Collegiate Stadiums

Collegiate Stadiums

NCAA FBS College Football Stadiums, Attendance, Stats, History & Travel Blog

Tag Archives: Sanford Stadium

Multiple Stadiums Updates

Since I am trying to get caught up on everything I need to, I am going to make a large post here with little nuggets of stadium information. Normally this will go in either the daily links section or a separate post.

At Conference USA Media Day, Larry Porter said “Facilities don’t win championships, players do. But facilities do win players.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

First up is an older story on Colorado and how they are looking for a corporate sponsor for their stadium due to financial issues in the athletic department.

Stanford is adding AT&T WiFi to their stadium this year. It says you can connect to the WiFi with any device but I have a feeling it will be faster for AT&T devices.

Cal is renovating their stadium and are going as far as having seismic experts check over the plans.

This story is about Penn State adding WiFi and new scoreboards, among other things, to Beaver Stadium over the next three to four year, but it is a few wrong statements in it. For one, Beaver stadium will not be the only or even the first college stadium with AT&T WiFi, just check the Stanford story above. Two, they took seats away to make room for the 101 ADA seats, lowering seating capacity in Beaver stadium to 106,572.

Staying with Penn State, here is a study from their FieldTurf research building that shows the new FieldTurf Revolution is by far the best turf in terms of wear. The report is huge and will teach you more than you could ever imagine about synthetic turf. Ironically, Beaver Stadium is grass and Penn State has the best turf grass management program in the country.

The final item from Penn State is this picture of upgrades to Lasch Building, their football only complex.

Upgrades to Lasch Building

A photo of a trial version of the Kansas Touchdown Club

And here is a link for the full story on Kansas trying to build a club for big boosters. Note that season tickets in the club are coming down as the team continues to be bad after their magical BCS run. 

Here’s a good story behind how Boone Pickens decided to donate $165 million to Oklahoma State athletics.

Oklahoma State is adding a huge flag poll to Boone Pickens Stadium

I’ve linked this story before, but to me it just outlines how desperate some schools are to try and keep up in the money race of BCS and FBS football. Washington is begging you for money and will let you sponsor or name just about any park of their stadium.

A nice video of the scoreboard update at Arizona.

Vanderbilt replaced their grass field this summer for the first time since 1999!Photo of the grass being laid at Dudley Field

Story to go with the Vanderbilt picture, or if you want a video, try this link.

The new "vintage" scoreboard that has been added to the Rose Bowl

Picture of workers installing seats in the UNC Blue Zone

UNC added the Blue Zone, which cost ticket holders a large donation per seat, then they fired Butch Davis, which might lead to a lawsuit as I linked earlier today. At least it looks good in this picture. The picture below is of the scoreboard going on top of the blue zone seats. Here is another take on the scandal and renovation.

Scoreboard on top of the Blue Zone seats

Part of a two year process at Nebraska to expand Memorial Stadium

Nebraska also has a time lapse video of the construction. And a link for the construction details, explaining the completion date of fall of 2013 and capacity of approximately 92,000 fans.

The newest official photo from Kansas State of Bill Snyder Family Stadium

I’m assuming the picture is to show off the new AstroTurf GameDay 3D360 grass for which they sent out this video. 

 Skip Holtz wants USF to build an on-campus stadium. This story outlines why on-campus stadiums help, which is probably what sparked the Holtz quotes.

I’m not sure what was so great about this except Washington State was excited to see the sun out at Martin Stadium, so they sent this picture.

OMG, sun in Washington!

 OK, in all seriousness, Washington State does have a cool program, just like a few other schools such as Army and North Texas where they have movie nights in their stadiums during the summer. I think it is a great way to bring out fans and to use the stadium in a non-traditional way, especially with drive-in theaters dying off so quickly.

Georgia added an HD scoreboard to Sanford Stadium

Michigan will now allow you to say “I do” at Michigan Stadium for the right price. Thankfully they added lights and a scoreboard this summer to enhance the experience.

A photo of the new scoreboard at Michigan Stadium

A photo of the TCU Stadium construction

This is just a general story about planned facility upgrades at South Carolina. 

A photo of the field at Bobby Dodd Stadium

 LSU provided this picture of the window upgrade project. And a full gallery of photos here.

Photo of the LSU window project

Also, LSU has raised the capacity of their stadium to 92,542 seats this year according to a trivia contest they ran on twitter. 

The Chick-fil-A kickoff game wants you to have this info if you are attending the game.

Baseball playoffs might make the Cal-USC game move according to ESPN. Remember that Cal is renovating their stadium so they are playing in AT& T Park this year.

Davis Wade Stadium is getting ribbon boards. Hard to see in this picture but you get the idea.

Here is a rendering of planned upgrades and a full story.

A nice rendering of planned upgrades to Davis Wade StadiumUSC Coliseum is getting a new scoreboard

Lost Letterman ranked his 10 worst stadiums. Sorry, I can only rank places I have been which I will do at a later date

Here is a look at the value of home field advantage and features a heavy dose of Penn State.

Corn Nation is afraid that booing will return to Memorial Stadium at Nebraska this fall.

Rutgers wants everyone to know that they are enhancing game day festivities. Pretty much a fluff piece but worth the read if you are a VIP ticket holder.

Wisconsin has been informed that Soldier Field will have new turf installed in time for the Northern Illinois game according to Brett Bielema.

Boise State may not be able to remove the track in Bronco Stadium due to state board inaction.

Cincinnati has changed up the tailgating areas. Here is the full story.

 

Interesting Links

I have a collection of links that I have been meaning to post and I never seem to get around to it, so that is my goal today, to basically “dump” all of the links into a post. Then I will try to make it a daily or every other day type of post on my site so the links are more relevant. Sorry this one is so long, but it is what I selected after sorting through over 1,200 bookmarked links.

Of course, lets start with my first ever guest column, which covered Michie stadium for Crystal Ball Run.

The Fiesta Bowl has been taking hotel kickbacks just like every other bowl does. Not sure why it is a surprise but here is the story.

Howard Schnellenberger retired and FAU put together a nice slideshow of his career, while smart football wrote this nice article. If you want a different take on Schnellenberger, try this story from Andrea Adelson or the official release from FAU.

Phil Steele has released his bowl projections for 2011.

This story just proves that USC believes that they are the pro team in LA and are using their Coliseum lease to keep the NFL away.

Here is a story about the King and his strikeout call which I got to experience when I met him the other week.

Michael Felder explains on Crystal Ball Run why the Pro offense is still the best.

Kristi Dosh explains here take on what the final conference expansion will look like, and it is really good.

A story on how John Aderhold is the reason the Georgia Dome actually got built.

Here is a simple one, Sports Illustrated’s preseason top 25.

Jenni Carlson gave us this great Boone Pickens story.

Virginia Tech is having a special ceremony for Frank Beamer before the Appalachian State game for 25 years as Head Coach.

Surprise! James Laurinitis used HGH. Shock!

John Infante always does good work, but this really shows the issue with the NCAA.

Tony Barnhart explains how the SEC and ACC will not go to 9 conference games, which I wish the B1G would re-consider. Unbalanced conference schedules are just plain silly.

Ralph Nader is a different person, and now he plans to sue the BCS.

Picture provided by Jay Paterno of the 1975 Sugar Bowl press conference held at a Howard Johnson hotel

Another great story from Kristi Dosh on why athlete’s are never going to get paid.

Awesome post from eyeandear on 25 hated figures in college football history.

Brian Ewart might focus on Villanova hoops but he nails conference expansion talk here.

A collaboration from Andy Staples and Stewart Mandel as they give us 10 reasons to love college football.

Gregg Doyle is dead wrong in this story if you ask me. I don’t understand how it is good to ban twitter or other social media. Jenni Carlson explains why the athlete’s should be allowed to use twitter.

Lost Letterman took a look at what happened to the guy who stalked Erin Andrews.

A cool photo of the Liberty Bowl taken by Kevin Reed and shown on capturememphis.com

 Beyond the Bets has released his predicted points spreads for all 796 FBS games.

Real neat story on the last words from the late Randy Walker to Dan Persa from Thayer Evans.

I hope Notre Dame promptly fired who every designed those helmets

The above photo is from Lost Letterman which appears in this story about the terrible shamrock helmet of 1959.

Michael Felder again here with his take on how hard training camp really is. I’ll trust him on this since he played for UNC.

Another surprise from an Ohio State guy, according to ESPN, Gordon Gee would rather save his job than do things the right way.

UNC boosters are thinking about suing the athletic department because they believe that Butch Davis was only retained as long as he was to help raise funds from alumni.

Allen Kenney takes a look at why the Longhorn Network will kill the Big XII.

Kristi Dosh tells us why you better be ok with being poor at first if you want to work in sports.

Jerel Worthy shows off his tattoo of Sparty slaying the Michigan wolverine

A very troubling story about agents and how schools and coaches manipulate their players.

A video from the 1940 Mississippi State game at Alabama.

A good story by Matt Zemek called “The Pressure of Poverty” which shows the opposite side of his “The Pressure of Prosperity” article.

USA Today article on why you keep getting those annoying calls to buy season tickets. Temple and Syracuse are the worst in my experience from the 17 or so schools and bowls who contact me every year.

The NCAA plans on having an agent registration program. Question is, what took them so dang long????

Spencer Hall of EDSBS made it on the Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN Radio. Here’s the audio.

The Iron Bowl was used by police to track down dead beat dads and arrest them. Watch the video, it is worth your time.

George Schroeder, who has the best twitter avatar ever, delivers a great story on how the PAC 12 might not be in a good position to expand anymore.

Michael Felder explains better than I did why polls are outdated and should be changed.

I’m sure you all saw the “JT” wristbands that the Ohio State players were wearing. Here is a story on why Ohio State took them away. Personally I think they should have just said “Cheat.”

 

A photo of the "JT" Jim Tressel wrist bands

 

A site that is quickly becoming one of my favorite, eyeandear again with 10 coaches who will not make it to February.

Georgia announced that they are a few years late to the party and finally got a fan text system at Sanford Stadium.

Another story on why nine-game conference schedules are no good.

Bryan Fischer wrote this story on how Colorado lost their way in football and how head coach John Embree plans to rebuilt the program gold brick by gold brick. John Embree also gave CBS is take on paying players, which he things should be done after they graduate.

New logo of the Famous Idaho Potato BowlOn the way home from Big East Media Day, I told Kevin McGuire that I hoped they named the Idaho Bowl the Potato Bowl and well, they didn't disappoint.Kristi Dosh shows us why athletic departments are broke, they overspend on facilities.Iowa sued Southern Miss for having a similar logo and won.Iowa defeated Southern Miss in court for having a similar logo

 Boise State agreed to not wear blue-on-blue uniforms at home for conference games, but the Mountain West doesn’t have a penalty if Boise State wears them. Apparently they can’t wear all orange either.

At Big East media day, the print media portion of coach interviews were winding down right as I was about to get a one-on-one with Skip Holtz. Then I looked up and Pete Thamel of the NY Times came over and I gave up my spot since he is a better reporter. This isn’t the story from the Holtz quotes, but it is a good story on the Big East and how they are going to get a large amount of money for their TV contract.

Kevin McGuire wrote this story on his Big East media day experience at the clambake.

Bryan from PittScript wrote this story outlining the relationship between the head coaches of WVU and Pitt.

A fluff piece on how cheeseburger lover Charlie Weis blamed Florida for eating his cheeseburgers. 

The Big East wants to poach Maryland and Boston College. I guess they like schools that can’t sell out small football stadiums.

Felder again with a guide to make you a better fan.

John Infante again with a “just do it” story on making student athletes just athletes. He believes that the majority of fans will not even notice and thus, still show up in large numbers.

Andy Staples loves college football and BBQ. Since he gets paid to write about college football, he is giving us his BBQ advice for free. Read it, study it, and enjoy it. You can’t go wrong listening to the guy who directed me to the greatest food I have ever eaten, Archibald’s in Tuscaloosa.

Bo Pelini still blames the Big XII refs for the Nebraska loss against Texas A&M. Funny that A&M is now sticking it to the Big XII.

A story by Pat Forde on yard markers. It’s much better than it sounds.

One of the best panels ever put together on the issues with college football.

Eric LeGrand still wants kickoffs.

UCF is so desperate for fans that George O’Leary asked fans of other schools to support his team after their games are over. So sad…

The Mountain West may be going broke.

Ohio State needs to look at the Oregon compliance department and learn how to track memorabilia.

Year2 looks at if defense or offense sells tickets. A great analysis.

Joe Posnanski on why people stay loyal to college teams.

Tim Hyland wrote a great piece on why he can’t wait for college football season to begin.

Aaron Torres scored a podcast with Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo.

Andy Staples gave us CASH, now he gives us LOOT.

Navy and Notre Dame have extended their contract through the 2026 season.

The B1G came up with this logo for their Championship Game

 Pat Forde explains why college athlete’s really aren’t as poor as everyone makes them out to be.

Here is a look at what might happen to college sports if the NCAA folds.

Another reason why Lane Kiffin is one of the worst coaches in FBS, or why you shouldn’t go for two very often.

Smart Football with a long story on the theory of football offenses.

A very accurate story on how Maryland isn’t a football school and a story on the Maryland’s athletic department is broke.

Probably the most important story in years and almost no one has talked about it. The Virginia Tech helmet study.

The Price of Victory in college football from Black Heart Gold Pants.

FO College gives this look at why Keith Jackson is his favorite. Since Jackson is my favorite announcer of all time, I loved the article.

A ticket from the 1952 Senior Bowl

 It’s a basketball story, but Kristi Dosh explains how a coach can bring in millions for an athletic department.

USC has had traveler as a mascot for 50 years. Here is a story about traveler’s history.

Traveler has been USC's mascot for 50 years

 If you want more mascot history, here is the history of the Lobo at New Mexico.

An old photo of the New Mexico Lobo mascot

 SmokingMusket gave a great look at future WVU schedules and why they like to play in NFL stadiums.

Brian Grummell of CFBPundit gave his top 10 college football coaches and his bottom 10.

The trophy for the Hawaii versus Wyoming rivalry is missing. Below is a picture just incase you happen to find it.

A picture of the missing Paniolo trophy, awarded to the winner of the Hawaii versus Wyoming game

 Aaron Torres had one of the best articles of the summer on what if Tim Tebow had played at Alabama.

Idaho came up with this great Mark Schlereth bobblehead

 I consider this the best of all the articles I have read from John Infante. It basically talks about how it is time for schools to decide if they are either in or out of the NCAA.

Utah provided a link that has every media guide since 1948!

Felder put all the current FBS programs into tiers.

 Finally, all the way from basketball season, Kristi Dosh shows how the B1G shares ticket revenue. Something most conferences don’t do.