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So I'm watching the Compass Bowl, and I'm hearing all this talk about 35 thousand Vandy Fans and I don't believe it. Vandy can't get 35K OF THEIR OWN fans to show up at Dudley, so why there? So my question is, how many seats does the side that the Vandy fans were sitting on hold? I would guess with a capacity of 71K and change, that just under half of the seats weren't there.
Also, did anyone from here go? Your thoughts on the figures?

Capacity is 72K. I have no idea. They had to have brought more people than Houston did.

It was probably close to an accurate figure. Vandy was coming off of a couple of very good years, it was a bowl game that wasn't too far away or too expensive to get to. It's a couple of hour drive, you didn't even have to overnight unless you wanted to.

Legion Field is an antique. The camera positions are not very TV friendly, as opposed to any modern stadium where things like that are designed in, not crammed in somewhere later. It is notoriously hard to judge crowds there just by looking.

(01-10-2014 01:02 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  So I'm watching the Compass Bowl, and I'm hearing all this talk about 35 thousand Vandy Fans and I don't believe it. Vandy can't get 35K OF THEIR OWN fans to show up at Dudley, so why there? So my question is, how many seats does the side that the Vandy fans were sitting on hold? I would guess with a capacity of 71K and change, that just under half of the seats weren't there.
Also, did anyone from here go? Your thoughts on the figures?

The sideline seats are 12,500 each. Vandy fans were on the West side too. Those little corner wedges are a surprising number of seats too. The endzone seats plus all 4 corner sections make up about 40,000 seats.

The numbers are right. I was there. It was a great crowd. Houston brought a good section too, considering how far they travel.

Vandy only had to travel 3 and a half hours from Nashville, and their alums are probably scattered all over the southeast. Easy road trip, nice city, postseason play... they brought it. The east side was absolutely jam-packed too. It was impressive.

(01-10-2014 01:10 PM)thebernreuter Wrote:  The sideline seats are 12,500 each. Vandy fans were on the West side too. Those little corner wedges are a surprising number of seats too. The endzone seats plus all 4 corner sections make up about 40,000 seats.

Correction: 13,000 per sideline. The endzones and corners are 45,000. I have a hard time believing those proportions are right, but that's what I've seen on this board.

That can't be right.

(01-10-2014 01:02 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  So I'm watching the Compass Bowl, and I'm hearing all this talk about 35 thousand Vandy Fans and I don't believe it. Vandy can't get 35K OF THEIR OWN fans to show up at Dudley, so why there? So my question is, how many seats does the side that the Vandy fans were sitting on hold? I would guess with a capacity of 71K and change, that just under half of the seats weren't there.
Also, did anyone from here go? Your thoughts on the figures?

Having been in there more times than I care to admit, one can ascertain a pretty good guess from looking as to how many people are in there seated for a game. Last year's bowl drew over 55,000 (give or take, most of them undeniably were Ole Miss fans)...I was going to attend this final game (bowl sponsor's pulling out after this one) but couldn't get away from my officiating commitment soon enough to enjoy it. Had to watch it on TV. I think it's a pretty safe assumption that somewhere between 45 and 47K were on hand, and a lot of them were wearing Black and Gold. Commodore Nation represented well on that day, IMHO. Would love for Coach Franklin to have stayed and take them on an even greater ride than they've enjoyed the last 3 seasons. Any chance that someone uploaded a video of the game on YouTube? Maybe you can gauge the crowd size from that.

(01-10-2014 01:12 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  That can't be right.

I think it's an optical illusion.

Having experienced what Legion Field feels like when it's slightly over half full, with full-on concessions, fireworks, and food trucks everywhere, I'm not all that concerned about our stadium anymore. The atmosphere was pretty great, and I didn't care about either team. We have a numbers problems more than anything else. Put a bunch of people in there and staff it well and it's an okay place to be.

I even had to park in the neighborhood, and my car was still there when I got back. And I still had all my windows and tires and everything.

Yep. That's how it looked. I was pleasingly surprised, the last time I'd set foot in that place that had a crowd remotely this size was the Papa John's Bowl game between Rutgers & NC State a few years ago. God, I wish UAB could draw a crowd this size for a game. "Legal", great job posting those stadium photo files. Damn shame the bowl game's going away, drawing like this the last couple of seasons. Sad as hell.

(01-10-2014 01:24 PM)Matrix Wrote:  Damn shame the bowl game's going away, drawing like this the last couple of seasons. Sad as hell.

Is that official? They could end up with another sponsor, or just call it the Birmingham Bowl. ESPN might want to keep it around, especially after outdrawing the Sugar Bowl last year.

(01-10-2014 01:34 PM)thebernreuter Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 01:24 PM)Matrix Wrote:  Damn shame the bowl game's going away, drawing like this the last couple of seasons. Sad as hell.

Is that official? They could end up with another sponsor, or just call it the Birmingham Bowl. ESPN might want to keep it around, especially after outdrawing the Sugar Bowl last year.

Far as the sponsor leaving? Yes. No one else has been lined up to replace BBVA that I know of. To my knowledge, there's not a bowl game in existence today that doesn't have a corporate sponsor "tag" attached to it...City may have to foot the bill to keep the bowl going if that's possible, not sure how ESPN is going to feel about that(somebody's gotta pay for commercial time), but a lot of hell-raising will be forthcoming from some locals about "fiscal responsibility", as is done annually with the MCC game.

Don't confuse "sponsor of the bowl game" with "owner of the bowl game"(ESPN). When Papa John's Pizza pulled out (due to its NFL sponsorship priority), BBVA came in so a new sponsor is likely to be found since the game has been a success on various fronts. Papa John's (of Louisville,KY) was not local and neither was BBVA Compass (partly of Spain) so sponsorship doesn't have to be local. Local would be preferred since it may be more stable in annual renewal, but is not critical. I'm sure ESPN is shopping the bowl around so we will wait for them to sell it.

The seating capacity of Legion Field that I was given by the Park Board was 26,000 in the 100 yards between the goal lines along the sidelines for east and west stands. Seating behind the goal lines on both sides is apparently considered "end zone seating" and makes up the rest of the total seats. When the upper deck still existed they said the 26,000 was raised to 35,000 between the goal lines.

26000 per sideline, 52000 between the end goal lines. 10000 per endzone.

(01-10-2014 03:51 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  26000 per sideline, 52000 between the end goal lines. 10000 per endzone.

Oops.

(01-10-2014 03:51 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  26000 per sideline, 52000 between the end goal lines. 10000 per endzone.

According to the Park Board letter, the 26,000 is the TOTAL for east AND west stands between the goal lines. The balance of the 70,000 or so seats are "end zone seats" behind the goal lines in the north and south ends. That number comes from the City P & R Board letter which I copied and handed out at a BT radio broadcast at Full Moon BBQ on Valley Ave.

(01-10-2014 04:11 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 03:51 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  26000 per sideline, 52000 between the end goal lines. 10000 per endzone.

According to the Park Board letter, the 26,000 is the TOTAL for east AND west stands between the goal lines. The balance of the 70,000 or so seats are "end zone seats" behind the goal lines in the north and south ends. That number comes from the City P & R Board letter which I copied and handed out at a BT radio broadcast at Full Moon BBQ on Valley Ave.

That's the number I was going on, which makes for a ridiculous about of corner and endzone seating, but there it is.

(01-10-2014 04:11 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 03:51 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  26000 per sideline, 52000 between the end goal lines. 10000 per endzone.

According to the Park Board letter, the 26,000 is the TOTAL for east AND west stands between the goal lines. The balance of the 70,000 or so seats are "end zone seats" behind the goal lines in the north and south ends. That number comes from the City P & R Board letter which I copied and handed out at a BT radio broadcast at Full Moon BBQ on Valley Ave.

I get it that you think those numbers you give are correct. The physical size of the football field sinks your numbers. The field is twice as long as it is wide, and the sideline stands have a 5° arc, adding seats .

Do these numbers include the stadium certificate seats? I forget. What is the story about them again?

(01-10-2014 04:17 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 04:11 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 03:51 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  26000 per sideline, 52000 between the end goal lines. 10000 per endzone.

According to the Park Board letter, the 26,000 is the TOTAL for east AND west stands between the goal lines. The balance of the 70,000 or so seats are "end zone seats" behind the goal lines in the north and south ends. That number comes from the City P & R Board letter which I copied and handed out at a BT radio broadcast at Full Moon BBQ on Valley Ave.

I get it that you think those numbers you give are correct. The physical size of the football field sinks your numbers. The field is twice as long as it is wide, and the sideline stands have a 5° arc, adding seats .

Your argument is with the Park Board, not with me. Maybe they have recounted the seats since then and gotten a greater number, but I'm sure they will communicate with you just as they did with me. They also put in the details of the Stadium Certificates, but I have mentioned them before.