Dudy Noble meetings....
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Top 5 in the country? DNF is middle of the road for the SEC, at best. Hell, we're in the bottom half in our own division.
Is it a top 5 national environment if you sit in the grandstand or LFL? Sure, but you really have to have connections to do that. Everyone else is stuck in those godawful bleachers, and as it has been said, we can't just extend the grandstand because the sightlines are some of the worst I've ever seen down the foul lines. If we do extend, those people aren't going to be able to see the game without hurting their necks because of the way the stands are angled, and we can't angle the stands in because there is no room to do so.
DNF is a poorly designed, 25 year old hunk of concrete that can never be salvaged into anything that could be considered a top flight SEC stadium. The only way for us to have a really good stadium again would be to start over. It would take a few years to raise the money, and that would be fine. I'd much rather save up and fundraise for a few years to build something great, than just throw lipstick on a pig.
And just to clarify, the grandstand has nothing to do with LFL. I'd like to start over on the grandstand, but keep LFL pretty much the same.
This is a valid concern, and one I would be willing to listen to. I want more people to have access for sure, and I especially want students to be more involved.
Whether or not it's quote on quote Top 5 or Top 10 is irrelevant. The fact remains that the stadium isn't holding our baseball program back at all. I'd say it's still probably a selling point more than a hindrance.
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Spend the extra money to have the best NCAA home Grandstand.
I've come around on this thanks to Engie and others; but here are the things I thnink should be done at Dudy Noble.
1) The Only LFL Changes. More concessions and bathrooms. Also, I'd add a hill for a second level of seating/picnic area behind the LFL area. Make the contraptions have a height limit.
2) Demoish the Grandstand and start over. I heard Scott say he liked TAMU's rebuild. That cost $28Million. Alabama is building new for $35 Million. Spend the extra money to have the best NCAA home Grandstand.
2a) Make it a AAA equal stadium. Open concourse. New Pressbox. New Suites. More consessions. More bathrooms. Build it to the foul poles. Add the supports to add suites to the foul poles in the future. I'd make some it beachers instead of chairbacks, but I'm open there.
3) A Grand entrance with a History of MSU baseball/Hall of fame/ MLB players leading all the way in. Make it a big deal. Statues. Plaques. Trophies. Banners. Make Rick Cleveland jealous, big. Add to it every year. I'd make the entrance at the right field corner between DNF and the Hump.
I've come around on this thanks to Engie and others; but here are the things I thnink should be done at Dudy Noble.
1) The Only LFL Changes. More concessions and bathrooms. Also, I'd add a hill for a second level of seating/picnic area behind the LFL area. Make the contraptions have a height limit.
2) Demoish the Grandstand and start over. I heard Scott say he liked TAMU's rebuild. That cost $28Million. Alabama is building new for $35 Million. Spend the extra money to have the best NCAA home Grandstand.
2a) Make it a AAA equal stadium. Open concourse. New Pressbox. New Suites. More consessions. More bathrooms. Build it to the foul poles. Add the supports to add suites to the foul poles in the future. I'd make some it beachers instead of chairbacks, but I'm open there.
3) A Grand entrance with a History of MSU baseball/Hall of fame/ MLB players leading all the way in. Make it a big deal. Statues. Plaques. Trophies. Banners. Make Rick Cleveland jealous, big. Add to it every year. I'd make the entrance at the right field corner between DNF and the Hump.
Janet Marie Smith is:
1. The preeminent baseball stadium renovation architect in the US.
2. She is a MSU grad.
3. She wants to work on Dudy Noble. (No, she did not tell me this but one of her Oriole co-workers did. So it's second hand info.)]
MSU:
1. Needs a baseball stadium renovation
2. Baseball looks to be our most successful sport going forward
Given the above, if we can't figure this out, it is a <17> up that could only happen at MSU.
As patdog said, the selling point is the environment, LFL, fan support, etc. All of which would still be there if we built a new grandstand.
While the grandstand may not be a hindrance in recruiting right now, it is a terrible hindrance for us trying to attract new fans. A normal resident in Starkville who doesn't have season tickets can't go to DNF and have decent seats at the games. That is a fact. It's also something that could not be changed by putting in more chairbacks because of the sightlines. How exactly can we attract new fans if they can't come to the game and at least get an okay seat?
And yes, we do need to build a terraced deck in RF to get the students more involved.
Thanks for joining the club. Good post.
I especially agree with number two. If we use A&M and USCe as templates, would you rather spend $28 mill. polishing a turd, or save up for an extra year and spend $35 mill. to have a USCe quality grandstand? The answer is obvious to anyone who has seen both stadiums in person.
I don't think you're understanding me, any of you three, so obviously I didn't communicate clearly. My only point was that the stadium is not a detriment to our baseball program. I only mentioned it being a selling point because I think the stadium helps much more than it hurts in recruiting. That's all I meant by that. I know our atmosphere is the biggest selling point we have.
As for the fans, again, I agree. It took extra posts to regurgitate what I already said, but eh.
That being said, what do you propose? It's easy to *****, much tougher to form a solution. Bigger grandstand? That's about all I know to do. Can't really complain about the lifers because they are in fact buying the tickets. I've always been of the opinion that if you buy a general admission ticket, you can sit anywhere you want, unless the seats owner arrives. Basically, the only thing that season ticket is getting you is the reservation of a grandstand seat. If you aren't there, someone else can sit there. And they can sit next to you even if you ARE there. No more bitching from the old geezers about young whippersnappers. That would drive up attendance midweek for sure, as more students would be there. This would work for a new stadium too.
As for the fans, again, I agree. It took extra posts to regurgitate what I already said, but eh.
That being said, what do you propose? It's easy to *****, much tougher to form a solution. Bigger grandstand? That's about all I know to do. Can't really complain about the lifers because they are in fact buying the tickets. I've always been of the opinion that if you buy a general admission ticket, you can sit anywhere you want, unless the seats owner arrives. Basically, the only thing that season ticket is getting you is the reservation of a grandstand seat. If you aren't there, someone else can sit there. And they can sit next to you even if you ARE there. No more bitching from the old geezers about young whippersnappers. That would drive up attendance midweek for sure, as more students would be there. This would work for a new stadium too.
I think everyone would rather have USCe type stadium. Why are you even making that an issue? I think if you research this enough, MONEY is what's driving keeping DNF as is, not what would be ideally desired by the university. I also think they want to solicit ideas on the outfield.
IF they alter seating
It will be interesting. Part of the fund raising when the stadium was built as it is now allowed individuals to purchase a seat for their lifetime as long as they purchased a season ticket every year. If MSU intends to alter that I think they will have a legal fight on their hands from some older folks who DO attend more games than big donors throughout the season.
It will be interesting. Part of the fund raising when the stadium was built as it is now allowed individuals to purchase a seat for their lifetime as long as they purchased a season ticket every year. If MSU intends to alter that I think they will have a legal fight on their hands from some older folks who DO attend more games than big donors throughout the season.
It absolutely is a detriment to our program if it directly prevents us from drawing new fans.
Where did I say that we should increase capacity by building a bigger grandstand? A 6-7k seat grandstand would be a good amount, and would keep the net capacity in the infield about the same when you combine the current grandstand and the bleachers.
And yes, if you buy a GA ticket you shouldn't be forced to sit in the bleachers when the grandstand is half full. That's just absurd. If someone asks for their seat, just move to one of the other open ones.
Speaking of money, do you realize how much of it we're leaving on the table with the current setup of DNF? I would argue we'd actually be losing money over the long term by not investing in a new stadium. Even if we are in the red for a little while, we will be so much better off in the long run by doing this. We only have eight skyboxes, and they have all been sold out every game we have played since they were built in the 90s. There is a huge demand for good premium seating, and the best way to tap into that is to build an open concourse grandstand like Arkansas or South Carolina. The way their stadiums are set up, they can extend the boxes every offseason down the lines very easily. The open concourse design is by far the cleanest and best design for a modern day stadium, hence the reason almost 70% of MLB teams have built new stadiums this way in the past 25 years.
And again, yes money is tight. But would you rather spend $25-28 mill. renovating something that is poorly designed and will continue to give us problems generating revenue, or would you rather save up for an extra year or two and have one of the nicest college stadiums in America that will allow us to maximize revenue in the future? We're going to be spending a good bit of money anyway, so why not save up for an extra year or two to have a top flight stadium instead of something mediocre? Even if we did have to borrow a little bit of it up front, a new grandstand would more than pay for itself multiple times over again. It's a smart business decision and an investment in our program.
If they decided to demolish and rebuild, could it all be finished in one off season? If not, it would be a mess trying to work around all the construction. It's OK for Davis Wade because it's pretty much out of the way, but I'm not sure baseball could handle it.
It only took 11 months to build Trustmark Park, plus we can play most of our non-conference games in Pearl, the new stadium in Biloxi, or just play some away games. It would more than likely help our RPI for that season anyway.
I will admit, the timetable would be tight, but it's not impossible. We also would be working almost exclusively on the grandstand, whereas most of these other places had to do a lot of work in the outfield too, so that might make the construction time quicker for us.
I'm not disagreeing that tearing down and starting over is a good option. But saying nothing less than that is unacceptable is absurd.
They could tear down parts of the stadium and redesign without tearing down the majority. They could do a number of options other than completely tearing down and starting over. And they could do those things without it being a band aid.
It's 2013. We put a man on the moon. You can skin a cat 1000 ways. There are a lot of options. We should look at all and make a decision based on timing, finances, feasibility, design, aesthetics, etc. Just to name a few.
There is not 1 single right answer. There are many individual opinions. Like yours.
They could tear down parts of the stadium and redesign without tearing down the majority. They could do a number of options other than completely tearing down and starting over. And they could do those things without it being a band aid.
It's 2013. We put a man on the moon. You can skin a cat 1000 ways. There are a lot of options. We should look at all and make a decision based on timing, finances, feasibility, design, aesthetics, etc. Just to name a few.
There is not 1 single right answer. There are many individual opinions. Like yours.
Right now, people rate Dudy Noble based on the atmosphere created by the fans. The actual facility doesn't rate compared to many other newer facilities elsewhere.