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Thoughts on Stadium size - doss2 - 09-08-2021 09:45 AM
BU 45K
ISU 62K
KS 47K
KSU 50K
OKS 56K
TCU 47K
TT 61K
WVU 60K
BYU 64K
UCF 45K
UC 40K
UH 40K
In the past UC said PBS use only justified if over 45,000. TX or OK coming would have drawn 55,000+
Do any of the others look like a 45,000+ draw? Perhaps WVU as they bring a lot of Hillbillies to town driving beaters.
Would adding seats to Nippert make sense? It is hard to justify building cheap seats. Would adding Skyboxes over Reed Shank work?
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - Bruce Monnin - 09-08-2021 09:49 AM
In my opinion, college football is slowly trending like all other sports, to more people watching at home and less watching in person. UC is an exception at the moment, as we are experiencing unprecedented success.
Expanding any stadium these days strikes me as a huge waste of money.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - bearcatfan - 09-08-2021 09:53 AM
I think Nippert is fine the way it is. Adding more seats means adding more parking, more restrooms (still port-a-potties at games now), more concessions, etc.
There just isn't much space (any space?) left.
If adding seats became a requirement then perhaps rebuild the pavilion and try to add 5,000 more seats somehow - make it higher, wrap around the end zone more.
Back when the Lindner Center was built UC possibly could have considered incorporating it into a new pavilion with increased capacity.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - BearcatsUC - 09-08-2021 09:56 AM
Nippert is already crammed. Maybe another 5k, but no need for more. No need to *ever* play at PBS.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - bearcatfan - 09-08-2021 09:59 AM
(09-08-2021 09:56 AM)BearcatsUC Wrote: No need to *ever* play at PBS.
Agreed. UC spent $90 million upgrading Nippert and need to keep all games there now.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - geef - 09-08-2021 10:07 AM
(09-08-2021 09:56 AM)BearcatsUC Wrote: Nippert is already crammed. Maybe another 5k, but no need for more. No need to *ever* play at PBS.
If anything, focus on a more comfortable fan experience and add maybe a few thousand seats. Continue to increase demand, and charge prices that are a bit more in line with our new conference mates. If we play a minimum of 6 home games per year (with 7 being hopeful), revenues from our current size should be fine. And Nippert will continue to be the most raucous environment in college football.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - cincy7718 - 09-08-2021 10:15 AM
NFL stopped building big a couple decades ago. Maintaining ticket demand was found to be the more profitable model.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - TubaCat - 09-08-2021 10:26 AM
WVU will bring plenty of fans.
You can fit a lot of people in an Oldsmobile Model 46.
![[Image: Beverly-Hillbillies-Family-in-the-car.jpg]](https://clickamericana.com/wp-content/uploads/Beverly-Hillbillies-Family-in-the-car.jpg)
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - CliftonAve - 09-08-2021 10:27 AM
(09-08-2021 10:07 AM)geef Wrote:(09-08-2021 09:56 AM)BearcatsUC Wrote: Nippert is already crammed. Maybe another 5k, but no need for more. No need to *ever* play at PBS.
If anything, focus on a more comfortable fan experience and add maybe a few thousand seats. Continue to increase demand, and charge prices that are a bit more in line with our new conference mates. If we play a minimum of 6 home games per year (with 7 being hopeful), revenues from our current size should be fine. And Nippert will continue to be the most raucous environment in college football.
IMHO this is what is going to take place. FB and hoops prices will be going up.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - nachoman91 - 09-08-2021 10:46 AM
(09-08-2021 09:59 AM)bearcatfan Wrote:(09-08-2021 09:56 AM)BearcatsUC Wrote: No need to *ever* play at PBS.
Agreed. UC spent $90 million upgrading Nippert and need to keep all games there now.
Agreed with this as well. Keep our home field advantage. We're the Wrigley Field of college football so we should just own it, pack the place, and make it loud!
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - BearcatJerry - 09-08-2021 10:52 AM
For many years, the idea was that you needed to "build bigger." But the trend has been the other way for the past decade:
Stanford Stadium: Rebuilt 2013. Max Capacity Before: 85k, Capacity After: 50k
Cal Memorial Stadium: Rebuilt 2012: Max Capacity Before: 75k, Capacity After: 63k
Husky Stadium: Rebuilt 2013: Max Capacity Before: 72k, Capacity After: 70k
Amon G. Carter: Rebuilt 2010: Max Capacity Before: 44k, Capacity After: 44k* (Later expanded in 2019 to 47k)
I think the focus going forward will be on the "Game Day Experience." Sure the "Mega" stadiums like Michigan and OSU and Tennessee will feature the whole "Being part of the Largest Crowd" as part of their selling point. But beyond that, being in a more intimate stadium experience will also be a key point. I'll point to Louisville as a part of this trend as well: Papa John's Stadium (or whatever they call it now) was "big" but the main thing is that they installed 100% chair-back seating, sacrificing pure "quantity" for "creature comfort." Baylor's new stadium has bench seating (but no assigned seats) in the student section (they say they want the students standing throughout the game...) but the rest of the stadium is chairback seating and remarkably comfortable. They also built their stadium on the river-front with a eye towards premium tailgating and post-game parties.
UC needs to market Nippert on it's strengths: the "Wrigley Field" of College Football. It's a true "throw back" stadium experience: a living reminder of what College Football WAS and IS. (Ironically, when TCU rebuilt Amon G. Carter, they billed it as "the Camden Yard of College Football.") It is not "the biggest"...it will never be "the biggest"...but it might be "the best" place to catch a game. Play up the history and the tradition, play up the campus. We have long lamented the difficulties of tailgating at UC but we have the Campus that, thank God, we're using more. There's something that all these other stadiums in the Big XII miss right now: they are all at some sort of distance to the Campus. A number of them also look a whole lot alike: WVU and Iowa State are both "concrete" monstrosities, Kansas is as well. Nippert's got the bricks. The only other B12 stadium that I think comes close to the Nippert experience is MAYBE Oklahoma State.
Play to your strengths. We should not be making apologies for our stadium, we should be playing it up.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - UCGrad1992 - 09-08-2021 10:57 AM
Moving forward, if Nippert consistently is selling out with butts in seats and fans demanding tickets due to a shortage then some expansion can be considered. It would make the most sense to wrap around the open end zone to create a true, continuous lower bowl. That would seem 5,000+ additional seats is doable. Can you imagine the noise level on the field with the sound from an enclosed lower bowl area with no place to go? We know what it's like from the student end of the bowl. As doss listed, 45,000+ seats puts us more in line with the B12 stadiums. Obviously, our stadium wasn't an issue on our invite so I'm good with the way it is.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - RealDeal - 09-08-2021 11:03 AM
(09-08-2021 10:57 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: Moving forward, if Nippert consistently is selling out with butts in seats and fans demanding tickets due to a shortage then some expansion can be considered. It would make the most sense to wrap around the open end zone to create a true, continuous lower bowl. That would seem 5,000+ additional seats is doable. Can you imagine the noise level on the field with the sound from an enclosed lower bowl area with no place to go? We know what it's like from the student end of the bowl. As doss listed, 45,000+ seats puts us more in line with the B12 stadiums. Obviously, our stadium wasn't an issue on our invite so I'm good with the way it is.
Yep; if it ain't broke don't fix it. We're in an era where TV drives the bus and Nippert shows great on TV. The only focus on Nippert should be in improving the fan experience which was a complete disaster Saturday.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - robertfoshizzle - 09-08-2021 11:08 AM
Picking a current example of declining attendance, Ohio State still has over 10,000 tickets available for their game vs. #11 Oregon on Saturday. Part of that could be the pandemic, but I know that they and a lot of other big-name football programs have been having trouble selling out their 90,000+ seat stadiums for a while now.
As others have mentioned, the experience of watching a game from home is better than ever, and I don't see college football attendance getting back to its peak of 10-15 years ago. Doesn't mean the in-person gameday experience will go away, but in 10-20 years, I think we'll be really grateful to have an intimate venue for college football. As the giant and, in many cases, outdated Big Ten and SEC stadiums start getting renovated, I think you'll see capacity drop in most cases.
Here is a source showing the average FBS attendance from 2003-2019. It reached a peak of nearly 47,000 in the late 2000's, and has been steadily dropping ever since about 2010. In 2019, the average had fallen to 41,477: https://www.statista.com/statistics/254645/average-attendance-at-division-i-fbs-college-football-games/
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - robertfoshizzle - 09-08-2021 11:10 AM
(09-08-2021 10:57 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: Moving forward, if Nippert consistently is selling out with butts in seats and fans demanding tickets due to a shortage then some expansion can be considered. It would make the most sense to wrap around the open end zone to create a true, continuous lower bowl. That would seem 5,000+ additional seats is doable. Can you imagine the noise level on the field with the sound from an enclosed lower bowl area with no place to go? We know what it's like from the student end of the bowl. As doss listed, 45,000+ seats puts us more in line with the B12 stadiums. Obviously, our stadium wasn't an issue on our invite so I'm good with the way it is.
I'm not against that type of expansion as long as it eventually pays for itself. Otherwise, I'd rather see the money go to improving amenities and gameday experience for the fans who do attend. I agree though, it would be great to see those corners filled in. If Fickell stays long term, I think the demand will be there eventually.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - BearcatsUC - 09-08-2021 11:37 AM
If any more seats are ever added, a comprehensive parking and traffic plan would need to be implemented. Some concourse areas may need to be rethought, along with bathroom facilities.
Any changes to Nippert itself need to be carefully implemented to not ruin aesthetics.
But then, we haven’t heard anything concrete, Fickell says he’s heard nothing, so we’re getting way ahead of ourselves here.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - Bearcatbdub - 09-08-2021 11:37 AM
We could always fill in the notches…
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - rath v2.0 - 09-08-2021 11:45 AM
No reason to expand if the invite comes (unless it’s predicated on an increase I suppose). Investment in a incremental increase won’t pay for itself.
I’d rather sell out every game and spend $$ on building a legit IPF.
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - doss2 - 09-08-2021 11:56 AM
(09-08-2021 11:03 AM)RealDeal Wrote:(09-08-2021 10:57 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: Moving forward, if Nippert consistently is selling out with butts in seats and fans demanding tickets due to a shortage then some expansion can be considered. It would make the most sense to wrap around the open end zone to create a true, continuous lower bowl. That would seem 5,000+ additional seats is doable. Can you imagine the noise level on the field with the sound from an enclosed lower bowl area with no place to go? We know what it's like from the student end of the bowl. As doss listed, 45,000+ seats puts us more in line with the B12 stadiums. Obviously, our stadium wasn't an issue on our invite so I'm good with the way it is.
Yep; if it ain't broke don't fix it. We're in an era where TV drives the bus and Nippert shows great on TV. The only focus on Nippert should be in improving the fan experience which was a complete disaster Saturday.
I would support improving fan experience. The first 2 or 3 years of our Club Seats the food was much better an some themed to the opponent. Tulane meant Cajun dishes, Memphis meant Memphis style BBQ, etc.
The last couple years the quality and creativity of the offerings is down.
No issues with the rest rooms although I do not understand why motion detection was not used on faucets and towel units?
RE: Thoughts on Stadium size - BearcatsUC - 09-08-2021 12:14 PM
(09-08-2021 11:56 AM)doss2 Wrote:(09-08-2021 11:03 AM)RealDeal Wrote:(09-08-2021 10:57 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: Moving forward, if Nippert consistently is selling out with butts in seats and fans demanding tickets due to a shortage then some expansion can be considered. It would make the most sense to wrap around the open end zone to create a true, continuous lower bowl. That would seem 5,000+ additional seats is doable. Can you imagine the noise level on the field with the sound from an enclosed lower bowl area with no place to go? We know what it's like from the student end of the bowl. As doss listed, 45,000+ seats puts us more in line with the B12 stadiums. Obviously, our stadium wasn't an issue on our invite so I'm good with the way it is.
Yep; if it ain't broke don't fix it. We're in an era where TV drives the bus and Nippert shows great on TV. The only focus on Nippert should be in improving the fan experience which was a complete disaster Saturday.
I would support improving fan experience. The first 2 or 3 years of our Club Seats the food was much better an some themed to the opponent. Tulane meant Cajun dishes, Memphis meant Memphis style BBQ, etc.
The last couple years the quality and creativity of the offerings is down.
No issues with the rest rooms although I do not understand why motion detection was not used on faucets and towel units?
One reason I did not attend the Miami game (other than the threat of rain) is that it was close to a sell out. Cincinnatians are fat and if every seat on the bench is taken, it’s more likely than not that someone will be pushed to another row.
Butts have gotten bigger. Nippert’s seats have not.