(06-17-2017 08:05 AM)Tarantula22 Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 07:38 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 05:37 AM)army56mike Wrote:  35,000 sounds good to me. Building for the future. We can come close to selling out a couple games if we can keep scheduling ODU, UVa, VT and a few national and regional big names. If we want to be a national player we need to look like one.

35,000 sounds good to me too. It basically puts us near the top end of the G5, or more specifically, above most except the AAC. We just need to fill it.

When Jeff Barber was an AD, VMDO designed Williams Stadium include phase2 and phase3. It seems they are pursuing 'Jeffersonian Style' stadium.

I heard Ian McCaw fully participated in Baylor's McLane Stadium. Architect 'Populous' designed the stadium.

Those two architecture companies have no similarities of their designs.

I guess McCaw prefers Populous design instead of VMDO's, so that's why it takes longer to get the decision.


Here is POPULOUS work of Mclane Stadium. beautiful.

Mclane Stadium PoPulous

So pretty, but it's not a Jeffersonian Style.

The Populous design at Baylor is sleek and modern appearing. One wonders how much change to the existing stadium would be done, if any, with the expansion. From an appeal, the sleek, modern Populous designs stands out and makes a statement. I would rather let the C-ville guys have the Jeffersonian style and LU a dramatic sleek, modern look. A modern stadium within the existing LU Jeffersonian buildings would be a focal and impact point.

Go big or go home!!!

I understand the need to have demand for seats which equals greater revenue. So you want to grow slowly and keep capacity down.

At the same time, a big capacity means there's room for larger teams to come. And you can sell a bunch of cheap tickets to general public that can't afford higher prices tickets. I also understand our tickets currently are a great value.

I am for going to 35,000 if we do it right, and by right I mean first class, which I would expect nothing less from the LU Admin.

I do understand we will have a very empty looking stadium much of the time because Our fan base isn't there yet.

(06-30-2017 12:49 AM)army56mike Wrote:  Go big or go home!!!

I understand the need to have demand for seats which equals greater revenue. So you want to grow slowly and keep capacity down.

At the same time, a big capacity means there's room for larger teams to come. And you can sell a bunch of cheap tickets to general public that can't afford higher prices tickets. I also understand our tickets currently are a great value.

I am for going to 35,000 if we do it right, and by right I mean first class, which I would expect nothing less from the LU Admin.

I do understand we will have a very empty looking stadium much of the time because Our fan base isn't there yet.

AM, the stadium being empty looking has not been my experience. I believe LU last year averaged about 16+k per game, which has to be in the top 6-8 in FCS. The games I did not attend I watched online and am yet to see large swarths of empty seats.

Good times ahead!

I was referring to a stadium of 35,000 seats. It would look quite empty often. I don't believe Liberty has the fan base to have 25-30,000 fans at each game yet. But I can't wait to be proven wrong.

Yeah I don't think we will have the casuals that come often enough unless it is a big time opponent or a local opponent. We will probably start off the first year or two pretty decent as people will want to see us in FBS but we'll need to win to bring out the casuals. With UVA so close, we could infringe on their territory and steal people who have no connection to the school but we'll have to give them a reason to come our way. Having UMass, New Mexico State, and others on our schedule instead of Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb is a real step up for the casuals.

(07-02-2017 07:10 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  Yeah I don't think we will have the casuals that come often enough unless it is a big time opponent or a local opponent. We will probably start off the first year or two pretty decent as people will want to see us in FBS but we'll need to win to bring out the casuals. With UVA so close, we could infringe on their territory and steal people who have no connection to the school but we'll have to give them a reason to come our way. Having UMass, New Mexico State, and others on our schedule instead of Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb is a real step up for the casuals.

True but if you are trying to steal casual fans it would be hard to pull them from UVA. It's easier to get excited for UNC Miami and Pitt as opposed to the ones you mentioned. Ticket prices would be in yalls favor but not much else.

One can expect a big factor for LU attendance to be when UVA and VT are playing home games, and who they are playing. When LU competes with VT and UVA for area attention when they have marquee, high profile teams at home, LU will lose the casual fan to those games. When UVA and VT are away and LU has a home game, LU could expect to draw 1,500 to 2,000 more fans who would drive 2+ hours.

And ALL games beginning in 2018 will have MORE fans that travel to LU than ever came to the Bill in the past. How many fans will the non P5 schools bring 500, 1,000, 1,500? So if LU has a 15% bump in attendance, picks up 500-1500 for away teams, and another 1,000 to 2,000 casual fans, LU should be okay to average near 25,000 per game, and more with the P5 games.

So when are y'all supposed to be showing something with the stadium? Design concepts or plans. I know about the older ones.

So, what's happening? Where are visiting teams dressing this year? The longer we hear nothing about consteuction and expansion the more anxious I get.

(07-18-2017 05:50 AM)army56mike Wrote:  So, what's happening? Where are visiting teams dressing this year? The longer we hear nothing about consteuction and expansion the more anxious I get.

I saw this in another forum. It's a sketch of the new indoor practice facility and shows some stadium in the background. Probably will look very different when finalized, but in this sketch it has a walkway from what is now the student side to the mid level of the Baptist side with a view from the walkway of the field on one side and the indoor practice facility on the other. The new Freedom Tower should offer some panoramic views of the campus and the Blue Ridge Mountains for televised games. I can't wait. It should be ready for ODU 2018!

(07-18-2017 06:45 AM)Liberty Fan Wrote:  

(07-18-2017 05:50 AM)army56mike Wrote:  So, what's happening? Where are visiting teams dressing this year? The longer we hear nothing about consteuction and expansion the more anxious I get.

I saw this in another forum. It's a sketch of the new indoor practice facility and shows some stadium in the background. Probably will look very different when finalized, but in this sketch it has a walkway from what is now the student side to the mid level of the Baptist side with a view from the walkway of the field on one side and the indoor practice facility on the other. The new Freedom Tower should offer some panoramic views of the campus and the Blue Ridge Mountains for televised games. I can't wait. It should be ready for ODU 2018!

It looks like there are seats in the end zone with a second deck. That would be crazy for a G5 stadium. If expansion looked like that I think y'all would be happy. Good catch on the background.

i ..... caN'T ..... WAIT !!!!!!!!!!

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-footbal...u10u8macvr

Great article by Sporting News which mentions the stadium expanding to "near 30,000."

I also saw and read the Sporting News article and was surprised of the 30,000 mention. 35,000 just feels like the best number. Not too large as the FBS schedule nears as fan interest builds from the current 16k+ average attendance. If LU averaged in the mid 20'sk beginning in 2018/2019 (with expansion done or partially done), which is a realistic attendance projection, in a 35k stadium that would be a lot of people and not be perceived like GaSt playing in Atlanta with 10k or less in attendance. If the admins are looking at 2 seating expansions, one immediate, one long term, then the 35k makes the most sense. With all the discussions/mentions/rumors of the ultimate size being the high 40's to 60k, again the 35k seems the best fit. And if from a practical, cost effective measure if the "near 30k" is best, then so be it.

We are at 19,200 now. Student side upper deck puts it at approximately 24,200. 6,000 seats in an end zone and we are at 30,000. After that put seats in the FOC end zone?

(08-05-2017 11:14 AM)LUgrad2000 Wrote:  We are at 19,200 now. Student side upper deck puts it at approximately 24,200. 6,000 seats in an end zone and we are at 30,000. After that put seats in the FOC end zone?

I think you'd be looking at more in the south end zone, closer to 10k. I think they'd rather connect the shoe with an upper deck on that side, while keeping the FOC side more of an observation deck/walkway that can see into practice facility and highlight whole stadium. So if they merely do the shoe with student side upper you're around 35K. I think the comment in the article was more off hand. Who knows?

I would think that if they're planning on 25-35,000 to start off that they'll probably have a back-up/secondary plan to add 10-15,000 additional seats later. This is just conjecture on my part, but I think they'd play the expansion safe some. See how ticket sales and actual attendance go before expanding immediately to 35,000+.

It's always best to have too small of a venue than too big. There's not much worse than small crowds in a gigantic arena, such had been the case with Vines due to Daley Layer's MBB teams. To me, this makes more sense due to the probability that it may take a few years for the team to have some success. Also, even with the great teams we have coming to the Bill within the next 10 years, only the Hokies in 2022 will probably overflow the house. For everyone else 25-30,000 seats maybe enough. To me, stages make sense.

(08-05-2017 06:36 PM)LibertyOrangeman Wrote:  I would think that if they're planning on 25-35,000 to start off that they'll probably have a back-up/secondary plan to add 10-15,000 additional seats later. This is just conjecture on my part, but I think they'd play the expansion safe some. See how ticket sales and actual attendance go before expanding immediately to 35,000+.

It's always best to have too small of a venue than too big. There's not much worse than small crowds in a gigantic arena, such had been the case with Vines due to Daley Layer's MBB teams. To me, this makes more sense due to the probability that it may take a few years for the team to have some success. Also, even with the great teams we have coming to the Bill within the next 10 years, only the Hokies in 2022 will probably overflow the house. For everyone else 25-30,000 seats maybe enough. To me, stages make sense.

The FBS schools, and especially the ACC schools, should draw the best. LU can hope that ODU brings a strong contingency. And Army should have a large number. The New Mexico teams who knows. The tightrope to walk is to have enough fans to fill the seating to near capacity, and not increase to much where TV games have large gaps of unused seats. I'm restating 35k on the first expansion and a second one about 10k 5+ years afterwards when momentum is at it's highest.

Bring in the chairback seating. Liberty does everything else first class. The stadium should be the same.