The Swamp

Timbers, Blazers, Sounders, Ducks, Rockies, and well, Utah State Aggies

#36 Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park
#42 Toronto Raptors, Air Canada Centre
#45 Buffalo Sabres, KeyBank Center
#54 New York Knicks, Madison Square Garden
#55 Kentucky Derby, Chrurchill Downs
#91 Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field

Good experiences all.

Amazing how this wasn't listed.




Texas A&M's redone Kyle Field is now largest in SEC, full of new amenities

Some Texas A&M officials felt 92,000 was enough. Not for Chancellor John Sharp. This Aggie knew that he needed to unify Kyle Field by making it symmetrical. And doing that bumped capacity to 102,512, the largest football stadium in the SEC and fourth largest in the nation.

“When this thing started it was the most nervous time in my life,” Sharp tells SI.com. “Folks didn’t think we could fill up a 102,000-seat stadium. We sold all 102,000 tickets in 18 minutes.”

And those 102,000 folks will filter into the completely overhauled Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 12, when the Aggies host Ball State.

Sharp says the renovation’s most important piece was making the building symmetrical, building a true bowl. For Craig Kaufman, the Populous architect on the project, just bringing the stadium up to standards was a major step. But they didn’t stop at that.

“There were parts that date back to 1927,” Kaufman tells SI.com. “Over decades there have been pieces here and there added and changed and modified. It was a patchwork of design and wasn’t really tied at all as a unified station.”

The design was lacking. The functionality was less than stellar. And the amenities were abysmal (the new venue increased women’s restroom fixtures 300%).In short, Kyle Field wasn’t attractive and wasn’t functional. The $485 million, 18-month project changed that.

Nearly 90 percent of the stadium stands new, Kaufman says. The 2009-built north end zone building received a redone exterior and seating bowl in order to connect it to the rest of the stadium. On the east side, which was done prior to last season, the existing three-deck seating welcomed a new lower deck, leaving the upper two in place. All the concourses were redone on the east side, changing the entire feel of the side. In the south, where a few bleachers blocked an otherwise wide-open end, Populous filled in the design, making Kyle Field a true symmetrical bowl. And on the west side, the final phase, crews simply imploded what was there and built something totally new.

Having more time to plan for the west side—implosion followed the end of last season—allowed Texas A&M to focus there on new fan experiences and seating options. The most impressive space, Kaufman says, comes at the ground floor, where, at longer than a football field and three stories tall, comes a new Hall of Fame space.The school plans to use the space—the largest open space the university has—throughout the year for everything from wedding banquets to large lectures.

Flowing up from the Hall of Fame space comes the majority of premium areas, including 12 founders’ suites, field boxes, an alumni section, legacy suites and more. “By starting from scratch we didn’t have to live with the structure and bones already there,” Kaufman says.

And, oh, don’t forget that Kyle Field also now boasts the second largest video screen in college football.​

To diversify the west side’s offerings, new types of premium space include the over-the-top founders’ suites and new field box suites with traditional close-to-field seating.

To help build on the passion found at the original home of the 12th Man, Populous dropped the field seven feet to allow the addition of six more rows all the way around the field, bringing seats closer to the field. New canopies on the east and west sides not only provide shade, but also reflect crowd noise back onto the field. Closing the south end also helps capture the crowd’s famed chants and yells.

In addition to the competition spaces, the newly done Kyle Field has cooling rooms all over the stadium, a completely redone WiFi system said to be the most robust in any college or NFL football stadium, athletic department offices, all audio and visual facilities and an auditorium available for classes.

Outside the stadium, a new area creates needed space for the corps’ marching band parade before each game. Plus, of course, enough space to welcome in all 102,000-plus fans—not 92,000.

That is crazy!

What do tickets cost to a game at Texas A & M?

LewP wrote:“When this thing started it was the most nervous time in my life,” Sharp tells SI.com. “Folks didn’t think we could fill up a 102,000-seat stadium. We sold all 102,000 tickets in 18 minutes.”

This is better evidence than anything Trump did that I truly don't understand a good majority (in terms of surface area) of this country.

Pruitt wrote:That is crazy!

What do tickets cost to a game at Texas A & M?

PRICING

Will there be an increase for 2017 ticket and seat donation pricing, renewed and new seats?

There will be no increase in ticket prices for the 2017 season.
There will be no increase in annual seat donations for the 2017 season.
How much will season tickets cost for the 2017 season?

Club Seats - $560
Armchair/Field Box - $525
Bench Back - $515
Bench - $490
What are the Kyle Field Campaign Gift and seat terms for new seats purchased in 2017?

Anyone purchasing new seats in 2017 will pay the same Kyle Field Campaign Gift as in prior years.
The gift will be payable over 5 years.
The seating option will expire at the same time as all other seats in that area. Seating options with a campaign gift of $1,500 or more have a term ending after the 2029 season. Seating options with a campaign gift of less than $1,500 have a term ending after the 2024 season. Click here to see a seating map with Kyle Field gift amounts.

http://www.12thmanfoundation.com/member ... -faqs.aspx

This is better evidence than anything Trump did that I truly don't understand a good majority (in terms of surface area) of this country.

I don't think Trump knows where Texas is.

Camden Yards
M&T Bank Stadium
Fenway Park
Navy Marine Corps Stadium
Giant Arena, Hershey PA

Some of these show my age, but I'm going to include all the deceased stadiums, as well as the current ones I've visited. Some of my favorites are ranked highly for personal reasons others wouldn't agree with.

AT&T Stadium (SF Giants)
Wrigley Field (Cubs)
PNC Field (Pittsburgh)
Camden Yards (Orioles)
Old Mile High Stadium (Broncos)
Old Arlington Stadium (Rangers)
Dodger Stadium (vile traffic notwithstanding)
GS Warriors Arena (whatever it is called)
SAP Center (Sharks)
Palace of Cows (Sharks and other misc.)
New Mile High Stadium
Levis Stadium (49ers)
Regina Pats arena (whatever they call it)
Boston Garden (Bruins)
Folsom Field (Colorado football)
Stanford Stadium
Cal Memorial Stadium (Cal football)
Pepsi Center (Avalanche)
McNichols Arena (Avalanche)
New Yankee Stadium
Old Yankee Stadium
Old Texas Stadium
Old Three Rivers Stadium (Pirates)
Superdome (Sugar Bowl)
Brendan Byrne Arena (Devils)
Qualcomm Stadium (Padres)
Candlestick Park (Giants/49ers)
Oakland Alameda Coliseum (Athletics)
Old Kingdome (Mariners)

Hell, than I'll do the same!

Toronto
Exhibition Stadium - Blue Jays, Argos
Varsity Stadium - Metros, Blizzard (NASL)
Maple Leaf Gardens - Maple Leafs, Raptors, Buffalo Braves
SkyDome (Rogers Centre) - Blue Jays, Bills
BMO - Toronto FC
ACC - Raptors, Maple Leafs

Buffalo
Rich Stadium/The Ralph/New Era - Bills
War Memorial Stadium - Bisons
The Aud - Sabres
KeyBank Centre - Sabres

Montreal
Jarry Parc - Expos
The Forum - Habs
Olympic Stadium - Olympics, Expos
McGill Stadium

Vancouver - PNE Coliseum - Canucks
Boston - Fenway Park
New York - Madison Square Garden - Knicks, St. Johns
Detroit - Tiger Stadium
Detroit - Silverdome
Cleveland - Municipal Stadium - Browns, Indians
Chicago - Wrigley Field
Chicago - Old Comiskey Park
Washington - RFK - Redskins, Nationals
Washington - MCI Arena - Capitals
Dunedin Florida - Blue Jays (whatever they call that field)
Oakland - Coliseum - A's
Los Angeles - Dodger Stadium
Louisville - Churchill Downs - Kentucky Derby
London - White Hart Lane
Edinburgh - Easter Road - Hibernian

I want to feign outrage that A&M is listed but not TDECU Stadium for the Houston Cougars. If I had a smart phone, 'Womp Womp' would be my ring tone.

sancarlos wrote:I'm going to include all the deceased stadiums

Well, if this is going to be a thing...Favorite torn-ass-down stadiums:

Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, Civic Arena. So many football, baseball, hockey, and indoor soccer (!) games in these places. So much of my childhood gone.

Three Rivers was, you know, just there. The same as Riverfront or Veterans or any number of other multi-purpose stadiums. The Civic Arena was unique, even if it destroyed Pittsburgh's Hill District. Pitt Stadium was a treasure, and Pitt football hasn't been the same since it moved off-campus and started playing on the North Side.

Also, I drove thru Boston as the Boston Garden was in the process of being torn down, and it broke my heart.

.
.
<---- Tiger Stadium. Memories that will never fade.

DC47 wrote:.
.
<---- Tiger Stadium. Memories that will never fade.

First baseball game I ever saw was in Tiger Stadium. Went back several times years later to see the Jays play in a real stadium. That was a great place.

Part of what makes me really appreciate AT&T in San Francisco is that until it was built, most of my live MLB experiences were at two dumps - Candlestick and Oakland Alameda.

sancarlos wrote:Part of what makes me really appreciate AT&T in San Francisco is that until it was built, most of my live MLB experiences were at two dumps - Candlestick and Oakland Alameda.

Has enough time past for people to start waxing nostalgic over Candlestick?

It took less than a decade here before people started fondly remembering Exhibition Stadium where the Jays played for 12 years. That place was beyond belief terrible - the worst stadium I have ever been in - but the further it gets in the rear view mirror, the more people seem to have liked it.

sancarlos wrote:Part of what makes me really appreciate AT&T in San Francisco is that until it was built, most of my live MLB experiences were at two dumps - Candlestick and Oakland Alameda.

That's how White Sox fans talk about the new Comiskey, too.

I've talked before about my fascination with Exhibition Stadium. It was so awful that it was charming. I can almost understand why people would have fond memories of it.

Now I wonder what percentage of my total games are at Shea and the Vet. Those were some terrible, soulless stadiums.

#1 Baltimore Orioles, Oriole Park at Camden Yards
#14 Baltimore Ravens, M&T Bank Stadium
#15 San Francisco Giants, AT&T Park
#16 Michigan Wolverines, Michigan Stadium
#29 Seattle Sounders FC, CenturyLink Field
#36 Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park
#49 Navy Midshipmen, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
#68 Michigan Wolverines, Yost Ice Arena
#73 Michigan Wolverines, Crisler Center
#74 Tampa Bay Lightning, Amalie Arena
#87 Hershey Bears, Giant Center
#91 Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field
#92 Detroit Tigers, Comerica Park
#96 Chicago Bears, Soldier Field

-=--=-=-=

I will echo that this is a weird list. I was going to call bullshit on Crisler, but have to remember that when I attended games it was BEFORE they finally created a student's section down near the court. Because before that, it was widely known to be the quietest, tamest basketball arena in the conference.

I think OPaCY gets a nod because it was a bit of trend setter. I actually knew the developer of the new Commiskey park in Chicago (went to college with his daughter). It was going up while Camden was being designed. I went to the new Comiskey the first year it opened and I was completely and utterly underwhelmed. It was just so stale and so cookie cutter. So when Camden plans started showing up, it was in that context of being completely against the grain and starting that "brick facade, try to fold into the cityscape" that really caught on in the 90s.

I had gone on a couple of baseball stadium tours over those college summers. On that trip, went to see the old Tigers Stadium, then over to Wrigley and the new Comiskey. Stopped by Three Rivers on the way home. Another summer went to Yankee Stadium, Fenway and Veteran's.

So, I saw a bunch of "before" but haven't gotten around to see the "after" on many of those.

Pruitt wrote:

DC47 wrote:.
.
<---- Tiger Stadium. Memories that will never fade.

First baseball game I ever saw was in Tiger Stadium. Went back several times years later to see the Jays play in a real stadium. That was a great place.

My first was Wrigley, but I spent many MANY summer days/nights at Tiger Stadium. Loved that place.

Pruitt wrote:

sancarlos wrote:Part of what makes me really appreciate AT&T in San Francisco is that until it was built, most of my live MLB experiences were at two dumps - Candlestick and Oakland Alameda.

Has enough time past for people to start waxing nostalgic over Candlestick?

It took less than a decade here before people started fondly remembering Exhibition Stadium where the Jays played for 12 years. That place was beyond belief terrible - the worst stadium I have ever been in - but the further it gets in the rear view mirror, the more people seem to have liked it.

I caught a game there at some point in the 80s. I got some weird looks when I asked for napkins.

I just remember thinking... "these sight lines are odd." And it just seemed weirdly sloped or configured in an odd way. Am I mis-remembering? I just remember thinking it seemed kind of amateur or something along those lines.

bapo! wrote:

Well, shit... 2 posts down.

bapo! wrote:I've talked before about my fascination with Exhibition Stadium. It was so awful that it was charming. I can almost understand why people would have fond memories of it.

Probably the best place to bring this up--I have a weird nostalgia for the "concrete donut" stadiums of the '70s and '80s. Yeah, they weren't pretty and didn't have a lot of amenities, but they were places you went to see a damn sporting event. Too many new stadiums are basically malls that happen to have a sports game going on inside.

mister d wrote:Now I wonder what percentage of my total games are at Shea and the Vet. Those were some terrible, soulless stadiums.

Three Rivers and the Vet were my least favorite venues, by far. Designed by someone who also builds prisons and municipal waste facilities.

No WisePies Arena (aka The Pit?) pfffft.

bapo! wrote:

sancarlos wrote:Part of what makes me really appreciate AT&T in San Francisco is that until it was built, most of my live MLB experiences were at two dumps - Candlestick and Oakland Alameda.

That's how White Sox fans talk about the new Comiskey, too.

I've talked before about my fascination with Exhibition Stadium. It was so awful that it was charming. I can almost understand why people would have fond memories of it.

Look at the sightlines in that dump. Maybe 20,000 seats that had a good view... many of which required fans to crane their necks. All metal seats.

My family's seasons tickets were about 7 or 8 rows behind the first base dugout. (Five rows behind Geddy Lee's seats!) Seats 19 and 20 of a 40 seat row. Ever sat in the middle of a 40 seat row? A nightmare getting in and out. And they were spring loaded, so if your neighbour stood up suddenly, the metal seat would flip up fast. "Exhibition Stadium elbow" was quite common.

Access to the stadium was pretty poor as well, but that wasn't the worst part. Seats were uncovered, so on a sunny summer day it was like sitting on a skillet. I remember an early date while in high school, and by the 3rd inning, both sides of my shirt were soaked through. Not a good feeling.

Almost visible in that picture is Lake Ontario. Meaning that cold winds blasted up through that stadium for the first two months of the season. The bottom part of the stadium was built cheaply and in a real hurry.

Exhibition Stadium was problematic for hosting both baseball and football. Blue Jays' President Paul Beeston noted Exhibition Stadium "wasn't just the worst stadium in baseball, it was the worst stadium in sports."[24]

BMO field stands on the site now. It's a good stadium.

Pruitt wrote: The bottom part of the stadium was built cheaply and in a real hurry.

Isn't there a CFL team that played this last season in a temporary stadium of some sort?

Rush2112 wrote:

Pruitt wrote: The bottom part of the stadium was built cheaply and in a real hurry.

Isn't there a CFL team that played this last season in a temporary stadium of some sort?

I figured they just rented high school fields.

A_B wrote:

Rush2112 wrote:

Pruitt wrote: The bottom part of the stadium was built cheaply and in a real hurry.

Isn't there a CFL team that played this last season in a temporary stadium of some sort?

I figured they just rented high school fields.

Close...

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were having their 20,000 seater renovated for the 2014 Pan Am games. So, in 2013 they played at the University of Guelph's stadium. Guelph is a smaller city about 40 miles away. This is Canadian college football, so it wasn't exactly SEC calibre with its 10,000 seats.



Inevitable delays hit the rebuilding of the stadium and they played the first part of the 2014 season at McMaster's (the local university) stadium. It seats 6,000. Stadium is called Ron Joyce Stadium - named after the guy who built Tim Horton's into a cross-Canada juggernaut.



Here's their currently upgraded stadium - Tim Horton's Field. Capacity 24,000. (Renovations cast $157 million (or $125 million US)

I saw this video on the new Cowboys practice facility, The Star, and thought I would share.

The practice field there is better than any CFL stadium.

Oh shit.

Inspired by the Globe Theatre!

Dare I say, only in Portland?

Going broke and your teams are no good....nice combination. <end trolling>
http://www.vocativ.com/429457/cincinnat ... -stadiums/

wlu_lax6 wrote:Going broke and your teams are no good....nice combination. <end trolling>
http://www.vocativ.com/429457/cincinnat ... -stadiums/

This has been a known issue for almost 20 years.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/s ... tory2.html

"Hamilton County is left with one of the most heavily exploitative leases in the NFL," said Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.

Zimbalist, who is co-author of Sports, Jobs and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums, was paid to analyze the lease for the Courier.

A noted critic of sports subsidies, Zimbalist calls the Bengals deal "one of the most team-friendly, if not the most team-friendly, signed in the NFL in the 1990s, itself a decade where lease terms have been one-sided against stadium landlords."

The Courier's own analysis produced similar results. It shows the Bengals' lease is a 26-year deal in which the Bengals get 90.5 percent of an estimated $1.9 billion in stadium revenue and pay 3.4 percent of $1 billion in predicted expenses.

ETA: It should be noted that Bob Bedinghaus, the Hamilton County Commissioner who negotiated the stadium deal on behalf of the county, found a new employer after he was voted out of office following the lease agreement. His new (and current) employer? The Bengals.

http://www.bengals.com/team/staff-directory.html

wlu_lax6 wrote:Going broke and your teams are no good....nice combination. <end trolling>
http://www.vocativ.com/429457/cincinnat ... -stadiums/

That's a pretty sloppy article. The city isn't broke. They shouldn't spend a dime on fixing up the basketball arena since there is no tenant etc., but, paying for the Reds and Bengals to stay was defensible at the time and still is.

Okay maybe this was posted somewhere else and I could not see it due to blocks...but I love the Freeze promotion Atlanta is running
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOnapjUHyeE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbXn-tsMEjw

The freeze is a former track athlete Nigel Talton. Ran at Iowa Wesleyan and Shorter and is on the Braves ground crew.
He’s clocked personal bests of 6.73 seconds in the 60-meter dash (indoors), 10.47 in the 100 and 21.66 in the 200. Targeting a shot at the 2018 world indoor championships in England.

Oh yea, this thread exists. I posted about a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate to stop taxpayer money from going to build stadiums.

http://sportsfrog.net/phpbb/viewtopic.p ... 20#p164980

Some major doings in Triple A over the last two days. The Mets bought the Syracuse AAA team and will be switching their affiliation from Las Vegas to Syracuse in 2019. That means Washington will be the only unaffiliated MLB team unless things change.

...Which they probably will because the LVCVA reached a deal to contribute half of the cost of a new stadium in Las Vegas ($80M of a total expected cost of $160M) for a new stadium in Summerlin (which will be almost right next to the Golden Knights training facility.

Expect a west coast MLB to switch affiliations to be able to utilize the new ballpark and facilities in Las Vegas before 2019.

https://twitter.com/LVSportsBiz/status/ ... 5618617345

Mets top minor league team in Vegas was dumb on literally every possible level.