Thanks!! And yes, responding to yours and other comments on my MS Paint handiwork, plus some other random thoughts of my own...
1. I could not agree more that it is not really about how MANY seats we have; it is about the layout. As another poster said, the Big House's 110k+ are not much louder than our 48k vs. Iowa ... it's all about how the stadium is built. And loud stadiums are enclosed to trap the noise. Consider the following two stadiums that are materially smaller than ours but look more complete, trap the noise better and generally make better use of the seats they do have (you'll notice neither has any seats underneath a balcony overhang).
Minnesota: 6,523 fewer seats
Baylor: 15,530 fewer!!!
2. On that note, people shouldn't think of relocating capacity to the Horseshoe as KEEPING the Horseshoe ... the Horseshoe needs to be demolished. The fact that you have twice the seats in the Horseshoe as you do in the student section shows just how inefficiently and architecturally lame we made that structure. If you took all the seats from underneath the East Balcony overhang and added it to the Horseshoe but built the structure below, I bet you would actually have a net REDUCTION in capacity, as newer stadiums/seats just have lower capacities because they're less cramped in:
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Now that is just a thing of beauty. The problem with the current Horseshoe (and the NEZ, to a lesser extent) is that the seats/design of Memorial Stadium between the end zones is truly "grand" in its appearance. When the seats in the end zone are as mundane (at best) or even ugly (at worst) as the Horseshoe, it looks like we have two different stadiums mashed together, and (in my humble opinion) starts to take away from some of the beauty of Memorial Stadium.
The first picture below looks like we have a stadium comparable to Ohio State (specifically) or another Blue Blood, as your mind fills in the rest of the stadium looking that grand ... the second one looks like a (kind of) nice high school stadium in Texas, lol.
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I know I complain about the Horseshoe a lot ... but I only do it because I care, and I see such limitless potential in our stadium. Perception is crafted by a game of inches, and improvements that might not seem that essential (like renovating the Horseshoe) can end up making a massive difference. Once Bret strings together some more winning seasons and our attendance/donor money keeps increasing, I think Josh definitely sees the value in renovating Memorial Stadium in a way that maintains its classic look while improving on it. It really could be one of the most iconic venues in the Big Ten ... we are gifted with an absolutely incredible and unique starting point, we just have to touch up some areas.
