Northwestern’s Stadium Rebuild & What is the Ideal BDS@HGF?

[JJacket]

It may not be quite that bad. It looks like there's room to shift west based on where the existing bleachers end.

Looks like a ööööty stadium I would have drawn in the 8th grade. we should put something modern in that fits in with the technology square vibe/high tech campus.

 

[GT flunkout]

This is T. Boone Pickens Stadium (OK ST) dropped at rough scale onto the current site of BDS. That's capacity 55,500 in a horseshoe. Notice to fit everything you have to completely eliminate Techwood Drive and all the old dorms and Brittain. I actually think it's a great opportunity to build new space as part of the stadium and new dorms and dining which could double as stadium service on game day. However ... just the stadium is a cool $1b or so. Doing the dorms and dining as well and making usable space as part of the stadium footprint probably gets you closer to $1.25-$1.5b. The giant gray blob is a new "super Wardlaw" building that fully encloses the horseshoe, houses the jumbotron the facade, has luxury seating, etc.


However ... it's a given that such grandiose plans aren't going to happen. As soon as they break ground on the new Edge Center, that's a fresh $75m reason to not do this. Sigh.

As much as I agree that the upper north is overgrown, that looks gross and completely generic. That would be a crime.

And those grand old brick buildings on the other side of Techwood are never coming down.

 

[KrazieJacket]

Why not go full Georgia Tech and build the first underground stadium? It could be patterned after the houses from the shire in Lord of the rings. They could keep the field turf on the inside for potential events and have grass up top for those wanting grass. The live Dungeon’s and Dragons games for the students could be endless.

 

[The Jacket]

Why not go full Georgia Tech and build the first underground stadium? It could be patterned after the houses from the shire in Lord of the rings. They could keep the field turf on the inside for potential events and have grass up top for those wanting grass. The live Dungeon’s and Dragons games for the students could be endless.

Holy ööööing öööö

 

[GT flunkout]

Why not go full Georgia Tech and build the first underground stadium? It could be patterned after the houses from the shire in Lord of the rings. They could keep the field turf on the inside for potential events and have grass up top for those wanting grass. The live Dungeon’s and Dragons games for the students could be endless.

 

[MatatoGT]

 

[ramblinwise1]

But when we're riding in my Malibu
It's easy to get right next to you
I say baby, scoot over please
And then she's right there next to me
I need you here with me and not way over in a bucket seat
I need you to be here with me and not way over in a bucket seat

So she's sitting on the console?

 

[savbandjacket]

Count me as someone who more or less likes our stadium (except for upper north) other than some maintenance issues and other stuff that could be done to make it better aesthetically. You either get a cookie cutter modern stadium where everything fits just so, or you get what we have. Fenway and Wrigley are asymmetrical and have weird features. Our stadium is like those but for football.

That said, we could really do a lot with what we have. Better lighting in concourses, paint the damned thing and pressure wash stains off it, etc.

 

[JJacket]

Count me as someone who more or less likes our stadium (except for upper north) other than some maintenance issues and other stuff that could be done to make it better aesthetically. You either get a cookie cutter modern stadium where everything fits just so, or you get what we have. Fenway and Wrigley are asymmetrical and have weird features. Our stadium is like those but for football.

That said, we could really do a lot with what we have. Better lighting in concourses, paint the damned thing and pressure wash stains off it, etc.

The upper north is the nicest part of our stadium. Wide concourses, better bathrooms, great seats beneath the sidewalk

 

[GT flunkout]

The upper north is the nicest part of our stadium. Wide concourses, better bathrooms, great seats beneath the sidewalk

Upper North is great. That's where my tix are. Just overgrown by 15-20 rows for most games. Those high reaches are a good place to stash Clemson/UGA fans every other year and that's it. Should be using them for ad revenue.

 

[savbandjacket]

The upper north is the nicest part of our stadium. Wide concourses, better bathrooms, great seats beneath the sidewalk

I’m talking about it being overdone and too much in size as compared to rest of stadium. And it creates oversupply for seats.

 

[KrazieJacket]

I’m talking about it being overdone and too much in size as compared to rest of stadium. And it creates oversupply for seats.

You are correct but the main thing is nobody would care about the north if we had people in the seats. GT football needs to change.

 

[gtleviathan]

So she's sitting on the console?

You're driving the wrong year of Malibu.

 

[vapspwi]

That said, we could really do a lot with what we have. Better lighting in concourses, paint the damned thing and pressure wash stains off it, etc.

They just did a lot of painting and cleanup a couple of years ago to refresh the stadium. There’s always more to wish for, and some things that are hard to overcome (like the lower east concourses, although extending them into the street was a good idea), but we’re trying and I like the quirkiness of the stadium. All I really care about is the seat from which I watch the game, but I guess I’m in the minority there.

JRjr

 

[savbandjacket]

They just did a lot of painting and cleanup a couple of years ago to refresh the stadium. There’s always more to wish for, and some things that are hard to overcome (like the lower east concourses, although extending them into the street was a good idea), but we’re trying and I like the quirkiness of the stadium. All I really care about is the seat from which I watch the game, but I guess I’m in the minority there.

JRjr

The ramps on the west stands are like dark depressing tunnels. They need to be better lit and there needs to be something to look at going up those ramps. It feels like walking into a prison when on those ramps

 

[QuadF]

If money is absolutely not a factor:

Expand the lower south endzone to fill in most of the south west corner (don't connect so we don't trigger ADA compliance on the west stands)
Add an upper south section. Lose the top floor of the Wardlaw building so that we can keep the 2nd level pretty close to the field for better seating. Should extend to at least the 45* point on both corners. I'd recommend not making it very tall; perhaps between the height of the east and west upper stands.
Put jumbotrons in the corners so they're more visible, and to help contain sound

Make the upper north more symmetrical:
give upper north a corner over the edge building
remove the lower section of the upper north; replace it with lower north seating and extend the north box suites.
Jumbotrons in the corners to make viewing easy for those in the south and to help box in sound

The new edge building leaves a gap for the staircase for the expanded upper north to empty to street level, but where they meet put up windows that look into the edge building, and style it so that it's an advertisement for GT football. So hang banners of Calvin, Bay Bay, Heisman, etc. Lots of high schoolers sit in the upper north, so take the opportunity to give them a window into our history.

Staircases for the upper south would flank the Wardlaw center, keeping the southern profile intact. The south west corner would require a new gate, but it should dump pedestrians right next to tech tower and the bridge across north ave.

The changes don't entirely fix the symmetry problems, but they would dramatically improve it. The lower bowl is still butting up to the west stands, but we can at least make the north and south follow a similar profile. Making the upper north extend over the edge building would put the stands over techwood, so that may be a city approval issue. I'll see if i can hack up a photoshop of it later to better visualize it.

 

[1982Jacket]

It really only needs two major changes, IMO.

1) Return to grass.

2) Fill all the ugly looking empty seats.

 

[BigDanT]

Why not go full Georgia Tech and build the first underground stadium? It could be patterned after the houses from the shire in Lord of the rings. They could keep the field turf on the inside for potential events and have grass up top for those wanting grass. The live Dungeon’s and Dragons games for the students could be endless.