Stadium Journey Magazine
2015 FBS College Football Stadium Experience Rankings
By Paul Swaney

CUSA
26 Jerry Richardson Stadium - Home of the Charlotte 49ers

One of the best features of Jerry Richardson Stadium may eventually vanish. The stadium has, for lack of a better term, a "low profile", meaning that all of the beauty of the surrounding campus is easily visible throughout the facility. The stadium was built with the idea that it would eventually be expanded, which is a blessing and a curse. The good news is that the expansion would bring more of the large program trappings, but it would also remove the openness and sense of connection to the campus of the existing structure.

48 Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium - Home of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

WKU's alumni base is strong, and the fans are very knowledgeable. There are schools within an hour's drive that would kill for the alumni pride and support that WKU possesses. Big Red is one of the premier mascots in all of college athletics. It's not hyperbole to say Big Red has put WKU in the national conscience. They've always had a history with NCAA basketball diehards, but he's put the school on the national and international map. A perennial nominee for the Capital One Mascot Challenge each year, Big Red gives the school a great identity, although his is still debated across the Ohio Valley. He supposedly embodies the spirit of all the fans in one large red "blot" and does a great job of it.

56 FAU Stadium - Home of the Florida Atlantic Owls

While Florida Atlantic University may not exactly be known for being a top notch FBS football school, the stadium in which they play certainly doesn’t mirror the program’s outward appearance. The Owls have only been bowl eligible on a couple of occasions, and while they have indeed tasted victory in them before (2007 New Orleans Bowl and 2008 Motor City Bowl), most people pass FAU football off as an also-played program. But do not let this second-tier status deter you from venturing to Palm Beach County for a quality afternoon of college football. FAU Stadium is beautiful, clean, impressive, comfortable, and family friendly in all respects while remaining easy to access from major highways.

58 Alamodome - Home of the UTSA Roadrunners

The atmosphere for a Roadrunners game at the Alamodome is unexpectedly electric. Expect to see a full lower bowl with a few fans in the upper deck on the west side. Being in a dome the fan noise is enhanced, but it takes a rowdy crowd to generate noise. On big plays and defensive third downs, you'll find yourself impressed with how loud it can get in the Alamodome.

59). Foreman Field at S. B. Ballard Stadium - Home of the Old Dominion Monarchs (We may be small but mighty)

Selling out every home game during their existence, Old Dominion was in the top ten of attendance in the FCS every year. Even though the stadium went through a major renovation recently, it is still somewhat antiquated and not up to par with most FBS stadiums. Plans are in the works to build a new stadium across campus with modern amenities and a larger capacity, which no doubt will please those that have a hard time getting a ticket to Norfolk’s most popular team.

64.Joan C. Edwards Stadium - Home of the Marshall Thundering Herd

The most impressive entertainment at Joan C. Edwards Stadium is definitely the marching band - the white plumes on their hats contrast beautifully with their green uniforms, and the band does a lot of great formations, including a bison head, spelling out H-E-R-D, and the block "M." There is tons of green to be seen, and lots of tailgating before the game, and not just in front of the stadium, either - tents and fanatics spill out for blocks.

88.M.M. Roberts Stadium - Home of the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles

The architecture and setting is what really catches the eye - the sleek athletic center and modern box seats in the end zones almost make you forget that most of the stadium is over 40 years old. The arches built onto the ends of the east and west stands are even carried over into the seating on the south side (which features a curved design with multiple arches). It is also pleasant to look out from the stadium onto the Southern Miss campus, which features plenty of greener

96.Joe Aillet Stadium - Home of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs

Joe Aillet Stadium installed a $2 million high definition video board and new sound system before the start of the 2009 season. The stands are in dire need of replacing. Apart from the season ticket holders' chairback seats, fans can expect a run-of-the-mill experience as far as seats go at college football stadiums. Overall, the stadium is a fine place to watch a college football game on a sunny, fall afternoon in north Louisiana.

103.Johnny 'Red' Floyd Stadium - Home of the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders

The future looks bright for the Blue Raiders, and they certainly have the stadium to generate a great home-field advantage if fans start showing a better turnout. More student support is needed to get the stadium closer to selling out, and notching up a few wins to start the conference schedule should help with that.

104.Apogee Stadium - Home of the North Texas Mean Green

This shiny new place is the first stadium in college football to achieve LEED Platinum status for its environmentally friendly amenities. "The Hill" is on the east side of the stadium at the top of, well, the hill. Vendors are selling food and drink, school fraternities have their tailgate parties set up complete with decorated tents and flags, the marching band is playing, local radio stations have their broadcasts going and it is a fun place to be prior to the game itself.

110.Sun Bowl Stadium - Home of the UTEP Miners

Sun Bowl Stadium currently holds 51,500, but rarely fills up, given the Miners' on-field performance. It does have some unique features, including being able to see across the border into Mexico from inside the stadium

118.FI Stadium - Home of the Florida International Panthers

Fans show up more because they may have friends who go to FIU and they want to hang out instead of seeing D-I football on the field. When the fans show up, FIU football can be exciting and energetic. Unfortunately, as with most sports teams in South Florida, they don’t show up, especially when the team only wins a handful of games and isn’t bowl eligible on a yearly basis.

127.Rice Stadium - Home of the Rice Owls

Rice Stadium was built in the heyday of Owls football, when the team regularly competed for and won the Southwest Conference championship (four titles in 12 years). That was before the NFL came to town, and the marquee games started being played across town. Today, football games at Rice are not very well attended, even in the best of years, so attending a game here is not as exciting as it once was. As a result, there is little interest in keeping the stadium up to date, since there aren’t enough fans who care.

Link... http://www.stadiumjourney.com/news/12-30...-rankings/

ODU stadium has to be the worst in the country? No way FF should be ranked this high.

(06-16-2016 02:53 PM)ODU86 Wrote:  ODU stadium has to be the worst in the country? No way FF should be ranked this high.

I think it's rated on overall experience and the average rating from all the different categories it is judged on:

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/f...dium-s1775

OK. I was wondering how North Texas could be ranked so bad with it being a newer facility.

Reading the description for FIU is pretty depressing.

We were talking about this list on the MAC forum... They have Ohio's stadium ranked last in the MAC (#123 of 128). I get our stadium is old, and only holds 24,000... but come on... The atmosphere at Peden Stadium is easily deserving of a higher rating.

We've concluded that the list is too subjective.

(06-16-2016 03:00 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  We were talking about this list on the MAC forum... They have Ohio's stadium ranked last in the MAC (#123 of 128). I get our stadium is old, and only holds 24,000... but come on... The atmosphere at Peden Stadium is easily deserving of a higher rating.

We've concluded that the list is too subjective.

I don't know how a list of stadiums could be anything other than completely subjective and arbitrary.

the author of that article should be ashamed for taking an article from 2008 and doing nothing more than changing the date in the title.

These reviews are outdated and irrelevant.

(06-16-2016 05:16 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  the author of that article should be ashamed for taking an article from 2008 and doing nothing more than changing the date in the title.

These reviews are outdated and irrelevant.

They are irrelevant, but they rank the facilities based on perceived atmosphere. Essentially, it is meaningless. For example, last year a visit to the Joan during the Purdue game would have been entirely different than against Norfolk State. I am sure every other school could provide examples.

One benefit of a smaller stadium or games with a larger crowd is the consolidation of the crowd. When any stadium is full, it is much more impressive. It gives you a greater feeling of being closer to the action.

This is garbage. Says very little about WKUs stadium. Talks about Big Red, who most love but has little to do with why the football stadium should be "ranked" on some subjective list.

The snippets read like the author had been to a handful of the stadiums in person, but the rest he looked at google images and wrote down the first things that came to him. Didn't seem like a whole lot of research was involved. Foreman is spartan and really should have been back with the MAC stadiums.

Quote:Legion Field is clearly nearing its end of life and is no longer fully maintained, making it both fascinating and depressing to watch a game here. I rarely advise that you avoid a stadium, but this is one that a stadium traveler need not add to the bucket list when you visit Alabama. See a game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn or a Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa instead.

Welp.

The DAC definitely improved the atmosphere of our stadium.

(06-16-2016 08:43 PM)CameramanJ Wrote:  The snippets read like the author had been to a handful of the stadiums in person, but the rest he looked at google images and wrote down the first things that came to him. Didn't seem like a whole lot of research was involved. Foreman is spartan and really should have been back with the MAC stadiums.

Visit the website, there is a full write up on every stadium.

(06-17-2016 06:45 AM)wh49er Wrote:  

(06-16-2016 08:43 PM)CameramanJ Wrote:  The snippets read like the author had been to a handful of the stadiums in person, but the rest he looked at google images and wrote down the first things that came to him. Didn't seem like a whole lot of research was involved. Foreman is spartan and really should have been back with the MAC stadiums.

Visit the website, there is a full write up on every stadium.

Every stadium is rated on a 5-star scale averaged from sub categories in regards to the stadium itself, food, atmosphere, fans, the area, accessibility etc. He also gives extra points at the end if there are other things not in those sub categories that stood out. While I agree with most, it is pretty subjective but the ones I have read are pretty thought out

FF is ranked that high? I guess putting lipstick on a pig does work.

(06-16-2016 05:16 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  the author of that article should be ashamed for taking an article from 2008 and doing nothing more than changing the date in the title.

These reviews are outdated and irrelevant.

The author also makes a reference to ODU building a new stadium across campus. This idea was put to rest officially last week, but in reality has been dead for months and months. The author obviously just pieced this list together without doing his homework.

Why are ODU fans getting their knickers twisted?

You're renovating your stadium. That says enough about its relative value. FWIW, I like what you're planning to do, but I would go to 30k immediately. Just for non-conference games.

(06-17-2016 07:21 AM)MonGNARch Wrote:  

(06-17-2016 06:45 AM)wh49er Wrote:  

(06-16-2016 08:43 PM)CameramanJ Wrote:  The snippets read like the author had been to a handful of the stadiums in person, but the rest he looked at google images and wrote down the first things that came to him. Didn't seem like a whole lot of research was involved. Foreman is spartan and really should have been back with the MAC stadiums.

Visit the website, there is a full write up on every stadium.

Every stadium is rated on a 5-star scale averaged from sub categories in regards to the stadium itself, food, atmosphere, fans, the area, accessibility etc. He also gives extra points at the end if there are other things not in those sub categories that stood out. While I agree with most, it is pretty subjective but the ones I have read are pretty thought out

They are subjective but they did visit each one of stadium unlike the original poster stated.

(06-17-2016 08:24 AM)Artifice Wrote:  Why are ODU fans getting their knickers twisted?

You're renovating your stadium. That says enough about its relative value. FWIW, I like what you're planning to do, but I would go to 30k immediately. Just for non-conference games.

We are not renovating the stadium. It is coming down and we are building a new one in the same spot.