Info on Baylor's new football stadium. Looks nice and is only 45,140 in seating capacity. If anyone ever said 45K was not big enough to handle crowds in the Big 12 against teams like Texas and OU, this debunks that myth completely. The only reason we would struggle to play Texas or aTm in HRS is that there is a bigger option in close proximity to HRS.

The current state of HRS is the key reason why Reliant is the only option at this time.

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/...ne-stadium

I'm not sure anyone ever said HRS wasn't big enough. It is definitely the state that it is in and the parking situation that keep us from hosting such games at home.

(07-03-2014 10:32 AM)d1owls4life Wrote:  I'm not sure anyone ever said HRS wasn't big enough. It is definitely the state that it is in and the parking situation that keep us from hosting such games at home.

There have been multiple comments about needing to expand seating as well. Parking and stadium condition are the biggest detriments. Both can be solved with hard work. Just thought it was interesting that a brand new stadium in the Big XII was only 45K.

(07-03-2014 10:34 AM)mbrindley Wrote:  

(07-03-2014 10:32 AM)d1owls4life Wrote:  I'm not sure anyone ever said HRS wasn't big enough. It is definitely the state that it is in and the parking situation that keep us from hosting such games at home.

There have been multiple comments about needing to expand seating as well. Parking and stadium condition are the biggest detriments. Both can be solved with hard work. Just thought it was interesting that a brand new stadium in the Big XII was only 45K.

Ok, well, I guess I don't remember them or just ignored them.

I agree with your biggest detriments. And yes, hard work and pounding the table that this needs to happen is the way to get it done.

And I agree that the size is interesting. It is the right size for Baylor though. They don't need any bigger.

(07-03-2014 10:32 AM)d1owls4life Wrote:  I'm not sure anyone ever said HRS wasn't big enough. It is definitely the state that it is in and the parking situation that keep us from hosting such games at home.

+100)

What exactly is the issue with the parking situation? Sure, the parking lots are pretty small, but there are a bunch of garages in the medical center area. I don't see how Rice's parking situation is different than any other city school.

(07-03-2014 11:13 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  What exactly is the issue with the parking situation? Sure, the parking lots are pretty small, but there are a bunch of garages in the medical center area. I don't see how Rice's parking situation is different than any other city school.

In the past, part of it was lack of planning/coordination by the ath. dept. in how to allocate parking through the various lots and garages that might be available. Led to some cluster situations.


given the ease of the current parking for games with ~20,000 in attendance, it seems like ~30,000 should be doable as is, and perhaps ~40,000 with proper planning.

Most college stadiums do not have a lot of close on-site parking. Last time I went to Rice at Texas, the closest public parking was at Brackenridge at 15th and Interregional. At A&M, it is going to be somewhere on the street at least a half mile away. At Texans game, there is no unreserved parking so it means coming in by metro. The Rice parking situation could easily be dealt with by having a shuttle to the Medical Center garages and the Dryden metro stop. In the old days at HRS, a lot of parking was done on the street but newer parking restrictions in the adjoining neighborhoods no longer make that an option.

The real capacity limitation at HRS is that some of the restrooms and concessions need to restored or improved. Also, we pull up the tarps and put bleachers in the end zones.

(07-03-2014 11:42 AM)talon owl Wrote:  

(07-03-2014 11:13 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  What exactly is the issue with the parking situation? Sure, the parking lots are pretty small, but there are a bunch of garages in the medical center area. I don't see how Rice's parking situation is different than any other city school.

In the past, part of it was lack of planning/coordination by the ath. dept. in how to allocate parking through the various lots and garages that might be available. Led to some cluster situations.


given the ease of the current parking for games with ~20,000 in attendance, it seems like ~30,000 should be doable as is, and perhaps ~40,000 with proper planning.

(07-03-2014 11:42 AM)talon owl Wrote:  

(07-03-2014 11:13 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  What exactly is the issue with the parking situation? Sure, the parking lots are pretty small, but there are a bunch of garages in the medical center area. I don't see how Rice's parking situation is different than any other city school.

In the past, part of it was lack of planning/coordination by the ath. dept. in how to allocate parking through the various lots and garages that might be available. Led to some cluster situations.


given the ease of the current parking for games with ~20,000 in attendance, it seems like ~30,000 should be doable as is, and perhaps ~40,000 with proper planning.

Rice Parking certainly wasn't helpful in these situations either.

I've never felt we had a parking quantity issue. Look at all the schools where there is not enough parking for all attendees (or even for all donors). (Hint: They're the same schools whom we claim we can't host as a result of our own parking situation... obviously their fans know about parking issues). Instead our issue seems to be our inability to direct the traffic accordingly. We need someone to draw up a proper traffic plan and then invest the pre-game resources to train the staff on the ground about it.

On top of that, the layout of the stadium lot, with entrances to the mini-lots long distances from the entrance to the university as a whole is absolutely ridiculous if you intend to use the lots for big events. Each mini-lot should have at least one entrance/exit to the street and one entrance-exit to the campus drive. During large events, only the street entrances should be used on most of the mini-lots, with one lot (the one by Shepherd) accommodating people who drive up Campus drive. For exits, the street exits should be utilized and police should be hired to facilitate each exit. The interior exits can also be available, but that traffic should be forced back down campus drive rather than competing for street exits with the mini-lots street exits.

More than anything, it's the lack of infrastructure that's holding HRS back. The stadium doesn't have the restroom space or concessions to handle a big crowd. Parking stinks everywhere you go. I went to see UH play LSU about 15 years ago. I had to park a mile from the stadium and walk. Shuttle busses could transport fans from Reliant parking to the HRS if need be. If they don't like that option, let them deal with trying to find a place to park around the stadium. Not our problem.

(07-03-2014 01:23 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  More than anything, it's the lack of infrastructure that's holding HRS back. The stadium doesn't have the restroom space or concessions to handle a big crowd. Parking stinks everywhere you go. I went to see UH play LSU about 15 years ago. I had to park a mile from the stadium and walk. Shuttle busses could transport fans from Reliant parking to the HRS if need be. If they don't like that option, let them deal with trying to find a place to park around the stadium. Not our problem.

I see bathrooms as one of the most easily resolvable issues with one of these games, especially if we're just talking about one game a year. Stick one of these in each corner of the stadium to supplement the existing bathrooms: http://www.yourrestroomdelivered.com/lar...m-trailers

Makes you wonder how anyone ever went to the games in the 50's. I even remember going to the restrooms during some of those games and returned the same day.

(07-03-2014 05:12 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  Makes you wonder how anyone ever went to the games in the 50's. I even remember going to the restrooms during some of those games and returned the same day.

You also wore a tie... AND a hat.

Perhaps more on point, You drank warm Dr Pepper from a 12 oz glass bottle rather than ice cold Diet Coke and Beer from a 64 oz cup.

Another issue with parking was illustrated at the Regionals. I sat a long time in the parking lot trying to exit onto Shepherd after the games. There should have been traffic control on Rice to get the traffic out as soon as the game was over. Just poor coordination as noted earlier.

(07-03-2014 08:13 PM)jhruzek Wrote:  Another issue with parking was illustrated at the Regionals. I sat a long time in the parking lot trying to exit onto Shepherd after the games. There should have been traffic control on Rice to get the traffic out as soon as the game was over. Just poor coordination as noted earlier.

Damn, that was awful. Even a modicum of traffic planning would have allowed the campus to clear quickly. But no.

Is there something in the water in Houston that causes institutions to fail to do traffic planning for events? It seems like an endemic failure that happens time after time at venue after venue. It's as if the powers that be have all been conditioned to throw up their hands and say "What are you gonna do?"

Perhaps other communities exhibit similar levels of repeated helplessness and I just haven't noticed.

I do not like the Mega Stadium approach that NFL and Colleges keep doing, I have gone to many of these venus, and it is not a great fan experience, it seems to me that there is a loss of value when these clubs just want to pack as many people into one building!

(07-03-2014 03:54 PM)texd Wrote:  

(07-03-2014 01:23 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  More than anything, it's the lack of infrastructure that's holding HRS back. The stadium doesn't have the restroom space or concessions to handle a big crowd. Parking stinks everywhere you go. I went to see UH play LSU about 15 years ago. I had to park a mile from the stadium and walk. Shuttle busses could transport fans from Reliant parking to the HRS if need be. If they don't like that option, let them deal with trying to find a place to park around the stadium. Not our problem.

I see bathrooms as one of the most easily resolvable issues with one of these games, especially if we're just talking about one game a year. Stick one of these in each corner of the stadium to supplement the existing bathrooms: http://www.yourrestroomdelivered.com/lar...m-trailers

Quite a few college stadiums seem to have inadequate restroom facilities, but it doesn't stop people from attending.

The restrooms at UT always seem to be painfully crowded.

I've only been to Notre Dame once (for the Rice game in 1988), but I remember a lot of port-a-potties placed just outside the stadium to supplement the restrooms inside.

My biggest issue with bathrooms at UH (old stadium) and Rice, was that it was freeking hot inside the bathroom, and that is just gross, especially with all the smells that come out of that environment.

with only 3,500 students, our current stadium size is all we'll need....if you look at A$M and UT for example, with 50,000 students each, no wonder they need 100,000 capacity.