http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/29/478...adium.html

A busy offseason for ND with the $90 million Under Armour deal and now this news.

Sort of a misleading number: "The new buildings will house a student center on the west side, the anthropology and psychology departments and a digital media center on the east side and music and sacred music departments on the south side, leaving the side facing Touchdown Jesus unchanged."

So there's a student center, 4 academic departments, and a "digital media center" that will be included in this $400 million figure.

Still, the increased premium seating will be a boon for their budget. That's the driving force behind renovations at UC, TCU, and several other schools as well.

How is that "misleading"? Those will be all housed in the stadium structure itself.

They also plan to link the stadium with the neighboring Joyce Center.

My guess is that two video boards and field turf will be announced later as part of the project (as rumored).

Looks nice. I suppose you could split hairs between the words renovation and expansion, but the KC paper chose the word expansion and it does expand a bit.

My question for Terry is this - what's the issue on the turf?

Certainly looks great.

(01-29-2014 11:04 AM)lumberpack4 Wrote:  Looks nice. I suppose you could split hairs between the words renovation and expansion, but the KC paper chose the word expansion and it does expand a bit.

My question for Terry is this - what's the issue on the turf?

Many, many, many ND alumni and fans hate the idea of Field Turf and video boards in ND Stadium.

They view it as a money grab that will ruin the "classic", old fashioned "feel" of Notre Dame Stadium and are angrily opposed to either idea.

Notre Dame is embarking on the most ambitious building project in University history.

When construction is complete, three new buildings with 750,000 square feet will attach to the east, west and south sides of the football stadium to further integrate the academy, student life and athletics.

Visit http://crossroads.nd.edu for more photos and information.

(01-29-2014 11:13 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 11:04 AM)lumberpack4 Wrote:  Looks nice. I suppose you could split hairs between the words renovation and expansion, but the KC paper chose the word expansion and it does expand a bit.

My question for Terry is this - what's the issue on the turf?

Many, many, many ND alumni and fans hate the idea of Field Turf and video boards in ND Stadium.

They view it as a money grab that will ruin the "classic", old fashioned "feel" of Notre Dame Stadium and are angrily opposed to either idea.

So this Headline would make some Irish heads explode?

Notre Dame announced the addition of Video Boards and Field Turf to be ready for the start of the Irish's 2015 Inaugural Big Ten season

I like real grass myself. I seem to recall a number of complaints about the height of the grass at ND in September. Which generates the least injuries? The natural surface?

What's underneath the current field? Is it heated and drained?

DickieV: "Kiss-cam, coming to Notre Dame stadium, baby..."

This is a very serious issue for long-time Domers. And this is probably the best way to get it done; by making it part of a mega-expansion.


Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said mixing athletics, student life and classrooms is what Notre Dame should do.

And now for the sales pitch...

"It's such a powerful symbol given what's going on in college athletics right now, that you can take the stadium and say we believe in the integration of athletics into academics, and here's the living proof of it," he said.

There are a bunch of videos regarding the project on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/NDdotEDU?feature=watch

Looks great and the concept of building and mixing academic units into the stadium itself is a great idea for campuses that are short on space to expand

(01-29-2014 12:20 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  Looks great and the concept of building and mixing academic units into the stadium itself is a great idea for campuses that are short on space to expand

The compromise is that every new building that is built flush against the football stadium will have no windows on the side that is up against the stadium. Maybe those will be the small, dark rooms for the grad students and postdocs.

They never see the sunlight anyway during school so they're used to it

(01-29-2014 11:13 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 11:04 AM)lumberpack4 Wrote:  Looks nice. I suppose you could split hairs between the words renovation and expansion, but the KC paper chose the word expansion and it does expand a bit.

My question for Terry is this - what's the issue on the turf?

Many, many, many ND alumni and fans hate the idea of Field Turf and video boards in ND Stadium.

They view it as a money grab that will ruin the "classic", old fashioned "feel" of Notre Dame Stadium and are angrily opposed to either idea.

I get the video board opposition along those lines, but Field Turf is just a better playing surface especially for a school in northern half of the country. Plus the Field Turf can be made to look as plain and classic as ND might want. There's definitely no requirement to put logos or weird colors in. I personally like video boards for replays and such things of that nature. On the other hand I can do without the insane amount of advertising that goes on them.

Looks great. It's nice to see them investing in an updated cathedral for their program.

It's about time. This is a much needed upgrade. The current stadium is easily the worst among any top 20 program.

(01-29-2014 01:08 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  It's about time. This is a much needed upgrade. The current stadium is easily the worst among any top 20 program.

I have to agree with you. I went to a Notre Dame game a few years ago and I was truly shocked at how bad it was.

(01-29-2014 12:25 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:20 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  Looks great and the concept of building and mixing academic units into the stadium itself is a great idea for campuses that are short on space to expand

The compromise is that every new building that is built flush against the football stadium will have no windows on the side that is up against the stadium. Maybe those will be the small, dark rooms for the grad students and postdocs.

Way to use various funds to achieve their goal. When UT built the west side upper deck and Bellmont Hall, they added some classroom and gym space so they didn't have to tap only athletic funds.

Notre Dame is FSU-ing their stadium.

I don't see what the big deal about artificial turf is. Very few schools in the north have real grass these days. And fans that don't like to see a replay? Only idiots would have no desire to watch a great touchdown or turnover again, or to see from another angle if a turnover or short yardage call was made correctly.