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Post by roaringsince96 on Apr 6, 2019 8:01:38 GMT -6
So D1 FBS schools have stadiums 50,000 - 100,000. Im not saying let’s do that.... However... shouldn’t we leave room to grow into an eventual 30,000ish range down the road? Don’t we want to be an upper-tier FCS program eventually? I’m not saying build it now, but why not have the possibility of it? Besides... that home side needs to be close to as tall as Braly so I can continue to get wide-angle videos of the band. :-) We should absolutely plan to eventually get to 30k, IMO. Even if it never happens, build something that could expand to that number. Who knows what college football will look like in two or three decades. Maybe attendance will continue to drop. But what if it doesn’t? What if in 20+ years we are at a point where moving to FBS makes sense? A 12k seat stadium would automatically disqualify us under the current rules. It seems unrealistic now to picture that scenario, but did anybody see Troy doing what they have done in 1990? I doubt it. Obviously I don’t know all the details from back then, but you could argue that shortsightedness caused us to miss the boat on moving to D1 in the mid-90s when Troy and JSU did. I don’t want a repeat of that. I understand that this isn’t a rich state, and we aren’t a rich university. But I would rather wait 6-8 years if that’s what it takes to get funding to properly do this stadium, than to rush something in 3-4 years that doesn’t allow us to grow. Troy has a very rich donor dontate millions, not like 5 million, but more like 20 million plus to change the entire landscape. I doubt Troy could have improved that fast and to that scale without the LARGE donation. We get some very large donations, nursing building exhibit A, I do think we could raise the fund to build the 15-20k stadium and leave room for another 5. Here is something to ponder...North Dakota State is all of 18,000 full and they are it in their state and have been incredibly successful. Don’t be disappointed with 10,000 a game for us with all our competition in state on a Saturday. Heck besides AL/AU, there is UAB, Troy, S AL, that are FBS. Then JSU has really built there program, by far the best attendance for them this year will be when we come to town. A& M is close and will have their fans just like Alabama State. Lot of D1 football played in the state of Alabama. I hope we see some days over 15,000. The last time those days happened we were playing for a National championship and the big schools sucked. Now the marketing for those big schools, mainly ESPN and SEC network are driving that audience and acces really is 24/7. We do good to hear twice a week or so about spring practice. To get where we all the program/attendance to be....we need to win consistently and in playoffs and beat a power five team. We garner more media attention and publicity.
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Post by Lion2001 on Apr 6, 2019 8:18:06 GMT -6
Exactly. 100% agree. Maybe the Andersons could kick in a few Mil to make it what it should be out of the gate? I’m ok with Anderson stadium. Or The TNT bowl. Lol I'm sure the Anderson's will have money in it. But I would still like Bobby's name on it. Oh, no doubt. There are plenty of naming opportunities.... field, locker rooms, luxury boxes.... But if it has to be Wal Mart stadium for a while (A la Troy’s “Movie Gallery Stadium” to get built well, then I say sell out now and rename later like Troy did.
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Post by unalions on Apr 6, 2019 9:55:21 GMT -6
Alabama had three of the Top 15 FCS programs in attendance in 2018.
6. Jax State 18,079 10. AL State 16,073 13. AL A&M 12,522
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Post by unafied on Apr 6, 2019 10:12:05 GMT -6
We should absolutely plan to eventually get to 30k, IMO. Even if it never happens, build something that could expand to that number. Who knows what college football will look like in two or three decades. Maybe attendance will continue to drop. But what if it doesn’t? What if in 20+ years we are at a point where moving to FBS makes sense? A 12k seat stadium would automatically disqualify us under the current rules. It seems unrealistic now to picture that scenario, but did anybody see Troy doing what they have done in 1990? I doubt it. Obviously I don’t know all the details from back then, but you could argue that shortsightedness caused us to miss the boat on moving to D1 in the mid-90s when Troy and JSU did. I don’t want a repeat of that. I understand that this isn’t a rich state, and we aren’t a rich university. But I would rather wait 6-8 years if that’s what it takes to get funding to properly do this stadium, than to rush something in 3-4 years that doesn’t allow us to grow. Troy has a very rich donor dontate millions, not like 5 million, but more like 20 million plus to change the entire landscape. I doubt Troy could have improved that fast and to that scale without the LARGE donation. We get some very large donations, nursing building exhibit A, I do think we could raise the fund to build the 15-20k stadium and leave room for another 5. Here is something to ponder...North Dakota State is all of 18,000 full and they are it in their state and have been incredibly successful. Don’t be disappointed with 10,000 a game for us with all our competition in state on a Saturday. Heck besides AL/AU, there is UAB, Troy, S AL, that are FBS. Then JSU has really built there program, by far the best attendance for them this year will be when we come to town. A& M is close and will have their fans just like Alabama State. Lot of D1 football played in the state of Alabama. I hope we see some days over 15,000. The last time those days happened we were playing for a National championship and the big schools sucked. Now the marketing for those big schools, mainly ESPN and SEC network are driving that audience and acces really is 24/7. We do good to hear twice a week or so about spring practice. To get where we all the program/attendance to be....we need to win consistently and in playoffs and beat a power five team. We garner more media attention and publicity. I’ve always wondered how Troy moved up so fast, since the actual campus is not much bigger than ours (I know they have a lot of online students) and they are in a podunk town in the middle of nowhere. Millionaire donors certainly help. I agree 96, we need to first get “back” to 15k - actually averaging it. I get that and don’t want to be unrealistic or have unrealistic expectations that the University fails to meet. That’s not fair to them. I guess my thought is, in time we can be a Top-5 FCS program. Almost every successful D2 school that has moved up has had some success in FCS, so there’s no reason to think we’ll be different. And if we do get there, pulling in 15k for big games is attainable. If JSU can draw upwards of 20k fans, I think it’s reasonable to think we might eventually be able to do that, too. So if another school in our state is doing that while in FCS, I don’t want us to think too small here. Troy drew an average of 24k a few years ago. While I’m perfectly fine with us being FCS for a long time, should we totally rule out some day being in Troy’s position?
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Post by northalaspectator on Apr 6, 2019 10:39:15 GMT -6
From the posting on this board most want an 15,000 seat stadium or higher. Personally I would like to see 15,000 to 20,000 that can be enlarged to 40,000 plus.
As much as I would like for an on campus stadium there on Pine Street. As long as the Church is on that corner I don’t see a much larger than a 12,000 seat stadium.
When the information is leak to the general public that they are only looking at a 10,000 plus stadium. I don’t think the public will want that small stadium.
I don’t know what the legality would be for the University to try to find a suitable and acceptable location for the church to move, but I sure it would be easier than finding space for a football stadium. Or even the legality of working with the Nursing Home.
On the ECM property it might work, but I got my doubts. On the location in East Florence on the old stove foundry there would probably have to be a relocation of a railroad track plus it is located next to a historic district and when you are encroaching upon an historic district some in Florence get very upset.
The University might could look at the Dr. Ellis heirs property on the corner of Chisholm and Rickwood.
What about the Nursing Home moving to the ECM property than using that property for a football only field and stadium. Where the baseball is currently located at turning that into a soccer field with seating up to around 2,000 and it could also be used from time to time as a practice field. The band could still keep practice location. Where the current Soccer and practice field used most of that area for parking. Just an suggestion.
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Post by unalions on Apr 6, 2019 10:47:46 GMT -6
I was thinking last night about how this all would be so much better if that church would move.
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Post by roaringsince96 on Apr 6, 2019 10:51:37 GMT -6
Right, kind of makes my point, thanks. All those schools have been D1 for over 15 years. We can get there, just may take some time.
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Post by una04 on Apr 6, 2019 12:23:03 GMT -6
Looking at several stories about FCS football stadiums and the link below shows the top 15 FCS stadiums they have a capacity of around 24,000 and above. It’s pretty cool to look at these stadiums and to think about UNA building something like these but they are no way any of these could be built on pine street I don’t think. www.google.com/amp/s/m.herosports.com/amp/fcs/football-biggest-stadiums-bzbzAnd something even more interesting is if we go with the stadium size that has been released, UNA will still have the largest stadium in the big south Conference. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_South_Conference
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Post by brandon on Apr 6, 2019 12:38:56 GMT -6
Like I said before, if you can build a 10 to 12k stadium to begin, you can build it 15 to 20k to start with without any enlargement of the actual footprint. A horseshoe style stadium will accommodate more seating in a smaller area. Your only talking about going up a few more rows around the entire stadium to get to the 15-20k mark. And that is with no upper decks. When you have to eventually expand, there will still be enough room.
And no, we should not be content with just remaining in FCS, even if we do. We should be running the program like a FBS program, be ready if the off chance comes that we have an opportunity to go FBS. We dont need to be putting ourselves in the position to be left behind anymore like we did in the early 90's.
As far as attendance, winning is a major key, but so is the atmosphere that only the fans create. So we still will have to do our part in creating an exciting environment for our fans, and a hostile environment for others, no matter who we play at home. Last year at A&M proved we can get loud.
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Post by brandon on Apr 6, 2019 12:55:36 GMT -6
After looking at both sites, and as much as I would love to see the stadium on campus, the old ECM site looks to be the best all around. Tons more parking, and more room for expansion. Especially if more than 20k is ever needed. Just being honest.
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Post by catscratchfever4 on Apr 6, 2019 14:30:36 GMT -6
I have no idea what a 12000 seat stadium would cost but let's say 20 million dollars with all the amenities. If we wait ten years to expand it, it will probably cost us triple that amount so we should shoot for the 20,000 seat stadium laid out for the original stadium to save money overall.
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Post by catscratchfever4 on Apr 6, 2019 14:52:11 GMT -6
If the stadium is designed right, we would finally have a place to draw big name concerts which would be very profitable. Not good to have a stadium sitting empty eight months out of the year.
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Post by tuna85 on Apr 6, 2019 16:23:52 GMT -6
I'm sure the Anderson's will have money in it. But I would still like Bobby's name on it. Oh, no doubt. There are plenty of naming opportunities.... field, locker rooms, luxury boxes.... But if it has to be Wal Mart stadium for a while (A la Troy’s “Movie Gallery Stadium” to get built well, then I say sell out now and rename later like Troy did. Don't forget about the naming of the field!
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Post by tuna85 on Apr 6, 2019 16:25:03 GMT -6
Oh, no doubt. There are plenty of naming opportunities.... field, locker rooms, luxury boxes.... But if it has to be Wal Mart stadium for a while (A la Troy’s “Movie Gallery Stadium” to get built well, then I say sell out now and rename later like Troy did. Don't forget about the naming of the field. Oh wait, I see you mentioned that.
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Post by unafied on Apr 7, 2019 5:06:58 GMT -6
The TimesDaily’s lead story in this morning’s paper is about the stadium. That should get some of the public’s opinions pouring in. Can’t wait to have some of the NIMBYs explain why we shouldn’t build a new one. At least they can’t whine about it using taxpayer dollars. Multi-use stadium designs revealed
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