Especially with the new video board, that could create a great advantage/environment.
Lol. But at USC it's wine and cheese stands. They don't even know a football game is being played.
I love these too. I am assuming that they utilize the storage area under the south horseshoe for football and grounds equipment. It seems that will continue until another option is worked out. This is only conjecture on my part but that could be the only thing holding up the seats from coming down where they should be. Man that mockup looks so much better aesthetically that what we see now.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Yep, I have beat this horse to death in the past, but my wife and I came down for the infuriating Purdue loss in 2022, where we coughed up the Big Ten West title in absolutely freezing weather due to bad play and some horrifically bad calls. Looking at the map below, I would estimate that we sat in West Main 125 or 126. Purdue brought both a good contingent of fans and their band, and they were in East Main 109. Then, obviously, our students and band were in the yellow and purple NEZ sections.
I am not exaggerating when I say that the Purdue fans and marching band COMPLETELY drowned out our student section and the Marching Illini ... it was so annoying. While our loudest fans and band had their collective noise float up into the wind and sound muffled across the whole stadium, the Purdue cheers and fight song were not just louder because they were nestled into the middle of the crowd ... their sound was bouncing off of the brick wall to their left and East Balcony overhang above them to echo throughout the entire stadium. I've never been a fan of moving the students to the NEZ, but MAN that day really showed me how much it hurts our gameday atmosphere. And there is barely a point in having a dedicated student seating area if it isn't positioned somewhere to purposely amplify our crowd noise.
A student section in the end zone can definitely work and make the opposing team to feel like the students are "right on top" of them, but I think the first row needs to be pretty darn close to the field. Look how high up our CLOSEST students are compared to the height of the players, not to mention how far back they are from the end zone, as well, when you account for the Marching Illini.
In fact, as sad as this is, the first row of students isn't THAT much closer than the first row of the Horseshoe, and they're also way higher up in the air!
Yep, I have beat this horse to death in the past, but my wife and I came down for the infuriating Purdue loss in 2022, where we coughed up the Big Ten West title in absolutely freezing weather due to bad play and some horrifically bad calls. Looking at the map below, I would estimate that we sat in West Main 125 or 126. Purdue brought both a good contingent of fans and their band, and they were in East Main 109. Then, obviously, our students and band were in the yellow and purple NEZ sections.
I am not exaggerating when I say that the Purdue fans and marching band COMPLETELY drowned out our student section and the Marching Illini ... it was so annoying. While our loudest fans and band had their collective noise float up into the wind and sound muffled across the whole stadium, the Purdue cheers and fight song were not just louder because they were nestled into the middle of the crowd ... their sound was bouncing off of the brick wall to their left and East Balcony overhang above them to echo throughout the entire stadium. I've never been a fan of moving the students to the NEZ, but MAN that day really showed me how much it hurts our gameday atmosphere. And there is barely a point in having a dedicated student seating area if it isn't positioned somewhere to purposely amplify our crowd noise.
A student section in the end zone can definitely work and make the opposing team to feel like the students are "right on top" of them, but I think the first row needs to be pretty darn close to the field. Look how high up our CLOSEST students are compared to the height of the players, not to mention how far back they are from the end zone, as well, when you account for the Marching Illini.
In fact, as sad as this is, the first row of students isn't THAT much closer than the first row of the Horseshoe, and they're also way higher up in the air!
So you're aware, students pack in section 101 and 102 as well. Those seats are as close the field as exist in Gies.
Against UAB, students were even packed in under the overhang in those sections. It's possible this year that student tickets are administered either by sections or endzone/east main. It's also possible, like years past, it's first come first serve.
The only reason I think it may have changed is against UAB, a student was talking to me about the game as we were heading in and he headed directly for the east main stands, he didn't even attempt getting into the endzone. This was probably 45 minutes before kickoff. That Endzone student section is rarely filled (prior to this year) that early.
Students have always packed the endzone seats first, never the east main. They prefer the Endzone seats.
The last band I recall visiting Gies, USC last year, was shoved up in section 208.
You should visit more often. It's a fun time with primarily decent views but seat width and pitch is still not ideal. Only Colonnades and above solve that problem.
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I still think the NEZ should be a family section and move the students to the SEZ while keeping the band in The lower part of the NEZ. You could have the band and the students doing the ILL…..INI cheer from north to south. You would have to add more seats to the SEZ though. This to me is the answer to create a better home field advantage.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I asked Chat GPT to chill out a bit on the brick wall behind the Horseshoe (let's be real, the DIA would never spend the money necessary to build something as pretty as the towers), move the brick wall back a bit and add a concourse area on top of the back row, since we have plenty of room before the street to do this. I love this newer rendering! Please ignore Chat GPT removing the windows from the tower, I am out of free images.
I know it sounds dramatic, but the improvement of Memorial Stadium's status in the college football world by doing this relatively simple fix would be immense. It sucks to admit, but as someone who has so many non-Illini friends ... the opinion of outsiders of GMS is actually not very good, and I think many Illini fans would be surprised and dismayed how much people focus on the Horseshoe. It makes me mad how they let that carry more weight than the grandness of the exterior and the much more imposing height of the east and west sides, but it is the truth. I'm sure this will get a little better as more years go by where we are competitive and have big crowds, but it's just undeniable that the SEZ really drags down how most view our stadium.
If you apply these changes, I GENUINELY think GMS goes from a C+ afterthought in the minds of college football fans to one of the cathedrals of the sport, especially if we stay good. And you cannot convince me it is that expensive or that it's not worth it in the long run!
I know it sounds dramatic, but the improvement of Memorial Stadium's status in the college football world by doing this relatively simple fix would be immense. It sucks to admit, but as someone who has so many non-Illini friends ... the opinion of outsiders of GMS is actually not very good, and I think many Illini fans would be surprised and dismayed how much people focus on the Horseshoe. It makes me mad how they let that carry more weight than the grandness of the exterior and the much more imposing height of the east and west sides, but it is the truth. I'm sure this will get a little better as more years go by where we are competitive and have big crowds, but it's just undeniable that the SEZ really drags down how most view our stadium.
If you apply these changes, I GENUINELY think GMS goes from a C+ afterthought in the minds of college football fans to one of the cathedrals of the sport, especially if we stay good. And you cannot convince me it is that expensive or that it's not worth it in the long run!
^ TBH, this is probably the best we could hope for and the most we'd ever need. We'd need DECADES of TOP TIER teams with MULTIPLE natties to put more than 75-80k butts in seats consistently. That image probably gets us about 70k in capacity, which is still quite high. Oregon carries a lot of cache and they have a smaller stadium than us...
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
FWIW, removing the temporary bleachers behind the Horseshoe only brought us down like 2k-3k seats … so I think filling in the front space would be no more than 5k-6k, and we’d still be well below 70k given we are currently under 61k!
Shief
- Champaign Area
I think that filling in the horseshoe would add closer to 2500 or 3000 (25 or 30 per row x 20 rows x 5 sections). If the DIA leaves a tunnel in the SEZ, the. The add will be around 2200 to 2700. Bringing GMS's total capacity to 63k or 64k.
Not to nit pick but I was hoping the ‘I’ would have been bigger