With all the discussion on facility upgrades, I though I go to the master plan and list them out. Which one(s) do you want to see built first?

PROPOSED EAST SIDE LAYOUT

• Three times more concession facilities on East Side
• Full catering kitchen and freight elevator to service all premium areas in stadium
• Student/University engagement opportunity allowing for use on non-game days throughout the year
• Multiple elevators
• Second floor capable of future build out for multiple University and Athletics usage
• Adds permanent concession and easy accessibility to restroom facilities
• East Side ticket office
• Loading dock
• Club areas with views east and west to entire campus
• Restrooms, bar service, and concessions exclusive to club, suite and loge ticket holders
• Chairback seating with increased legroom built over existing stadium structure
• Individual suites for up to 20 people
• Restrooms for suite and indoor skybox ticket holders only
• Catering pantry to service suite level
• Most corridor areas open to view of club area below
• Indoor skybox area
  

NEW SOUTH ENDZONE
New South Endzone Ground Level Layout

• Connects East and West sides of stadium
• South Stadium Drive stays open
• Add concessions and restrooms
• Dedicated student area on field level and seating areas
• Potential space for Team Store
  

New South Endzone Seating Layout

• Seating for a minimum of 6,500
• Elevates the scoreboard and videoboard
• Encloses stadium to improve sound and East Side exposure to wind
  

PROPOSED WEST SIDE LAYOUT
PHASE 1 WEST SIDE GROUND LEVEL FEATURES

• Requires new Olympic Sports Complex to be built to relocate gymnastics and wrestling practice areas
• True stadium concourse and open circulation
• Adds more permanent concession and easily accessible restroom options
• Potential for field-level amenity area
  

PHASE 2 WEST SIDE GROUND LEVEL FEATURES

• Removes eastern-most ramps. Center ramps still allow access to all seating levels
• Adds permanent concession and easy accessibility to restroom facilities
• Concourse connection of all four West side corridors
  

What other amenities would you like to see?

Master Plan

East Side.

Gotta get rid if that High School look first. (It's also what's seen on TV the most.) Then the other dominoes can fall....

west side. Concessions, restroom access, and access to seats is horrible.

It looks like the most attention is being paid to the East side. They probably want to get more people seated there so it looks better on TV.

I wonder what they have planned for the current premium areas on the West side? I won't be able to afford the East side high-dollar premium areas and prefer the West side anyway. I'm not one for staring into the bright, hot sun.

With all the improvements they'd like to do, it may be easier to just tear down and rebuild the whole stadium.

(08-07-2016 01:54 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  It looks like the most attention is being paid to the East side. They probably want to get more people seated there so it looks better on TV.

I wonder what they have planned for the current premium areas on the West side? I won't be able to afford the East side high-dollar premium areas and prefer the West side anyway. I'm not one for staring into the bright, hot sun.

With all the improvements they'd like to do, it may be easier to just tear down and rebuild the whole stadium.

I've often wondered about that. I would think they did cost studies for renovations vs. a new stadium.

FYI, Infocision Stadium at Akron, which is a very nice stadium, cost about $60 million when it was completed in 2009.

If you start with the East side and it takes longer than one year to complete you can have everyone sit on the West side of the stadium. The West side also seats more people as well. Considering we have issues getting more than 17k in attendance you aren't losing much by only having West side available.

(08-07-2016 01:04 PM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  East Side.

Gotta get rid if that High School look first. (It's also what's seen on TV the most.) Then the other dominoes can fall....

It's a simple point, but a relevant one. I remember watching a game on TV a couple years ago; San Jose St. vs. Fresno St. It was a San Jose State home game. Current Bears QB David Fales vs. David Carr. It was an amazing game, total shootout, and it seemed like big time football.

Then they did a sweeping shot of the stadium. Everything looked fine when they had tight shots of the crowd, but when the camera pulled back and you got a better scope of the surroundings, it changed the entire perspective of the experience. I went from thinking San Jose St. is a legitimate college program to something far lesser simply based on their facilities.

I don't like that for NIU, and I don't want outsiders to have that perception based on our, as thxjoenovak accurately put it, high school facility.

If we are going to make changes, fix and improve the sexy things first - the things that we see on TV. The interior infrastructure stuff can come later.

I would start with the urinal troughs. And, if it ended there due to shortage of funds, I'd still be happy.

(08-08-2016 12:30 AM)VegasHuskie Wrote:  

(08-07-2016 01:04 PM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  East Side.

Gotta get rid if that High School look first. (It's also what's seen on TV the most.) Then the other dominoes can fall....

It's a simple point, but a relevant one. I remember watching a game on TV a couple years ago; San Jose St. vs. Fresno St. It was a San Jose State home game. Current Bears QB David Fales vs. David Carr. It was an amazing game, total shootout, and it seemed like big time football.

Then they did a sweeping shot of the stadium. Everything looked fine when they had tight shots of the crowd, but when the camera pulled back and you got a better scope of the surroundings, it changed the entire perspective of the experience. I went from thinking San Jose St. is a legitimate college program to something far lesser simply based on their facilities.

I don't like that for NIU, and I don't want outsiders to have that perception based on our, as thxjoenovak accurately put it, high school facility.

If we are going to make changes, fix and improve the sexy things first - the things that we see on TV. The interior infrastructure stuff can come later.

That and the fact that with upgraded suites and premium seating, the east side renovations are revenue generating.

The East side is needed from a perception & business stand point.

I wish we could do something with the West side stadium aisles (widening & adding hand rails) and add ADA bathrooms sooner but the ROI for that is not good at all.

I believe that by the time athletics finished the East side premium structure, the softball field upgrade, the new baseball field and the gymnastic/wrestling building that the West side will be beyond the point of being cost effective to renovate vs the cost to demo and build something 100% new that will be exactly what we need at that time.

They will definitely start with the East. They can't even run the bathrooms there in extreme cold because it's not winterized properly (Stay Cool probably knows all about this :-) ). Plus they want/need the sky boxes and additional premium seating for stuff like the state high school finals and revenue stream. The South may get done around the same time, as their intentions are to move the students there. It's also a smaller structure, so the cost won't be as great and effective to do it at the same time

(08-08-2016 10:50 AM)golf4501 Wrote:  They will definitely start with the East. They can't even run the bathrooms there in extreme cold because it's not winterized properly (Stay Cool probably knows all about this :-) ). Plus they want/need the sky boxes and additional premium seating for stuff like the state high school finals and revenue stream. The South may get done around the same time, as their intentions are to move the students there. It's also a smaller structure, so the cost won't be as great and effective to do it at the same time

That is an extremely sensible post and a likely course of action

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(08-08-2016 11:16 AM)Stay Cool Wrote:  

(08-08-2016 10:50 AM)golf4501 Wrote:  They will definitely start with the East. They can't even run the bathrooms there in extreme cold because it's not winterized properly (Stay Cool probably knows all about this :-) ). Plus they want/need the sky boxes and additional premium seating for stuff like the state high school finals and revenue stream. The South may get done around the same time, as their intentions are to move the students there. It's also a smaller structure, so the cost won't be as great and effective to do it at the same time

That is an extremely sensible post and a likely course of action

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Agreed and hope it happens sooner rather than later!

Whatever gives us more bathrooms and hot dogs!

The luxury boxes will be built east of the current stands. The foundation was laid when they built the original structure. Just need to build a 'floating box' where the boxes and suites will be. The loge boxes are in the existing stands, so there should be little to no disruption to the stands while the boxes are being built.

Adding the endzone seats would be awesome to make the stadium LOOK like a stadium.

I think they could improve areas of the Convo really easily if they wanted to get a start on that. There are a few things that would cost little to no money.

For instance, they can make the proposed North entrance (ent. 5 i think)

Quote:Improvements to the north side entrance include a canopy structure and an expanded, paved plaza area.

I think it would be wise to make the entrance to the convo and athletic department look better, right now it looks so small and unimportant. I didn't even know they had their offices there until I read this.

This could be a great start to the convo while they focus on the more important Huskie Stadium upgrades. That way they can say that they are improving more than just the stadium.

First comes the Money...$$$$
No money no project startup

If you picked "never gonna happen" you're the big winner this season!

Get bathrooms into the modern age, which also means no more outhouses. When that is the 1st thing you see from the south, looks pathetic.

And then better access to seats. Redo ramps and add a couple escalators. It's like a freaking maze underneath, Mountain climbers are even winded by the time they reach the upper rows. Or, maybe just have sherpers readily available to fans.

Start from scratch. You can polish that turd all you want and it will still be a 1965 high school field. A clean sheet design with modern amenities and built to current ADA standards would do wonders for the university and the sports teams that will use it. Ask DePaul how they got their new arena built and paid for. There are ways to do this.