Hopefully that's not a sign that over half the board will be ads at all times during the games.
Gies Memorial Stadium
movies are made in an aspect ratio that doesn’t translate to our super wide board
I have no idea how many ads they will sell , but I hardly expect they will be shown while the gsme clock is ticking
filling up that board with valid content all game long is a full time job for someone though
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
^^ Just another annoying reminder that if the appetite never arrives for some massive SEZ renovation, we can choose to make this massive scoreboard the focal point going forward, VERY cheaply bring the first row of Horseshoe seats down to field level, add some sort of wall behind the last row of the Horseshoe to help trap noise / make the stadium look more complete, wrap a bow on GMS and call it a day!
Of course, the DIA would probably elect for something cheaper than the beautiful brick / column architecture that makes the rest of the stadium so beautiful, but ... you get the point. Such a relatively tiny "project" would make Memorial Stadium look about a million times better in my book.
Then some day if we are somehow trotting out 10+ win teams like it's nothing and demand is there for like 80k seats, you can add a second deck in the same style of the rest of the stadium and, of course, you have the whole NEZ with which to work, as well.
Of course, the DIA would probably elect for something cheaper than the beautiful brick / column architecture that makes the rest of the stadium so beautiful, but ... you get the point. Such a relatively tiny "project" would make Memorial Stadium look about a million times better in my book.
Then some day if we are somehow trotting out 10+ win teams like it's nothing and demand is there for like 80k seats, you can add a second deck in the same style of the rest of the stadium and, of course, you have the whole NEZ with which to work, as well.
I really like this idea! I’m starting to resign myself to the fact that I don’t think a SEZ renovation is going to happen. I would love to be proved wrong though. If we used all of the 100 million on the SEZ what would that look like minus the big new scoreboard? With the new scoreboard doesn’t that signal that there is no long term plan for a SEZ renovation? I would have been ok with the work done in phases just as long as there is a plan. What am I missing here?
One thing to keep in mind is we are the upper 1% of obsessed Illinois sports fans, so the things we talk and care about might not even cross the mind of the average fan. If this was an issue that the larger fan base cared about I'd like to think it would be something Josh cared about as well, but every time I've heard him asked about it in interviews or press conferences (and it's been at least a couple different times) he's seemed fairly dismissive of the idea. He HAS TO know how bad it looks, especially compared to the rest of the stadium, and even the rest of the big ten. How many other teams have a large portion of there stadium that looks unfinished and just slapped together? Not to mention how it effects fan interaction in game.
So my only theory is that he knows it's bad and wants to fix it but he also knows the money/ donors just aren't there right now and doesn't want to get anyone's hopes up that it'll get fixed any time soon as it would take multiple 9 figure donations or a decade of increased demand for more seats.
So my only theory is that he knows it's bad and wants to fix it but he also knows the money/ donors just aren't there right now and doesn't want to get anyone's hopes up that it'll get fixed any time soon as it would take multiple 9 figure donations or a decade of increased demand for more seats.
Shief
- Champaign Area
I support closing in the SEZ's lower bowl - there may need to be a middle or corner field access tunnel kept through - and some kind of brick wall at the back. If we want to keep in sound, I can see there being banners/advertisement signs on either side of the scoreboard.
Yep. More seats closer to the field, however possible. I’m 199% with ya on that.
I will say…
I took the little guy down to watch (Mirk’s favorite movie at fam-night)…and wow! I was pleasantly surprised how much more imposing that makes things feel. Also, it’s much much more echo-y…which is obviously a double win! If you haven’t experienced it yet…I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised too! A HUGE step in the right direction-to say the absolute least.
The tunnel is getting a little rehab so it's staying. They're doing work on nearby parking as well.
View Notice UIUC BAU26023 | Illinois Higher Ed Bulletin
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Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
IMHO, the next renovation should be to put some real seats in the stadium instead of those high school bleachers . . .
If we put real seats in, expect the overall capacity to drop. Michigan loves having the “largest capacity” stadium with 107k, when it’s inflated a bit since the seats are all bleachers and assume all spectators are below average height and weight.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I have beat this horse to death and Josh is a much smarter guy than I am, but I am guessing the disconnect between him and most fans here who want to see improvement of the Horseshoe sooner rather than later is simply the answer to, "What are the pros and cons of waiting?" Let's imagine these scenarios for the SEZ:
(A) The Horseshoe never gets renovated. It might get small touch-ups or necessary structural work, but the basic design is here to stay. Either the funds are never secured, nobody really cares, something else ... doesn't matter. Status quo SEZ sticks around indefinitely.
-----> Outcome A = Horseshoe stays the same.
(B) The DIA decides that a "big-time" renovation is probably not in the cards anytime in the foreseeable future, so our priorities shift toward getting a "simpler" renovation in the near term (let's say 2-3 years) instead, something like the rendering I posted above.
-----> Outcome B = Horseshoe gets a simpler renovation in 2-3 years.
(C) The DIA elects to wait on a Horseshoe renovation, banking on the continued success of the program eventually securing the funds for a "big-time" renovation (ala the 2016 rendering). However, for one reason or another, we end up waiting 15 years or so and decide it's just never going to be feasible ... so we settle for a simpler renovation like I showed above.
-----> Outcome C = Horseshoe gets a simpler renovation about 15 years from now.
(D) The DIA elects to wait on a Horseshoe renovation, and sometime in the next decade the funds are secured. We build something "big-time" in about 10 years.
-----> Outcome D = Horseshoe gets a big-time renovation in 10 years.
(E) The DIA announces tomorrow that a "big-time" renovation has been approved (again, ala the 2016 rendering), and it will be complete in the next 2-3 years or whatever.
-----> Outcome E = Horseshoe gets a big-time, 2016-style renovation in 2-3 years.
I think everybody alive would agree that Option E is the dream scenario, including Josh, Bret and 99.9% of fans. I think most people would also agree that Option A would be disappointing, though this majority would be much smaller, as it is apparent there are quite a few people that don't particularly have an issue with the Horseshoe as it stands today. Still, it would mean the objectively most unfinished part of the stadium remains that way forever. The vast majority of the disagreement would be around Options B, C and D.
My suspicion is that Josh has absolutely no problem whatsoever waiting on Option D indefinitely, feeling like he always has Option C to fall back on at any time. In other words, while Josh might clearly agree that something needs to be done to the SEZ, he sees the pros of waiting for an Option D outcome as much stronger than the cons of sitting on Option A for an indefinite period of time. And I just flat-out disagree.
I think this is a very pivotal decade for not just continuing to win but shaping an entire generation of fans' (Illini and not) perception of both Illini Football AND Memorial Stadium as a noteworthy venue. Spending the next decade with our SEZ fans a laughably long way away from the action and the Horseshoe being this out-of-place eyesore duct taped onto an otherwise absolutely majestic stadium is a scenario that I actually see as quite bad. End of the world? Duh, no ... but FAR from ideal.
So I guess my ideal path forward as I think about it now would be sort of a hybrid between Option B and Option D ... plan out your SEZ renovation in coherent phases that can "talk to each other" easily. Renovate the Horseshoe NOW to be materially better than the status quo while remaining within budget or whatever, and have any long-term, "big-time" plans be designs that can easily be built onto whatever we build now. I just am not a fan of the idea of waiting forever until we can do something incredible, wasting several seasons where we could have a much better home field advantage and more easily wow the college football world with what SHOULD be considered an iconic venue. It should be treated like a step-by-step process, IMO.
1) Build huge scoreboard.
More money available?
2) Bring the first row of seats down to field level to match the first row of East Main and West Main.
More money available?
3) Re-do the (quite ugly!) brick retaining wall behind the SEZ and make it tall enough that it extends up above the last row of SEZ seats and provides some height, noise-trapping capabilities and more architectural integrity.
More money available?
4) Put some revenue-generating seats on top of that brick retaining wall.
More money available and demand for capacity has increased?
5) Add a (fairly small) second deck on top of the suites.
Etc., etc., etc.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Also, RE: the bleacher vs. seats debate, just some food for thought looking at other Big Ten stadiums. I am not considering luxury seating areas or boxes here, so GMS would be classified as "all bleachers" even though there are a couple tiny sections on the west side that have actual seats. The dividing line between the first and second categories is pretty much if they have entire sections (however small) that are seats, like how Wisconsin's recently renovated end zone is all seats now.
I'm also including the year each stadium was built for context. I'm not taking the time to look up a history of a ton of renovations, and I also think it is very relevant to know the true age of the stadium regardless of how many times it's been touched up.
ALMOST ENTIRELY BLEACHERS
Ohio State (1922)
Illinois (1923)
Michigan State (1923)
Nebraska (1923)
Purdue (1924)
Michigan (1927)
Iowa (1929)
Maryland (1950)
Indiana (1960)
Rutgers (1994)
VAST MAJORITY BLEACHERS
Wisconsin (1917)
Penn State (1960)
MIX OF BLEACHERS AND SEATS
Washington (1920)
UCLA (1922)
Oregon (1967)
Minnesota (2009)
ALMOST ENTIRELY INDIVIDUAL SEATS
USC (1923)
Northwestern (2026*)
I think the "best" you would ever get at GMS is something like the Rose Bowl where a couple prime sections around the 50-yard line in West Main and East Main are individual seats, or possibly any newly renovated area that they want to turn into a revenue-generating luxury section (e.g., a completely revamped NEZ or SEZ).
I'm also including the year each stadium was built for context. I'm not taking the time to look up a history of a ton of renovations, and I also think it is very relevant to know the true age of the stadium regardless of how many times it's been touched up.
ALMOST ENTIRELY BLEACHERS
Ohio State (1922)
Illinois (1923)
Michigan State (1923)
Nebraska (1923)
Purdue (1924)
Michigan (1927)
Iowa (1929)
Maryland (1950)
Indiana (1960)
Rutgers (1994)
VAST MAJORITY BLEACHERS
Wisconsin (1917)
Penn State (1960)
MIX OF BLEACHERS AND SEATS
Washington (1920)
UCLA (1922)
Oregon (1967)
Minnesota (2009)
ALMOST ENTIRELY INDIVIDUAL SEATS
USC (1923)
Northwestern (2026*)
I think the "best" you would ever get at GMS is something like the Rose Bowl where a couple prime sections around the 50-yard line in West Main and East Main are individual seats, or possibly any newly renovated area that they want to turn into a revenue-generating luxury section (e.g., a completely revamped NEZ or SEZ).
renovating the east side or the SEZ is clearly not a priority for JW & I suspect nothing substantial happens in any way for the next 5 years .
He might be sitting on a few donors who don’t want to act yet . my guess is something happens 5-8 years from now , but I doubt it’s anything more than adding seats in front and/or suites on top on both sides of the scoreboard.
CFB is a dynamic sports world & no one can predict the market in 2031 .
He might be sitting on a few donors who don’t want to act yet . my guess is something happens 5-8 years from now , but I doubt it’s anything more than adding seats in front and/or suites on top on both sides of the scoreboard.
CFB is a dynamic sports world & no one can predict the market in 2031 .
Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
I agree it would cost us seats, but if Northworsterns' new stadium will be a majority of real seats (student section will be standing only), we can put real seats with backs in what is one of college football's stadium gems. We didn't seem to suffer too much when the seating was reduced the last time. Stadium seating with seats are bad enough trying to cram in (I'm 6'4', 235#), the existing bleacher seats are a non-player for me. Besides the fact that I'm more than 800 miles from campus, I won't attend another game with size small seats.
Dan
Admin
Here's a roundup of AD Josh Whitman talking the south end zone this year.
January 14th-
Whitman: "I don't see us scraping the south end zone & starting over anytime soon, probably at least in the next 10 years."
Stadium talk starts 20m40s (Light the I podcast)
June 25th-
"Whitman said there are no current plans to renovate the south horseshoe at Memorial Stadium because the project would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. He said the horseshoe also offers fans an economical price to attend Illini football games, and a renovation to the horseshoe would greatly increase prices. The Illini are looking into further upgrades to the east and west sides of the stadiums and will debut new WiFi, new lights and a new videoboard (the largest in college football) this fall."
https://247sports.com/college/illin...baseball-illinois-field-renovation-287976889/ (Illini Inquirer)
January 14th-
Whitman: "I don't see us scraping the south end zone & starting over anytime soon, probably at least in the next 10 years."
Stadium talk starts 20m40s (Light the I podcast)
June 25th-
"Whitman said there are no current plans to renovate the south horseshoe at Memorial Stadium because the project would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. He said the horseshoe also offers fans an economical price to attend Illini football games, and a renovation to the horseshoe would greatly increase prices. The Illini are looking into further upgrades to the east and west sides of the stadiums and will debut new WiFi, new lights and a new videoboard (the largest in college football) this fall."
https://247sports.com/college/illin...baseball-illinois-field-renovation-287976889/ (Illini Inquirer)
It wcould have to be done with the current seat pitch, which is literally set in concrete. Skinny seat backs would be needed, so don’t expect a luxury experience. Maybe hard shells would work.
Personally I’ve never given the bleacher seating surface or lack of a backrest much thought. At 6’-1” with 34” inseam, it’s the limited knee room that I’ve noticed, but this can’t be improved. Standing frequently breaks things up.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
I would argue that this is only the dream scenario when economics are not considered. When you factor in economics, such as NIL and donor priorities for on-field performance, it becomes much murkier (likely inverted from your description).