Gies Memorial Stadium

#101      
Fighter of the Nightman
Also RE: my recent rendering with a concourse behind the SEZ, this picture shows the space we would have. Even at the shortest distance (i.e., directly behind the middle of the scoreboard), there is still quite a lot of space between the scoreboard and that small brick wall, let alone the curb.

1000012646-jpg.51568


You could easily extend the "underground" concourse area toward the current brick wall (right in front of that orange crane) and revamp that area to be a bit nicer, while having an upper concourse above it like in the rendering Chat GPT had done. So in the picture below, I imagine the new brick retaining wall roughly following the footprint / curvature of the smaller one in the photo above, with us effectively replacing that outdoor space where fans wait to get in with an "indoor" (or at least covered underneath the concourse) space. So you wouldn't need a ticket to get underneath the concourse area, just to get past a certain point.

upload-png.51564


I really wish I were an engineer / architect / graphic designer right about now, because this would be so fun. :ROFLMAO:
 
#103      
hhoene
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Also RE: my recent rendering with a concourse behind the SEZ, this picture shows the space we would have. Even at the shortest distance (i.e., directly behind the middle of the scoreboard), there is still quite a lot of space between the scoreboard and that small brick wall, let alone the curb.

1000012646-jpg.51568


You could easily extend the "underground" concourse area toward the current brick wall (right in front of that orange crane) and revamp that area to be a bit nicer, while having an upper concourse above it like in the rendering Chat GPT had done. So in the picture below, I imagine the new brick retaining wall roughly following the footprint / curvature of the smaller one in the photo above, with us effectively replacing that outdoor space where fans wait to get in with an "indoor" (or at least covered underneath the concourse) space. So you wouldn't need a ticket to get underneath the concourse area, just to get past a certain point.

upload-png.51564


I really wish I were an engineer / architect / graphic designer right about now, because this would be so fun. :ROFLMAO:
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Changes are coming to below the scoreboard. My understanding is the brick wall is coming down eventually. Not sure what replaces it.
 
#111      
Altgeld's Bells
fuddrules said:
The last band I recall visiting Gies, USC last year, was shoved up in section 208.
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I actually think the USC band was on their own island up in 202 or 203, further north and away from their fans in 109. The Marching Illini were able to drown them out. That is the best place for the visiting bands. Why give them a prime location in 109 close to the field at the south end zone where they are loud when we are trying to score in south end zone? That is not a home field advantage.
 
#113      
fuddrules
Altgeld's Bells said:
I actually think the USC band was on their own island up in 202 or 203, further north and away from their fans in 109. The Marching Illini were able to drown them out. That is the best place for the visiting bands. Why give them a prime location in 109 close to the field at the south end zone where they are loud when we are trying to score in south end zone? That is not a home field advantage.
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You a probably right. I just remember seeing them up at the top of the East Balcony.
 
#116      
Marshall_Lucky
Duke game was my first of the year, at my usual haunt in the west balcony. Unpopular take maybe, but I don't really like the new board. It distracts from the actual field and feels like it is now the product instead of the game itself
 
#118      
Mr. Tibbs
it will say “ The home of the fighting illini “

i’ll pick a nit - there should be more spacing between the words. esp in the name Gies Memorial Stadium
 
#119      
BalloonsTheElephant
Not specifically related to the Memorial Stadium experience, but watching a 3.5hr long football game with 45-60min of media timeouts really kills the energy in a stadium. Especially when you get the touchdown followed by a quick 3 and put or turnover. The new scoreboard adds a lot of excitement and visual stimulus to the GameDay experience, but football as a whole is getting tougher to sit through. MLB is now about 2.5 hours with shorter breaks, and college basketball is about a 2hr experience.

I may get hate for this, but this is my hot take for the season. Shorten the overall length of the contest. You sit 210 minutes to watch 10-15 of action.
 
#120      
Marshall_Lucky
BalloonsTheElephant said:
Not specifically related to the Memorial Stadium experience, but watching a 3.5hr long football game with 45-60min of media timeouts really kills the energy in a stadium. Especially when you get the touchdown followed by a quick 3 and put or turnover. The new scoreboard adds a lot of excitement and visual stimulus to the GameDay experience, but football as a whole is getting tougher to sit through. MLB is now about 2.5 hours with shorter breaks, and college basketball is about a 2hr experience.

I may get hate for this, but this is my hot take for the season. Shorten the overall length of the contest. You sit 210 minutes to watch 10-15 of action.
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The stoppages are getting nuts. Between the long timeouts after scores, possession changes, reviews, timeouts, injuries, challenges etc there is no flow to the game at all.

Makes it hard to get into the game, especially when the weather is unfriendly (you really notice it during the dead time).

I complained a few posts above but the board almost made it seem worse to me. The crowd is all watching TV instead of field action
 
#121      
IlliniCaboose
BalloonsTheElephant said:
Not specifically related to the Memorial Stadium experience, but watching a 3.5hr long football game with 45-60min of media timeouts really kills the energy in a stadium. Especially when you get the touchdown followed by a quick 3 and put or turnover. The new scoreboard adds a lot of excitement and visual stimulus to the GameDay experience, but football as a whole is getting tougher to sit through. MLB is now about 2.5 hours with shorter breaks, and college basketball is about a 2hr experience.

I may get hate for this, but this is my hot take for the season. Shorten the overall length of the contest. You sit 210 minutes to watch 10-15 of action.
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It's more time, but less football. I can't remember when this happened, maybe 5-10 years ago, the clock no longer stops when the ball carrier runs out of bounds except maybe the last 2 minutes of each half. So more time runs off the clock faster, but more media timeouts make the games take 30-45 minutes longer.
 
#122      
cfp32
BalloonsTheElephant said:
Not specifically related to the Memorial Stadium experience, but watching a 3.5hr long football game with 45-60min of media timeouts really kills the energy in a stadium. Especially when you get the touchdown followed by a quick 3 and put or turnover. The new scoreboard adds a lot of excitement and visual stimulus to the GameDay experience, but football as a whole is getting tougher to sit through. MLB is now about 2.5 hours with shorter breaks, and college basketball is about a 2hr experience.

I may get hate for this, but this is my hot take for the season. Shorten the overall length of the contest. You sit 210 minutes to watch 10-15 of action.
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You can thank money and corporate greed for this! Just like someone posted on twitter a few weeks ago " College football feels dead inside because it veered of the Widespread Panic/Allman Brothers cultural spectrum. It went from being big-hearted and brash to being completely Morgan Wallen-ified. It needs less WWE and a little more Billy Strings in its soul to find itself again".
 
#123      
Chief96
I agree with the issue with constant stoppages. Another question I have is what happened to the ILL-INI chant. I know there is the little one after first downs, but back in the 90's they'd have cheerleaders on each side of the stadium with ILL or INI signs and have the two sides responding back and forth. The place would be rocking. I understand why the took out the Chief and absolutely ruined our halftime show for the fans, but can't understand why this is gone as well?
 
#124      
cfp32
Chief96 said:
I agree with the issue with constant stoppages. Another question I have is what happened to the ILL-INI chant. I know there is the little one after first downs, but back in the 90's they'd have cheerleaders on each side of the stadium with ILL or INI signs and have the two sides responding back and forth. The place would be rocking. I understand why the took out the Chief and absolutely ruined our halftime show for the fans, but can't understand why this is gone as well?
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If I recall the ILL - INI chant kind of went by the wayside when the students were moved to the NEZ. The chant used to go from the East sideline (ILL) (old student section) to the West sideline (INI). They have tried doing student section to the rest of the stadium or more North to South but it just doesn't work the same. I 100% agree that they need to bring it back. I had a post a year or so ago where they need to state a dedicated time/place for it. Start of 4th quarter, first defensive possession in the 4th quarter, something along those lines.
 
#125      
sultan of grange grove
Facts are that Josh really messed up this whole Gies situation. We totally undersold the value of the stadium and instead have allowed a man’s tax write off to dominate the way we run the athletic department. We gave up a chance to sell the stadium to a corporate partner who wouldn’t care where the money was spent
 
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