Build whatever we can afford right now.  We don't need a 30K seat stadium right now, when we can't even keep a consistent crowd at lockhart.  All it would be is a really nice empty stadium.  I say, we build the 20K or whatever it is, and get it done for 2010.  The areas of the endzones, could be a "general admission/student" section.  You could bring blankets, or tailgate chairs and watch the game on the lawn.  I think that would be cool.

duder said

Build whatever we can afford right now.  We don't need a 30K seat stadium right now, when we can't even keep a consistent crowd at lockhart.  All it would be is a really nice empty stadium.  I say, we build the 20K or whatever it is, and get it done for 2010.  The areas of the endzones, could be a "general admission/student" section.  You could bring blankets, or tailgate chairs and watch the game on the lawn.  I think that would be cool.

The lawn idea is a great idea. Have cheap lawn seats for $10 or so and make it FAMILY FRIENDLY.

GO OWLS!!!

duder said

Build whatever we can afford right now.  We don't need a 30K seat stadium right now, when we can't even keep a consistent crowd at lockhart.  All it would be is a really nice empty stadium.  I say, we build the 20K or whatever it is, and get it done for 2010.  The areas of the endzones, could be a "general admission/student" section.  You could bring blankets, or tailgate chairs and watch the game on the lawn.  I think that would be cool.

20,000 seats would make sense for the current fanbase of the program, yes. What we don't know is how many people will be more interested in attending games once the stadium is on campus. Could we sell out a 20k seat stadium consistently if it was on campus this year? It's hard to say.

Building 20k seats in 2010 means we're going to take a hit to our reputation though. Not complaining, just predicting casually. According to FIU fans, their stadium will be expanded to 45k by then and UCF will obviously have at least 45k seats as well. FSU and UF already have huge stadiums, Miami will be playing at Pro Player and USF at RJS.

We'll have the smallest Div.1 stadium in the state.

But if the money's not there than the money's not there. Nothing you can do about that. If the money *is* there from this development rights deal, I'd rather them build large (at least 30k) and deal with empty seats than build small and lose out on recruits.

owlcountry said

Building 20k seats in 2010 means we're going to take a hit to our reputation though. Not complaining, just predicting casually. According to FIU fans, their stadium will be expanded to 45k by then and UCF will obviously have at least 45k seats as well. FSU and UF already have huge stadiums, Miami will be playing at Pro Player and USF at RJS.

We'll have the smallest Div.1 stadium in the state.

Based on that theory, whether we build 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000 seats, we'll still be the smallest Div. 1 stadium in the state.

If we have 20,000 fans at EVERY home game for a year, then maybe we can rush to get 10,000 extra up for 2011. But I don't see us getting an extra 8,000 fans every game (assuming this year and next year's attendance averages 12,000) just because it's on campus. Even if you argue that it's on campus and students will come…there isn't 8,000 students on campus to walk to the stadium. There isn't 8,000 extra fans that won't drive 15 miles to Ft. Lauderdale right now to go to a game.

After all, we are a "commuter" campus. Where do most of our students live? South of Boca Raton (which means Lockhart is closer for them).

Building a stadium on campus, at least until we start selling out Lockhart, IMHO does nothing for our program other than help recruiting…which is BIG.

Am I thinking of this the wrong way?

20K ON campus, and those tickets quickly become desirable...and my Owl Club points become that much more important..I love it!

OK, so this is a question for everyone saying 20k is enough. How do you excuse the administration for spending the better part of a decade convincing us that we needed at 40k dome and using that as a reason for delay? If we would have been smart enough to from day 1 we could have easily constructed such a facility on campus years ago. This is a mess no matter how you look at it.

Lm77 said

OK, so this is a question for everyone saying 20k is enough. How do you excuse the administration for spending the better part of a decade convincing us that we needed at 40k dome and using that as a reason for delay? If we would have been smart enough to from day 1 we could have easily constructed such a facility on campus years ago. This is a mess no matter how you look at it.

That's almost exactly what I was going to post last night, except in harsher terms that probably would have gotten me a time out from the board for a while. (I stopped myself just in time.)  They've been dragging their feet for 10 years.  20,000 is a joke, it's small time, Division II, and not worthy of further discussion.  IMO, it's 30,000+ or nothing.  The dome was a dumb idea from the beginning, and now we've pissed away who knows how much money.

Time to get it done.  Figure it out.  The people who have been in charge of this project over the years should be embarrassed.

Lm77 said

OK, so this is a question for everyone saying 20k is enough. How do you excuse the administration for spending the better part of a decade convincing us that we needed at 40k dome and using that as a reason for delay? If we would have been smart enough to from day 1 we could have easily constructed such a facility on campus years ago. This is a mess no matter how you look at it.

Too many people bought into the dome idea. From day one I was against a dome because I never thought it would be feasible. Unfortunatelty too many other people (people that matter and many who don't) were blinded by the light and thought a dome was a great idea. Had FAU pitched a 20,000 seat outdoor stadium from day one I am convinced that it would have been done years ago.

GO OWLS!!!

owlfan1 said

Had FAU pitched a 20,000 seat outdoor stadium from day one I am convinced that it would have been done years ago.

If that was the case, the marking scheme would have been….what….. invest in our program because we think we can only get 20,000 fans to a game?

They did the right thing by shooting for the stars. The future of the program and the future of the university has been talked about for years. People bought into the possibility of having a $150 million complex on campus. Years later, those people are still involved with the program and understand why a dome or a 40,000 seat open-aired stadium won't be financially feasible.

smittysahoot said

owlfan1 said

Had FAU pitched a 20,000 seat outdoor stadium from day one I am convinced that it would have been done years ago.

If that was the case, the marking scheme would have been….what….. invest in our program because we think we can only get 20,000 fans to a game?

They did the right thing by shooting for the stars. The future of the program and the future of the university has been talked about for years. People bought into the possibility of having a $150 million complex on campus. Years later, those people are still involved with the program and understand why a dome or a 40,000 seat open-aired stadium won't be financially feasible.

The problem is that you cannot shoot for the stars and delivery absolutely nothing. A 20,000 seat stadium would still have gotten people involved especially if the goal was to have a 20,000 seat stadium in say 2004 and then expand by 2010. As it stands shooting for the stars didn't work to get the money needed for any type of stadium. We can second guess it all we want, but the point is that Rome was not built in a day and neither are football programs. It takes time to grow and being overly ambitious isn't necessarily a good thing. A bit of realism is healthy as well.

GO OWLS!!!