Neyland Stadium Renovation Update (Fulmer Updates Seating Capacity)

#126
#126
If they managed to mount the second jumbotron above the stadium they'd have to remove the roof covering the upper deck on the north end otherwise it would block the view of said jumbotron. This move would upset people who enjoy having a roof over their heads in those sections.
 
#127
#127
DeerPark12 said:
. The research UT has done with fans and donors disagrees. And they're bound to follow the opinions and wishes of the stakeholders that they rely on for revenue.
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Have recent improvements made as part of the renovation program seen positive gains in attendance and donations? Or have they had a detectable impact on attendance and donation numbers? I am inclined to assume most of these changes are about sustaining or growing donations, rather than worrying about attendance or other sentimental questions -- that is, improving the proposition made to donors to renew or start donating to the VASF. I can't think of anyone I've been around, or any of my friends who go, who've ever said "we need another screen." We mainly talk about the decline in band usage, the need for wider concourses, the increasing number of parallels to NFL gameday experiences (both good and bad), etc. Which leads me to believe that (1) you would know approximately what age group we are and what profiles we fit, and (2) people who fit our profile don't factor into the equation greatly. I'm not saying the department flat out ignores folks like us -- I mean, if y'all do, don't tell me, I don't want to know we're totally irrelevant -- but in the scheme of running Tennessee athletics the focus is on convincing folks to donate or increase donations by offering these new amenities regardless of the fringe impacts (lower capacity, less traditional gameday experiences, etc.).

Sigh. Well now I'm just bummed. I get it, "how do you think we pay for those concourses?" I'm just a bit bummed. Ah well.
 
#130
#130
Voltopia said:
Have recent improvements made as part of the renovation program seen positive gains in attendance and donations? Or have they had a detectable impact on attendance and donation numbers? I am inclined to assume most of these changes are about sustaining or growing donations, rather than worrying about attendance or other sentimental questions -- that is, improving the proposition made to donors to renew or start donating to the VASF. I can't think of anyone I've been around, or any of my friends who go, who've ever said "we need another screen." We mainly talk about the decline in band usage, the need for wider concourses, the increasing number of parallels to NFL gameday experiences (both good and bad), etc. Which leads me to believe that (1) you would know approximately what age group we are and what profiles we fit, and (2) people who fit our profile don't factor into the equation greatly. I'm not saying the department flat out ignores folks like us -- I mean, if y'all do, don't tell me, I don't want to know we're totally irrelevant -- but in the scheme of running Tennessee athletics the focus is on convincing folks to donate or increase donations by offering these new amenities regardless of the fringe impacts (lower capacity, less traditional gameday experiences, etc.).

Sigh. Well now I'm just bummed. I get it, "how do you think we pay for those concourses?" I'm just a bit bummed. Ah well.
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They haven't made any improvements in 8 years, so that's hard to say. The addition of the club seats and the Tennessee Terrace in the first few years of this decade had a large impact on revenue and giving. The associated one-time donations to establish those seats paid for the renovations on the north and west sides, almost dollar-for-dollar.

As far as the opinions of you and the people you know, UT does a fan satisfaction survey every year, which pulls from season ticket holders, box holders and fans in the databases that only buy single game tickets. That allows them to find out how different groups feel about proposed changes and the experience inside the stadium. Obviously they don't survey every fan every year, but every season ticket holder was sent a survey electronically in 2017 when Currie wanted the truest "pulse" of the major stakeholders.

I don't have access to the raw numbers, but every year in the survey a second videoboard is among the top three responses for suggested additions to the stadium. That's why it's a priority, it's one of the few things that is consistently brought up.

Ultimately, the goal of every upgrade is to increase revenue, that's the only way to sustain the program. We have an AD and staff under him now that is also very sensitive to the historical and traditional impact that any changes will have. So I feel much better about the renovation plan than I did when Hart's bunch was in charge.
 
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#133
#133
DeerPark12 said:
They haven't made any improvements in 8 years, so that's hard to say. The addition of the club seats and the Tennessee Terrace in the first few years of this decade had a large impact on revenue and giving. The associated one-time donations to establish those seats paid for the renovations on the north and west sides, almost dollar-for-dollar.

As far as the opinions of you and the people you know, UT does a fan satisfaction survey every year, which pulls from season ticket holders, box holders and fans in the databases that only buy single game tickets. That allows them to find out how different groups feel about proposed changes and the experience inside the stadium. Obviously they don't survey every fan every year, but every season ticket holder was sent a survey electronically in 2017 when Currie wanted the truest "pulse" of the major stakeholders.

I don't have access to the raw numbers, but every year in the survey a second videoboard is among the top three responses for suggested additions to the stadium. That's why it's a priority, it's one of the few things that is consistently brought up.

Ultimately, the goal of every upgrade is to increase revenue, that's the only way to sustain the program. We have an AD and staff under him now that is also very sensitive to the historical and traditional impact that any changes will have. So I feel much better about the renovation plan than I did when Hart's bunch was in charge.
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Thank you for clarifying. Appreciate the transparency.

On the screen suggestion ... do you think the respondents really care about seeing multiple screens, or if it's just something people can think of because what else would you add to a stadium but more screens? I can't think of any other stadiums that have multiple screens in that sort of arrangement off the top of my head, although I'm sure there must be a few out there. I don't know why the second one makes that much of a difference except to viewers in the south endzone beneath the screen or some of the people in the north endzone stands. And in my mind, it seems (in my imagination) to be sensory overload. So many big screens flashing all at once.

Heh, I'm going to guess one of the other requests was wifi and cell coverage. Always seems to be. Can't be bothered to sit still anymore. (I know, I know, grumpy complainer, I know).
 
#135
#135
Voltopia said:
Someday they'll just make the whole stadium one big screen, wrapping around a capacity crowd of 1,000 people who are largely confused as to why they came, who politely munch on 100 dollar hot dogs and stare at the field to watch a kickoff that never happens -- not because they banned kickoffs, but because the entire game is played on computers and they just pipe the video feed to the screens above an empty field. The Pride of the Southland, still ten members strong, will play something vaguely resembling Rocky Top, or so folks suspect, though it's hard to hear the band beneath the two individual commercials playing simultaneously on the jumbotrons. "Was this fun?" a child will ask. "It sure was," a wealthy donor will reply, pouring some Big Orange Country Whiskey from the gift shop into his two hundred dollar souvenir cup. "It sure was." The kid will furrow his brow. "How do we know if we win?" "Well," the donor sniffs his drink, "it's easy now, we just check the screens." And with that, everyone will look up to the jumbotrons to find out how the game went.

I'm kidding, I'm sure it'll all be grand -- though I admittedly regret seeing changes that detract from the experience for comfort. I don't mean entrance or exit improvements, just ... so many things to distract now.
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They need to have louder rap music which should be played every second there is no action. We should have constant noise and commerical playing on the jumbotron. Hopefully cbs can have 4 minute commercials between every play.
 
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#138
#138
GAVol said:
It won't affect the noise and it'll improve the game for the 20% of the stadium that can't see the jumboTron. You don't want to sit at the top of YY10 anyway.
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I'd much rather sit at the top of the upper north than the top of the upper south. And it doesn't have much to do with the Jumbotron.
 
#139
#139
Tennesseefan2019 said:
Where in Knoxville would you build Neyland Stadium ll?
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I know this isn't possible but I've asked friends a "what if" question that if UT could do what the Yankees did about 10 years ago and re-create Yankee Stadium with a modern touch to Neyland. If UT could build a new Neyland "across the way" and have the modern touches while looking like Neyland Stadium. If built to the same dimensions with charibacks it will seat about 80-85K. Would fans go for it?....or if you have aTm $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$ you just rebuild it on the same site in 8 months!
 
#142
#142
The number of seats vs the number attending=big difference. If cutting the number of seats, but improving those that remain to the point we actually have more butts in seats (NOT tickets sold or given away) would result in more fan participation, a louder stadium, and more revenue for the school. We're averaging 25,000 empty seats per game, if we gave up 15,000, but were able to fill the now empty 10,000, we'd be way ahead.
 
#143
#143
DeerPark12 said:
Where are you getting the 12,000 seat number? Between the west lower level renovation and the removal of parts of three sections up top, the net loss will only be about 3,000 seats. Remember, the 102,455 number that is so often quoted isn't actually the seating capacity of Neyland. That number is the total capacity, which includes players, staff, ushers, concessions, etc. The actual stadium only seats about 96,000 as it is.
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You are 100% correct. Capacity vs total seating, is similar to ticket sales vs butts in seats-two very different numbers. Along with the often quoted, "We'll never go below 100,000", this leads people to believe there are 100,000 seats. I for one do not care if we are the 5th largest or the 10th largest, I'd like us to be Full (95%full or more/game) every game and number one in comfort-thus making it a really enjoyable experience.
 
#145
#145
DeerPark12 said:
They haven't made any improvements in 8 years, so that's hard to say. The addition of the club seats and the Tennessee Terrace in the first few years of this decade had a large impact on revenue and giving. The associated one-time donations to establish those seats paid for the renovations on the north and west sides, almost dollar-for-dollar.

As far as the opinions of you and the people you know, UT does a fan satisfaction survey every year, which pulls from season ticket holders, box holders and fans in the databases that only buy single game tickets. That allows them to find out how different groups feel about proposed changes and the experience inside the stadium. Obviously they don't survey every fan every year, but every season ticket holder was sent a survey electronically in 2017 when Currie wanted the truest "pulse" of the major stakeholders.

I don't have access to the raw numbers, but every year in the survey a second videoboard is among the top three responses for suggested additions to the stadium. That's why it's a priority, it's one of the few things that is consistently brought up.

Ultimately, the goal of every upgrade is to increase revenue, that's the only way to sustain the program. We have an AD and staff under him now that is also very sensitive to the historical and traditional impact that any changes will have. So I feel much better about the renovation plan than I did when Hart's bunch was in charge.
Click to expand...

Is it fair to say the only way to create additional capacity at this point is to essentially create more SRO ticket spaces, like the field level "lounge" they proposed previously beneath the south endzone?

If so you are talking about getting people to come for the spectacle, not to be able to see the game well in person. That kind of interest would require consistent championship level play.
 
#147
#147
DeerPark12 said:
Where are you getting the 12,000 seat number? Between the west lower level renovation and the removal of parts of three sections up top, the net loss will only be about 3,000 seats. Remember, the 102,455 number that is so often quoted isn't actually the seating capacity of Neyland. That number is the total capacity, which includes players, staff, ushers, concessions, etc. The actual stadium only seats about 96,000 as it is.
Click to expand...

Did the university change the way they reference capacity? Before we were at 102455 we didn’t seem to have a set ‘capacity’. It seemed like we got two numbers, one that seemed to indicate actual seating or tickets sold and then the total number that seemed to include everyone there. I’m talking about all the attendance records we set when we generally would hear a number like 109071 that was easily understood as everyone present and not just seats, which I believe was around 104000.

I guess what I am asking is why doesn’t the University tell us what the actual seating capacity is? Are they paranoid that the fan base’s self-esteem will take a hit if it was known Neyland doesn’t actually have 100000 seats?
 
#148
#148
I40flyer said:
The number of seats vs the number attending=big difference. If cutting the number of seats, but improving those that remain to the point we actually have more butts in seats (NOT tickets sold or given away) would result in more fan participation, a louder stadium, and more revenue for the school. We're averaging 25,000 empty seats per game, if we gave up 15,000, but were able to fill the now empty 10,000, we'd be way ahead.
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Because the team has sucked for 10yrs. Empty seats at TN is not because of TV's, it is the product on the fielf. This fanbase still puts a ton of butts in seats even after the past 10yrs. Win big again and it will go back to weekly sellouts.
 
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#149
#149
DeerPark12 said:
Where are you getting the 12,000 seat number? Between the west lower level renovation and the removal of parts of three sections up top, the net loss will only be about 3,000 seats. Remember, the 102,455 number that is so often quoted isn't actually the seating capacity of Neyland. That number is the total capacity, which includes players, staff, ushers, concessions, etc. The actual stadium only seats about 96,000 as it is.
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Whatever the math works out to is irrelevant. I was a season ticket holder when the admin shrunk the seat size. It was all about numbers then and now we’re hearing it’s not. If the UTAD is ok with lowering capacity then they should accommodate more butt room on the bleachers. The Jumbotron is unneeded and likely unwanted by many fans. I do t trust their research one bit. As a family who has been holding season tickets for over half a century they’ve not ONCE asked what we thought.
 
#150
#150
Coug said:
If they managed to mount the second jumbotron above the stadium they'd have to remove the roof covering the upper deck on the north end otherwise it would block the view of said jumbotron. This move would upset people who enjoy having a roof over their heads in those sections.
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If you look at the renderings they are removing the actual frigging seats. How can you enjoy a roof over your head when they’ve removed your entire freaking seat????? At least the dumbotron will be dry!!
 
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