ajerwin96
- Belleville / Champaign
Yes, there will be.
State Farm Center Renovation
Yes, there will be.
I guess I/we will see tomorrow, but the band needs those 6 rows along with all that floor space?
peace davids
- Colorado
The black windows on the west entry, above the state farm sign, have just enough boxes to have _FIGHTING_ILLINI_ in them, like the ILLINI above Grange Grove at Memorial Stadium.
coincidence?
coincidence?
Lets hope people like the result better... It seems to me that the design firm is trying to go more "classic" than the glass/metal that is the "UFO" portion of soldier field
Thats because we already had a UFO to built around :thumb:
Exactly! Honestly, given they went renovation, this is about the best that we could have hoped for. They hit all the big buckets:
1 - more students closer to court
2 - modern amenities for coaches/athletes/recruits (recruiting room, locker room, trainers facility)
3 - branding improvements (seat colors, signage)
4 - luxury seats to fund project
5 - improvements for "general" seating (AC, chair quality, concessions, bathrooms, elevators, entrances, lighting/sound/video boards, etc)
6 - flexibility to hold many events (retractable seats, air conditioning)
Any complaints that come in fail to see that you can still get an A grade with a few small mistakes. If anyone listed what they wanted in a renovated/new stadium, the reno will accomplish 95% of that. One man's opinion.
I've heard soldier field called a sombrero before. I thought that was kinda funny.
Bob Christiansen
- 4th & Chalmers, a few years ago...Now? Weeki Wach
Nah, that's the old Tampa Stadium...in Chris Berman's words, "The Big Sombrero!"
I was wondering the same. Surprising they didn't do it when they incorporated the updated logo and font. If they do update the color, it won't be this year.
It does look a bit off in the official website pix (thanks, photog), but I didn't notice it Monday night. But, then again I wasn't looking for it.
However, in general, who really cares? Get enough people sitting or standing at their seats and no one will notice the seat colors..orange, blue or chartreuse. This would be my answer to most gripes of seat colors (along with "It's way better than grey!"). Except for those who want every single seat to be orange. That, IMO, would be blinding & overkill. And I like that it demarcates the student seats from the rest. *shrug*
My question: Even with the height difference between the 2 sections, will the standing students in the new orange sideline seats obstruct the blue premium seats behind them? Guess we'll find out tonight
Yeah, that has been the big question. Without lowering the floor it seemed impossible, and the renderings made it look like this would be a huge problem.
However, the risers that the student floor seats are on are much shallower than the renderings made them look. Not much height difference between the seats.
Which is a smart use of the space. Blue hairs will riot if one hair on the head of a snot-nosed student is in their way, but the students could care less if they are in each other's way.
Dan
Admin
It's Game Day, and the @StateFarmCenter is ready to go!
https://twitter.com/UofIFS/status/672135976450260992
https://twitter.com/UofIFS/status/672135976450260992
My question: Even with the height difference between the 2 sections, will the standing students in the new orange sideline seats obstruct the blue premium seats behind them? Guess we'll find out tonight
You're predicting they'll have something worth standing for?
Except not at all… Go to the construction camera from 7 months ago and tell me all they did was replace the seats. Huh???
Regardless, it's still a new experience in a familiar place, so people are excited about it. You can manage expectations all you want, but it's still pretty neat and worth being pumped about.
Illinifanatic4ever
- Orange & Blue Blood in my Veins
Does any know when looking at the TV will the Illini bench still be to the right or will it be on the left now closer to the tunnel?
Dan
Admin
BirdDog9048
The Chief Lives
- Chicago, IL
Definitely had to deal with this quite a bit when I was in Krush a few years ago. I used to sit on the sideline across from the Illini bench and security would come over and tell us we had to sit down all the time. We'd generally listen until something big happened again (read: a made shot), then we'd stand back up.
ilphotog
The camera never lies
- Champaign
Illini are on the side near the tunnel, like last year but on the other side.
I'll admit I'm worried that some students will still barely be able to see the court due to the how gradually the risers go up.
ijustkrushalot
- Iowa Corridor
I'll be curious to see where the visiting fans are placed, they should get an allotment of 50-100 seats near their bench... hopefully we made it slightly uncomfortable.
ilphotog
The camera never lies
- Champaign
This was one of my goals for doing this project, several people would ask me " why are you shooting all of this stuff? (before renovation) But I had something like this in mind. What has made it difficult was having many of my shooting spots disappear over time. There are a lot more of these to come. I took all the files (1 folder for each visit, 86 visits so far) went through each one and placed several different area's into their own folder/file. Now I'm going through them trying to find the best photo's of before and after. So I hope everyone enjoys them. Also thanks to Adam over at the UI who has been working with me on this. He takes my idea's and makes it work.
ijustkrushalot
- Iowa Corridor
the sideline Krush seats won't have the greatest viewing experience in the world but should be fine for students.
it was a bit of a tradeoff, and still a massive improvement over before