UF to Hire Architect for $400 million Renovation to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

They always do. If I had a dime....

 

Got you. I get where you are coming from.

Worried that UF will get it wrong to me suggests more than 'room for improvement.' I've been part of buildings that once completed, always had room for improvement.

There are many who will have a say as this goes, including those in the buildings on Saturdays.

If the proposals and design are going in the wrong direction, I am confident that guys like you and me will have a say (along with 100s of thousands of others)

So here is to not fretting about getting it wrong. UF is spending 1.6 Billion on a campus master plan.

Other places have done this with fan involvement:

For reference: Kyle Field Renovations Mark New Era at Texas A&M - Football Stadium Digest( aTm)

Additional reading that is good for this time of year

College facilities: Not just sitting pretty

 

Thanks, Gatorhead. I read all of your posts too.


I know it's wishful thinking on my part, but I have to speak my mind about our seating capacity. We will sell out our SEC games (one reason why I like an all SEC schedule) and I do NOT want to give them another reason the JACK UP TICKET PRICES... I know they will take some seating capacity out, but I hope it's less than 2,000... if they have to take some out.

With Lagway and these new recruits coming to Gainesville and the other great players we're we're signing we will be selling out more often too.

We cannot forget what gives the Gators, in The Swamp, that home field advantage.... it's the fans in the stands. It's a mutual arrangement.

 

In a rush to send in the first bid, here's what we got from a firm in Tallahassee.....

 

Followed by a second entry, in case you question their motives....

 

Wow...reading that should make everyone nervous. It would make a great list of what not to do.

A couple of telling quotes: "White said Tennessee took on its first two projects in a multiyear $340 million renovation"....."because they’ll pay for themselves."

“I really think Oregon State is going to be one of the best experiences in college football,” said Nations. “It’s going to be below 40,000, but no one cares because of the experience.”

I think Nations needs to get clued into why no one cares if seating is reduced in Reser stadium. Its because those seats were empty anyway because OSU has been a pretty consistent loser in my lifetime.

 

Im thinking the alumni, most season ticket holders, will get real chairs like the north endzone. That’ll mean less rows and a lot of seats missing.

 

Go ahead and laugh but I think it would be really cool if a GIANT 4 legged Gator was built into the top of the stadium! 2 legs on the West Side, 2 on the East. Think "Gator Canopy Cover".

It would provide much needed shade, intimidation and one hell of a show piece! Each game would have the Gator holding the opponents shredded body in it's mouth. A special feature would have the mouth go up and down and a cloud of red colored spray shoots out when the players run on the field.

But thats just me.

 

With just the right angle on his tail, we could probably get him to take a dump on the visitor section.

 

I think they need to be very smart about this renovation. There are a lot of things they COULD do, but I'm not sure how many of them actually make sense.

Pretty clears, the objective is going to be to make the fan experience better. If they make the experience better, they can charge more ... significantly more.

That more than likely will mean seatbacks and wider aisles first and foremost, which will likely reduce capacity if they stick to the current structure. But I wouldn't rule out adding to the top of the structure on the East side. I know there are structural issues but if there's a will, there's a way. I would expect them to want to keep about 80K capacity. That's really probably a realistic number for them to expect to sell out consistently in this era. LED lights and improved video boards are also very likely.

But the other thing I suspect we'll see is some kind of shading, especially for the East stands. I'm not really sure what they can do about it, but there would be so much value to making that side of the stadium more desirable and moving the student section into the endzones. I'm not sure what the answer is. I would like them to keep that stadium open but just figure out a way to make those seats more desirable. Those seats could become extremely valuable to alumni if they could figure out how to shade them.

But the thing that I hope they and fans remember is that there are basically going to be no more than 7 to maybe 8 games played in BHG per year. The rest of the year the stadium is mostly empty. The idea of adding restaurants and even permanent cooking capabilities probably doesn't make sense. It's not like an MLB stadium where they have at least have 80 home games a year. The rest of the year, those facilities or kitchen equipment will just be sitting there. Maybe there's a way they can invest in portable kitchen equipment that can be moved from the Swamp, to O-Dome and baseball stadium as needed.

 

They are in the business of making money. They don’t get a dime from me during the games. The food sucks and the beer takes too long to get for it to be worth waiting. I expect that to be remedied.

 

Fan experience = good games that we win

If you don’t get that you can have jet packs that shoot out beer and nobody will go

 

One of the many differences between the spoiled fans of today vs. us old Gators who packed Florida Field to watch and support mediocre teams before it was ever called The Swamp

 

They need it all. UF needs to strive to be the best at everything. A shitty hotdog and a warm flat beer is not the way.

 

I think I’d take the warm flat beer over a shitty hotdog

 

All hotdogs are dog food.

 

Joey Chestnut says hi

Joey Chestnut wins 16th Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest after 2-hour weather delay

 

Is he dead yet

 

He pounded 62 hotdogs to win his 16th consecutive championship

 

That’s enough to kill a normal person.