Stadium Expansion - Future?

[JJacket]

I know this is putting the horse in front of the cart, but what does anyone here think might be the future of BDS beyond the current expansion? That is, if the ACC and Tech really took off and tickets became scarce, what would we do?
I, for one, really miss the look of the old south stands, even though they were really crummy. It at least made us look like a larger stadium. I never have liked Wardlaw, I feel it looms too large over the south end. Just wanting to know what the fellow fans (jolly good fellow fans) think.

 

[Kennesawkid]

I have always thought the Wardlaw was an infringement on Grant Field. I would much rather have an updated version of the South stands in its place, but it is too late for that to ever happen.

 

[JJacket]

Originally posted by Kennesawkid:
I have always thought the Wardlaw was an infringement on Grant Field. I would much rather have an updated version of the South stands in its place, but it is too late for that to ever happen.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">I'm glad someone agrees with me. I hate the football being kicked into the side of a building and it casts a shadow over a portion of the field at times. If we ever expand again, I guess the upper deck in the east is toast, which is a shame we have to go higher. Without Wardlaw, we could really make some noise.

 

[TIARB]

I think 1 major question is "what to do with the West stands"?

I have heard in the past (don't know how accurate it is), that if the West stands were reconstructed, they would be required to be brought up to code with the Americans With Disabilities Act, among other things.

Supposedly this would require a total makeover, and be extremely costly.

 

[swGAboy]

From what I can tell, the Wardlaw building looks like a concept taken from some other ACC schools. So many of them have field houses behind one end zone. I rarely ever see this outside of the ACC.

It would be nice to see that building go one day and in its place another high rise such as the North end zone.

 

[LLCoolJacket]

Here's a thought inspired by this topic....

I have a 13 yo daughter that enjoyed playing computer games such as "Roller Coaster Tycoon", and all the "Sims" titles. Many of you are familiar with these games. For those that are not, they are based on designing and building amusement parks, etc. The idea is to make a profit by attracting crowds, and getting them to spend their money, while keeping your costs down.

Why not take this concept over to college football? Call it "The AD Adventure".

All of the pertinent topics discussed here would be part of the game. Building/expanding a stadium, hiring/firing coaches, fielding a team, attracting a fan base and expanding it through success on the field and on the classroom. You even have to deal with outside factors such as the media, and internet fan boards.

I wonder how Dave Braine would do.

 

[BEESerk]

Originally posted by LLCoolJacket:


Why not take this concept over to college football? Call it "The AD Adventure".

All of the pertinent topics discussed here would be part of the game. Building/expanding a stadium, hiring/firing coaches, fielding a team, attracting a fan base and expanding it through success on the field and on the classroom. You even have to deal with outside factors such as the media, and internet fan boards.

I wonder how Dave Braine would do.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">LMFAO!

 

[JJacket]

Originally posted by LLCoolJacket:
Here's a thought inspired by this topic....

I have a 13 yo daughter that enjoyed playing computer games such as "Roller Coaster Tycoon", and all the "Sims" titles. Many of you are familiar with these games. For those that are not, they are based on designing and building amusement parks, etc. The idea is to make a profit by attracting crowds, and getting them to spend their money, while keeping your costs down.

Why not take this concept over to college football? Call it "The AD Adventure".

All of the pertinent topics discussed here would be part of the game. Building/expanding a stadium, hiring/firing coaches, fielding a team, attracting a fan base and expanding it through success on the field and on the classroom. You even have to deal with outside factors such as the media, and internet fan boards.

I wonder how Dave Braine would do.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Not too bad of an idea, those sims are great. I know when I was a kid I constantly sketched Grant Field.

 

[flatjacket]

I think that the Wardlaw Building addition was a big mistake. I want a football stadium to look like a football stadium. We don't need a terrace to watch a game from. And the upper north look chopped off in the northeast corner. The aerial shot of GF just doesn't look good to me.

 

[CrackerJacket]

I've been IN the stadium and can tell you it looks
fine. Unless you play on watching the game from a
plane, don't worry about the aerial view.

 

[bellyseries]

Is the capacity of the new N stands greater than that of the E? The aerial shots look that way.

That would be odd, for an end zone to have more seats than a sideline.

 

[71YellowJacket]

I think it was goldtimer who comented some time back that BDS looks like an open tackle box.

Functional yes, good looking?

 

[flatjacket]

I've been IN the stadium too CJ and I still think it looks botched up.

But, maybe game day will be better.

 

[JJacket]

Originally posted by bobby dodds ghost:
Our once-beautiful stadium has taken many hits from the Ugly Stick over the years. The first blow came with the building of the Edge Center. Brutalism architecture on the corner of a historic arcaded stadium and across the street from brick Gothic dorms was a bad move. The Edge Center sticks out like a sore thumb.
Next came the Wardlaw Building in the South. This "white elephant" not only reduced our seating to an embarrassing low figure, but was almost as ugly as the Edge Center. This building takes up tremendous real estate and gives Tech little back. Modern weight rooms and parking could have been included in any addition, the Wardlaw structure is a terrible solution to those needs.
Finally, we have the North Stands addition. This could quite honestly be the ugliest stadium addition in the country. We have all heard the excuses of why it looks the way it does....this is bull shxx. Lack of money and vision is why we now have this oddly engineered marvel. Tech AA wanted +/-55,000 seats "on the cheap", but screwed the pooch by also wanting premium seating(and lounge) in the East. The East stands demolition and renovation was so costly to do, that the North stands had to make up the financial slack for the total project to work. Only at Tech would AA officials actually reduce thousands of seats between the 25's in an effort to generate more money for fewer seats.
.

The North Upper Deck is a bastardization that could have been avoided on the way to stadium expansion. Too late now. The stadium is so goofy looking now that any future attempts at renovation or addition should just play off of this "goofy" theme.
The stadium has many options for later growth.
1. A small double deck on the South stands with the Wardlaw building being modified.
2. Remove the Wardlaw, and create a large double deck in the South stands.
3. Triple deck the East stands.
4. Bring the West stands up to code (not a major expense as we are told it was going to be), and add seats in the NW and SW corners. These seats would not be seamless, but at this point, who would notice.
.
.
Somebody has got to have the "Ugliest Stadium in America". It might as well be Ga. Tech.
.
.
BOO

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">What do you think our honest capacity would be under the best of additions? (without knocking down those ugly buildings) 70,000 at best? I know if Wardlaw was removed we could really up capacity and bowl it in correctly, but that ain't gonna happen unless.... we can have it condemned. Might need to look for a job as an Atlanta building inspector. I could be a valuable commodity about 10 years from now for a stadium expansion issue.

 

[ylojk8]

georgia tech is a unique institution.
it has a unique stadium.
its stadium is in a unique urban setting.
beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

of course i wear gold colored glasses.

i think the stadium doesn't just look fine, it looks awesome!

it's an engineering marvel, a true tribute to georgia tech.

engineering is the art of applying science practically and economically so that what is in theory can be translated into reality.

unique problems demand unique solutions.

with fans like bsg, who needs rivals?

 

[Axe]

It's funny to hear all this recent complaining about the look of the stadium now that it is almost complete. We've known what it was going to look like for over 2 years now. I didn't hear a lot of moaning back then when we were a top 10 team.

All the most beloved stadiums are a little odd. That green thing in Boston looks just a little strange, but it's known around the world and probably the most famous ballpark feature in all of baseball.

I can't think of another stadium in the country with more "good seats" than Bobby Dodd. Great setting, basically brand new stadium. I'm very excited about it.

 

[MsTechAnalysis]

Originally posted by Axe:
It's funny to hear all this recent complaining about the look of the stadium now that it is almost complete. We've known what it was going to look like for over 2 years now. I didn't hear a lot of moaning back then when we were a top 10 team.

All the most beloved stadiums are a little odd. That green thing in Boston looks just a little strange, but it's known around the world and probably the most famous ballpark feature in all of baseball.

I can't think of another stadium in the country with more "good seats" than Bobby Dodd. Great setting, basically brand new stadium. I'm very excited about it.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Axe: Well said and couldn't agree more. I think BDS is unique and in the middle of a metropolitan city - it looks great! There are no Div.1 stadiums smack tab in the middle of a thriving metropolis.

And you're right there isn't a bad seat in the house. I thought it looked pretty good when I went for reseating and that old Fenway Ballpark is antiquated but it's the best! Went to many, many games in that park and hope it never changes!

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by CrackerJacket:
I've been IN the stadium and can tell you it looks
fine. Unless you play on watching the game from a
plane, don't worry about the aerial view.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">You forget something, Cracker... The aerial view is very important to a ghost...

 

[bugboy]

Guys...As long as we play winning football and compete, I wouldn't care if our stadium is constructed of clay and shaped like a spindle top.

Seriously, I think the stadium looks fine. Is it symmetric? No. Neither is the Swamp, and everyone around the country marvels at that place. The key is to have a butt-kicking football team that puts fans in the seats.

As far as expansion in the future...I think that will only be feasible if our program takes off from a winning standpoint. If we ever got to the point where we needed 65 or 70K seats, then I doubt if anyone would care what it looked like, because that would be a sign that we're kicking arse in a major way on the field.

In the meantime, I'm happy with 55K and the unsymmetric layout. Finally, I just want to win. If we do that, everything else takes care of itself.

 

[BEESerk]

Originally posted by bugboy:
Guys...As long as we play winning football and compete, I wouldn't care if our stadium is constructed of clay and shaped like a spindle top.

Seriously, I think the stadium looks fine. Is it symmetric? No. Neither is the Swamp, and everyone around the country marvels at that place. The key is to have a butt-kicking football team that puts fans in the seats.

As far as expansion in the future...I think that will only be feasible if our program takes off from a winning standpoint. If we ever got to the point where we needed 65 or 70K seats, then I doubt if anyone would care what it looked like, because that would be a sign that we're kicking arse in a major way on the field.

In the meantime, I'm happy with 55K and the unsymmetric layout. Finally, I just want to win. If we do that, everything else takes care of itself.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winnah!

We couldn't sell out BDS BEFORE the expansion, and people want to talk about expanding again? That is crazy talk. It is fun to think about it though I admit.