Gies Memorial Stadium
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I just kind of randomly thought of this today, but I would love to hear Bret's thoughts about a stadium renovation. He talks quite often about the importance of a home field advantage, and he seems to have genuine fondness for Memorial Stadium. Fixing the Horseshoe and bringing fans way closer to the field is an obvious fix, but I wonder if he has any thoughts for what could boost our home field advantage in a renovation!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Also, I was watching a bit of the UCLA/Arizona game in Inglewood, CA the other night, and it got me thinking about how we should REALLY try to come up with an SEZ renovation idea that can incorporate a "wall of fans." Obviously the Intuit Dome is for basketball so it is kind of apples to oranges, but I think that design proves that you can still build something new and state of the art that contains revenue-generating suites while implementing a design that also tries to create a cool home court/field advantage.
If we are presumably going to have suites, they need to be up in the air away from the field (this shouldn't be an issue, as our current suites are way up at pressbox level!), and the stands closer to the filed should have a wall feel like that, with fans in compact sections that don't have a ton of breaks for aisles, etc.
If we are presumably going to have suites, they need to be up in the air away from the field (this shouldn't be an issue, as our current suites are way up at pressbox level!), and the stands closer to the filed should have a wall feel like that, with fans in compact sections that don't have a ton of breaks for aisles, etc.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Okay, another random Memorial Stadium thought. 
I saw a random Instagram post showing Georgia's Sanford Stadium through the years, and I was shocked at how small it used to be ... and I realized other "football schools" like Alabama and Arkansas followed a similar path. It really struck me how Memorial Stadium has effectively "lost ground" as far as being a grand stadium compared to our peers, and I wanted to look up some historic capacities.
Below is a list of the following programs' stadiums by capacity in both 1980 and today. I limited it to teams that have kept the same stadium, even if it has been renovated.
1980
Ohio State: 83,112
LSU: 78,000
Penn State: 76,639
Auburn: 72,169
Oklahoma: 71,187
Illinois: 71,227
Texas A&M: 70,016
Florida: 62,800
Missouri: 62,023
Alabama: 60,210
Iowa: 60,160
Georgia: 59,200
Notre Dame: 59,075
Washington: 58,000
Kentucky: 56,696
South Carolina: 54,564
Clemson: 53,306
Virginia Tech: 52,500
Florida State: 51,094
Iowa State: 48,000
Arkansas: 42,678
Ole Miss: 42,500
Virginia: 42,073
BYU: 35,000
2025
Penn State: 106,304
Ohio State: 102,780
Texas A&M: 102,733
LSU: 102,321
Alabama: 100,077
Georgia: 93,033
Florida: 88,548
Auburn: 88,043
Clemson: 81,500
Oklahoma: 80,126
Notre Dame: 77,622
South Carolina: 77,559
Arkansas: 76,212
Washington: 70,083
Iowa: 69,250
Florida State: 67,277
Virginia Tech: 65,632
Ole Miss: 64,038
Missouri: 62,621
BYU: 62,073
Iowa State: 61,500
Virginia: 61,500
Kentucky: 61,000
Illinois: 60,670
This was a ranking of Big Ten stadiums by capacity in 1980, too (including PSU even though they didn't join until the 1990s).
Michigan: 101,701
Ohio State: 83,112
Wisconsin: 77,280
Penn State: 76,639
Michigan State: 76,000
Illinois: 71,227
Purdue: 69,200
Iowa: 60,160
Minnesota: 56,652
Indiana: 52,324
Northwestern: 48,500
I'm not one of those people that gets too hung up on capacity ... as long as the stadium looks grand, is enclosed, provides a home field advantage, etc., I could not care less how many seats it technically holds. However, the point here is that circa 1980, Memorial Stadium was a genuinely "big" football stadium, and it would have been seen as closer to the "big boy" stadiums of LSU and PSU than it was to "small" stadiums like Iowa State ... and now the latter group is not only our peer, but it has surpassed us! I've harped a lot about how we could build a truly impressive structure to replace the Horseshoe and actually NOT increase capacity if we seal off the East Main seats underneath the East Balcony, so that it symmetrically matches the West Main/West Balcony setup ... but I would also like to see us get capacity at least up closer to 65,000. There is undeniable proof that good Illini teams can put more than that many butts in the seats, and we have a much larger student body, alumni base, local MSA population, state population, etc. than so many of the schools above us.
I saw a random Instagram post showing Georgia's Sanford Stadium through the years, and I was shocked at how small it used to be ... and I realized other "football schools" like Alabama and Arkansas followed a similar path. It really struck me how Memorial Stadium has effectively "lost ground" as far as being a grand stadium compared to our peers, and I wanted to look up some historic capacities. Below is a list of the following programs' stadiums by capacity in both 1980 and today. I limited it to teams that have kept the same stadium, even if it has been renovated.
1980
Ohio State: 83,112
LSU: 78,000
Penn State: 76,639
Auburn: 72,169
Oklahoma: 71,187
Illinois: 71,227
Texas A&M: 70,016
Florida: 62,800
Missouri: 62,023
Alabama: 60,210
Iowa: 60,160
Georgia: 59,200
Notre Dame: 59,075
Washington: 58,000
Kentucky: 56,696
South Carolina: 54,564
Clemson: 53,306
Virginia Tech: 52,500
Florida State: 51,094
Iowa State: 48,000
Arkansas: 42,678
Ole Miss: 42,500
Virginia: 42,073
BYU: 35,000
2025
Penn State: 106,304
Ohio State: 102,780
Texas A&M: 102,733
LSU: 102,321
Alabama: 100,077
Georgia: 93,033
Florida: 88,548
Auburn: 88,043
Clemson: 81,500
Oklahoma: 80,126
Notre Dame: 77,622
South Carolina: 77,559
Arkansas: 76,212
Washington: 70,083
Iowa: 69,250
Florida State: 67,277
Virginia Tech: 65,632
Ole Miss: 64,038
Missouri: 62,621
BYU: 62,073
Iowa State: 61,500
Virginia: 61,500
Kentucky: 61,000
Illinois: 60,670
This was a ranking of Big Ten stadiums by capacity in 1980, too (including PSU even though they didn't join until the 1990s).
Michigan: 101,701
Ohio State: 83,112
Wisconsin: 77,280
Penn State: 76,639
Michigan State: 76,000
Illinois: 71,227
Purdue: 69,200
Iowa: 60,160
Minnesota: 56,652
Indiana: 52,324
Northwestern: 48,500
I'm not one of those people that gets too hung up on capacity ... as long as the stadium looks grand, is enclosed, provides a home field advantage, etc., I could not care less how many seats it technically holds. However, the point here is that circa 1980, Memorial Stadium was a genuinely "big" football stadium, and it would have been seen as closer to the "big boy" stadiums of LSU and PSU than it was to "small" stadiums like Iowa State ... and now the latter group is not only our peer, but it has surpassed us! I've harped a lot about how we could build a truly impressive structure to replace the Horseshoe and actually NOT increase capacity if we seal off the East Main seats underneath the East Balcony, so that it symmetrically matches the West Main/West Balcony setup ... but I would also like to see us get capacity at least up closer to 65,000. There is undeniable proof that good Illini teams can put more than that many butts in the seats, and we have a much larger student body, alumni base, local MSA population, state population, etc. than so many of the schools above us.
Maybe let's not use this one for inspiration. Oklahoma's new expansion plan: https://www.news9.com/sports/univer...ou-announces-football-stadium-renovation-plan
Has there been any talk about installing a grass/hybrid turf field like the Green Bay Packers have? It’s called SIS turf. Looks awesome! Combination of turf and real grass. Our current field just doesn’t complement the stadium and its historic look. The turf looks dark and dirty up close. It can’t be healthy to player with all those black rubber pellets flying around when players fall on it.
My dad and I were at the UW game and, on top of all the things about their stadium and fan experience that was better than GMS, the field looked so much better. Those black pellets look AWFUL, even at the beginning of the game. Can't they rake it or something before the game to not make the endzones and midfield look terrible?
Also is there anyone here with any professional experience in architecture or large projects that could tell us when we might see some mock ups of what the reno might look like? I feel like in the past we've seen a lot of renderings fairly quickly, even though they never actually got done.
Also is there anyone here with any professional experience in architecture or large projects that could tell us when we might see some mock ups of what the reno might look like? I feel like in the past we've seen a lot of renderings fairly quickly, even though they never actually got done.
Well the UW turf looked infinitely better than ours does both before and during the game. They didn't have the black pellet problem that we seem to have every snap of the season.
I saw the full gallery someplace. They lose 7000. It’s amazing how dorky it looks.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Of all of the stadiums that routinely show up on best stadiums lists or lists of hardest places to play or otherwise get notoriety for being historically significant, I have always found Oklahoma's to be the epitome of "meh," haha.
Their turf is one year old. The added a heated field before last season.
Illinois - was 2022 so not long ago.
Three New FieldTurf Surfaces at The University of Illinois - USA — Tarkett Group
The University of Illinois and FieldTurf extended their long partnership with the completion of three field projects in summer 2022 — two of them at a
www.tarkett-group.com
Illinir1
- Camdenton, MO
I'm a 45 year Illinois Football season ticket holder with, believe it or not, a Memorial Stadium newbie question. For 44 years my season ticket locations have always been on the east side of the stadium in the lower main. One of my traditions that I developed through the years was to take first time Memorial Stadium guests of mine up to see the colonnades on the east side of the stadium. For me, it's always a moving experience to see the names of the fallen Illini on the columns and connect that to the purpose and name of the stadium. I even started investigating/digging into the history of the names of the two soldiers on the columns flanking the aisle that accessed the colonnades from our East Main section. This year, for our first time, we moved our season ticket seat locations to the West lower main. Shame on me for not exploring and finding out during the season, but my question is: Can Memorial Stadium West Main ticket holders access/visit the columns on the West side of the stadium (or can you only access them if you are a Colonnades or Luxury Suites ticket holder)?
Attachments
Probably a different infill. Lots of options now. Cork seems to be popular.
On the west main side, the colonnades can be accessed via the ramps on the north or south end. And then pick the ramped labeled, "colonnades"
It's a great view of grange grove and Lot 31 tailgating. Today's view will be very white.
Where does one access the entrance to the East Colonnades? I haven’t been on that side of the stadium much and one time this year I was doing a walk about the stadium and noticed there wasn’t a clearly marked ramp for it in the SE tower.
You can access the East Colonnades two ways. Walk to the top of the main stands and there will be entrances. Or in the towers the absolute furthest North ramp or South ramp (of the 3) lead to the Colonnades.
It’s awful in person. Very meh
If I'm not mistaken, Bielema has specifically mentioned putting the student section back on the East side as a want of his.
If we're talking RENOVATION renovation, the one thing I've always thought was bizarre in a bad way about the stadium is how far away the stands are from the playing surface. Would be a huge tear-up to lower the field though given the whole situation with the NEZ facilities
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This has been mentioned before, but we have had more than a few of these threads, haha ... so I lost track of the answers! People have speculated a lot about how lowering the field would be quite the project, but would it be any easier to just put in new stands for the first several rows (let's say 1-10 on both the East and West Main areas) to re-angle them to get closer to the field and then just have the first row start at a higher elevation so the players aren't blocking the view? It seems there are three options.
1) Leave the East Main and West Main stands as they are ... not ideal, as they are the farthest away of nearly any Big Ten stadium, and this hurts the home field advantage.
2) Lower the field so the stands - at their current slope/trajectory - can reach closer to what will be a lower field level.
3) Re-angle the existing stands so that they reach closer to field level at a more gradual angle, and put a taller wall there so the fans can see over the players.
An example of a higher wall is here at Michigan State:
The first row of the stands is RIGHT behind the benches, but the taller wall prevents sightline issues. We obviously don't want a NEZ re-do where the first row is so comically high up in the air that the fans actually feel removed from the action, but a wall the height of MSU's here would be great. We actually did a version of this exact same thing with the Assembly Hall / SFC renovation, as the old A Section seats didn't even come close to the court, and we re-angled their replacements to do just that (while leaving the angles of all of the other sections the same).
You'll notice the blue (FKA) A-Section seats in the bottom photo slant toward the court at a more gradual angle so that we could get the first row closer and eliminate the dead space in the old design. I Would think something similar could be done at MS. I'm generally super opposed to a gradual seat incline, but it would be a necessary evil to get fans closer to the field. Plus, the MS incline is already pretty steep, so we have room to work with before approaching a scenario like the Big House.
Move visitors to the student section
, make part of the student section a family section. Move students to east main to get in the ears of the visitors. Add in some bleachers that go down to the field from the horseshoe. Thats all you have to do to vastly improve the visual aesthetic and atmosphere
, make part of the student section a family section. Move students to east main to get in the ears of the visitors. Add in some bleachers that go down to the field from the horseshoe. Thats all you have to do to vastly improve the visual aesthetic and atmosphere
Have you seen the open seats in the NEZ in the 3rd Q?
Yeah im not saying making it a 6-10k student section like it is now.....more like a 3k reserved student section. And ive been to every game this year and the students for the most part filled the NEZ and had an overflow section.
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