Bobby Dodd Expansion

Wreck Em said:
You mean something like this?
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
 
vapspwi said:
Are you talking about the West stands and the ADA? Lower east is ADA compliant - it was just totally rebuilt a few years ago. Upper east was revamped quite a bit within the last 20 years, too.

JRjr
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Yea sorry ... west. Brain fart. Specifically, the upper west.
 
As long as we're conceptualizing, why don't we throw some covers on it to really trap sound?

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05GTCorndeezy said:
What a stupid f*cking thread. Talking about 'fixing' a stadium that requires no fixing.

Choke yourself.
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+1 (except for the lower east concourse!)

Symmetry doesn't do much for me. The Dome is symmetrical. Sanford Stadium is symmetrical.

I am crazy enough to think our stadium is prettier and displays more character than most places could ever dream of. Sure, it's got flaws (lower east concourse, club seating), but I love 'er.
 
GT flunkout said:
+1 (except for the lower east concourse!)

Symmetry doesn't do much for me. The Dome is symmetrical. Sanford Stadium is symmetrical.

I am crazy enough to think our stadium is prettier and displays more character than most places could ever dream of. Sure, it's got flaws (lower east concourse, club seating), but I love 'er.
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Not Symmetrical. Notice the boxes on one side and seats on the other.
 
RamblinWreck09 said:
As long as we're conceptualizing, why don't we throw some covers on it to really trap sound?
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Shameless thread gravedigging.

Upon further review, you sir are correct, a gentleman, and a scholar.

The Seahawks shattered the world record for crowd noise at 130+ db ... that's borderline permanent hearing damage at any unprotected exposure length on field.

http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/09/17/the-science-of-sound-how-seattle-got-so-darn-loud/

Century Link Stadium weighs in at "just" 67,000 to accomplish that. Down 35,000 fans compared to several college football venues ... and yet far louder. That's engineering talent running circles around the competition. That should be the Georgia Tech approach. Iron Man Suit. Etc.

I asked Wreck 'Em to cook up an updated 3D model with a parabolic canopy type system and enhanced overhangs ... this probably requires squaring up the building on the outside but keeping the aforementioned hypothetical layout. We'll wee if Wreck 'Em humors me by burning an hour of two of time cooking up a new render.
 
Fenway and Grant Field were originally constructed around the same time. Both are perfect examples of space confinement and adjustment to the constraints.

I like our stadium. It's unique.
 
savbandjacket said:
Fenway and Grant Field were originally constructed around the same time. Both are perfect examples of space confinement and adjustment to the constraints.

I like our stadium. It's unique.
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Fenway is not something to get warm fuzzies about unless you like steel pillar obstructed seats. The monster is good. Most of the rest is not.

The GTAA is competing in a busy Atlanta market and against a terrific home/bar HDTV experience to get butts in seats. Having microbutt bleachers and sherpa seats in an endzone isn't going to cut it against that competition. The Jaguars are now showing NFL Redzone on their own jumbotron. And it's a GREAT idea too. BDS can be so much more and given the history and tradition it deserves to be much more. Utilize engineering to maximize home field advantage and GTAA income by having all chairbacks, maximized sideline seating, and an elite entertainment atmosphere.

If you want a better example of old school urban facilities turned into gems ... I would instead suggest Camden Yards. M&T Bank just down the road is outstanding as well, and a "brand new" fully modern facility dropped into a historic urban area.
 
georgia_tech_swagger said:
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
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Problem with the newer North is not a lack of symmetry, it is a lack of symmetry when the brains that built the original stadium did not make it such. East & West don't match like other stadiums.

But, as someone said, might have dealt with constraints from 100 years ago, but should have been handled then.

This new artistic concept, while very cool, could not happen because of the street behind east and buildings behind west.

As far as attendance, I can not argue by the great research done here, but I know as a kid you could in no way just go up and buy a ticket to a game. They were Gold.

And I think many will still downplay the impact of leaving SEC.

When Carson took over, the crowds were pretty much the same for the first year post Dodd. Then 4 -6 record came and for the SMU game of 1968 the south stands were virtually empty. It spiraled down from there.

And until we play and beat big time teams it won't be easy to fix IMO.

P.S. Anyone notice after last year aTm's donations reached 740 million? Think the HillNerds might ever get a clue. Think the Institute could use some more of that?
 
texstinger said:
This new artistic concept, while very cool, could not happen because of the street behind east and buildings behind west.

P.S. Anyone notice after last year aTm's donations reached 740 million? Think the HillNerds might ever get a clue. Think the Institute could use some more of that?
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I anticipate it requiring the leveling of wardlaw, edge, and the success center behind the west stands. Maybe even one or two more small buildings right there as well. That's why the design has a new large building to replace what is lost.

It will only get harder to make changes in the future. Doing a complete demolition and building from scratch flew out the window when George State booked the Georgia Dome for their own football games.

And finances, to me, are a bigger hurdle than building shuffling. Minnesota's new palace from scratch came in at $288 million. Given that Edge/Wardlaw/Success Center would have to be replaced, this looks to weigh in at more like $350 million. The expansion and renovation was $75 million. I think the GTAA *STILL* has some of that debt on the books? I know they have more than ample debt on the books for the indoor football facility ... and the softball field ... and McCamish ... and the basketball practice facility. It wasn't THAT long ago Russ Chandler was redone. If they still have O'Leary era debt on the books it wouldn't surprise me to see some Russ Chandler stuff on there too.

I actually had an email exchange with DRad about the stadium a year or so into his tenure. He mentioned he understood the "unfortunate" layout of seating and that I wasn't the only one who flatly refuses to watch the game from the upper north as you're so divorced from the game atmosphere up there. DRad said he had long term plans for BDS, but apparently his career path had a faster yield and maturity rate than BDS.
 
Architorture23 said:
Precisely. That's kinda what I meant by people deciding not to come when the team sucks.

Say what you will about our neighbors to the East, but the fans are there come hell or high water.
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Thats not entirely true. My brother was at the 2010 or 2011 Arkansas game. He said the stadium had PLENTY of empty seats. They like to say they always come to games but thats bullshit.
 
Our stadium has character in the way the seating is laid out, considering the physical limitations we have. I would suggest we look into removing some seats to remove bottle necking in the walkway in the lower North where the students sit. And how about roping off concession lines with a queue and a pathway for the lower and upper East? That area is really cramped during half time. I think if anymore money was put into the stadium it should be in improving technology, gate access, access to concessions, movement throughout the stadium, seat backs, etc. Maybe retrofit Wardlaw with a tower of Box seats. I also think we should move the visitors section and their band to the upper North. Hell, in my 600 level tickets through the GTAA at UGA last year I was the only Tech fan in that section. I don't know if UGA sprinkles visitor seating or if no Tech fans showed up, but it sucked donkey balls.
 
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The West Side needs a serious remake. It is very dated.

The North side was built too high. It blocks the tremendous views of Midtown & Buckhead to North.

IMO, based on the current configuration of BDS, I could see BDS looking a lot like Boston College's Alumni Stadium. Making the lower West look "symmetrical" to the lower East, BDS would look a lot like BCAS.

I would love to see some type of canopy like you see at pro soccer venues that cover the stands that without covering the field.

Imagine how great THAT would be to go to home games and sit in mostly shade the whole day.
 
WaCoJacket said:
Tickets sold and attendance aren't the same. We were quite empty several games this year.

Expansion? I didn't think we needed the last expansion. It was good to upgrade the stadium, but additional seats were not needed. At some point, GT should let Supply-Demand work in their favor. We over supply our ticket market and hurt potential price earnings. With a smaller stadium, we might be able to create higher demand for the product and get better prices (or higher donations).

It's so easy to get into any GT game. Other than same-seat convenience, there is little reason to buy season tickets. Take a few thousand seats out and that dynamic changes.
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Or maybe you should support the school by buying season tickets.

The seats they added did very little to change the seat dynamic. They didn't add seats on the 50, they basically added some crappy UN seats and some more student seating. The supply for good seats pretty much remains unchanged.
 
samsgt02 said:
Our stadium has character in the way the seating is laid out, considering the physical limitations we have. I would suggest we look into removing some seats to remove bottle necking in the walkway in the lower North where the students sit. And how about roping off concession lines with a queue for and a pathway for the lower and upper East? That area is really cramped during half time. I think if anymore money was put into the stadium it should be in improving technology, gate access, access to concessions, movement throughout the stadium, seat backs, etc. Maybe retrofit Wardlaw with a tower of Box seats. I also think we should move the visitors section and their band to the upper North. Hell, in my 600 level tickets through the GTAA at UGA last year I was the only Tech fan in that section. I don't know if UGA sprinkles visitor seating or if no Tech fans showed up, but it sucked donkey balls.
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That's a fantastic idea. You create a sound wall, sell more expensive seats, and really cap off that end of the stadium.

I'm always torn about BDS major changes talk. Part of why I love the stadium is the uniqueness of it - the way it's been pieced together over the years. But, if I were an outsider, I'd consider it, by and large, a dump. It's cramped and unappealing, the openings in the corners are awful, and the concourses/portals could use a major upgrade.

Of course, we are highly constrained (maybe more than any other school?) in our options and for the space we have, I think we've done alright. Let's worry about filling the stadium up before we worry about renovations and changes. Even downsizing costs money.
 
Without gutting the stadium you aren't going to be able to make that many changes. The UN is pretty much set. Wardlaw isn't going anywhere. The west stands are fine.

There are a couple of things you could do with the east stands. The main thing you would want to do is increase the number of seats at or near the fifty.

You could push out the upper deck so it covers techwood (you would have to drive under the upper deck) and have steel supports coming down on the side of the road and maybe in the middle of the road as needed.

A much more massive renovation, but one that would be awesome, would be to raze all of the buildings/dorms east of the stadium. You could build out the east stands to be as big as, if not bigger than, the west stands. You could put in a sweet food/game concourse and a nicer stadium entrance east of the stadium on north ave. You could also add VIP amenities like an underground parking deck accessible from 3rd/North Ave (that directly connects to the boxes, not unlike the upper red deck at the falcons stadium).

While we are pipe dreaming, you could cover the interstate from 5th down to North Ave, put in a nice park and some parking that could be used as tailgating on game day.
 
Legal Jacket said:
Without gutting the stadium you aren't going to be able to make that many changes. The UN is pretty much set. Wardlaw isn't going anywhere. The west stands are fine.

There are a couple of things you could do with the east stands. The main thing you would want to do is increase the number of seats at or near the fifty.

You could push out the upper deck so it covers techwood (you would have to drive under the upper deck) and have steel supports coming down on the side of the road and maybe in the middle of the road as needed.

A much more massive renovation, but one that would be awesome, would be to raze all of the buildings/dorms east of the stadium. You could build out the east stands to be as big as, if not bigger than, the west stands. You could put in a sweet food/game concourse and a nicer stadium entrance east of the stadium on north ave. You could also add VIP amenities like an underground parking deck accessible from 3rd/North Ave (that directly connects to the boxes, not unlike the upper red deck at the falcons stadium).

While we are pipe dreaming, you could cover the interstate from 5th down to North Ave, put in a nice park and some parking that could be used as tailgating on game day.
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My understanding is the extension of UE towards street has been looked at and is not doable. The street, if I understood correctly, does not belong to GT but the City.

I love the idea that our upper decks do not curve away from the field. Makes for better viewing.

At the same time I will never understand why it was not built symmetrically to start with.
 
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