(08-17-2014 10:43 AM)slycat Wrote:  Looks much better then a grass berm

Like the Cajuns have done, I wish NMSU would finish closing in their stadium with more seating on the southside.

(08-17-2014 10:43 AM)slycat Wrote:  Looks much better then a grass berm

Cajun Field is a natural bowl. When you walk up to the Stadium all you see is the upper deck. The sunken facility allows fans to walk down to their seats if sitting in the lower bowl. The seating is built right into the grass bowl.

The Field is actually 2 feet below sea level. For players to get to the field, they need to walk through this long tunnel that is angled down towards the surface. Cajun Field was nicknamed the Swamp in 1988 before Florida started calling their Stadium the Swamp. So Cajun Field was the original Swamp.

The one thing that fans liked about the North endzone grass bowl was to watch the game while sitting or laying in the grass while your children got to roam around free without being stuck in a seat for 3 hours. It also allowed for general admission overflow.

In 2009, when the seating was at 31,000, the grass endzones allowed an overflow crowd of 41,357 against Southern who is our first opponent this year and should break the record for the largest crowd which was set in that 2009 game.

The grass will be done away with in Phase 2 of the Stadium renovation. Still left in Phase 1 of the renovation is an upper deck on the East side of the Stadium and seating in the Northwest sideline lower bowl. Phase 4 and 5 will be upper decks in each endzone which will bring the seating to around 65, 000.

I just hope I live to see that day :)

This shot will give a better idea of what IdahoCajun's talking about...

Also part of Phase 1 is to "chop off" that "J" curve of the grassy area on the west side to match the east side. That will add 1,109 seats to the soon-to-be current 36,900.

(08-18-2014 10:10 PM)LFTCajun Wrote:  This shot will give a better idea of what IdahoCajun's talking about...

Also part of Phase 1 is to "chop off" that "J" curve of the grassy area on the west side to match the east side. That will add 1,109 seats to the soon-to-be current 36,900.

Thamks LFTCajun, seating in the Northwest sideline lower bowl. it's hard to explain to somebody what Cajun Field is like. I like your picture.

(08-18-2014 09:38 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  

(08-17-2014 10:43 AM)slycat Wrote:  Looks much better then a grass berm

Cajun Field is a natural bowl. When you walk up to the Stadium all you see is the upper deck. The sunken facility allows fans to walk down to their seats if sitting in the lower bowl. The seating is built right into the grass bowl.

The Field is actually 2 feet below sea level. For players to get to the field, they need to walk through this long tunnel that is angled down towards the surface. Cajun Field was nicknamed the Swamp in 1988 before Florida started calling their Stadium the Swamp. So Cajun Field was the original Swamp.

The one thing that fans liked about the North endzone grass bowl was to watch the game while sitting or laying in the grass while your children got to roam around free without being stuck in a seat for 3 hours. It also allowed for general admission overflow.

In 2009, when the seating was at 31,000, the grass endzones allowed an overflow crowd of 41,357 against Southern who is our first opponent this year and should break the record for the largest crowd which was set in that 2009 game.

The grass will be done away with in Phase 2 of the Stadium renovation. Still left in Phase 1 of the renovation is an upper deck on the East side of the Stadium and seating in the Northwest sideline lower bowl. Phase 4 and 5 will be upper decks in each endzone which will bring the seating to around 65, 000.

I just hope I live to see that day :)

Have you seen anything to confirm that they chose Option 1 of the Master Plan that would add the east side upper deck in phase 1? I know Option 2 for the stadium had that part in phase 3 rather than phase 1.

Another positive is that they are having the official ground breaking for the new Athletics Performance Center on Wednesday, August 20th. That will be a 71,000 square foot addition to the existing indoor practice facility and in my mind will be the highlight of the phase 1 construction.

How often have y'all been selling out games under your current configuration?

(08-19-2014 11:23 AM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  How often have y'all been selling out games under your current configuration?

Occasionally. The official capacity was 31,000, and attendance has increased to about 25,000-27,000 pretty regularly.

The major issue with the stadium is that it had virtually no renovation from its original construction and was in desperate need of a major overhaul. New press area and suites needed to be completely redone, which meant the east side upper deck basically needed to be completely redone. That meant losing about 5,000 seats during construction, so the south end zone being bowled needed to be done to provide additional seating to compensate for the loss.

If they use part of the existing support structure, the addition would be an additional 1200 club seats, 96 loge seats, and 38 box suites. If they build a totally new upper deck structure, they will add an eight story press box facility which will include (depending on the option chosen) club seats, loge suites, or box suites. It will also include a kitchen, ticket office, media support, merchandizing and a new student dining facility and administration offices.

Once all this is done the seating will wind up around 45,000. I think the seating is a consequence of refurbishing the stadium rather than specifically to increase the seating capacity. We've put 42,000 into the stadium with the current 31,000 seating capacity, and probably will again during our first game against Southern this year.

What I like best is they've finally taken the initiative to put the overall plan of what needs to be done on paper, planned the costs involved, and gone about private fund raising to be the initial phase done. Just having a state of the art APF with world class weight room and a number of amenities for the players will be big time to continue our recruiting growth. It's something that's long overdue. The link below is for the Master Plan home site.

Ragin Cajun Facilities Master Plan

(08-19-2014 11:23 AM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  How often have y'all been selling out games under your current configuration?

In 2013 we averaged 28,971
2012 averaged 22,865

At the following website, you can see the attendance figures at Cajun Field that officially sat 31,000, but had general addmission overflow in both the North and South endzones. You have to realize that we weren't very good until the past few years. Before the past few years, you have to go back to the Jake Delhomme and Brian Mitchell days.It shows the total attendance plus the Top 20 crowds.

http://www.ragincajuns.com/sports/2012/8...spx?id=504

In 2009 against Southern they had 41,357 fans in attendance. The crowd is shown in my previous post. All the blue in the Stadium were Southern fans who travel well.

This year, I'm predicting that the first 2 games against Southern and Louisiana Tech should be near 45,000 depending on what the Fire Marshall caps the attedance at. Definitely our first game against Southern from Baton Rouge. Louisiana Tech should also bring a good crowd.

With the completion of the South endzone renovation, the seating is around 37,000, but we have the North endzone grass area for overflow. The North endzone will be renovated as part of Phase 2 of the Cajun Field renovation. Before that, they are supposed to add an upper deck to the East side as part of the Phase 1 renovation.

The thing I like about Cajun field is that it is a continuos stadium where you can walk around the whole stadium easily, unlike Boise States Stadium where the add ons don't connect. It's like they stuck some bleachers here and there.

(08-19-2014 11:49 AM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 11:23 AM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  How often have y'all been selling out games under your current configuration?

In 2013 we averaged 28,971
2012 averaged 22,865

At the following website, you can see the attendance figures at Cajun Field that officially sat 31,000, but had general addmission overflow in both the North and South endzones. You have to realize that we were'nt very good until the past few years.

In 2009 against Southern they had 41,357 people in attendance.

http://www.ragincajuns.com/sports/2012/8...spx?id=504

This year, I'm predicting that the first 2 games against Southern and Louisiana Tech should be about 45,000. Definitely our first game against Southern, they travel well. The previous picture was against Southern in 2009

I'm pretty sure the Fire Marshall will cap the attendance at 42,000. At least that's the rumor.

(08-19-2014 12:17 PM)CajunAmos Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 11:49 AM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 11:23 AM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  How often have y'all been selling out games under your current configuration?

In 2013 we averaged 28,971
2012 averaged 22,865

At the following website, you can see the attendance figures at Cajun Field that officially sat 31,000, but had general addmission overflow in both the North and South endzones. You have to realize that we were'nt very good until the past few years.

In 2009 against Southern they had 41,357 people in attendance.

http://www.ragincajuns.com/sports/2012/8...spx?id=504

This year, I'm predicting that the first 2 games against Southern and Louisiana Tech should be about 45,000. Definitely our first game against Southern, they travel well. The previous picture was against Southern in 2009

I'm pretty sure the Fire Marshall will cap the attendance at 42,000. At least that's the rumor.

I was wondering what would be the cap for the fire Marshall. I am not sure how much overflow the North endzone can handle. I would guess maybe 5,000

(08-19-2014 11:17 AM)CajunAmos Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 09:38 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  

(08-17-2014 10:43 AM)slycat Wrote:  Looks much better then a grass berm

Cajun Field is a natural bowl. When you walk up to the Stadium all you see is the upper deck. The sunken facility allows fans to walk down to their seats if sitting in the lower bowl. The seating is built right into the grass bowl.

The Field is actually 2 feet below sea level. For players to get to the field, they need to walk through this long tunnel that is angled down towards the surface. Cajun Field was nicknamed the Swamp in 1988 before Florida started calling their Stadium the Swamp. So Cajun Field was the original Swamp.

The one thing that fans liked about the North endzone grass bowl was to watch the game while sitting or laying in the grass while your children got to roam around free without being stuck in a seat for 3 hours. It also allowed for general admission overflow.

In 2009, when the seating was at 31,000, the grass endzones allowed an overflow crowd of 41,357 against Southern who is our first opponent this year and should break the record for the largest crowd which was set in that 2009 game.

The grass will be done away with in Phase 2 of the Stadium renovation. Still left in Phase 1 of the renovation is an upper deck on the East side of the Stadium and seating in the Northwest sideline lower bowl. Phase 4 and 5 will be upper decks in each endzone which will bring the seating to around 65, 000.

I just hope I live to see that day :)

Have you seen anything to confirm that they chose Option 1 of the Master Plan that would add the east side upper deck in phase 1? I know Option 2 for the stadium had that part in phase 3 rather than phase 1.

Another positive is that they are having the official ground breaking for the new Athletics Performance Center on Wednesday, August 20th. That will be a 71,000 square foot addition to the existing indoor practice facility and in my mind will be the highlight of the phase 1 construction.

I'm not sure which Option they are going with, i never seen a decision. Here is a link to the renovation plan. Just click on Cajun Field Expansion PDF. In case you don't want to go through the plan, I have it pretty much outlined in a previous post in this thread, Post #18.

http://www.ragincajuns.com/sports/2013/3...spx?id=574

Both options have an East sideline upper deck as part of Phase 1. Page 3 for option 1 and page 18 for option 2. Phase 3 is supposed to be the addition of Club, loge, and Box seats to the East side. Option 1 doesn't have the Club seats.

I'm pretyy sure they bowled the South endzone in first in case they go with Option 2 where we will lose the seating from the existing West sideline upper deck, therefore the South endzone will pick up that loss until they build a new West sideline upper deck.

Thanks to Cajun Amos and Idaho Cajun for the information. One of the things I loved about FCS football was learning about different schools and how they go about their business and that is now translating to the SBC.

I see that UL is around 16k students. How long has the school been that size? To cut to the chase, where are all the fans coming from?

The population of the 7 parish area around Lafayette is about 600,000 people.
http://www.teamacadiana.org/Population

Will the new renovation be ready for opening day?

(08-14-2014 08:44 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  Pictures of Cajun Field with the new endzone renovation. The renovation added 8 new sections which are General Admission and they have bench back seating which you can see in the photos

You guys need a new press box. Bad. Is that in the plans? Looks like I see scaffolding for renovations.

(08-19-2014 08:21 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(08-14-2014 08:44 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  Pictures of Cajun Field with the new endzone renovation. The renovation added 8 new sections which are General Admission and they have bench back seating which you can see in the photos

You guys need a new press box. Bad. Is that in the plans? Looks like I see scaffolding for renovations.

Again.
http://www.ragincajuns.com/sports/2013/3...spx?id=574

(08-19-2014 08:50 PM)don63 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 08:21 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(08-14-2014 08:44 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  Pictures of Cajun Field with the new endzone renovation. The renovation added 8 new sections which are General Admission and they have bench back seating which you can see in the photos

You guys need a new press box. Bad. Is that in the plans? Looks like I see scaffolding for renovations.

Again.
http://www.ragincajuns.com/sports/2013/3...spx?id=574

Very cool. Looking forward to seeing it Cajun Fans.

(08-19-2014 05:32 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Thanks to Cajun Amos and Idaho Cajun for the information. One of the things I loved about FCS football was learning about different schools and how they go about their business and that is now translating to the SBC.

I see that UL is around 16k students. How long has the school been that size? To cut to the chase, where are all the fans coming from?

Actually closer to 18,000 students. Freshmen class this years is expected to be around 4,000.

(08-19-2014 08:13 PM)CajunFanatico Wrote:  Will the new renovation be ready for opening day?

Yes

(08-19-2014 08:21 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(08-14-2014 08:44 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  Pictures of Cajun Field with the new endzone renovation. The renovation added 8 new sections which are General Admission and they have bench back seating which you can see in the photos

You guys need a new press box. Bad. Is that in the plans? Looks like I see scaffolding for renovations.

Press box is also part of Phase 1 of the Cajun Field expansion plan listed in the Cajun field expansion PDF document.