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Latest on facility improvements

  • joetheogre said...

    I was thinking more along the lines of a North Endzone type project. Build a few more suites and add a few thousand seats.

    I don't think we would have THAT much difficulty filling them up. USC has been bringing in much larger freshman classes the last few years. Not only does this mean more students and demand for student tickets, but ten years from now it means more alumni who will be looking to buy season tickets. We have 30,000 students in 2011 and will probably have 32 or 33 in three years. Compare that to the 20-25 from ten years ago.

    Another thing to think about is that we are now winning. People will be interested in seeing a winning program. If we can win 8, 9, 10, 11 games a year we will draw pretty well. Throw in the fact that the economy will likely rebound within three years and I think it seems pretty plausible that USC could get 88-90k for a home game.

    I agree I'd love to see us do something really nice in the north end zone. Suites etc. I just don't think we need a whole new upper deck there.

    "Those who live in the past are cowards and losers" -- Mike Ditka

    Plyler38

  • joetheogre said...

    This all sounds great. Only part I didn't like was about increasing the stadium size not happening "in my lifetime". Maybe he just meant while he is AD. I think it'd be pretty sweet if we addded say 10,000 seats.

    I thought the same thing when I read "after my lifetime." Come on EH, certainly, if we sustain 10 or 11 win seasons over the next few years, you will need to expand WB...WITHIN your lifetime.

    This post was edited by 2112A on 12/12/2011 at 8:38 PM

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    Pix of a Passer/King angelfish (saltwater). Got him as a 1.5inch baby. Now, 12 years later, 14inch adult.

    2112A ●

  • Eric told me a couple years ago that the pedestrian ramps limit what USC can do as far as the number of seats in the north end zone, even if the Floyd building is demolished. Suites add value but do not maximize seating. He estimated that a north end zone expansion would only add roughly 8000 seats.

    Of course, if they tore down the ramps, it would give a lot more flexibility, but replacing the ramps with more external ramps would greatly impede the beautification process of the exterior of the stadium.

    Follow me on Twitter @MeetMeAtThe50 for original thoughts and a good aggregate source of breaking info.

    MeetMeAtThe50

  • joetheogre said...

    I was thinking more along the lines of a North Endzone type project. Build a few more suites and add a few thousand seats.

    I don't think we would have THAT much difficulty filling them up. USC has been bringing in much larger freshman classes the last few years. Not only does this mean more students and demand for student tickets, but ten years from now it means more alumni who will be looking to buy season tickets. We have 30,000 students in 2011 and will probably have 32 or 33 in three years. Compare that to the 20-25 from ten years ago.

    Another thing to think about is that we are now winning. People will be interested in seeing a winning program. If we can win 8, 9, 10, 11 games a year we will draw pretty well. Throw in the fact that the economy will likely rebound within three years and I think it seems pretty plausible that USC could get 88-90k for a home game.

    thanks for the encouragement. You are the first person I have heard who thinks the economy will rebound in 3 years. I feel better knowing that.

    kukiman ●

  • I speak jive.

    He is saying there won't be stadium expansion during his tenure. Because by the time there is sustained evidence of demand to warrant it, he will be gone.

    Farmer's market will be complete by season but not spring. He hopes video board will be complete but cannot guarantee i. I'm sure his concern is time for plans/procurement code and weather. They are squeezing it in there given what they have to deal with regarding approvals.

    This post was edited by VBCock on 12/12/2011 at 6:17 PM

    VBCock ●

  • Does this mean the area which cars park right next to the stadium won't be torn up and re-done by next season? I was assuming it was along with the Farmer's Market and scoreboard. Maybe that is too much for one offseason though...

    strickjn

  • MeetMeAtThe50 said...

    Eric told me a couple years ago that the pedestrian ramps limit what USC can do as far as the number of seats in the north end zone, even if the Floyd building is demolished. Suites add value but do not maximize seating. He estimated that a north end zone expansion would only add roughly 8000 seats.

    Of course, if they tore down the ramps, it would give a lot more flexibility, but replacing the ramps with more external ramps would greatly impede the beautification process of the exterior of the stadium.

    8000 seats would go a long way.

    Assuming that Hyman means while he is here, then that is only about, what, 5 or 6 years? I just think stadium expansion is something cool that would build a lot of excitement. Having a capacity of 88-90k would be great.

    signature image signature image signature image

    "Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule." - Friedrich Nietzsche

    joetheogre ●

  • Duck I know what you meant.

    Hyman talked a lot and said almost nothing.

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    BCMCock05

  • IMHO we don't need more seats, we need better ones. Tear down the East side, hang boxes under the East upper and put in a new raised East side with Chair seats between the 20's.

    That actually might cost us a few seats just like the West lower renovation did years ago. But, it would raise the Yes fees on that side and make it more desirable for everyone.

    NC CocksFan

  • joetheogre said...

    8000 seats would go a long way.

    Assuming that Hyman means while he is here, then that is only about, what, 5 or 6 years? I just think stadium expansion is something cool that would build a lot of excitement. Having a capacity of 88-90k would be great.

    See 88-90k now sounds great, but once you add those seats/area, you're stuck with that seating area...so that's why he doesnt want to do it and regret it later that we should have used that for suits, more seats or whatever...it's sort of where we are with the North Endzone...I'm sure looking back the admin would have handled that upperdeck a little better

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    ChrisinStPete

  • No more seat are needed, we can't fill the ones we've got. I'm still in a state of shock at how many empty seats there were for the clemson game.

    Sam Colt

  • Jefe` said...

    Brick and/or stucco the outside I think. Look up FSU's stadium as an example.

    I thought glass was being considered?

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    bellyuphuntclub

  • NC CocksFan said...

    IMHO we don't need more seats, we need better ones. Tear down the East side, hang boxes under the East upper and put in a new raised East side with Chair seats between the 20's.

    That actually might cost us a few seats just like the West lower renovation did years ago. But, it would raise the Yes fees on that side and make it more desirable for everyone.

    I doubt they'd go that far but just for the sake of coolness, I'd like for us to have a more closed in bowl. Doing what you mentioned along with expanding the North endzone could maybe result in the same capacity but a much nicer stadium. That would be a lot of money spent for no real gain though. I think filling out stadiums every weekend is a thing of the past for almost all programs.

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    bellyuphuntclub

  • joetheogre said...

    I was thinking more along the lines of a North Endzone type project. Build a few more suites and add a few thousand seats.

    I don't think we would have THAT much difficulty filling them up. USC has been bringing in much larger freshman classes the last few years. Not only does this mean more students and demand for student tickets, but ten years from now it means more alumni who will be looking to buy season tickets. We have 30,000 students in 2011 and will probably have 32 or 33 in three years. Compare that to the 20-25 from ten years ago.

    Another thing to think about is that we are now winning. People will be interested in seeing a winning program. If we can win 8, 9, 10, 11 games a year we will draw pretty well. Throw in the fact that the economy will likely rebound within three years and I think it seems pretty plausible that USC could get 88-90k for a home game.

    Makes absolutely no sense to add seats, we had to sell 3-game packages, individual tickets and give tickets to the Army for some games this year. Season tickets sales have dropped like a rock sense the yes donation started. Prices continue to go up. If anyhting we need to reduce the # of seats by adding more luxury seats in there place. Much rather play in a smaller packed stadium than see empty seats.

    VOR

  • VOR said...

    Makes absolutely no sense to add seats, we had to sell 3-game packages, individual tickets and give tickets to the Army for some games this year. Season tickets sales have dropped like a rock sense the yes donation started. Prices continue to go up. If anyhting we need to reduce the # of seats by adding more luxury seats in there place. Much rather play in a smaller packed stadium than see empty seats.

    FWIW, I think we will start filling up the stadium more next year. We had a lot of bad matchups this year, three noon games and that four game stretch in September. The Yes Program is a good thing, this is just an adjustment period.

    signature image signature image signature image

    "Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule." - Friedrich Nietzsche

    joetheogre ●

  • joetheogre said...

    FWIW, I think we will start filling up the stadium more next year. We had a lot of bad matchups this year, three noon games and that four game stretch in September. The Yes Program is a good thing, this is just an adjustment period.

    VOR sounds like one of those upset fans that got displaced from their seats of decades of giving nothing and now is bitter to everything that the YES program has helped build. To compete in the SEC you need money, plain and simple, and continuing the status quo got us nothing for a loonnnnnng time. No one realizes that at most SEC schools they pay more for their season tickets, donation levels, and have a similar YES program and has allowed them to continue to build facilities, pay to win...Too many of our fans want to win but dont want to pay an extra dime that costs to do business these days. If Yes doesnt work then someone has planted some mighty seeds around the former Roost and an academic center, coaches support building have suddenly popped up out of no where.

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    ChrisinStPete

  • ChrisinStPete said...

    VOR sounds like one of those upset fans that got displaced from their seats of decades of giving nothing and now is bitter to everything that the YES program has helped build. To compete in the SEC you need money, plain and simple, and continuing the status quo got us nothing for a loonnnnnng time. No one realizes that at most SEC schools they pay more for their season tickets, donation levels, and have a similar YES program and has allowed them to continue to build facilities, pay to win...Too many of our fans want to win but dont want to pay an extra dime that costs to do business these days. If Yes doesnt work then someone has planted some mighty seeds around the former Roost and an academic center, coaches support building have suddenly popped up out of no where.

    I agree. Doing things on the cheap is what has cost USC for years. We are finally doing things the right way, and this is just part of the process in becoming an elite team IMO.

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    "Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule." - Friedrich Nietzsche

    joetheogre ●

  • ChrisinStPete said...

    VOR sounds like one of those upset fans that got displaced from their seats of decades of giving nothing and now is bitter to everything that the YES program has helped build. To compete in the SEC you need money, plain and simple, and continuing the status quo got us nothing for a loonnnnnng time. No one realizes that at most SEC schools they pay more for their season tickets, donation levels, and have a similar YES program and has allowed them to continue to build facilities, pay to win...Too many of our fans want to win but dont want to pay an extra dime that costs to do business these days. If Yes doesnt work then someone has planted some mighty seeds around the former Roost and an academic center, coaches support building have suddenly popped up out of no where.

    Couldn't have said it better myself Chris. For years we brought a knife to a gunfight and wondered why things didn't change.If we want to play with the big boys we need to be on a level playground.The SEC will continue to excel for years to come and big $$$$ will be needed if we want to continue this recent success.There is a commitment level being stated by the University of South Carolina that they are going to give us what we need to be the best.In turn, we as fans are asked to step up financially as well. This is not a new thing across the country, but it is just recently new to Carolina.I am excited with all the upcoming improvements and believe that it will be part of the overall package that's needed to stay ahead of the curve.twocents

    Knot Hole Cock ●

  • NC CocksFan said...

    IMHO we don't need more seats, we need better ones. Tear down the East side, hang boxes under the East upper and put in a new raised East side with Chair seats between the 20's.

    I've been saying this for years. Our current situation doesn't leave a whole lot for future expansion past 88,000-90,000 seats. Tear down the entire east side and build it to exactly match the west side, minus the press box up top. That adds suites, club seats, and another 4,000-5,000 regular seats. Then a few years later tear down the north endzone and bowl it in to match up the east and west sides in the lower deck. That would fill in the corners and add another 15 or so rows all the way around. There's another 2,000-3,000 seats.

    Just by doing those 2 things we can add probably 6,000 to 8,000 seats plus add plenty of club seats and suites (big $$$) and still leave the north upper expansion available for 20 years down the road. When the north upper was added in 1982 (and the south upper in 1996) it was done half-assed and that's why we have so few club seats and suites. Say if we had this done by 2020 we could have a capacity of 87,000 with a max capacity of over 90,000 for really big games with plenty of room still to grow.

    In 20 years (2040?) we could add a north upper that would completely bowl in the north upper deck and increase capacity another 10,000. That would bring us to 97,000-98,000 with about 102,000 in the house for the big games.

    In another 20 years (2060? I might be dead) we could tear down the entire south endzone (we will definitely need new meeting rooms and a new weight room by then, hopefully they will have been remodeled at least 3 or 4 times during these years) and rebuild it to match the north endzone. That would add another 6,000-7,000 seats bringing capacity to somewhere in the ball park of 105,000 seats.

    I've always thought that our next move should be to rebuild the entire east side. Without doing this we will severely hamper future expansions. It will be extremely expensive but with the added club level seats and private suites it might not be as crazy of an idea as some of you think.

    This post has been edited 3 times, most recently by GamecockTripp on 12/13/2011 at 9:41 AM

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    GamecockTripp

  • GamecockTripp said...

    I've been saying this for years. Our current situation doesn't leave a whole lot for future expansion past 88,000-90,000 seats. Tear down the entire east side and build it to exactly match the west side, minus the press box up top. That adds suites, club seats, and another 4,000-5,000 regular seats. Then a few years later tear down the north endzone and bowl it in to match up the east and west sides in the lower deck. That would fill in the corners and add another 15 or so rows all the way around. There's another 2,000-3,000 seats.

    Just by doing those 2 things we can add probably 6,000 to 8,000 seats plus add plenty of club seats and suites (big $$$) and still leave the north upper expansion available for 20 years down the road. When the north upper was added in 1982 (and the south upper in 1996) it was done half-assed and that's why we have so few club seats and suites. Say if we had this done by 2020 we could have a capacity of 87,000 with a max capacity of over 90,000 for really big games with plenty of room still to grow.

    In 20 years (2040?) we could add a north upper that would completely bowl in the north upper deck and increase capacity another 10,000. That would bring us to 97,000-98,000 with about 102,000 in the house for the big games.

    In another 20 years (2060? I might be dead) we could tear down the entire south endzone (we will definitely need new meeting rooms and a new weight room by then, hopefully they will have been remodeled at least 3 or 4 times during these years) and rebuild it to match the north endzone. That would add another 6,000-7,000 seats bringing capacity to somewhere in the ball park of 105,000 seats.

    I've always thought that our next move should be to rebuild the entire east side. Without doing this we will severely hamper future expansions. It will be extremely expensive but with the added club level seats and private suites it might not be as crazy of an idea as some of you think.

    I think contraction of the stadium makes more sense than expansion. There are a ton of empty seats for almost all home games, and there were even empty areas at the Clemson game. I would rather remove the south upper and expand the zone area to add more high price seats.

    If you can't sell the tickets you have now then what is the purpose of adding more seats to make it even more embarrassing.

    This post was edited by Mike Honcho on 12/13/2011 at 10:48 AM

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    Mike Honcho

  • ChrisinStPete said...

    VOR sounds like one of those upset fans that got displaced from their seats of decades of giving nothing and now is bitter to everything that the YES program has helped build. To compete in the SEC you need money, plain and simple, and continuing the status quo got us nothing for a loonnnnnng time. No one realizes that at most SEC schools they pay more for their season tickets, donation levels, and have a similar YES program and has allowed them to continue to build facilities, pay to win...Too many of our fans want to win but dont want to pay an extra dime that costs to do business these days. If Yes doesnt work then someone has planted some mighty seeds around the former Roost and an academic center, coaches support building have suddenly popped up out of no where.

    I think his point went right over your head.

    He isn't dissing the YES program, he is simply stating that the seating we have in place is not being used. You guys want to add seats to give the opportunity for an additional revenue stream. Well if you can't sell the tickets you have now, how are you going to sell 15,000 more? Adding luxury boxes is a much more efficient manner of adding a revenue stream as the prices are higher and you don't have to sell as many tickets.

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    Mike Honcho

  • Can't wait to see the changes next year. Place is gonna look sweet w/ new board and all those cars gone.

    noscreenname

  • MeetMeAtThe50 said...

    Eric told me a couple years ago that the pedestrian ramps limit what USC can do as far as the number of seats in the north end zone, even if the Floyd building is demolished. Suites add value but do not maximize seating. He estimated that a north end zone expansion would only add roughly 8000 seats.

    Of course, if they tore down the ramps, it would give a lot more flexibility, but replacing the ramps with more external ramps would greatly impede the beautification process of the exterior of the stadium.

    Tear down the ramps and replace them with escalators then in a few years when the economy can support it, expand the seating.

    jimcmarshall

  • Mike Honcho said...

    I think contraction of the stadium makes more sense than expansion. There are a ton of empty seats for almost all home games, and there were even empty areas at the Clemson game. I would rather remove the south upper and expand the zone area to add more high price seats.

    If you can't sell the tickets you have now then what is the purpose of adding more seats to make it even more embarrassing.

    I wasnt in the ticket office for any games to see the data, but empty seats dont neccessarily mean the seats werent sold...Plus the fact of the ramps being filled, if you force (not literally) people to sit in their seats the stadium would look a lot more full. I'm not sure the issue with the Clemson game, maybe it's because the Auburn folks bought the 3 game pack (included Clemson). I'm not saying to add seats (right now), especially with the demand not out weighing supply. We need to examine every revenue stream possible (suites, high end seats etc). I believe Tenn were able to remodel their stadium to add the suites across from their press box so it's possible. You have to add the YES program as one of the ways to increase revenue and increase giving levels from a large % of donors who pledged the min and sat in the best seats (not everyone). As I said most SEC schools already have this program in place. With adding in scoreboard, etc, we need to examine the long range plans so we dont blow 40-50 million with expansion, transformation etc and look back at it as a waste of money.

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    ChrisinStPete

  • ChrisinStPete said...

    I wasnt in the ticket office for any games to see the data, but empty seats dont neccessarily mean the seats werent sold...Plus the fact of the ramps being filled, if you force (not literally) people to sit in their seats the stadium would look a lot more full. I'm not sure the issue with the Clemson game, maybe it's because the Auburn folks bought the 3 game pack (included Clemson). I'm not saying to add seats (right now), especially with the demand not out weighing supply. We need to examine every revenue stream possible (suites, high end seats etc). I believe Tenn were able to remodel their stadium to add the suites across from their press box so it's possible. You have to add the YES program as one of the ways to increase revenue and increase giving levels from a large % of donors who pledged the min and sat in the best seats (not everyone). As I said most SEC schools already have this program in place. With adding in scoreboard, etc, we need to examine the long range plans so we dont blow 40-50 million with expansion, transformation etc and look back at it as a waste of money.

    We sell 3 game ticket packs to the biggest games of the year. One of the 3 game packs had Auburn and Clemson included. In other words, there were enough empty seats that we wouldn't have sold out Clemson or Auburn if we didn't offer tickets to the general public (which were then bought up by Clemson and Auburn fans). I can assure you that no one in their right minds right now is thinking of adding more general seating.

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    Mike Honcho

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