(01-13-2020 03:19 PM)e-parade Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 10:43 AM)Foreverandever Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 10:40 AM)e-parade Wrote:  This thread will lead to a campaign by Tulsa to invite UMass to the AAC solely so that they will no longer have the worst stadium in the AAC as deemed by this forum.

Are you new to this forum?

Tulsa will most assuredly finish last no matter who else is put up.

Not new, no. But you might not know how bad of a stadium we have. 17000 capacity and got great new amenities this year like "bathrooms in the stadium...at all."

I want it noted for the record that I did not...in this case at least...rip on UMass nor McGuirk stadium...

(01-13-2020 03:01 PM)oasispirate Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 01:56 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 11:29 AM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  Product on the field hasn't been good as of late... but hands down, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is the class of the American.

ECU has made great strides to create a very nice stadium. I was at a game there around 2000 and thought at the time it looked like an overgrown HS stadium. Well done but I still think you guys have overbuilt.

It would've been 43,000 then, the upper deck with the club level would've been relatively new as well as a new scoreboard for that era.

I can remember if our strength and conditioning center in the endzone had broken ground yet or not.

So basically since then we added bowled in endzone, new scoreboard, and the new pressbox club level.

Plus you worked the facades. It looks nice now.

Realistically you would be better with 40-43K capacity. You see what UCF is doing? It creates a better atmosphere (when not sold out) and ticket scarcity when you start cranking out a few winning seasons and you get to capacity. You can also charge the ACC teams more for their tickets when they visit.

Pretty sure the Carrier Dome will be dropping down to 45K during Phase 2 of the renovation.

(01-13-2020 04:48 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 03:01 PM)oasispirate Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 01:56 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 11:29 AM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  Product on the field hasn't been good as of late... but hands down, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is the class of the American.

ECU has made great strides to create a very nice stadium. I was at a game there around 2000 and thought at the time it looked like an overgrown HS stadium. Well done but I still think you guys have overbuilt.

It would've been 43,000 then, the upper deck with the club level would've been relatively new as well as a new scoreboard for that era.

I can remember if our strength and conditioning center in the endzone had broken ground yet or not.

So basically since then we added bowled in endzone, new scoreboard, and the new pressbox club level.

Plus you worked the facades. It looks nice now.

Realistically you would be better with 40-43K capacity. You see what UCF is doing? It creates a better atmosphere (when not sold out) and ticket scarcity when you start cranking out a few winning seasons and you get to capacity. You can also charge the ACC teams more for their tickets when they visit.

Pretty sure the Carrier Dome will be dropping down to 45K during Phase 2 of the renovation.

If we're winning, we can easily get over 45k on a regular basis, it's a new era of attendance, but I think we will see it happen again assuming Mike Houston rights the ship.

(01-13-2020 04:50 PM)oasispirate Wrote:  If we're winning, we can easily get over 45k on a regular basis, it's a new era of attendance, but I think we will see it happen again assuming Mike Houston rights the ship.

The scary part is you are not getting large crowds for conference games the last 3-4 years. Hopefully it works out.

Trust me I know how losing sucks the energy out of the stadium and only the die hards go. The casual fans do something else.

The stadium does look 1000% better than when I attended about 20 years ago.

(01-13-2020 12:50 PM)invisiblehand Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 10:51 AM)Once a Knight... Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 10:40 AM)e-parade Wrote:  This thread will lead to a campaign by Tulsa to invite UMass to the AAC solely so that they will no longer have the worst stadium in the AAC as deemed by this forum.

Haha... I have no ill-will towards Tulsa, and as a UCF fan plenty of respect especially after beating us in CCG games in C-USA in 2005 and 2012, while beating them in 2007. We also have never won a game at Tulsa (for whatever reason).

Nonethless, Tulsa has SOOOO much potential. Oklahoma is a rabid football state (can confirm since moving here 4 yrs ago). OU and OSU is everywhere, however, Tulsa is so far hidden on the radar most wouldn't even know they exist. Tulsa is a great city of almost 1 million people (metro area). Yes, I know Tulsa is a small private school, but they SHOULD/could be marketing themselves as "Tulsa's Team". Hell it's in the freaking name!! AAC isn't the Big 12, but very competitive and Tulsa fields a great schedule against storied and currently good/great teams. Playing Houston, Navy, Memphis, Tulane, and SMU every yr plus whatever OOC games (and cross-division AAC). Could certainly garner some interest. With that said, if they don't do SOMETHING to improve the stadium (maybe it's time to just tear it down and rebuild)? I'd argue there are high school stadiums (though smaller) in the area that are legitimately as good or better than Chapman Stadium. Broken Arrow H.S. comes to mind as one that I've been to personally and couldn't believe it was a h.s. stadium at all.

3-8 record aside, Tulsa has had great seasons before, and has been competitive in all their games each of the last two yrs at least. If they can do SOMETHING to separate themselves from (insert random small/private FBS school here), they could really make some noise and garner interest, but until they do more to market themselves and get support of their local area, they are going to continue to be doomed to irrelevance.

I went to HS at Broken Arrow. BA's stadium is nowhere near as nice as Tulsa's. I think you have some bias somewhere. BA's is an erector set similar to UCF's with no press box and a shite east side. TU's Club / Press box is way nicer than anything in the area (it was redone in 2005ish).

The biggest complaints for TU fans about the stadium are that the bathrooms desperately need updated and that some more tangential amenities like better scoreboards need to be added. People have also talked about wanting to do something about shading our East side of the stadium as it gets really hot in the early season. Besides that, I love Skelly (H.A. Chapman) it's got a pastoral atmosphere. I love our stonework on the stadium. It just feels like a different gameday atmosphere than any other game I've been to. I'd much prefer going to Tulsa's stadium than OU's for example. At OU you're hearded in like cattle through some janky wire fencing in the causeways. It's not hard to move around TU's stadium even when we have highly attended games.

My opinion would be that the school could update the East side of the stadium and redo the bathrooms / some of the tangential amenities. Besides that, it reminds me of going to a Notre Dame stadium game. Their stadium isn't the most up to date either, but they have a great atmosphere.

Your credibility disappeared when you suggested that Notre Dame's stadium is not up to date. That place is a shrine with Premium seating and amenities in the buildings on either side of the playing field that are the best I've ever seen. Puts NFL Stadiums to shame. But then again ND has more money than most NFL franchises.

(01-13-2020 12:08 PM)tharmon15 Wrote:  Cincy would be good non Memphis candidates to give their opinion about the Liberty Bowl after being there back to back weeks.

I went to the Liberty Bowl back when UC played Vanderbilt. I thought the stadium had a great environment. My only real complaint was the scoreboard wise tiny, but I think that has changed by now.

(01-13-2020 01:42 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Nippert is one of the best soccer stadiums I have been to.

It was the notches, wasn't it!

(01-13-2020 05:27 PM)vabearcat Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 12:50 PM)invisiblehand Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 10:51 AM)Once a Knight... Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 10:40 AM)e-parade Wrote:  This thread will lead to a campaign by Tulsa to invite UMass to the AAC solely so that they will no longer have the worst stadium in the AAC as deemed by this forum.

Haha... I have no ill-will towards Tulsa, and as a UCF fan plenty of respect especially after beating us in CCG games in C-USA in 2005 and 2012, while beating them in 2007. We also have never won a game at Tulsa (for whatever reason).

Nonethless, Tulsa has SOOOO much potential. Oklahoma is a rabid football state (can confirm since moving here 4 yrs ago). OU and OSU is everywhere, however, Tulsa is so far hidden on the radar most wouldn't even know they exist. Tulsa is a great city of almost 1 million people (metro area). Yes, I know Tulsa is a small private school, but they SHOULD/could be marketing themselves as "Tulsa's Team". Hell it's in the freaking name!! AAC isn't the Big 12, but very competitive and Tulsa fields a great schedule against storied and currently good/great teams. Playing Houston, Navy, Memphis, Tulane, and SMU every yr plus whatever OOC games (and cross-division AAC). Could certainly garner some interest. With that said, if they don't do SOMETHING to improve the stadium (maybe it's time to just tear it down and rebuild)? I'd argue there are high school stadiums (though smaller) in the area that are legitimately as good or better than Chapman Stadium. Broken Arrow H.S. comes to mind as one that I've been to personally and couldn't believe it was a h.s. stadium at all.

3-8 record aside, Tulsa has had great seasons before, and has been competitive in all their games each of the last two yrs at least. If they can do SOMETHING to separate themselves from (insert random small/private FBS school here), they could really make some noise and garner interest, but until they do more to market themselves and get support of their local area, they are going to continue to be doomed to irrelevance.

I went to HS at Broken Arrow. BA's stadium is nowhere near as nice as Tulsa's. I think you have some bias somewhere. BA's is an erector set similar to UCF's with no press box and a shite east side. TU's Club / Press box is way nicer than anything in the area (it was redone in 2005ish).

The biggest complaints for TU fans about the stadium are that the bathrooms desperately need updated and that some more tangential amenities like better scoreboards need to be added. People have also talked about wanting to do something about shading our East side of the stadium as it gets really hot in the early season. Besides that, I love Skelly (H.A. Chapman) it's got a pastoral atmosphere. I love our stonework on the stadium. It just feels like a different gameday atmosphere than any other game I've been to. I'd much prefer going to Tulsa's stadium than OU's for example. At OU you're hearded in like cattle through some janky wire fencing in the causeways. It's not hard to move around TU's stadium even when we have highly attended games.

My opinion would be that the school could update the East side of the stadium and redo the bathrooms / some of the tangential amenities. Besides that, it reminds me of going to a Notre Dame stadium game. Their stadium isn't the most up to date either, but they have a great atmosphere.

Your credibility disappeared when you suggested that Notre Dame's stadium is not up to date. That place is a shrine with Premium seating and amenities in the buildings on either side of the playing field that are the best I've ever seen. Puts NFL Stadiums to shame. But then again ND has more money than most NFL franchises.

I love Notre Dame and their stadium / history, but their stadium is aging gracefully. Tulsa's is much smaller but it's one of those places where you can feel the echo's wake up so to speak. It's stylistically one of the best stadiums in the conference. It's just small. I think most Tulsa fans would take our stadium over Tulane or SMU's for example.

I think the greatest factor to consider is whether it is on campus. Playing games in Paul Brown, an NFL stadium, just does not cut it. There is nothing like tailgating on campus before a game IMHO.

Who voted for Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and why do you hate America?

(01-13-2020 07:22 PM)rosewater Wrote:  I think the greatest factor to consider is whether it is on campus. Playing games in Paul Brown, an NFL stadium, just does not cut it. There is nothing like tailgating on campus before a game IMHO.

It really helps. If a stadium is off campus but very closeby (less than 1 mile) that is pretty good too.

SMU way out kicks their coverage in tailgating

(01-13-2020 02:19 PM)ECBrad Wrote:  Our capacity is fine. We average over 80% when we don't have back to back losing seasons. We've had multiple sell outs this decade. One break out year and we might be wishing for more.

Congrats! In that case, you must have more sellouts than any team in FBS in this 2020 decade!

(01-13-2020 10:51 AM)Once a Knight... Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 10:40 AM)e-parade Wrote:  This thread will lead to a campaign by Tulsa to invite UMass to the AAC solely so that they will no longer have the worst stadium in the AAC as deemed by this forum.

Haha... I have no ill-will towards Tulsa, and as a UCF fan plenty of respect especially after beating us in CCG games in C-USA in 2005 and 2012, while beating them in 2007. We also have never won a game at Tulsa (for whatever reason).

Nonethless, Tulsa has SOOOO much potential. Oklahoma is a rabid football state (can confirm since moving here 4 yrs ago). OU and OSU is everywhere, however, Tulsa is so far hidden on the radar most wouldn't even know they exist. Tulsa is a great city of almost 1 million people (metro area). Yes, I know Tulsa is a small private school, but they SHOULD/could be marketing themselves as "Tulsa's Team". Hell it's in the freaking name!! AAC isn't the Big 12, but very competitive and Tulsa fields a great schedule against storied and currently good/great teams. Playing Houston, Navy, Memphis, Tulane, and SMU every yr plus whatever OOC games (and cross-division AAC). Could certainly garner some interest. With that said, if they don't do SOMETHING to improve the stadium (maybe it's time to just tear it down and rebuild)? I'd argue there are high school stadiums (though smaller) in the area that are legitimately as good or better than Chapman Stadium. Broken Arrow H.S. comes to mind as one that I've been to personally and couldn't believe it was a h.s. stadium at all.

3-8 record aside, Tulsa has had great seasons before, and has been competitive in all their games each of the last two yrs at least. If they can do SOMETHING to separate themselves from (insert random small/private FBS school here), they could really make some noise and garner interest, but until they do more to market themselves and get support of their local area, they are going to continue to be doomed to irrelevance.

Tulsa has been marketing themselves every way possible, including as Tulsa's team, for decades trying to get local area support, without success. Part of their problem, is as you say, OU and OSU are everywhere. Plus, as you have seen, high school football in Tulsa is King and dominates TU. TU is in an impossible situation.

Interestingly, TU just renovated their stadium about 10 years ago. You should have seen the old version. When they had a decent crowd like when OSU played there, they had portable toilets lined up under the stands from one end to the other.

Tulsa is a nice city though.

(01-13-2020 04:48 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 03:01 PM)oasispirate Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 01:56 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 11:29 AM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  Product on the field hasn't been good as of late... but hands down, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is the class of the American.

ECU has made great strides to create a very nice stadium. I was at a game there around 2000 and thought at the time it looked like an overgrown HS stadium. Well done but I still think you guys have overbuilt.

It would've been 43,000 then, the upper deck with the club level would've been relatively new as well as a new scoreboard for that era.

I can remember if our strength and conditioning center in the endzone had broken ground yet or not.

So basically since then we added bowled in endzone, new scoreboard, and the new pressbox club level.

Plus you worked the facades. It looks nice now.

Realistically you would be better with 40-43K capacity. You see what UCF is doing? It creates a better atmosphere (when not sold out) and ticket scarcity when you start cranking out a few winning seasons and you get to capacity. You can also charge the ACC teams more for their tickets when they visit.

Pretty sure the Carrier Dome will be dropping down to 45K during Phase 2 of the renovation.

2011-2014 before we hired the worst coach ever we averaged over 45,000 fans. Take your small fry problems back to the big east board. 2021 we will average over 45k again. We got rid of a terrible AD and the worst coaching hire ever.

(01-13-2020 10:07 AM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  I thought the Liberty Bowl was dump in 2008 & 2009. I went to the ECU/Kentucky & ECU/Arkansas bowl games. I understand some improvements have been made.

since then Memphis has gone from this:



to Tiger Lane:



from the ole "tiny-tron" to a modern video board


new chair back seats


new locker rooms


new food options, more bathrooms, new wheelchair ramps...overall 38 million well spent IMHO

(01-13-2020 02:38 PM)coogrfan Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 12:47 PM)usffan Wrote:  LOL. Worst stadium vote. Knew it was a matter of time. Nevermind that it will host the 2021 Super Bowl - 'it's the worst stadium in the entire conference!'

Lots of people are incapable of being rational when it comes to discussing college sports...

USFFan

You received two votes. R-e-l-a-x.

Yeah - it's pathetically predictable. I'd love for the votes to be unblinded, it would be enlightening...

USFFan

You should not have to leave your seat to go to the bathroom.

(01-13-2020 11:35 AM)Once a Knight... Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 11:29 AM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  Product on the field hasn't been good as of late... but hands down, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is the class of the American.

I've been to the ECU vs UCF games in 2009 and 2018, and it definitely is the largest, and a very clean stadium (and rockin when ECU is good!!), and I have no major issues with the stadium. I haven't actually walked around the stadium entirely, but does it have any open/patio areas (either covered or uncovered), in the way that Houston/Cincy have (if you or others have been there). I don't recall seeing them, and I think something like that (possibly at the top of the first level) would really enhance that stadium and experience. ECU in my opinion is easily in the Top 3 or 4 stadiums (non-NFL) in the conference.

There was a proposed field level club that would have been completed during the latest addition but from what I was told when the survey results were compiled there was little to no interest in that sort of thing. Who knows why, I thought it was a cool idea and expressed interest myself but it didn't happen anyway.

(01-13-2020 01:50 PM)CoastalJuan Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 01:31 PM)oasispirate Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 01:22 PM)CoastalJuan Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 11:35 AM)Once a Knight... Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 11:29 AM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  Product on the field hasn't been good as of late... but hands down, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is the class of the American.

I've been to the ECU vs UCF games in 2009 and 2018, and it definitely is the largest, and a very clean stadium (and rockin when ECU is good!!), and I have no major issues with the stadium. I haven't actually walked around the stadium entirely, but does it have any open/patio areas (either covered or uncovered), in the way that Houston/Cincy have (if you or others have been there). I don't recall seeing them, and I think something like that (possibly at the top of the first level) would really enhance that stadium and experience. ECU in my opinion is easily in the Top 3 or 4 stadiums (non-NFL) in the conference.

It does not, which dates it a bit. I love the Fick, but would be interested to see some of the newer stadiums in the conference considering how impressed I was with ODU's tiny but brand friggin new stadium.

Hoping to make an excuse to take a work trip to Cindy for next year's game.

ODU was nice, but didn't even have bathrooms on the upstairs level.

We don't really have them on that level either unless you're in the club. Their upper deck is basically the same as the upper levels of our lower section....that sounded confusing.

Unlike ODU, we have a true upper deck with a landing area and all that. But ODU's top level is like being in row AAA in Dowdy (top of lower bowl). If you're sitting there, you're also walking all the way down to pee.

Really? I've sat in that upper deck for 20 years and the closeness and convenience of the restrooms and concessions are part of the reason aside from sitting on the first row. We have plenty of ******** on the upper deck and they're a hell of a lot easier to access than downstairs.

(01-13-2020 08:32 PM)TheBigEastSucks Wrote:  2011-2014 before we hired the worst coach ever we averaged over 45,000 fans. Take your small fry problems back to the big east board. 2021 we will average over 45k again. We got rid of a terrible AD and the worst coaching hire ever.

Pipe down fanboy you barely averaged 33,000 in 2019. That was announced and we all know there was less in there. NFW you get to 45K next year.

From the WSJ about 2017 season:

Quote:ECU season announced attendance: 257,090 (36,727 announced average attendance per game)
Actual tickets scanned: 125,132 (17,876 actual per average attendance per game)

Someone has to pay for all those additions and amenities
https://businessnc.com/ecu-juggles-finan...ing-chief/

Quote:Cash flow deficits in the athletics department are expected to total $33 million between 2018-21, according to an internal financial report provided to ECU leadership in March. To shore up its finances, the athletics department said in December it had drawn $20 million from other university-affiliated funds, including $10 million from the ECU Physicians practice group.