What makes a football stadium great?

THEYESOFTXS

THEYESOFTXS

100+ Posts
What makes a football stadium great?

I got to thinking about this as I watched the construction of DKRTMS recently. I think some of the new features are a little bit sterile, but then I got to wondering, does that matter?

I submit that the following factors contribute to the value of a college football stadium, and I encourage your thoughts:

Caveat, my observations are largely based on my own experience and I admittedly have been to maybe twenty or college venues.

Game day atmosphere. This could be broken down into lots of sub-categories (winning tradition of the team, location of stadium on campus, local color, ease of ingress and egress to the stadium, tailgating opportunities, etc…). Here the all time greats are probably, LSU, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, etc… I hear the whole SEC has excellent tailgating. I would give DKRTMS an A- or B+… the issue here is that everyone is spread out. A typical problem for an urban campus… However Texas more then makes up for it with really great food and drink options within walking and cab distance to the stadium. I also feel like the stadium is pretty well laid out such that you can take a cab pretty close up to the stadium on 45 minutes either side of kickoff without much problem. All in all, the tailgating, the alumni center, Scholz’s, etc… make it a nice experience.
Honorable mention, I really enjoyed pregame at LSU and Nebraska…
Dishonorable mention… Colorado, didn’t really see anyone around the stadium until kick-off… weird. A&M, Wings & More, a couple of trailer homes… not an exciting experience. Of course the Corps marching around causes me headaches, so let’s just say I am biased. Ohio St. – amazingly difficult to get in and around the stadium… but to their credit, they know how to party, at night in the shoe…

Game time atmosphere. Lots of things go into this one too… the bands, the traditions, the teams… I give Texas a B- to C+. Texas has really embraced a few things that take away from the game time experience (lots of luxury suites and clubs, blaring commercials, godzillatron, pumped in noise.) Call me a purist, but that crap sucks. That said it is still a very big stadium with lots of fans. Texas also suffers because the fans are a little ways away from the action… other places fans a right on top of the action, literally at field level.

Honorable mention, LSU, A&M, Oh. St… Those fans bring it.

Great gameday atmosphere… There are many places like this.

Actual facilities accessible to fans. This is where I think Texas makes up for gametime atmosphere. Sure it makes the place a little bit more sterile, but I think it is obvious that in the long run excelling in this category will make the school more $$$. At the end of the day DKRTMS is every bit as nice, or nicer than any NFL stadium. Concessions are easy to get and tasty, restrooms are close and usually work without spilling sewage on your shoes, TV’s everywhere, comfy clubs and skyboxes, a few places to drink such that some people can have a few w/o the flotsam and jetsam getting too rowdy, easy to get in and out of the stadium, no long lines, etc…

Honorable mention… Well, I have not seen any place as nice DKRTMS…

Dishonorable mention. Well, lots of venues are old and shabby. The Rose Bowl is not an easy venue to navigate, not enough bathrooms… but the worst I have ever been to is Kyle Field. I get so frustrated when those hillbillies (employees at Kyle) look at you like they are shocked as **** that there are 80,000 people there on a Saturday. Not enough exits or entrances, not enough crappers, the crappers that are there often don’t work, food sucks, food is cold, place is generally a sh__hole. Everyone from the AD down to the frozen slushee vendor should get out the calendar and say, “okay, these are the seven days when the shitters need to work, let’s get focused on those seven afternoons, get it together, buy some ice and plug in the weenie rotisserie, SQUUEEEEEZE, and make this thing work like we have done this once or twice before…"
 
I'd have to say the best game experience I have ever had was this year at the Cal @ Oregon game...I have never heard noise like that before....incredible game day experience..the stadium is awesome
 
Seats close to the field make a difference. When we took out that track, we should have razed the entire east side and moved the whole thing closer. Now its a flaw that can never be remedied.

The other thing in college ball is a large rowdy student section, all together, close somewhere.
 
To me, good lines of sight and closeness to the action + noise trump all.

Neyland stadium is the largest stadium I have been in. And I was impressed. Mizzou's stadium is a crappy little place, but the viewing angles were great and you were practically on the field.

DKR could learn a lot from these two places.
 
1. Residing in the city of Austin, Texas
2. Having a giant steerhead logo at the 50 yard line
3. All of the fans inside it wearing burnt orange and white
4. Gozillatron
5. Pom Girls
 
Noise.

That's it. Everything else about a stadium should be an effort to produce more. For example,

1. A closed-in and close-to-the-field design. The fans should be right on top of the field where the players can hear them and no noise should escape.
2. Large capacity. More fans means more noise.
3. A large, unified, and well-placed student section. They actually make noise, and when put all together, can be very intimidating (see Penn State). In my opinion, the best place is from directly behind one field goal, wrapping around the corner and to about the 40 or 50 behind the opponent's bench. That way the students can yell directly at opponents on the bench and can also make one end zone ungodly loud.
4. A small, broken-up, and poorly placed visitors section. I don't want them getting any advantage from their fans.
5. A good band that plays good music. Helps get you into the game and keep fans engaged during breaks in the action.
6. A fan base that stays and yells for the whole game. It's depressing to see the stadium half-empty for half the game. It's confusing how the most expensive tickets are the ones least used. When I drop a ton of money for something, I get my money's worth.

Things to avoid include ads, piped in music/noise (especially ads), too much open air to the design, too much distance between fans and the field, and a seating system that puts passive fans in prime noise-creating locations (close to the field).
 
Necessary requirements:

1. No track. I went to grad school at Washington and it pisses me off to see Husky Stadium always on the list of best football stadiums. You cannot have a great football stadium with a track around the field.

2. Sideline seating. A&M seems to have at least half their seats in that one end zone. Penn State's stadium also has the end zone sections higher than the sideline sections. That just looks stupid. Washington did get that part correct.
 
Age and tradition. The memorable games played there, the great players, the great plays.

There should be vines growing up the walls and cracks in the concrete.
 
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