(04-26-2023 10:12 AM)bluesox Wrote:  I was on the Vanderbilt campus recently and my take was the football, basketball, frat and sorority houses we’re awful looking... I mean all should be torn down. Thus, I really don’t think it would be a bad idea for them to play at the new stadium, especially since the capacity will only be 60,000. Use the football land to build a new hoops arena and housing.

This Vanderbilt fan of about 50 years recognizes the flaws you noticed — but to describe these buildings as "awful looking"? What do you want: An antiseptic and generic presentation that is seen on many campuses.

It's important to understand that the Vanderbilt three-stadia arrangement "model" is very different from those at most P5 members — bordering on dramatically different. All three buildings are located within very close proximity to one another (they are essentially connected), which can be jarring to those folks who have not seen such an arrangement. As such, there are some limitations (that can yield both ugliness and "quirky beauty") to what can and can't be done to improve the stadiums (football, baseball and basketball) and how they interact with one another.

As to "tearing down" Memorial Gymnasium ... that is a non-starter. The facility ranks as one of the nation's most important examples of modernist era (the 1950s and 1960s) sports facility architecture. The interior is extremely distinctive and special. Not that Memorial is the equivalent of Wrigley Field (my all-time fave stadium), but it is in the next tier down. It's historic and distinctive in a very noteworthy way.

More later ...