Per the AD, construction to begin February 17.

(01-21-2015 03:12 PM)SidRich Wrote:  The HAIF forum will probably be a good place to keep track of the buildout of the EZF. http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/

They have a section on sports construction. No thread yet that I found on the EZF.

I'll go start one.

(01-23-2015 11:09 AM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  Per the AD, construction to begin February 17.

Good News! Thanks, Bob!

(01-23-2015 11:46 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(01-21-2015 03:12 PM)SidRich Wrote:  The HAIF forum will probably be a good place to keep track of the buildout of the EZF. http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/

They have a section on sports construction. No thread yet that I found on the EZF.

I'll go start one.

I saw it. Do you post on http://www.skyscraperpage.com or http://www.skyscrapercity.com Loki?

They have sections for sports stadiums, but no separate sections for Colleges and Universities, although it would be great if they started some of those, too.

(01-23-2015 11:59 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(01-23-2015 11:09 AM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  Per the AD, construction to begin February 17.

Good News! Thanks, Bob!

(01-23-2015 11:46 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(01-21-2015 03:12 PM)SidRich Wrote:  The HAIF forum will probably be a good place to keep track of the buildout of the EZF. http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/

They have a section on sports construction. No thread yet that I found on the EZF.

I'll go start one.

I saw it. Do you post on http://www.skyscraperpage.com or http://www.skyscrapercity.com Loki?

They have sections for sports stadiums, but no separate sections for Colleges and Universities, although it would be great if they started some of those, too.

No, I'm not on those. I rarely post on HAIF also. I have an old account from many years ago when I was looking for information on fountains in Houston. I ended up not getting much of anything from them. In the meantime I did my own searches on the ground for fountains. I've started putting them up on FB now. I hope to load the Rice ones this weekend. I'll post a link here when I get that done.

Thanks for taking the time to start that thread on HAIF. Everything we do to put out that Rice is improving its athletic program helps. When construction starts, I'll take some photos and send them to Swamplot.com too.

while we're waiting for construction pictures to come:

Rice Football Truck images:
http://atlantamafia.com/CUSA_Transports.htm











and hadn't seen these before:

The more we wait, the more I've looked at the rendering and I have some questions.

1) It looks like we're running the wing-T... and possibly unbalanced.
2) Does anyone else feel like the near side corner is overly aggressive and easy pickin's for a fade/back shoulder?
3) The video board is showing us scoring the previous week 'away' at La Tech... otherwise there is going to be some red in out end zone? And why are we showing THEM scoring?

On a more serious note, I've now heard (though I don't know where THEY heard it, but they don't have a reason to over-sell it) that construction will begin later this month.

(01-23-2015 04:35 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  The more we wait, the more I've looked at the rendering and I have some questions.

1) It looks like we're running the wing-T... and possibly unbalanced.
2) Does anyone else feel like the near side corner is overly aggressive and easy pickin's for a fade/back shoulder?
3) The video board is showing us scoring the previous week 'away' at La Tech... otherwise there is going to be some red in out end zone? And why are we showing THEM scoring?

On a more serious note, I've now heard (though I don't know where THEY heard it, but they don't have a reason to over-sell it) that construction will begin later this month.

Thanks for keeping your sense of humor on these boards, Ham!

(01-23-2015 12:18 PM)SidRich Wrote:  Thanks for taking the time to start that thread on HAIF. Everything we do to put out that Rice is improving its athletic program helps. When construction starts, I'll take some photos and send them to Swamplot.com too.

It's up on Swamplot (can't link for some reason). Between the article and the comments there are quite a few shots taken at HRS and the program.

Always interesting-not in a good way-to see the opinions of non-Rice Houstonians

Here's the link

http://swamplot.com/end-zone-seats-at-ri...015-01-23/

Saw this today. Posting for a little perspective on how the other half lives. Some things to think about for future phases of improvements to HRS:

It’s past time for an upgrade of UGA’s iconic Sanford Stadium
by: Bill King @ajcjunkyard
January 24, 2015 | Atlanta-Journal-Constitution
http://ugafans.blog.ajc.com/2015/01/24/i...d-stadium/



Sanford Stadium is one of the nation's most beautiful facilities, but it badly needs updating. (University of Georgia)

The walk out of Sanford Stadium after the last home game of the season would have been bad enough because of the Dawgs’ disappointing overtime loss (note: 24-30 against then-#16 ranked GA Tech). But it was made worse by having to gingerly step through a pool of fetid water in middle of the concourse of the north side’s lower level, apparently the result of some sort of overflow from one of the outdated and overwhelmed restrooms sitting adjacent.

To my left, someone wearing Georgia Tech colors looked down at what we were walking through and sneered, “Ah, the stench of Sanford Stadium!”

There was nothing I could say. It was embarrassing, but, unfortunately, all too typical of a facility that frequently fails to live up to the standards of the football program that calls it home.


Making a game more comfortable for fans is a good way to keep the stands full. (University of Georgia)

Sitting in a natural creek valley between the northern and southern campuses and with those iconic hedges, UGA’s stadium is one of the most beautiful football facilities in the country, college or otherwise — which is why it pains me to see it run in a second-rate manner.

There are a lot of things that need improving at Sanford Stadium, but the dingy concourses and squalid restrooms in the older part of the structure should be sitting atop the athletic association’s to-do list, right alongside Mark Richt’s request that they upgrade the players’ locker room.

After all, it’s the patrons who have to use the stadium’s subpar facilities who provide much of the funding on which the athletic program runs.


The Reed Plaza area is an example of what an upgrade can look like. (Bill King)

While the restrooms added in the Reed Plaza area of Sanford Stadium a few years ago are fine — utilitarian and certainly not deluxe, but at least clean and functional — the ones in the older part of the stadium are flat-out disgusting.

And it’s not just that they’re old; they’re not properly maintained. At the first game of the season against Clemson, just a few minutes after the gates had opened, the men’s restroom nearest to my section (104) already was filthy, apparently never having been cleaned during the offseason. That’s just bad management.

That might explain why the restrooms in the old part of Sanford stink. And because of that, the concourses smell bad, as a first-time visitor to UGA’s stadium noted after this year’s Auburn game.

It strikes me as funny that they went to a lot of effort to improve the concourses of Stegeman Coliseum (UGA's basketball facility) and yet the concourses of Sanford, UGA’s flagship athletic facility, still look terrible, besides being smelly. Even after they tore down the walls behind the seats this year to let more light in, they’re dim and unattractive, just bare concrete corridors.

It seems like the athletic administration could have some murals painted or put up some plaques or pictures of past Bulldogs heroes or something to dress them up a bit. And fixing the bathrooms would fix the smell. Basically, a thorough renovation of the older part of the structure is needed.

The narrow concourses also are dangerously crowded, since they were built for a stadium that seated about 50,000, not the current 92,746. As was the case with crowding in the student area early this past season, that can lead to dangerous pushing and shoving and frayed tempers. I’m not sure there’s much that can be done structurally about opening up those areas, but perhaps removing concession sales from the concourse area (which results in lines blocking the concourses) would help.

There are other, cheaper improvements that could make attending a game more pleasant and perhaps head off the sort of decline in attendance that some other schools already are experiencing as many fans choose to watch games in the comfort of their own home on their big flat-screen TV.

Among the most common complaints I’ve heard from fans, besides the state of the concourses, is the public address system.

The volume of the PA for music is excessively loud, at times painful. Worse, the sound quality is not good. The announcer sometimes breaks up and frequently the officials on the field can’t be heard. Meanwhile, the amplification of the Redcoat Band in the stands seems to be an off-and-on proposition and is generally insufficient.


It wouldn't cost much to dress up this drab concrete wall. (Olivia King)

The interior of most of the stadium (not counting the club level and deluxe boxes) also is kind of drab. Plus, there is hardly any of UGA’s football history/heritage represented in the main part of the stadium. The mascot cemetery is about it. There should be recognition of heroes and championships past, and more use of the school colors.

The power G symbol in the Reed Plaza area is nice, but why not line the walls of the plaza with busts or plaques of Bulldog greats? And there’s that big, ugly blank wall down at the east end of the stadium. A mural there would look great, or if that’s too expensive, how about a banner listing championships?

Unlike a lot of other schools, UGA for some reason doesn’t make that big a deal of its titles, bowl wins and All-Americans inside its stadium. The small flags at the top of the east end zone are about it. Of course, most of the space that could be used for such reminders has been sold to advertising in recent years, including on the scoreboard. Still, there are ways for the program’s history to be more evident. More use of the school colors in the concourses would help, and banners on the stadium walls would be a good way of reminding visitors of UGA football’s rich history.

A lot of these changes would not be super expensive and would make attending a game a more pleasurable experience.


What happens behind the hedges matters, too. (Sean Taylor / UGA)

Athletic officials do at least appear to be cognizant of the fact that, in making patrons happier, it’s not just what happens Between the Hedges that matters, but behind the hedges as well.

As the introduction to an SEC football fan survey sent out to UGA season ticket holders at the end of the season put it: “We understand that your football team’s performance is a significant part of the overall gameday experience. However, we also know how important it is to continue improving other areas of the stadium experience in order to make it more enjoyable for you. We look forward to using data from this survey to build on our conference’s reputation of having the best gameday experiences in the country.”

Unfortunately, they have a long way to go to make that the case at Sanford Stadium.

— Bill King, Junkyard Blawg

Bill King is an Athens native and a graduate of the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. A lifelong Bulldogs fan, he sold programs at Sanford Stadium as a teen and has been a football season ticket holder since leaving school. He has worked at the AJC since college and spent 10 years as the Constitution’s rock music critic before moving into copy editing on the old afternoon Journal. In addition to blogging, he’s now a story editor.

Look what I found on my ride today. The first stakes are in the ground.

(01-25-2015 03:44 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  Look what I found on my ride today. The first stakes are in the ground.

I wonder if that means they'll be saving those trees behind the endzone

(01-25-2015 04:51 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  

(01-25-2015 03:44 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  Look what I found on my ride today. The first stakes are in the ground.

I wonder if that means they'll be saving those trees behind the endzone

If that is the corner of the construction fence, which I hope it is, there's a good chance.

God I hope so. They sould be a lot mor visible with the leveling of the endzone.

Former conference-mate UCF doing something interesting in their Stadium:

Time for Rice to put a Hooters in Rice Stadium to lure ticket-buyers and patrons?

Dr. Saturday
UCF stadium expansion includes new 10,000-square foot beach bar
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-s...38023.html
By Sam Cooper Monday, January 26, 2015

UCF announced Monday that it is expanding Bright House Networks Stadium with a new feature that will create one of the more unique environments in all of college football.

(via UCF athletics)

That new feature is the East Side Club (ESC), a “10,000 square-foot, Florida-themed social area and lounge located between the 30-yard lines.” According to a release, it will feature “chair-back stadium seating, as well as an open-air sun deck to enjoy the game.” Additionally, “refreshments, televisions, private restrooms and other amenities” will be available.

It is expected to be ready for the Knights’ first game on Sept. 5. Here’s what it will look like:

(via UCF athletics)

(via UCF athletics)

“The ESC gives us an opportunity to expand our premium experience offerings,” UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury said. “The Florida-themed ESC gives us an opportunity to reinforce our location, which I believe is a major asset. The ESC will provide a window into the UCF and Central Florida culture and personality to potential students, recruits, fans, friends and supporters.”

(via UCF athletics)

The ESC, which has a capacity of 950, will also feature “pre and post-game hours.” According to the Orlando Sentinel, club members who “pay premium access to the new beach bar” will be allowed to bring their alcoholic beverages to their seats, an amenity not available at the stadium since it opened in 2007.

Per the Sentinel, school officials say the project will cost $2.6 million.





For more UCF news, visit UCFSports.com.

Comments:

[Who Me] I thought you couldn't have alcohol in college stadiums. When did that rule change?

[Brandon] Not an NCAA rule. Institutional level. While most colleges don't allow it, there are a few that do.

[Who Me] Thanks, I didn't know that. I thought it was an NCAA rule.

(01-26-2015 07:59 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Former conference-mate UCF doing something interesting in their Stadium:

Time for Rice to put a Hooters in Rice Stadium to lure ticket-buyers and patrons?

I'd settle for decent restrooms and concessions

I would pay top dollar for Hooters to be a concession stand offering.

(01-27-2015 01:29 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  I would pay top dollar for Hooters to be a concession stand offering.

Now yer talkin' !!!!!

What UCF is describing isn't that dissimilar from my suggestion of a reserved area with high top bar tables on the concourse and on the wall above the chair backs with charging stations for devices. Do it on the home side with a barrier and 'fee for access' (included for parents and reserved ticket holders) and upgraded amenities (like alcohol and wifi?) Do the same on the other except free (without amenities or PAYGO for wifi)