The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(07-02-2019 07:40 PM)Beans N Cornbread Wrote:  Just looked at the cameras and with no turf and the lighting it reminded me of, well.......

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That was the worst field I've ever watched a game on (TV). Looked so drab, but at least we pulled out the W there.

2nd worst, EWU (red), then BSU (blue). Can't understand why these schools do this to their fields. Looks like pure @$$.

How about this,



or this,



This has our primary and throwback colors,

Camera #1 is back up this morning, and we have the first chair back seats on the West side installed.

The West side scaffolding is coming down in front of the press box. It's going to be fun watching the West Side seats go in. It's fun hitting the back button a few times to see the change.

Those are some big speakers over the press boxes. My biggest fear is we'll have a great sound system, and it will still sound like a man talking with a mouth full of marbles and we find out it's not the sound system, it's Jack.

(07-03-2019 09:14 AM)DaBigBlue Wrote:  Those are some big speakers over the press boxes. My biggest fear is we'll have a great sound system, and it will still sound like a man talking with a mouth full of marbles and we find out it's not the sound system, it's Jack.

How come we are not updating Jack?

(07-03-2019 09:39 AM)AimHigh Wrote:  

(07-03-2019 09:14 AM)DaBigBlue Wrote:  Those are some big speakers over the press boxes. My biggest fear is we'll have a great sound system, and it will still sound like a man talking with a mouth full of marbles and we find out it's not the sound system, it's Jack.

How come we are not updating Jack?

Jack's time has come and gone, he is your classic old school announcer who was very good at what he does (still is) but his voice has no energy. He is like a tired old man calling the games. We need someone who brings energy to the crowd and he puts people to sleep. He has been the voice of the monarchs since 2000 so he will probably not be around all that much longer anyways.

I nominate the guy who does the mens basketball games. Great energy!

(07-03-2019 10:07 AM)VB Monarch Wrote:  I nominate the guy who does the mens basketball games. Great energy!

+1

(07-03-2019 10:07 AM)VB Monarch Wrote:  I nominate the guy who does the mens basketball games. Great energy!

Couldn't agree more! Definitely would be an improvement! If we could only get Ankerson to be that excited! /s



oh, and

(07-03-2019 08:54 AM)DaBigBlue Wrote:  The West side scaffolding is coming down in front of the press box. It's going to be fun watching the West Side seats go in. It's fun hitting the back button a few times to see the change.

I love using the overlay feature and just moving the bar back and forth for the comparison. It's crazy how much bigger the new stadium looks when putting it side by side with the old.

(07-03-2019 12:04 PM)ODUPKT07 Wrote:  

(07-03-2019 08:54 AM)DaBigBlue Wrote:  The West side scaffolding is coming down in front of the press box. It's going to be fun watching the West Side seats go in. It's fun hitting the back button a few times to see the change.

I love using the overlay feature and just moving the bar back and forth for the comparison. It's crazy how much bigger the new stadium looks when putting it side by side with the old.

I love the iconic clamshells that old FF had but seeing this just shows how much capacity we were missing out on because we had no upper corners. The press box really makes the new West side dwarf the old one

(07-03-2019 10:50 AM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(07-03-2019 10:07 AM)VB Monarch Wrote:  I nominate the guy who does the mens basketball games. Great energy!

Couldn't agree more! Definitely would be an improvement! If we could only get Ankerson to be that excited! /s



oh, and

I don't know, have you looked at the basketball guy lately? He has some age on him as well. I would not be surprised if he is just as old as Ankerson.

I had almost forgotten the Factory of Sadness. What a year that was

Happy 4th Mr. Ballard! Hope your on track to finish on time. BTW, camera 1-2 both malfunctioning today.

You fans who wanted at least 30k seats were absolutely right and fans like me who said the seating capacity was correct were wrong.

When ODU beat Tech, the media talked about it for days. However I didn't hear one thing nice said about the venue it was played in. I remember hearing one ESPN college football analyst call it a high school stadium. Now here we are 10 months later with a new stadium that's barely larger than its' predecessor.

The talking point now is that the stadium may not be large but it is one of the finest in the country. You keep hearing this from ODU officials. It sounds like an excuse now that ODU has been mentioned as an AAC candidate along with others who have bigger stadiums. No one cares about our chair backs or our improved amenities. It's about the optics and unfortunately the new stadium falls short. The AAC wants to project P5'ness. Is the seating capacity a concern for AAC officials? The fact that no one is touting the new stadium but our own speaks volumes.

We have a great athletic program. Our football program is young and growing. The 757 is one of the best recruiting regions in the nation and we're in a large market. Yes, we do have great facilities but if we don't get the call, I can't think of anything else but the stadium. P6.

I don’t know if a full rebuild of the NEZ could’ve been accomplished concurrently with this phase of construction. My guess is no. Therefore, I don’t see tremendous harm in not announcing phase 2 for the time being.

However, I’m curious as to how they’ll get to ~ 27/30K with the next phase...from what I’ve read, the new construction actually holds 15K. If current capacity is ~ 22.5K, we’d lose 7.5K from the end zone....then we’d have to add another 12-15K on the end zone. That’s a stretch for that footprint...somehow, I don’t think the next phase gets us to 30K.

For now, I’m of the mindset that our performance is more important than the facility. We have a new, on-campus stadium. We also have expansion plans. Some schools in the AAC (Temple & USF) would kill for that. What we haven’t shown is the ability to compete & win consistently at the FBS level. That will be the greater attraction IMO.

(07-05-2019 06:06 AM)odusteeler Wrote:  I don’t know if a full rebuild of the NEZ could’ve been accomplished concurrently with this phase of construction. My guess is no. Therefore, I don’t see tremendous harm in not announcing phase 2 for the time being.

However, I’m curious as to how they’ll get to ~ 27/30K with the next phase...from what I’ve read, the new construction actually holds 15K. If current capacity is ~ 22.5K, we’d lose 7.5K from the end zone....then we’d have to add another 12-15K on the end zone. That’s a stretch for that footprint...somehow, I don’t think the next phase gets us to 30K.

For now, I’m of the mindset that our performance is more important than the facility. We have a new, on-campus stadium. We also have expansion plans. Some schools in the AAC (Temple & USF) would kill for that. What we haven’t shown is the ability to compete & win consistently at the FBS level. That will be the greater attraction IMO.

They don't ...next phase will only be to 25k at most when the NEZ is renovated. The final phase would take us to the +30k level.

(07-05-2019 06:06 AM)odusteeler Wrote:  I don’t know if a full rebuild of the NEZ could’ve been accomplished concurrently with this phase of construction. My guess is no. Therefore, I don’t see tremendous harm in not announcing phase 2 for the time being.

However, I’m curious as to how they’ll get to ~ 27/30K with the next phase...from what I’ve read, the new construction actually holds 15K. If current capacity is ~ 22.5K, we’d lose 7.5K from the end zone....then we’d have to add another 12-15K on the end zone.

The NEZ holds 5k. You forgot to include the 2k+ in the gameday building (SEZ).

If ODU is in the running for membership in the AAC the next phase will get the stadium to a capacity which would be acceptable for that. If such membership has been the goal all along then S.B. Ballard Stadium would not have been designed without that expansion as a possibility.
Further, the demolition of Foreman Field, and the construction of the new stadium has shortened what would have been a two year process into one year. That is a big asset not only in terms of time frame, but in showing that ODU already has in place what is needed to make it happen. I don’t know if there will be an AAC membership offered to ODU, but I believe our position regarding a football stadium has been greatly enhanced.