This will be one of the best venues in college football.

Great crowd. Yours fans need a pat on the back for showing up. Now if you could just convince them there are only 6 homes games a year and they should not give any of that by leaving early. Since 1979 I have left early twice. Once in the 90's when I could no longer stand to watch what was happening on the field. The other when we had a huge lead and my wife made some promises that I thought I better get her home before her memory lapsed.

(09-18-2016 06:40 PM)OsageJ Wrote:  Great crowd. Yours fans need a pat on the back for showing up. Now if you could just convince them there are only 6 homes games a year and they should not give any of that by leaving early. Since 1979 I have left early twice. Once in the 90's when I could no longer stand to watch what was happening on the field. The other when we had a huge lead and my wife made some promises that I thought I better get her home before her memory lapsed.

The first one is no excuse. The second is a good reason.

(09-18-2016 06:55 PM)AppinVA Wrote:  

(09-18-2016 06:40 PM)OsageJ Wrote:  Great crowd. Yours fans need a pat on the back for showing up. Now if you could just convince them there are only 6 homes games a year and they should not give any of that by leaving early. Since 1979 I have left early twice. Once in the 90's when I could no longer stand to watch what was happening on the field. The other when we had a huge lead and my wife made some promises that I thought I better get her home before her memory lapsed.

The first one is no excuse. The second is a good reason.

I agree.

(09-18-2016 06:40 PM)OsageJ Wrote:  Great crowd. Yours fans need a pat on the back for showing up. Now if you could just convince them there are only 6 homes games a year and they should not give any of that by leaving early. Since 1979 I have left early twice. Once in the 90's when I could no longer stand to watch what was happening on the field. The other when we had a huge lead and my wife made some promises that I thought I better get her home before her memory lapsed.

You and I have a lot in common. I wish more people looked at it that way. Been a season ticket holder since 79. I can count the number of games I've missed in those 36+ years on one hand. Our group calls ourselves the 0:00 crowd. We never leave until there are zero's on the clock. No matter the score, or the weather. My wife was right there with us until a neurological disorder made it impossible for her to go. I'm thankful KB cut the deal to broadcast all our games on ESPN3. She now gets to watch every one. The way I look at it is those kids practice hard, lift weights and study game film to give me their best effort, so I should pay them back with my time. I especially get a lot of enjoyment watching the young kids when the game is out of reach. That's the future right there. Besides, we're not promised any length of time on this earth. I'm going to enjoy every second of Mountaineer Football in person I can before I'm to feeble to go.

I've always thought Kidd Brewer is a good venue. I knew of Appalachian State when I started at UTA in 2000.

I've also never thought tracks are a bad thing. Didn't realized that KB had end zone seating covering the track. Seems like a smart idea. My thought process is that taking out tracks just for the sake of taking them out isn't that smart, as it just causes the need for more construction and maintenance, further straining budgets.

Using Bobcat stadium as an example, the ripped out the track, but the only tangible benefit is the north end zone. The east and west are still as far from the action.

Any information you can share about the end zone seating?

(09-18-2016 05:34 PM)AppManDG Wrote:  This will be one of the best venues in college football.

Beautiful setting! Too bad there's a track around the field.

App's Athletics Department is rumored to be negioating with the county for the old Watauga High School site. It's been sititng about 5 years and is getting run down, but the infastructure is there for a nice athletics complex. Baseball & softball fields, football field with track, soccer field and tennis courts. It's about a mile from KBS. If we can cut a deal for that property KBS will finally become a dedicated football facility.

(09-18-2016 09:18 PM)AppManDG Wrote:  App's Athletics Department is rumored to be negioating with the county for the old Watauga High School site. It's been sititng about 5 years and is getting run down, but the infastructure is there for a nice athletics complex. Baseball & softball fields, football field with track, soccer field and tennis courts. It's about a mile from KBS. If we can cut a deal for that property KBS will finally become a dedicated football facility.

Appman,

Do they want to move the baseball stadium? I could eventually see a public/private partnership with Don Beaver for a combo stadium with an Appalachian League team in the summer. Either way, the old WHS property could solve a ton of facilities issues.

AppManDG have you heard anything specifically about the High School site? I know we have been trying to find a way to get the property for the last 3 or 4 years, but we couldn't reach an agreed price. That piece of property would solve so many of our problems, including moving that dam track, which, watching the game yesterday, looked horrible on tv.

(09-18-2016 07:48 PM)SlickRick12 Wrote:  

(09-18-2016 05:34 PM)AppManDG Wrote:  This will be one of the best venues in college football.

Beautiful setting! Too bad there's a track around the field.

ya, you will not find an App fan that will tell you the track looks good, eye sore that's been with us since the 70s, looked really bad on tv yesterday. Good news is, its living on borrowed time, sooner or later, its going bye bye!!

It's a great looking stadium without a doubt. Easily at or near the top imo, and I'm partial to sunken fields.

The 'only' knock I have on it is when you remove the track, you'll have 40' or so of space. I prefer the seating to be as close as possible to the field.
We had the same problem with our old field.

(09-18-2016 10:40 PM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  It's a great looking stadium without a doubt. Easily at or near the top imo, and I'm partial to sunken fields.

The 'only' knock I have on it is when you remove the track, you'll have 40' or so of space. I prefer the seating to be as close as possible to the field.
We had the same problem with our old field.

I guess it's a preference. When they took the track out it really didn't make a difference. It's still the same distance as before and it gave the team more room to spread out without being on the track and you can still see over their heads if you're down in front. It certainly "feels" different with the turf there. The NEZ is actually fairly close to the end zone back line. We also got a decent T&F complex in the deal that doesn't have to share with the football team any longer.

I may be wrong but believe I clearly heard the TV play by play guy say fairly early 18000 was in attendance. I knew that was wrong and later he put the attendance at around 25000. Both remarks were just in a passing way but don't think this guy ever got it right.

he wasn't close

(09-18-2016 09:26 PM)AppinVA Wrote:  

(09-18-2016 09:18 PM)AppManDG Wrote:  App's Athletics Department is rumored to be negioating with the county for the old Watauga High School site. It's been sititng about 5 years and is getting run down, but the infastructure is there for a nice athletics complex. Baseball & softball fields, football field with track, soccer field and tennis courts. It's about a mile from KBS. If we can cut a deal for that property KBS will finally become a dedicated football facility.

Appman,

Do they want to move the baseball stadium? I could eventually see a public/private partnership with Don Beaver for a combo stadium with an Appalachian League team in the summer. Either way, the old WHS property could solve a ton of facilities issues.

Beaver Field will stay where it is. The softball field will probably be moved to the WHS site. The desire is to expand the indoor practice facility over that area. Interestngly enough Beaver tried to work out just such a deal with App about 10 years ago. He wanted to move his rookie summer league team there and was willing to build a 2500 seat stadium with pro lighting and clubhouse. All the school had to do was provide the land and let them sell beer during their games. The BOT, Borkowski and or Laney said no.

(09-18-2016 10:24 PM)moehler Wrote:  AppManDG have you heard anything specifically about the High School site? I know we have been trying to find a way to get the property for the last 3 or 4 years, but we couldn't reach an agreed price. That piece of property would solve so many of our problems, including moving that dam track, which, watching the game yesterday, looked horrible on tv.

IMO, and this is nothing I have been told by anyone in a leadership role, the town / county want to make a deal with ASU. At one thime the town had unrealistic expectation of a huge retail space coming into there, but the site just isn't suitable for that. I think, right now, the big hold up is a big discrepancy in the percieved value of the site. Several evualations have turned up much different dollar figures. I think it will happen, but when is another question. This is the only thing I was disappointed with Ken Peacock as chancellor. He didn't hold the town/county's feet to the fire when we sold them the Edminsten Farm site for the new HS. It should have been an even swap or no deal.

BTW, I was hoping that we would at least have covered the track in cheap green turf.

(09-18-2016 10:40 PM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  It's a great looking stadium without a doubt. Easily at or near the top imo, and I'm partial to sunken fields.

The 'only' knock I have on it is when you remove the track, you'll have 40' or so of space. I prefer the seating to be as close as possible to the field.
We had the same problem with our old field.

A lot of people think we need to dig down and lower the field, but that isn't an option for several reasons. The two most important are rock and numerous underground springs. The lower half of the east stands is in terrible shape. Literally disintegrating with each passing year. I've talked to Doug Gillin about filling in those with gravel and paving over them then extending the upper level down to the field. At the same angle they would land right about where the inside edge of the track is. Move the field over towards the West (pressbox) side and wrap the endzones with the same seating as the East and you've got yourself a compact little stadium that would seat about 35K. It is by far the least expensive option and I don't care if they would be all metal. You can't tell the difference with people in the seats.

(09-19-2016 08:11 AM)AppManDG Wrote:  

(09-18-2016 09:26 PM)AppinVA Wrote:  

(09-18-2016 09:18 PM)AppManDG Wrote:  App's Athletics Department is rumored to be negioating with the county for the old Watauga High School site. It's been sititng about 5 years and is getting run down, but the infastructure is there for a nice athletics complex. Baseball & softball fields, football field with track, soccer field and tennis courts. It's about a mile from KBS. If we can cut a deal for that property KBS will finally become a dedicated football facility.

Appman,

Do they want to move the baseball stadium? I could eventually see a public/private partnership with Don Beaver for a combo stadium with an Appalachian League team in the summer. Either way, the old WHS property could solve a ton of facilities issues.

Beaver Field will stay where it is. The softball field will probably be moved to the WHS site. The desire is to expand the indoor practice facility over that area. Interestngly enough Beaver tried to work out just such a deal with App about 10 years ago. He wanted to move his rookie summer league team there and was willing to build a 2500 seat stadium with pro lighting and clubhouse. All the school had to do was provide the land and let them sell beer during their games. The BOT, Borkowski and or Laney said no.

I figured it would be a tough sell to move baseball to the WHS site, but when I saw your post reference baseball fields, I started to think of that as a possibility. Hope it happens sooner rather than later.

(09-19-2016 08:24 AM)AppManDG Wrote:  

(09-18-2016 10:24 PM)moehler Wrote:  AppManDG have you heard anything specifically about the High School site? I know we have been trying to find a way to get the property for the last 3 or 4 years, but we couldn't reach an agreed price. That piece of property would solve so many of our problems, including moving that dam track, which, watching the game yesterday, looked horrible on tv.

IMO, and this is nothing I have been told by anyone in a leadership role, the town / county want to make a deal with ASU. At one thime the town had unrealistic expectation of a huge retail space coming into there, but the site just isn't suitable for that. I think, right now, the big hold up is a big discrepancy in the percieved value of the site. Several evualations have turned up much different dollar figures. I think it will happen, but when is another question. This is the only thing I was disappointed with Ken Peacock as chancellor. He didn't hold the town/county's feet to the fire when we sold them the Edminsten Farm site for the new HS. It should have been an even swap or no deal.

BTW, I was hoping that we would at least have covered the track in cheap green turf.

I agree 100% about Peacock, in my opinion he was walking that fine line between making a good business decision, and strengthing his relationship with the town/county. He made the mistake of assuming they would remember what a great deal he gave them. As much as I want App to get that piece of property, I'm glad we have held our ground on what we are willing to pay for it, we're not going to overpay, and hopefully, with the combination of us not overpaying, and lack of interest from any other suitors, the town/county will finally sit down with us, give us a realistic price and we can get this done.