(11-08-2023 12:08 PM)Ourland Wrote:  3. I hate the portable sheds/ticket booths. It's busch league and cheap. I realize that they only do it that way right now because they have to, but something needs to be done. I wonder if kiosks are practical. I guess thousands of visiting fans could figure it out, but it's always nice to have a human being there to at least provide some customer service. Maybe I'm just old fashioned like that.

Agreed on the top. To the kiosks... all the person in the booth does is take your phone number and process your payment.... all through ticketmaster... which a kiosk could do better. He can't even show you what seats are available, but you can get that on the ticketmaster app. They don't even have a screen to show you what seats are available. They might have a laminated picture of the stadium.

I agree that you need someone there to help people who need help. Maybe you have one 'manned' kiosk and/or a customer service floater on each corner. Maybe you start with both and then float as people get the hang of it. And of course, 'don't want to wait in line for the kiosk? Scan this QR code or go to ticketmaster.com/ricefootball'

Man, I'm still a fan of the paper ticket. They should still make it available, even if just to the season ticket holders. A lot can be done with the paper ticket to make it appealing, like commemorating great players, coaches, and games with a great photo. That's all the impetus I would need to become a season ticket holder. I have always enjoyed saving the stubs to look at from time to time as a memory of the experience. I still ask for a paper ticket when I buy it at the gate. I hope to frame all of mine someday. I've saved about 30, but lost my oldest ones in Hurricane Ike. Ticket stubbs are awesome, but the practice of saving them is disappearing with the times.

(11-08-2023 12:40 PM)Ourland Wrote:  Man, I'm still a fan of the paper ticket. They should still make it available, even if just to the season ticket holders. A lot can be done with the paper ticket to make it appealing, like commemorating great players, coaches, and games with a great photo. That's all the impetus I would need to become a season ticket holder. I have always enjoyed saving the stubs to look at from time to time as a memory of the experience. I still ask for a paper ticket when I buy it at the gate. I hope to frame all of mine someday. I've saved about 30, but lost my oldest ones in Hurricane Ike. Ticket stubbs are awesome, but the practice of saving them is disappearing with the times.

Maybe another opportunity... commemorative ticket stubs at the kiosks. Flash your r pass or your qr code from your ticket and it will print a physical ticket

(11-08-2023 01:23 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(11-08-2023 12:40 PM)Ourland Wrote:  Man, I'm still a fan of the paper ticket. They should still make it available, even if just to the season ticket holders. A lot can be done with the paper ticket to make it appealing, like commemorating great players, coaches, and games with a great photo. That's all the impetus I would need to become a season ticket holder. I have always enjoyed saving the stubs to look at from time to time as a memory of the experience. I still ask for a paper ticket when I buy it at the gate. I hope to frame all of mine someday. I've saved about 30, but lost my oldest ones in Hurricane Ike. Ticket stubbs are awesome, but the practice of saving them is disappearing with the times.

Maybe another opportunity... commemorative ticket stubs at the kiosks. Flash your r pass or your qr code from your ticket and it will print a physical ticket

Are you sure you don't want to work in the athletics department?

(11-08-2023 01:41 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(11-08-2023 01:23 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(11-08-2023 12:40 PM)Ourland Wrote:  Man, I'm still a fan of the paper ticket. They should still make it available, even if just to the season ticket holders. A lot can be done with the paper ticket to make it appealing, like commemorating great players, coaches, and games with a great photo. That's all the impetus I would need to become a season ticket holder. I have always enjoyed saving the stubs to look at from time to time as a memory of the experience. I still ask for a paper ticket when I buy it at the gate. I hope to frame all of mine someday. I've saved about 30, but lost my oldest ones in Hurricane Ike. Ticket stubbs are awesome, but the practice of saving them is disappearing with the times.

Maybe another opportunity... commemorative ticket stubs at the kiosks. Flash your r pass or your qr code from your ticket and it will print a physical ticket

Are you sure you don't want to work in the athletics department?

Check out all of the openings - https://riceowls.com/sports/2021/5/4/ric...employment

We are making so many suggestions based on a basic premise that may or may not be a given - we're going to keep HRS.

An improvement that is neither pretty nor even visible, and isn't impacted by picky questions like "which stadium?" is pulling a whole bunch more electrical capacity to that area of campus.

Regardless of whatever else is done, a modern or modernized facility will require a lot more power.

Start there.

I know I've mentioned this before - it's not the kind of thing that lends itself to finding a donor that wants their name attached to it.
That makes fundraising more difficult.

Presumably, we're keeping HRS since incremental updates are being made, and an end zone complex built ten years ago.

I am just making up numbers, but I still think we're talking about $20-30mm to do a major renovation to HRS with plenty of naming opportunities (the press box, suites etc) as opposed to IDK, 100mm+ for a new stadium.

What we need is the infrastructure to handle 35k on game day without breaking a sweat.... and we don't remotely have that. To me, that is all about the concourses.... which seem to be a cobbled together mish-mash of small donor (or non-donor) projects.

Build a 'wing' on the west side making the concessions double-sided... and have the wing be all new bathrooms. Do the same/similar on the east, though I know this means we have to dismantle what is there... I'm fine with that. Maybe build a formal entrance on that east side with (again, repeating myself) a museum of sorts. Build a new press box and party deck above. Sell the old press box as suites or just have it be an expanded Stadium Club.... which still requires donors... name the new press box... name the party deck... build a new elevator


but yes... get more power. Again, I'd make this an energy storage challenge, not an energy transmission or generation one.... since we only use the full capacity of the stadium a few times a year. Even if it were every week all year long, that's a lot of 'dead' time to store energy.

(11-08-2023 04:18 PM)Ourland Wrote:  Presumably, we're keeping HRS since incremental updates are being made, and an end zone complex built ten years ago.

...and we just renovated the R-Room.

I am making no such assumption, as both processes happened before the new AD's watch.

Let's just say that I'd like to still have a place for the band to rehearse when they're finished, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

What happened to the other MOB alum who used to always be here?

(11-08-2023 06:39 PM)Grungy Wrote:  

(11-08-2023 04:18 PM)Ourland Wrote:  Presumably, we're keeping HRS since incremental updates are being made, and an end zone complex built ten years ago.

...and we just renovated the R-Room.

I am making no such assumption, as both processes happened before the new AD's watch.

Let's just say that I'd like to still have a place for the band to rehearse when they're finished, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

That's not asking too much.

(11-08-2023 06:35 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  I am just making up numbers, but I still think we're talking about $20-30mm to do a major renovation to HRS with plenty of naming opportunities (the press box, suites etc) as opposed to IDK, 100mm+ for a new stadium.

What we need is the infrastructure to handle 35k on game day without breaking a sweat.... and we don't remotely have that. To me, that is all about the concourses.... which seem to be a cobbled together mish-mash of small donor (or non-donor) projects.

Build a 'wing' on the west side making the concessions double-sided... and have the wing be all new bathrooms. Do the same/similar on the east, though I know this means we have to dismantle what is there... I'm fine with that. Maybe build a formal entrance on that east side with (again, repeating myself) a museum of sorts. Build a new press box and party deck above. Sell the old press box as suites or just have it be an expanded Stadium Club.... which still requires donors... name the new press box... name the party deck... build a new elevator


but yes... get more power. Again, I'd make this an energy storage challenge, not an energy transmission or generation one.... since we only use the full capacity of the stadium a few times a year. Even if it were every week all year long, that's a lot of 'dead' time to store energy.

That little? I hope so. There's plenty that needs renovating

(11-08-2023 07:25 PM)Ourland Wrote:  What happened to the other MOB alum who used to always be here?

John Doerr?
Ezra Charles?
Lynn Laverty Elsenhans?
Germaine Franco?
Shannon Walker?

The guy they named the band hall after.

(11-09-2023 12:07 AM)Ourland Wrote:  The guy they named the band hall after.

He’s a future MOB alum

(11-09-2023 12:07 AM)Ourland Wrote:  The guy they named the band hall after.

Are you looking for a second opinion?

(11-09-2023 12:09 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(11-09-2023 12:07 AM)Ourland Wrote:  The guy they named the band hall after.

He’s a future MOB alum

Nice!

(11-08-2023 07:28 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(11-08-2023 06:35 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  I am just making up numbers, but I still think we're talking about $20-30mm to do a major renovation to HRS with plenty of naming opportunities (the press box, suites etc) as opposed to IDK, 100mm+ for a new stadium.

What we need is the infrastructure to handle 35k on game day without breaking a sweat.... and we don't remotely have that. To me, that is all about the concourses.... which seem to be a cobbled together mish-mash of small donor (or non-donor) projects.

Build a 'wing' on the west side making the concessions double-sided... and have the wing be all new bathrooms. Do the same/similar on the east, though I know this means we have to dismantle what is there... I'm fine with that. Maybe build a formal entrance on that east side with (again, repeating myself) a museum of sorts. Build a new press box and party deck above. Sell the old press box as suites or just have it be an expanded Stadium Club.... which still requires donors... name the new press box... name the party deck... build a new elevator


but yes... get more power. Again, I'd make this an energy storage challenge, not an energy transmission or generation one.... since we only use the full capacity of the stadium a few times a year. Even if it were every week all year long, that's a lot of 'dead' time to store energy.

That little? I hope so. There's plenty that needs renovating

As I said, I was making up numbers... so it is the 'relative' valuation that I'm talking about.

If we're serious, we should not expect that Rice would be building a brand-new, 'state of the art' stadium at Rice.... which would probably cost something like 300mm.... so maybe a better example might be 40-60mm rather than 200-300mm.

UH's stadium is fairly new.... at $128mm in 2018 iirc.... which is IDK... 160mm in today's dollars?? and they're already planning a $140mm 'update'. Minnesota's stadium was almost $300mm.

What we might expect would be a new $160mm stadium... not a new $300mm stadium.... which would still put us way behind (by half) what UH thinks they need.... so we would be right back trying to 'update' NEW Rice Stadium only a few years after building it.

Since the concrete and field are not in poor shape (or at least not in unredeemable shape, plus we've spent a lot of money on 'additions')... I would leave them alone... and that alone saves us probably 100mm. Legacy Stadium in Katy cost 70mm and would be a decent model for the concourses. Heck... if we go from 4 corner exits to two... and then add the 'side' entrances as I suggested... we get more egress and also can reclaim those corners (from the concourse all the way around for more administrative purposes.... which I am not including in this conversation as I am currently unaware of that 'need'... not discounting it... just not aware of it.

I just don't think a concourse redesign with extensions to the sides would cost that much... relatively... neither should concession redesign... For the press box, think one of those 'nice' and highly electronic 'container homes' project. I don't really mean containers necessarily... just that all you really have to do is lift (or build) a series of 'rectangular boxes' on to existing concrete. This is perhaps a $1mm project to get the basics done... and maybe a $10mm project to redo the entire press box (with no attempt or desire to make much if any of the old areas function as a press box)

If you WANTED to renovate the old ones... it might cost more... but still not be prohibitive. Tear off the front facade and extend the existing press and coaches boxes out another 10-15 feet.

IOW, make our OWN experience complete with a technologically modern, historical venue... and don't try and directly compete with everyone else. Physical space makes up for a lot of 'ills' including the ability to strengthen any weakened areas... so long as you don't have to be conservative with your space, it isn't as expensive.... and space is a luxury that we have and likely always will have. Even if we went back to a p5 conference, a 50,000 seat stadium would serve most of our purposes. Stanford and Vandy are that size. I think Vandy even smaller. I KNOW Duke's didn't even used to be THAT big.

I hope they leave everything 'as is,' but just modernize and renovate it. Something significant will have to be done about the endzone, and that will be a big cost. Pulling up the concrete and laying down astroturf is what I would do. As for the press box, I would repurpose it entirely for the coaches and press. Fans can go to the "R" Room now that it's redone. I like the the press box the way it is. I'd miss it if it were replaced.

(11-09-2023 12:09 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(11-09-2023 12:07 AM)Ourland Wrote:  The guy they named the band hall after.

He’s a future MOB alum

And hopefully won't be an alum for a long, long time.