Saturday could be the last time Neyland can hold 100k+

#26
#26
Elhanan said:
We fill that thing up when we’re good. I don’t care about the rest of the world.

Reducing capacity is going to shoot prices up even higher. You good with paying even more?
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Sure if the experience is improved. I don't like being cramped like sardines. Went to Ole Miss game this year. Don't know if I will go to another. The game day experience is mostly a pain in the ass.
 
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#27
#27
TartanTurff said:
The stadium has about 30,000 seats that nobody will buy in the current season ticket configuration, that's why White Danny has them down without much of a contribution going forward, it's reality, in the 60s and 70s, Tennessee football averaged one regular season TV appearance and a bowl game appearance, this year every Tennessee game is televised such that many fans have opted out of the declining game day experience, long lines, expensive parking, cramped seats, long lines to the pizzer, ever longer lines to the beer stand, it is a workout in an older facility like Neyland, that has been cobbled togather since the mid 60s, adding seats and amenities that the moneyed crowd are willing to finance.

The upper decks on the north and south ends need to come out and bring the capacity down to 75,000, such that campus parking becomes doable again, the game day experience becomes desired again, beyond the 2 or 3 conference games each year where demand for seating is elevated, the game needs to be a college game, not a replicated NFL game, since Neyland is a tired, inaccessible, antiquated but trusty old venue, not a $2 billion monument to a big corporation, shining with the latest fan amenities and creature comforts.

The college athletic economics are shifting away from the business need for 100,000 seats at the venue, there are many other ways to make money now, the TV contract is generous in dollars, but costs the university millions in unsold and undemanded seats, amplified when the program has been mismanaged since 2010, but there are too many other options for observing Tennessee football now, the least desirable being hunkered down in section OO or PP with a 30 minute line for a lightly chilled beer and a 20 minute wait for the pizzer and thousands of season ticket holders have said no thanks, the den will do just fine.
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You can stick that 75,000 junk. No way we need to drop below 100,000. End of story.
 
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#28
#28
A good compromise would be to shrink it slightly but configure it in way that it traps or amplifies the sound levels.
 
#29
#29
wmcovol said:
O$U & Alabama had sections of empty seats Saturday, both playing in the day vs conference rivals ranked in the top 20. The days of 100,000 coming every Saturday are over for everyone. You can thank the 50 games on tv every Saturday.
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Oh yeah, I was at the Bama game a few years ago when we had the lead with two and half minutes to go in Tuskerlooser, and there were thousands of empty seats.
 
#30
#30
OrangeVolMan said:
Times change. My first UT game was early 70’s and you could sit on the hill outside of the stadium. Many people were upset when they finished the north end zone. Now people want amenities to go to games. Some people will be upset if seating capacity goes down but it is a new era. People can sit at home and watch every game on an 80 inch screen. You have to compete with that. I know people who won’t go to UT games now because the cell service is so bad inside you can’t send a text or get on the internet
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The cell service in the stadium is good now. 5 years ago it wasn’t though. All be it my only experience is with Verizon .
 
#32
#32
goooooovols said:
I’m a proponent of switching out the bleachers for chairs and going down to 80k or so seats for a better in stadium experience.
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While this is a great idea, I don’t think it’s practical because the concrete base doesn’t allow figment for a comfortable seat and still permit passage.
The concourse are my biggest complaint. You can’t get into or out of the stadium
 
#34
#34
TN1111 said:
A good compromise would be to shrink it slightly but configure it in way that it traps or amplifies the sound levels.
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I am not too concerned about total capacity, but would like to think there is some way to maximize the areas in the upper reaches that will always be the last to sell. Creating box or terrace like seating for the last 10 or so rows in the S. upper deck during a revamp would be kind of neat. Easy access to those areas would be the trick and not giving up too much seating for new aisles would be hard. Escalator or incline rail type solutions might be possible. Getting to the top with just steps is an issue and a complete concourse at the top is probably out. The new N. jumbotron will change those dynamics too. Bet we have some engineering types that can figure this out. Light weight enclosed seating, even without complete climate control could make them marketable as season ticket only seating. Dry is dry and no wind up there is a good thing.
 
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#35
#35
Elhanan said:
Reducing capacity is going to shoot prices up even higher. You good with paying even more?
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Reduced capacity and paying for the renovations that removed seats.

It's an absolutely terrible combination that will, for most games, have the opposite effect relative to the intention. Tennessee couldn't muster the sellout against Georgia because fans were unwilling to buy the upper deck nosebleeds above the south end zone/away sideline at $95+ per ticket, but those seats (understandably, of course) still exist with an assumed higher price tag to compensate for the removal of other seats and footing the renovation bill?

I get that the universal trend is towards decreased in-person attendance, and maintain that you can still pretend capacity is say 100,210 since it's more or less a fake number anyway, but I want to see some kind of action plan from the Athletics Department to fill these dud seats (dynamic pricing, giving tickets away to families at East Tennessee elementary/middle schools to broaden brand exposure, et cetera) until Tennessee is good enough to consistently sell out mid-range SEC and non-conference games.
 
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#38
#38
perico said:
It’s stupid. I get that you want amenities, but once upon a time when we actually mattered on the national landscape, the size of Neyland was a great selling point to recruits and it was once considered on par with LSU as the toughest place to play in college football.

Idiot Mike Hamilton was the one who started shrinking it. When Peyton and Tee were the QB, we were at 104,079 and even today would be the largest stadium in the SEC, and the loudest in the country had Hamilton not decided he wanted to shrink the stadium to match his shrinking Johnson.

It doesn’t help the Vols to be around conference average just so lil’ Haslam can entertain his cronies.
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Recruiting now is that NIL commercial on TV, not the size of the stadium (which will still be big and loud.) I think it's Hulu that's pushing ESPN+/Disney+ on subscribers and upping the price/month..... and they're doing that because folks don't go to movies and sporting events live like they used to.

You want recruits? Get them commercials on TV during games standing next to their new truck or something.

Besides, Neyland has BEEN big and reasonably loud for the last decade....... and it's not gotten us wins. Wins fill seats and draw recruits, not the other way around.
 
#39
#39
OrangeVolMan said:
Times change. My first UT game was early 70’s and you could sit on the hill outside of the stadium. Many people were upset when they finished the north end zone. Now people want amenities to go to games. Some people will be upset if seating capacity goes down but it is a new era. People can sit at home and watch every game on an 80 inch screen. You have to compete with that. I know people who won’t go to UT games now because the cell service is so bad inside you can’t send a text or get on the internet
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I remember my first games - people sat of the hill to watch the game, they fired the canon when we scored and the walking horse would trot around the field. Probably about ‘67 or ‘68. My dad had 8 season tickets on the 30 yard line about two rows under the upper deck - stayed dry in a drizzle. We got to come to one game a year and it was usually Kentucky or Vandy at the end of the season. Great times as a kid.
 
#40
#40
Took my son to see the Georgia game. Used to be you could run around and throw the football by the torch man. Now it's all commercialized with companies reserving tents. The whole fn yard was filled with corporate tents. It was disgusting. They even changed the vol walk and routed the team behind the statue. Not sure that I'll ever go to another game.
 
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#41
#41
I understand it, I think it is a good decision, and I will most likely enjoy the game day experience so much more. That still does not mean I like it.
 
#43
#43
I’ll be happy to have a little more elbow room, personally.
Titans games are SOOO much nicer than UT games. Cup holders, seats, space beat sitting on a concrete slab the size of a ham sandwich
 
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#45
#45
The stadiums of the future will be smaller with more premium seating, better sightlines and other amenities. No one is sitting in the nosebleeds on aluminum bleachers in the blazing sun or rain to watch a 4 hour football game.
 
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#47
#47
VolnJC said:
If it wasn't for the fatcats and fat butts we could have nice things like 100k seat stadiums
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It's the fat butts why I want actual seats. I had a family of fatties take up THREE of the seats I paid for and the users did jack s***. It was an FCS opponent so they found us other seats but what if it had been an SEC team and there weren't other seats for me to find?

Screw the bleachers and make the fatties fit in a seat. If you can't, go run laps around the stadium until you can.
 
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#48
#48
VAVol85 said:
My first game was against Penn State - my dad and I couldn’t get tickets and watched from the hill behind the north end zone.

Later, my friends and I tried to watch an Auburn game from the roof of the Physics building but the police turned us away.
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Was it a Safety issue or they just don’t want people to receive a free benefit?
 
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