This will unequivocally cost, a lot.
Gies Memorial Stadium
- Status
Lol, Sorry, not what you asked. I thought you were back on the bandwagon regarding lack of seats down to the field.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Lol, no problem. But I also don’t think it’s really an obstructed view if you’re in the end zone. Look how close Iowa’s stands are!
Rage bait...The Athletic ranks the "25 best college football stadiums" - Gies Memorial Stadium isn't on it.
FWIW, all of the photos and text (of those I bothered to read) focus on the inside of the stadiums.
Edit: Icing on the cake...Not even in the "others receiving votes"
FWIW, all of the photos and text (of those I bothered to read) focus on the inside of the stadiums.
Edit: Icing on the cake...Not even in the "others receiving votes"
We will creep up the list as we continue to sell out, have a good team, continue to improve the gameday experience (and redo the horseshoe). It is a beautiful stadium, but the atmosphere has been less than stellar due to our past on-field performances.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Yeah, doesn't really bother me, plus how do you define 'best'. There are many threads in here with real-life complaints about the ticketing process, the game entry process, the concessions, the wi-fi, etc. Not a stretch to think other stadiums do some or all of that better, especially if the article is focusing more on functionality and less on architectural beauty.
And to the latter, as beautiful as the original stadium and colonnades are, I think putting the big grey steel box on top makes the west side very ugly, clashing with and diminishing the colonnades to a large degree. I've never been a fan of the last renovation, and hope future work in the horseshoe or elsewhere takes a different path.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
It takes SO long to change perception. Heck, if you took a lifelong (presumably rather casual) Illini fan to his first Illinois football game in 2012 before Grange Grove, he probably wouldn't be THAT impressed. If you took him this year vs. Ohio State, he would probably think it's one of the more underrated stadiums in the nation and super close to being a true gem. If you took him after what is hopefully an exceptional SEZ renovation in a few years, he might have the same fierce loyalty to Memorial Stadium that Cubs fans have to Wrigley, Red Sox fans have to Fenway, etc.
The good news is that GMS has ALL of the tools to obtain iconic status if two things happen over the next 5-10 years:
(A) We fix the Horseshoe. Even the most ardent defender (I would say complacent apologist...) of the current SEZ setup must admit that it looks remarkably NOT grand when situated next to the east/west sides and even the NEZ ... it just frankly makes the stadium look half-baked, and there isn't a solid argument against that claim. Why would we expect outsiders to marvel at the columns and the grandness of the balcony on the east side but just ignore the comparatively small stands of the Horseshoe, how far away they are from the field of play and the almost shockingly ugly exterior on the south side of the stadium (especially compared to the rest of GMS' exterior)? We shouldn't. We are almost there, but it can't be understated how much the SEZ drags down the perception of the stadium, even at a subconscious level. While we might picture these images in our mind when someone mentions Memorial Stadium, which rightfully lead us to think of it as a historic treasure of the sport and criminally underrated...
... a random visiting fan might have this visual be what stuck with him from the trip as he surveyed our stadium.
Is it horrific? Lol, no - good crowd, decent scoreboard, solid backdrop with the trees, etc. But special? Memorable? No, it looks like something you'd expect to see at a Colorado State if you didn't know that East Main and West Main were on either side. In other words, it looks incomplete, and as someone who has brought many Iowa and Wisconsin friends to GMS over the years, I think you would be surprised how much this specific thing sticks with people. If you press them, you can actually guide them to realize that they think Memorial Stadium is pretty cool overall ... but their initial overall impressions ALWAYS let the Horseshoe convince them that the stadium is sort of "meh" overall - has some great elements but a bit half-baked.
(B) This one is probably more important, but it will take a couple more years of GMS being on Big Noon Kickoff, CBS, NBC, etc. with full and loud crowds to solidify the impression with the casual fan that it has a good gameday environment. This year COULD be the tipping of the scales in that direction, especially if the good crowds continue into next year. However, changing perceptions takes time AND tends to lag behind reality. It was just three years ago that this was our crowd for a very hyped home game vs. Minnesota, where we entered the game at 5-1 and ranked for the first time in years...
We've largely fixed this problem, and (I can't believe I'm saying this!!) I now EXPECT a sellout at GMS for a "big game." That is such a huge improvement, but your average fan MIGHT have seen that once for our Michigan game last year or the USC/OSU games this year (let's remember that our exciting KU win last season was on FS1...). We need to increase the sample size of evidence that Memorial Stadium is a "cool venue."
If we have another 5+ years of winning 8+ games, drawing big crowds, having home games on big-time stages like Big Noon Kickoff or CBS, etc., I GUARANTEE you that Memorial Stadium will show up on lists like these, and I really do believe that a renovation to fix the Horseshoe will have an INCREDIBLE effect in improving non-Illini fans' impressions of our stadium ... it really is that incongruent with the grandness of the rest of the stadium. Luckily, we have the "bones" or "potential" due to the history, story behind the stadium, unique architecture, etc. that other stadiums simply don't. Browsing that list, I can immediately identify the following stadiums that GMS would either equal or surpass in ~5 years if those two things mentioned above happened:
16. Wisconsin ... While Camp Randall is cool, there is nothing that sets it apart from GMS other than a longer history of bigger crowds.
17. BYU ... What they have over us with that spectacular view, we have over them in history/architecture.
19. Auburn ... Jordan Hare is LITERALLY only here because it's a difficult place to play; there is nothing overly cool about the stadium setup. Swap our history with Auburn's, and nobody would consider it better than GMS.
21. Utah ... Again, decent stadium but mostly relying on the view and atmosphere.
23. Florida State ... I have always found this one of the more overrated stadiums in the nation. The exterior is awesome, but the interior is as bland as bland gets.
25. Virginia Tech ... Riding a history of Enter Sandman and good environments. There is nothing about it cooler than GMS at a fundamental level.
P.S. In the "Others Receiving Votes" category, I would say Iowa and North Carolina are much more deserving of spots on that list than some of those...
Last edited:
Just want to add, the picture above isn't from 2022 Minnesota (game wasn't as well attended as MSU that year, but the west main was 95% full that day), but I believe it's rather 2021 Nebraska. Pic has the old turf, and we replaced it with the current turf for the 2022 season, and I believe most of our games the years prior at home vs Nebby have been night games besides that week 0 game in 2021.
One thing I want to add generally to the convo, students being in the east isn't inherently better. Coaches all over the country (not necessarily Bret, but many) have said that they really like having one endzone that they can rely on just being a brick wall due to the student section. It has a far more obvious advantage than on a sideline, and combining that with fighting the money people in admin who want to charge as much as possible for those sideline seats, it's an uphill battle that I'm not sure Bret would ever win.
As for the band (since many people want them back on the sideline as well). As great as they'd sound for those on the west side of the stadium, most of the east wouldn't be able to hear them as well as we do now. The best place to put the band sonically is actually a curved corner, like we've seen at the Reliaquest and Citrus Bowls. If you were there, the MI and the SEC bands projected very well even in the opposite corners and balconies. This is why so many schools put bands in corners in the first place, and I heard there were even some conversations that never came to fruition about moving the MI to a corner of the horseshoe this offseason in response to how well they projected to the stadium in Orlando.
I think the most realistic approach to achieve all that we want with the look, student placement, band placement, etc is a structure similar to what's already been rendered. Move the students to that new SEZ (doubt we can convince the money people to move the students to the benches), and put the band in one of the corners of the new structure.
One thing I want to add generally to the convo, students being in the east isn't inherently better. Coaches all over the country (not necessarily Bret, but many) have said that they really like having one endzone that they can rely on just being a brick wall due to the student section. It has a far more obvious advantage than on a sideline, and combining that with fighting the money people in admin who want to charge as much as possible for those sideline seats, it's an uphill battle that I'm not sure Bret would ever win.
As for the band (since many people want them back on the sideline as well). As great as they'd sound for those on the west side of the stadium, most of the east wouldn't be able to hear them as well as we do now. The best place to put the band sonically is actually a curved corner, like we've seen at the Reliaquest and Citrus Bowls. If you were there, the MI and the SEC bands projected very well even in the opposite corners and balconies. This is why so many schools put bands in corners in the first place, and I heard there were even some conversations that never came to fruition about moving the MI to a corner of the horseshoe this offseason in response to how well they projected to the stadium in Orlando.
I think the most realistic approach to achieve all that we want with the look, student placement, band placement, etc is a structure similar to what's already been rendered. Move the students to that new SEZ (doubt we can convince the money people to move the students to the benches), and put the band in one of the corners of the new structure.
Isn't Bret wanting the students to move to the east side....so 2022? I don't recall him saying anything about it since then but I may have missed it.
Also the next reseating of Memorial Stadium isn't until 2031 so it's going to have to wait a while either way.
Lol, no problem. But I also don’t think it’s really an obstructed view if you’re in the end zone. Look how close Iowa’s stands are!
Awfully good picture coming from a fan. Sign them up as a credentialed photog.
I'm not sure what the use is of that room under neath the student section structure is now that the Smith Center is built (it was originally the primary weightroom I believe), but I assume if the band was moved into a part of the new horseshoe structure, the band area of that structure could be demolished and the bottom half of the big dumb student tower could be extended down to the field.
That would create the wall of students you really want from that endzone instead of everyone being 30 feet above the field, plus open up the areas of section 101 used by students now for full price tickets.
That would create the wall of students you really want from that endzone instead of everyone being 30 feet above the field, plus open up the areas of section 101 used by students now for full price tickets.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
FTR, I was talking about the fans in the background who are clearly seated right at field level.
(I couldn't find a good photo showing that, even though I know that's where they are seated since I have been to Kinnick several times.)I love this! The NEZ really isn't that bad except for the main issue of its first rows starting WAY too high up in the air (hence why you get comments about the students seeming like they are on their own "island in the sky") and it could benefit from having that open space on either corner more filled in. Regardless of what we do with the SEZ renovation, if we assume the NEZ structure will stay somewhat the same, I think we would be wise to put video boards in the corners to at least help trap noise. Think what Hard Rock Stadium did with its "squared-in" shape and using the video boards to "bridge the gap" a bit between sections:
Last edited:
It's a room with windows on either side. Internally looking into the weight room and obviously looking out onto the field. Before Smith was built, I think it was the primary recruiting lounge, and now it's where extra team personnel (players, staff, family, etc) sit during the games. Xavier Scott was in there with his boot earlier in the season, and there are usually some moms with little kids. I think the refs' locker room is accessed thru there too, and so is the "break room" for visiting cheer and mascots.
I'm pretty sure it was in 1980 or 1981. They definitely were there by 1982.
I would be curious if anyone knew exactly when they added seats there.
The underlined Illinois came later. Wild guess, maybe Illinois v Colorado 1990?
Sorry misunderstood! I was guessing the date of the photo, oops.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
Yes - I've attended games since the early 90's off & on. Younger fans haven't seen it much until last year & this year but that old joint can rock with the best of em. Probably not as much since the remodel & we lost 10,000 seats off the capacity. If that capacity is built back at least somewhat & the on field product is good that place can get VERY loud.
I was there for 94 Penn State & 00 Michigan. The 2 best crowds I've ever seen there. Both bad endings but an insanely loud engaged crowd for the entire game. We don't have 100k but I'd put those crowds up against anyone.
- Status