U of U leaders got it right with our stadium

[ukiyoronin]

Seen a few articles out there describing how many big time programs (like Alabama, Florida state, and Nebraska to name a few) are spending hundreds of millions to downsize their stadiums to offer more premium options. The idea is that they believe the days of packing in fans onto crappy bleacher seats are over, and the days of people wanting a premium watching option are here. Cool to see our leadership had that pegged down with the latest stadium expansion. Hopefully they’ll use the Olympics to make even more improvements. (I still think Utah could easily add another 5-10k seats and sell out every game, however. The waiting list for season tickets is thousands of people long)

Downsizing is the cool new thing.

[Central Coast Ute]

Gotta say bleacher seating is terrible. That’s one thing I liked about the Coliseum. Everyone had a back rest and their own arm rests.

[MDUte]

Could not agree more! I’d like to see RES replace all bleachers for seats except in the student section. I think the MUSS prefers the bleachers for packing it in.

[UteThunder]

They blew it with the luxury seats in the SEZ. That part of the stadium looks empty on TV.

[MDUte]

Agreed. I think if they just painted the loge seating red, it wouldn’t stick out so bad and look empty.

[Ute in Chatt]

I don’t think the MUSS has sat down at all over the last 10 + years. Bleacher seats, I feel work great for how hostile they make it for opposing teams

[belli1976]

This will price out the average Joe for attending games.

Here comes the corporate sponsors and only the upper class attending games.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

The average BigTen school’s stadium is over 72K. I would think that if we had the means, we should expand to somewhere in the range of 65-70K in order to remain an attractive option. If the decision were made today, Utah would be the BigTen’s top “Big 12” team. But by that time, we could risk losing out to Ariz, Ariz St, and/or Colorado. All are AAU schools, and all are situated in a larger media market. Where Utah needs to shine is in the W/L “national branding” edge that we currently have. Since we all also average ~ 51K seat stadiums, we could minimize the “media market” deficit with “packed house game day” environments.

I’m not suggesting we dump millions of dollars into reshaping RES. All I’m saying is, if the Olympics will commit extra funds to expanding it, go all in on it.

GO UTES!!!

[Author]

Posts