The other thing about the stadium change: if WSU were to bring back Division I football, they would need a totally new stadium that probably wouldn't fit in the same footprint as Cessna Stadium anyway.

I believe George Mason is one of the largest publics without football.

they kicked the can on adding it a decade or two ago and received little support for it.

(06-13-2023 08:04 AM)pvtlamb Wrote:  The other thing about the stadium change: if WSU were to bring back Division I football, they would need a totally new stadium that probably wouldn't fit in the same footprint as Cessna Stadium anyway.

Yeah, this is true.

I would think that if Wichita State were to re-start football, they would probably end up going the "Charlotte" route in having to plan out a new stadium site and then developing it alongside the football program. The trouble is two-fold:
1) The campus is landlocked, and...wait for it...bordered on two sides by cemeteries...which are untouchable...and...
2) I don't know how deep the pockets of WSU boosters and supporters are at this point.

Once upon a time, Pizza Hut would have been a natural ally especially with Stadium naming rights. But Pizza Hut moved out of town almost 30 years ago now and...well...they're not doing so great after the whole "PapaJohn" upheaval and modern delivery environment. Of course the aviation world ain't what it used to be (Cessna...Beech/Textron...LearJet...Piper...); again all those companies are/were Wichita staples. And then you have the Koch brothers, who bankrolled the basketball program for a while...

It's hard to see where the money and resources would come from for a new stadium to be developed. Even going the "Birmingham" route, where the City would build a new Stadium for WSU and other secondary uses would be sketchy...there isn't quite the same need for a generic stadium in Wichita; you're not going to get the Kansas State High School championship game to relocate, there's no history of Kansas and K-State playing in Wichita (which Birmingham at least had a history with UA/Auburn).

I'd have loved to see Shocker football resurrected. It's hard to see where it would come from at this point.

...so, not knowing the details, looks like (from the 'live construction cam) they will just demolish the 'upper back half' of the far stands, which look to have been added to the 'lower level seating stands... then come back with a pressbox atop those?

(06-13-2023 11:21 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(06-13-2023 08:04 AM)pvtlamb Wrote:  The other thing about the stadium change: if WSU were to bring back Division I football, they would need a totally new stadium that probably wouldn't fit in the same footprint as Cessna Stadium anyway.

Yeah, this is true.

I would think that if Wichita State were to re-start football, they would probably end up going the "Charlotte" route in having to plan out a new stadium site and then developing it alongside the football program. The trouble is two-fold:
1) The campus is landlocked, and...wait for it...bordered on two sides by cemeteries...which are untouchable...and...
2) I don't know how deep the pockets of WSU boosters and supporters are at this point.

Once upon a time, Pizza Hut would have been a natural ally especially with Stadium naming rights. But Pizza Hut moved out of town almost 30 years ago now and...well...they're not doing so great after the whole "PapaJohn" upheaval and modern delivery environment. Of course the aviation world ain't what it used to be (Cessna...Beech/Textron...LearJet...Piper...); again all those companies are/were Wichita staples. And then you have the Koch brothers, who bankrolled the basketball program for a while...

It's hard to see where the money and resources would come from for a new stadium to be developed. Even going the "Birmingham" route, where the City would build a new Stadium for WSU and other secondary uses would be sketchy...there isn't quite the same need for a generic stadium in Wichita; you're not going to get the Kansas State High School championship game to relocate, there's no history of Kansas and K-State playing in Wichita (which Birmingham at least had a history with UA/Auburn).

I'd have loved to see Shocker football resurrected. It's hard to see where it would come from at this point.

1) The campus is landlocked but there are a couple spots on campus that ex President Bardo identified as possible locations for a new stadium. WSU also owns a good chunk of land about a mile off campus. That location would significantly help with game day traffic as it's closer to the K96 bypass and would allow for a football complex to include a practice field, IPF, offices, parking, etc. There are two cemeteries close to campus, with only one of those actually touching. The 2nd is on the other side of 21st, a major thoroughfare in the city. We call it green space

2) Football was never coming back to Cessna either way, the footprint just isn't big enough for a modern stadium. The University needs more parking there, not less. The future 13,000 +/- seat track/W Soccer stadium will be the class of the AAC.

3) Wichita State, like most of the AAC, suffers mightily with little brother syndrome. The point being that the alumni will never support the return of football unless it is done in a manner to compete with KSU and KU. That doesn't mean we need to have a K-State type program, but an FCS or low level FBS just isn't going to fly. To do that, it would require finding a new revenue stream. We are spread pretty thin right now and the 100 million it would take to even start the discussion could desperately be used for projects on the books, both announced and planned. (New Softball stadium & facilities, new track/soccer stadium and locker rooms, new 3500 seat arena for Volleyball and concerts, Eck stadium upgrades and new seating, and last but not least...major upgrades to include suites at Koch arena.

clt asks if wsu is open to selling those seats. we are going to need more

(06-13-2023 02:07 PM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  ...so, not knowing the details, looks like (from the 'live construction cam) they will just demolish the 'upper back half' of the far stands, which look to have been added to the 'lower level seating stands... then come back with a pressbox atop those?

No it will all eventually be torn down and will be new stadium. It will be done in 3 phases so as not to interrupt the high school track championships each may.

They have to replace the track in the second phase to make room for a soccer field. WSU doesn’t have women’s soccer but looks like they will need to add it down the road.

The building that is directly south (right beside) of the phase 2b grand stand in this picture was just recently built and houses the track and field locker rooms/weight room.

The grand stand should seat around 6500, have locker room facilities for soccer, and total capacity somewhere between 12k-13.5k.



This is looking from the opposite side of the field from where the camera is looking.

(06-13-2023 03:10 PM)Shox Wrote:  

(06-13-2023 11:21 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(06-13-2023 08:04 AM)pvtlamb Wrote:  The other thing about the stadium change: if WSU were to bring back Division I football, they would need a totally new stadium that probably wouldn't fit in the same footprint as Cessna Stadium anyway.

Yeah, this is true.

I would think that if Wichita State were to re-start football, they would probably end up going the "Charlotte" route in having to plan out a new stadium site and then developing it alongside the football program. The trouble is two-fold:
1) The campus is landlocked, and...wait for it...bordered on two sides by cemeteries...which are untouchable...and...
2) I don't know how deep the pockets of WSU boosters and supporters are at this point.

Once upon a time, Pizza Hut would have been a natural ally especially with Stadium naming rights. But Pizza Hut moved out of town almost 30 years ago now and...well...they're not doing so great after the whole "PapaJohn" upheaval and modern delivery environment. Of course the aviation world ain't what it used to be (Cessna...Beech/Textron...LearJet...Piper...); again all those companies are/were Wichita staples. And then you have the Koch brothers, who bankrolled the basketball program for a while...

It's hard to see where the money and resources would come from for a new stadium to be developed. Even going the "Birmingham" route, where the City would build a new Stadium for WSU and other secondary uses would be sketchy...there isn't quite the same need for a generic stadium in Wichita; you're not going to get the Kansas State High School championship game to relocate, there's no history of Kansas and K-State playing in Wichita (which Birmingham at least had a history with UA/Auburn).

I'd have loved to see Shocker football resurrected. It's hard to see where it would come from at this point.

1) The campus is landlocked but there are a couple spots on campus that ex President Bardo identified as possible locations for a new stadium. WSU also owns a good chunk of land about a mile off campus. That location would significantly help with game day traffic as it's closer to the K96 bypass and would allow for a football complex to include a practice field, IPF, offices, parking, etc. There are two cemeteries close to campus, with only one of those actually touching. The 2nd is on the other side of 21st, a major thoroughfare in the city. We call it green space

2) Football was never coming back to Cessna either way, the footprint just isn't big enough for a modern stadium. The University needs more parking there, not less. The future 13,000 +/- seat track/W Soccer stadium will be the class of the AAC.

3) Wichita State, like most of the AAC, suffers mightily with little brother syndrome. The point being that the alumni will never support the return of football unless it is done in a manner to compete with KSU and KU. That doesn't mean we need to have a K-State type program, but an FCS or low level FBS just isn't going to fly. To do that, it would require finding a new revenue stream. We are spread pretty thin right now and the 100 million it would take to even start the discussion could desperately be used for projects on the books, both announced and planned. (New Softball stadium & facilities, new track/soccer stadium and locker rooms, new 3500 seat arena for Volleyball and concerts, Eck stadium upgrades and new seating, and last but not least...major upgrades to include suites at Koch arena.

Fortunately WSU is in the AAC and you'd have to think it they were to bring back football they would be able to be added, though this probably wouldn't happen until 1 or more teams leave first.

Sent from my LM-G820 using CSNbbs mobile app

The new stadium sounds great. Good luck with the process.

Your football predicament sounds like Charlotte's 20 years ago, and we were not smart enough to read the signals. Hopefully things go better for WSU. In our 10 seasons in CUSA 1.0 with Cincy, Memphis, Louisville, Marquette, UAB, Tulane, South Florida, etc., Charlotte went to the NCAAs 7 years and the NIT once. We thought life was good until they showed us the door because we didn't have football. It has been, and continues to be, a long road back. I am happy to rejoin some of those teams in the AAC, and I look forward to our 10 year old football program becoming competitive in the conference, but we are certainly way behind the curve against programs that have been doing it for 100 years.

We learned that football does drive the bus, so keep your options open.

Oh yeah, two weeks from today the CUSA6 will be official, full members of the AAC.

(06-13-2023 09:59 PM)ta town Wrote:  

(06-13-2023 02:07 PM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  ...so, not knowing the details, looks like (from the 'live construction cam) they will just demolish the 'upper back half' of the far stands, which look to have been added to the 'lower level seating stands... then come back with a pressbox atop those?

No it will all eventually be torn down and will be new stadium. It will be done in 3 phases so as not to interrupt the high school track championships each may.

They have to replace the track in the second phase to make room for a soccer field. WSU doesn’t have women’s soccer but looks like they will need to add it down the road.

The building that is directly south (right beside) of the phase 2b grand stand in this picture was just recently built and houses the track and field locker rooms/weight room.

The grand stand should seat around 6500, have locker room facilities for soccer, and total capacity somewhere between 12k-13.5k.



This is looking from the opposite side of the field from where the camera is looking.

cool - gotcha. Guess I was just looking at the far stands on the live cam and saw the lower level / upper level addition, which appeared to be similar to the new plan renderings for the seating area - but yeah, best to rip it all out and start over, especially to provide for new soccer and surrounding track /field areas... UAB built a dedicated T&F space a few years back, and is growing their program, so... should be some good meets ahead for all!