(05-20-2015 08:24 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  

(05-19-2015 10:30 AM)62Indian Wrote:  West Side: In addition to eliminating the number of seats in each row from 25 seats down to 20 seats per row, TD also alluded to the COMPLETE ELIMINATION of the TOP ROWS in certain [unidentified] Sections to facilitate access to the new Suite Level where new restrooms and concessions will be located. All of the seats in the West side will be wider than at present, all of the aisles will also be wider and there will be handrails up and down each aisle. TD also stated that many of the seating and access changes were drived by ADA Codes, Regulations, Government standards etc.

East Side: The ONLY CHANGE to this side will be the addition of handrails in the aisles. All of the present seating will remain AS IS. New modern women's bathroom facilities will be installed underneath the current Visitors Fan seating Section. And a seperate new building will be constructed in the North East end of the stadium close to the North end of the East stands for new Men's Rest rooms and a new permanent Concession stand.

They are aware that the Team Entrance from the Laycock Center to the playing field is a big traffic problem and they claim to be exploring ways to address this.

There will be three elevators on the West side. ONE AT EACH END of the new structure to access the upper levels and one at the South End of the West stands to move fans from roughly the parking lot level up to the level of the playing field.

I went to the meeting in Virginia Beach last night. Once again the question was raised about stadium capacity after the changes are made, and, as several others have noted, TD stated that the overall capacity would not change. If I heard correctly, about 1000 seats in the current West stands will be lost as a result of wider seats, wider aisles, and taking out some of the seats along the top rows because of building a pathway to the suites, concessions and bathrooms. That must mean that the new upper deck and suites will add about 1000 seats. I also thought that I head either Terry or Spencer say that there are currently about 10,000 permanent seats at Zable.

How in the world did we ever have 15,000+ attendance in the old days?

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In the days before Govrnment regulation of everything it was common to sell "Standing Room Only" tickets to to all knids of public events. The government started to outlaw this because of safety/fire concerns for indoor activities. The same logic has more recently been applied to outdoor events via dozens of state and Federal laws. Even thou the fire danger in a stadium is almost non-existant there is a concern about crowd panic and the speed of evacuation from a public facility.

In fact, one of the topics discussed at the informational meeting was a BIG change in the traffic patterns entering and exiting Zable Stadium. And it appears that all handicapped patron seating will be directed to the West Side with the elevator access and new and enlarged handicap seating/wheelchair access.