Northwestern starts stadium rebuild | The Boneyard

Northwestern starts stadium rebuild

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tiger paw

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Tear down + replacement. No public money. Interesting. Current stadium capacity 47k . New stadium 35k. I thought B1G felt the Rent was too small. Rutgers had to go from 40k to 53k . And still The Rent continues to deteriorate for lack of interest and of $$$.
 
tiger paw said:
Tear down + replacement. No public money. Interesting. Current stadium capacity 47k . New stadium 35k. I thought B1G felt the Rent was too small. Rutgers had to go from 40k to 53k . And still The Rent continues to deteriorate for lack of interest and of $$$.
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Northwestern is a private school and received a 500-million-dollar gift from the Ryan family. Dave said it would take such to have one in Storrs. Guess the name of the facility. The Rent is scheduled for upgrades and repairs over the next two budget cycles. Channel 3 reported the funds being released.
 
One of my sons in the 1990s and my wife’s brother in the 70s went to NU. We’ve talked about the question of the seating capacity of the new stadium. Seems odd that the league is good with it even though it supposedly will be a high tech marvel. The old stadium was a dump. And a hike from the campus if that is where the new place will be. I might have held a distinction. One of my other sons was at UMich for 2 years while his brother was at NU. We went to their game both years i can say I had been at 2 UM games, both vs. NU and NU won both. Since been to a few other UM games that they won.
 
The Ryan family did their new fieldhouse too. Just a couple of the amazing, generous gifts (including academic) to the school.
 
Duncan Idaho said:
The Ryan family did their new fieldhouse too. Just a couple of the amazing, generous gifts (including academic) to the school.
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the reality is it is often going to come down to not so small donations by elite benefactors. UConn didn't start becoming a serious school until the UConn 2000 initiatives.

there might be some basketball fans with more money than sense from the 90s who might think retirement soon but are they going to want to bankroll football?
 
good for them - i celebrate Northwestern. They're still a mediocre football program in the grand scheme, even with the B1G badge on them. But they're a legacy school with a top-tier academic brand, which B1G loves to have. So they're safe, even if they'll never make any noise at the big sports (fb/bb).

We don't have the overall institutional brand to overcome our ghastly recent performance on the gridiron, so I say we just focus on mopping the floor with their team, and whoever else we come across. Win and we'll make DB's job that much easier to fundraise and make our own transformation happen.
 
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tiger paw said:
Tear down + replacement. No public money. Interesting. Current stadium capacity 47k . New stadium 35k. I thought B1G felt the Rent was too small. Rutgers had to go from 40k to 53k . And still The Rent continues to deteriorate for lack of interest and of $$$.
Expand ...
Gotta think the lesser programs or even smaller P5 schools are going to go smaller if they rebuild. Attendance is dropping due to online ability to watch games, better viewing experience, etc. Why have a half empty stadium when you can have a smaller, more intimate, packed stadium? Just my two cents.
 
My son was a trainer there for the 2021 season. I got to tour all of the facilities on the weekend with him. Super cool - hard to believe that the practice field is on the 2nd floor of a building indoors. Overlooks lake Michigan. There has to be 20B worth of buildings on that campus - it is gorgeous.

Stadium is only a mile from campus - no other place to put it really, but it is a little weird since it is in a residential neighborhood. Traffic is an abomination pre/post.
 
J187Money said:
My son was a trainer there for the 2021 season. I got to tour all of the facilities on the weekend with him. Super cool - hard to believe that the practice field is on the 2nd floor of a building indoors. Overlooks lake Michigan. There has to be 20B worth of buildings on that campus - it is gorgeous.

Stadium is only a mile from campus - no other place to put it really, but it is a little weird since it is in a residential neighborhood. Traffic is an abomination pre/post.
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Similar to Yale in New Haven.
 
tiger paw said:
Tear down + replacement. No public money. Interesting. Current stadium capacity 47k . New stadium 35k. I thought B1G felt the Rent was too small. Rutgers had to go from 40k to 53k . And still The Rent continues to deteriorate for lack of interest and of $$$.
Expand ...
I think you mischaracterize the Rents condition. It is 20 years old and needs some capital investment as would any facility. New roof, upgraded electrical, video etc are normal upgrades if you want to maintain real estate, whether it’s a stadium or your house. And the repairs/upgrades are being made.
 
freescooter said:
I think you mischaracterize the Rents condition. It is 20 years old and needs some capital investment as would any facility. New roof, upgraded electrical, video etc are normal upgrades if you want to maintain real estate, whether it’s a stadium or your house. And the repairs/upgrades are being made.
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Its amazing isn't it? Detractors will responsibly and dutifully maintain their homes over decades (new roofs, gutters etc) and upgrade their appliances, household technologies. etc. but somehow don't think plastic stadium chairs left out in the elements are not prone to oxidation and cracking. Somehow laws of physical properties exist everywhere else but Rentschler Field and P&W Stadium.
 
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Patman said:
the reality is it is often going to come down to not so small donations by elite benefactors. UConn didn't start becoming a serious school until the UConn 2000 initiatives.

there might be some basketball fans with more money than sense from the 90s who might think retirement soon but are they going to want to bankroll football?
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Probably private monies would be found to replace Gampel before a football stadium is built in Storrs. Just hoping the football facilities are maintained well.
 
cohenzone said:
The history of the life of The Big House in Ann Arbor. A much older place than The Rent. Having been there a few times, i don’t care what the capacity us, but for a normal non-record sell out you are pretty much totally squeezed in.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Stadium#:~:text=Seating%20and%20surface,-The%20stadium's%20original&text=Initially%2C%20all%20seating%20consisted%20of,to%20give%20players%20better%20traction.
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Same goes for Beaver Stadium. Used to go to a game every year as a kid through college. I swear that somewhere along the lines they figured out how to make the seat numbers on the bleachers even closer together. At least the late November games were warmer because you had someone basically in your lap!
 
I went to NW v Michigan in the mid 1970s. The stadium was old then.
 
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J187Money said:
My son was a trainer there for the 2021 season. I got to tour all of the facilities on the weekend with him. Super cool - hard to believe that the practice field is on the 2nd floor of a building indoors. Overlooks lake Michigan. There has to be 20B worth of buildings on that campus - it is gorgeous.

Stadium is only a mile from campus - no other place to put it really, but it is a little weird since it is in a residential neighborhood. Traffic is an abomination pre/post.
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went to a few games at NU in 2015-2017. their shuttle bus system from campus to the stadium was very convenient
 
Da_Aisijimo_Gou said:
47K down to all-chairback 35K:

Aside from decreasing frequent large #s of fans from Michigan, Illinois, Ohio State, etc …

When less is more
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And being in Chicago still the opportunity to have an occasional game at the Bears stadium (wherever that ends up), when demand warrants.
Or Wrigley
 
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First, it still seems odd to me that institutions like Northwestern would want to continue to be part of this semi-pro football whatever it is going to be.

Second, a B1G program in Chicago reducing seating capacity to 35k. Sure it will be an incredible stadium. But it is the opposite of a B1G stadium. Maybe Northwestern already has other plans.

serious question re: the future of college football...

Between NIL/mega-free agency and the 12-team playoff, which, any way you slice it will erode the bowl system (and almost definitely the conference championships, where both teams involved will surely bench their starters if a playoff berth is locked down), is college football in danger? I can...
northwestern.forums.rivals.com northwestern.forums.rivals.com
 
Kolumbo said:
First, it still seems odd to me that institutions like Northwestern would want to continue to be part of this semi-pro football whatever it is going to be.

Second, a B1G program in Chicago reducing seating capacity to 35k. Sure it will be an incredible stadium. But it is the opposite of a B1G stadium. Maybe Northwestern already has other plans.

serious question re: the future of college football...

Between NIL/mega-free agency and the 12-team playoff, which, any way you slice it will erode the bowl system (and almost definitely the conference championships, where both teams involved will surely bench their starters if a playoff berth is locked down), is college football in danger? I can...
northwestern.forums.rivals.com northwestern.forums.rivals.com
Expand ...
Boxes with my theory that a "nerdy G-whatever" league might rise from the realignment ashes, along with some ACC/Calford remnants and (maybe??) UConn. What is Vanderbilt's stadium situation?
 
History Geek said:
Boxes with my theory that a "nerdy G-whatever" league might rise from the realignment ashes, along with some ACC/Calford remnants and (maybe??) UConn. What is Vanderbilt's stadium situation?
Expand ...
1707100019554.png
 
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History Geek said:
Boxes with my theory that a "nerdy G-whatever" league might rise from the realignment ashes, along with some ACC/Calford remnants and (maybe??) UConn. What is Vanderbilt's stadium situation?
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A dump as noted above when we went there to see the Huskies.
 
UCFBfan said:
Gotta think the lesser programs or even smaller P5 schools are going to go smaller if they rebuild. Attendance is dropping due to online ability to watch games, better viewing experience, etc. Why have a half empty stadium when you can have a smaller, more intimate, packed stadium? Just my two cents.
Expand ...
So you are saying that we are ahead of the curve with the Rent, you know, except for that whole "packed stadium" thing?
 
Duncan Idaho said:
Its amazing isn't it? Detractors will responsibly and dutifully maintain their homes over decades (new roofs, gutters etc) and upgrade their appliances, household technologies. etc.
Expand ...
Yeah but that's kind of the thing. The CDRA "defers maintenance" until those normal ongoing maintenance costs get inflated into a need to spend hundreds of millions on capital expenditures. They do the same thing at the XL center and at the Rent. It bugs me a bit because that agency's job is to maintain and run the facilities and it seems to do neither particularly well.

Don't get me wrong here. Rentschler field is our stadium and nothing is, or even should be, going to be built in Storrs absent a considerable upgrade in fan interest. At some point, the cost to maintain Rentschler field is going to become so significant that a rebuild is going to need to happen either in East Hartford, or in Storrs. At that point, serious consideration should go toward moving the stadium on campus, but we are at least a decade away from that.
 
Kolumbo said:
First, it still seems odd to me that institutions like Northwestern would want to continue to be part of this semi-pro football whatever it is going to be.

Second, a B1G program in Chicago reducing seating capacity to 35k. Sure it will be an incredible stadium. But it is the opposite of a B1G stadium. Maybe Northwestern already has other plans.

serious question re: the future of college football...

Between NIL/mega-free agency and the 12-team playoff, which, any way you slice it will erode the bowl system (and almost definitely the conference championships, where both teams involved will surely bench their starters if a playoff berth is locked down), is college football in danger? I can...
northwestern.forums.rivals.com northwestern.forums.rivals.com
Expand ...

If the Alums want it - and pay for it. Having the founder of Aon as a benefactor doesn't hurt - he is funding a lot of this himself.

That's one of the things when people have that kind of money - there isn't anything "useful" to spend it on - so it all gets spent on trophy assets / nonsense. The good news about that it that it makes its way through the economy, but it is not an efficient allocation of resources.
 
Duncan Idaho said:
Northwestern is a private school and received a 500-million-dollar gift from the Ryan family. Dave said it would take such to have one in Storrs. Guess the name of the facility. The Rent is scheduled for upgrades and repairs over the next two budget cycles. Channel 3 reported the funds being released.
Expand ...
There is a relatively young UConn grad, and I believe she is African American who founded a company and is reportedly worth between 5 and 10 billion dollars. I guess she isn’t a sports fan? Can’t remember her name or the company. Burton and Shenkman could pool their resources and pull it off also.
 
CONN78SEJ said:
There is a relatively young UConn grad, and I believe she is African American who founded a company and is reportedly worth between 5 and 10 billion dollars. I guess she isn’t a sports fan?
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Big UConn Athletics fan:

today.uconn.edu

UConn Receives Historic Gift to Support New Student-athlete Success Center - UConn Today

Former Student-Athlete Trisha Bailey ’99 (CLAS) Commits Lead Gift for Major Renovation and Expansion Project
today.uconn.edu today.uconn.edu

“The gift represents the largest cash contribution ever received from a UConn alumnus, and the largest gift dedicated specifically to UConn Athletics. In recognition, the institutional advancement committee of the UConn Board of Trustees recommended naming the facility the Bailey Student Athlete Success Center, pending approval by the full board on Oct. 26.”
 
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