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I know ODU wants to expand the stadium. That being said, I haven't seen anything lately about how they will do it or what the capacity would be. Is there any recent news on when expansion will start, how it will be done, and what the final stadium capacity will be?

Any details or plans about the stadium expansion will be in the ODU Master Plan which I think will be released in May or June.

Thanks for the info. I will be awaiting the report. To say all of this makes me proud as an ODU alum is an understatement. Go Monarchs!

Coach Wilder talks stadium expansion:
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/sports/bobby-wil...-expansion

How long and how many phases did it take Bridgeforth Stadium at JMU to complete its current expansion?

(04-02-2013 01:12 PM)owynn Wrote:  How long and how many phases did it take Bridgeforth Stadium at JMU to complete its current expansion?

They finished the first phase and it took 2 off-seasons. They removed the track, moved the grandstand closer to the field, demolished the west side and built the double decker between Dec. 2009 and Aug. 2011.

(04-02-2013 01:20 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(04-02-2013 01:12 PM)owynn Wrote:  How long and how many phases did it take Bridgeforth Stadium at JMU to complete its current expansion?

They finished the first phase and it took 2 off-seasons. They removed the track, moved the grandstand closer to the field, demolished the west side and built the double decker between Dec. 2009 and Aug. 2011.

That's just the construction though, right? Can anyone enlighten me about how this is paid for? I'm not too bothered about the source of the cash, just how long it takes. JMU paid for their expansion with bonds right? Would we have that kind of support in place for December this year to then begin construction?

Harry mentions expansion in today's article:

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/04/north-ca...eman-field

says 35,000 and perhaps 3 years.

(04-02-2013 01:38 PM)bigblue78 Wrote:  Harry mentions expansion in today's article:

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/04/north-ca...eman-field

says 35,000 and perhaps 3 years.

35k just doesn't seem like a lot to me. Surely, that would still have us firmly in the bottom half of FBS capacities?

(04-02-2013 02:17 PM)Monarchs Wrote:  35k just doesn't seem like a lot to me. Surely, that would still have us firmly in the bottom half of FBS capacities?

35k isn't a lot. However, East Carolina didn't go straight to 50k. With continued growth of our program, our stadium will continue to grow accordingly. We don't have the demand for more than 35k seats.

That would tell me we are sticking with current stadium. Enclose the other end zone gets us to 28k,then drop one clamshell and add another 7k.

(04-02-2013 02:17 PM)Monarchs Wrote:  

(04-02-2013 01:38 PM)bigblue78 Wrote:  Harry mentions expansion in today's article:

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/04/north-ca...eman-field

says 35,000 and perhaps 3 years.

35k just doesn't seem like a lot to me. Surely, that would still have us firmly in the bottom half of FBS capacities?

We currently have (lack of) parking issues with 20k seats, that will be a huge issue into how much we can build.

35K would be somewhere in the upper 80's out of about 125 in terms of seating capacity.

I am not an engineer so I am going way out on a limb here, but I don't think they will drop one of the clam shells. I believe that if they expand the stadium, they will enclose the end zone and then add upper decks above the clam shells, with a vastly improved press box on one of the upper decks. I am not sure, but it could be that with new expanded end zone seating and a deck on one side (home side?), they might be able to get the initial additional 15K with a later deck on the visitor side to take it into the 45K+ range in a second phase. With this, of course, they will have to find additional parking somewhere.

What we have to keep in mind is that Foreman Field was built in the 30's, somewhere around 75-80 years old. I will not be surprised if the recommendation is to build a new stadium.

Whatever they do, I look forward to seeing the solution.

35k would be ok but 40k would be just impressive. And would meet our growth needs for a longer period of time.

From that video it seems the plan moving forward is to expand SB Ballard and not to construct a new stadium. My guess is new endzone seating with new home locker room underneath (current locker room becomes visitors)... new pressbox and upper deck with elevator built over exisiting clamshell on one side... and maybe an upper deck and luxury boxes on the other side?

(04-02-2013 03:13 PM)FearTheLion Wrote:  35k would be ok but 40k would be just impressive. And would meet our growth needs for a longer period of time.

+1... 40,000 is a nice round number

Well clearly we have to find a balance. 35K would, I assume, just be enough for everyone on the wait list. Will we pack 35K people in SB Ballard Stadium if we have a few seasons at or around .500? I would hope so as I think the support in Norfolk is pretty strong. If the OOC scheduling is good then I don't see an issue in pulling a big crowd to such games.

I think we need to follow the JMU model and go bit by bit, we do not want to go all out and risk paying for a 50K stadium with only 20-35K asses in seats. My idea would be to join the clam shells in a complete north end and getting the facilities to be top notch. From there we can do the east and then west stands as needed.

That said, we could knock one side down ASAP and sacrifice having a full stadium this year and really get going which should give us a bigger stadium in time for the 2014 season. I'm not sure that getting the money and finishing half a stadium in 14-15 months is realistic though. As much as I love planning this kind of thing and taking a walk around SB Ballard Stadium to envision it, I'm glad that we have some great people working on this and I'm sure that they'll surprise me in a very good way.

(04-02-2013 03:43 PM)ODUgradstudent Wrote:  Well clearly we have to find a balance. 35K would, I assume, just be enough for everyone on the wait list. Will we pack 35K people in SB Ballard Stadium if we have a few seasons at or around .500? I would hope so as I think the support in Norfolk is pretty strong. If the OOC scheduling is good then I don't see an issue in pulling a big crowd to such games.

I think we need to follow the JMU model and go bit by bit, we do not want to go all out and risk paying for a 50K stadium with only 20-35K asses in seats. My idea would be to join the clam shells in a complete north end and getting the facilities to be top notch. From there we can do the east and then west stands as needed.

That said, we could knock one side down ASAP and sacrifice having a full stadium this year and really get going which should give us a bigger stadium in time for the 2014 season. I'm not sure that getting the money and finishing half a stadium in 14-15 months is realistic though. As much as I love planning this kind of thing and taking a walk around SB Ballard Stadium to envision it, I'm glad that we have some great people working on this and I'm sure that they'll surprise me in a very good way.

Problem is if we go to 50k eventually, we need a new stadium anyway. Might as well build it now rather than waste money on incremental rennovations. I'd rather have some empty seats than have to do this all over again in 5-10 years.

(04-02-2013 03:46 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(04-02-2013 03:43 PM)ODUgradstudent Wrote:  Well clearly we have to find a balance. 35K would, I assume, just be enough for everyone on the wait list. Will we pack 35K people in SB Ballard Stadium if we have a few seasons at or around .500? I would hope so as I think the support in Norfolk is pretty strong. If the OOC scheduling is good then I don't see an issue in pulling a big crowd to such games.

I think we need to follow the JMU model and go bit by bit, we do not want to go all out and risk paying for a 50K stadium with only 20-35K asses in seats. My idea would be to join the clam shells in a complete north end and getting the facilities to be top notch. From there we can do the east and then west stands as needed.

That said, we could knock one side down ASAP and sacrifice having a full stadium this year and really get going which should give us a bigger stadium in time for the 2014 season. I'm not sure that getting the money and finishing half a stadium in 14-15 months is realistic though. As much as I love planning this kind of thing and taking a walk around SB Ballard Stadium to envision it, I'm glad that we have some great people working on this and I'm sure that they'll surprise me in a very good way.

Problem is if we go to 50k eventually, we need a new stadium anyway. Might as well build it now rather than waste money on incremental rennovations. I'd rather have some empty seats than have to do this all over again in 5-10 years.

Will we ever need 50K? (I hope so!)
Can we afford a 50K stadium with no immediate justification?
Is Bluestone really that much of a problem to prevent expansion to 50K?

I don't know the answer to these, but hopefully Perkins + Will does.

I take your point about perennially adding 5-10K being a waste if we can foresee the need for bigger now, which is why most people are advocating 35-40K. I think that makes the most sense.

Maybe a engineer can help us here, what is the life span of concrete structure? I heard 50 to 80 years. Foreman Field already has that much wear on it. It would suck to have to put more money in the structure just to doze it 20 years from now because the clamshell is unsafe