Some Football notes and a lead off talk of Stadium Expansion

[EagleMountainUte]

EXPAND IT HARLAN!!

Feels like football is right around the corner. 

[Duhwayne]

As networks hemorrhage cash and future revenues are an open question in an a la carte streaming environment, is it really good ROI to take on a remodel project with donor money? Isn’t this what has Cal on the ropes? If anything breaks up the PAC12 and current FBS system, this issue is it. Big tv audience schools decouple and realign with other big tv audience schools, making a new league. I’m not sure we get to join the new league. It’s like buying a big second home when the economy is good.

[Utah]

What networks are hemmoraging cash?

[RiseasUtes]

ESPN, not sure about the others 

[Utah]

ESPN is still turning profits. What networks are hemmoraging cash?

ESPN might not be the ATM it once was, but it is still making money and a lot of money at that.
 

[RiseasUtes]

Not sure what stations he is referring to.  ESPNs profits are vastly declining, but they are still fine.  I was just guessing that was what he is referring to.

[PlainsUte]

Profits must be dropping fast if they have to keep cutting staff.  Does Disney break out the profits from ESPN separately when they report?

[Duhwayne]

Disney’s franchises are wasting. ESPN is the crown jewel in terms of profitability but they offset losses by stripping it. Cord cutting is accelerating. Ad buys declining. The future is coming and it’s not supported by broadcast networks or large bundled cable TV. The result? Declines in conference revenue. I don’t think now is the time to add debt if realignment inside P5s is coming.

[EagleMountainUte]

Once they allow kids to transfer at will I see the landscape changing again. It will be after the SEC deal expires. 

[TheJuggernaut]

Cal spent $440 million to renovate their stadium, I believe we’re looking at $40-$50 million. And there will always be money in live sports, many actually expect the live sports revenue stream to increase as online platforms become more efficient.

[PlainsUte]

That $440M was an insane amount!  That said, $40-50M is fairly modest number in the stadium build/remodel realm.  Sure there are becoming more ways to see sports online/streaming/etc, but there should still be demand locally for the in-person game experience.  For a city the size of SLC with no pro football, I think demand will be there for another 10,000 or so seats.  That’s about $4000-$5000 capital cost per seat, which UU Athletics should be able to recoup in 10 years or less.  There may be slack demand for non-Pac12 games, but should be solid for Pac-12 home schedule, plus TDS.

[homer]

Expansion will cost more than $40-$50million. That said the South end zone and facilities must be redone.

Last I heard that project in a modest design would cost around $60mil.

I think the market is a little softer than people think it is. Yeah 98% renewal, (I have several), but I struggled to sell my sick daughters tickets the last two  years.

 

 

[homer]

Cal HAD to spend that much to meet quake codes. That stadium is a hot mess. 

[KiYi-Ute]

I’m torn on stadium expansion. I believe that when we joined the PAC, Chris Hill was told by pretty much every other AD in the league that expansion needed to be done very carefully otherwise you’ll end up with a ton of empty seats and a poor ROI. If you look at most of the away games we play (Autzen and Husky stadium being the first exceptions I can think of) there are a lot of empty seats, while RES is consistently sold out.

But I also think about how nice it would look if the South End Zone was filled in and if they remodeled the locker rooms (as I hear they’re kind of a dump). And if you could put some bathrooms on the upper level of the west side, that would be real convenient for me up in row 60, haha.

[GoUtes]

I feel like it’s hard to compare our stadium situation to others as it is very different. We only have 45,000 seats and our locker rooms are so bad. ASU and USC are reducing number of seats but will still have more seats than we would likely have in a remodel. ASU will have 57k seats and USC will have 77k seats. Plus we have to do something about the locker rooms. Removing that tiny south end zone and upgrading locker rooms would be an awesome sight.

[TheJuggernaut]

The SEZ has to be replaced at some point, it’s not a question of if but when. It’s a WAC relic and a complete dump.

[AlohaUte]

What Utah has going for it over the large market schools (Washington, USC, UCLA, CAL, Stanford) is that Salt Lake is also a large market but they and the Jazz are the only show in town (well RSL too, I guess) and Utah is a football state. So I think it has a similar draw as the Nebraskas and Oklahomas.

And it has an advantage over Oregon, Oregon State and Wazzu simply because SLC is a large city and is a desirable place (for instance no one wants to live in Tucson) to live generally.

So I think Utah could afford to put in another 15k seats and it would still sellout for a long time. IMO, Utah has a bright future. The key is maintaining it and the key to that is getting the head coach hire right whenever Whittingham hangs it up.

[Duhwayne]

Another 15k is what they put into LES when they were winning and fortunes were better. How is that now?

[noneyadb]

Byu made their own bed when they went independent and can’t recruit the players needed to compete against P5 schools. Look at their home schedule, who the hell wants to pay for that garbage?

Utah is in a completely different world. If there is conference realignment I would wager the PAC 12 dropping OSU, and Wazzu before Utah. Salt Lake is expected to triple in population, and add to that the likely possibility of hosting another Winter Olympics, a 60k seat stadium should be expected.

[EagleMountainUte]

Agree with all of what you said except the amount. Renovate the locker room add around 5k with luxury boxes. 

[Utah]

Ding ding ding! Winner!

the renovation is to get new lockers and LUXURY BOXES. Revenue, revenue, revenue. Go get the corporate dollars in Utah that aren’t being spent on the Jazz. 

[TheJuggernaut]

Admittedly this was a few years ago, but the plan I saw was this: phase 1 was to fill in the SEZ with a combination of suites and benches, adding 6-7K new seats, phase 2 was to add a second deck to the East side – when the stadium was renovated in 1998 footings were added to the East side which would allow a second deck to be added. This would add another 8K seats, bringing the total capacity to about 61K.

I’m guessing we’ll see phase 1 beginning sometime in the next few years, phase 2 would be several years down the line, if ever.

[RiseasUtes]

Nebraska and Oklahoma sell out their huge stadiums and sell out their spring games with 85000+ people.  I would hardly say we have a similar draw.  We do sell out consistently and have done so for several years, but they have done so for decades. The population and sports options might be similar, but we have a long ways to go to draw as much attention as either of them.

[Ute_tastic]

The information that you posted about the phase 2 second deck and the footings is false. The architects (FFRK Architects) that worked on the 1998 expansion had anticipated an expansion of the south end zone but there was never a mention of a second deck on the east side.

FFKR

Sorry this post was meant to be a reply to TheJuggernaut

[TheJuggernaut]

Just something I heard from a reliable source. Your link doesn’t mention a second deck one way or the other, it only mentions the possible addition of a suite level at the top of the East bowl.

[Ute_tastic]

The fact that FFKR mentions a south end zone expansion but not a second deck actually says a lot. If there were indeed plans for a second deck and footings were constructed it would surly be mentioned in the link as a possibility to expansion.

In order for the footings to be constructed the architects and engineers would have had to design the second deck to calculate the loads for the footing designs, this not a small nor cheap task. The structure and electrical substation just east of the stadium are in the way of a second deck and they were there prior to the expansion in 1998. Google Earth shows the rectangular structure in a 1993 aerial photo, its the same now as it was then.

I’ve followed the expansion talks and I’ve never seen anything from the university about a second deck. I’ve never seen any architecture renderings of a second deck like those for the south end zone. This talk about a second deck to the stadium has never been more than fans talking it up or fans wish lists.

[Grayshirt]

The trend in stamium expansion is more about improving the game day viewing experience for fans and updating team locker, medical, and meeting rooms to attract athletes.

It’s interesting that only a few short years ago when Missouri got the invite to the SEC, the talk was to expand seating capacity.  Today Mizzou’s stadium will spend $98 million to go from 72,000 to around 65,000.  But will feature Suites and various Club seating and new locker digs.

Mizzou stadium expansion article

Also, look at Papa John’s Stadium.  They originally thought they would build for a capacity of 80k, but now looks like they will spend $63 million finish around 65k because their focus is now on fan and player amenity improvements.

https://footballstadiumdigest.com/2018/06/papa-johns-cardinal-stadium-expansion-closer-to-completion/

Utah will get it right when it comes to expansion.  I just hope to see the announcement soon.

[EagleMountainUte]

Less people want to watch the games. The next game you go to watch the younger generation. They are on their damn phones constantly. Women even more so. 

I watched most of the nba playoffs and people with lower bowl tickets are phone up taking photos. The fan experience will be WiFi availability and networks. Wouldn’t be surprised if the sez included a Verizon cell tower in the middle of it.