I enjoy games at TransAmerica, but I wonder if there has been any discussion about a SSS for the Niners? It can seat the same number as TA but I would love to see them playing on a field without the track. I went to an away game last year at UNCG and was impressed with their SSS. It really adds to the game when you are that much closer. So where do we stand with an SSS? Any rumblings on that front?
I really don’t feel this is going to happen anytime soon. First of all, there really isn’t any place for it that wouldn’t require taking down more forest (either to build this or replace rec fields).
Also, I don’t feel it is necessary. Yeah, it would be nice to be able to sit on more than one side, but our one side didn’t even overflow for the Akron game. Unless we outgrow Transamerica, this won’t happen.
Don’t know if this is even a consideration at this point but I’d like to see the football stadium expansion and baseball stadium expansion/enhancements before a new soccer stadium. Nothing against the soccer team but to compete in CUSA I believe the other stadiums are a priority.
I’d rather they make Transamerica more soccer-friendly.
For one, lower the benches into dugouts so the front row’s view isn’t blocked by the bench.
I agree that the football stadium expansion has to be the priority but I wonder if a SSS could be done relatively inexpensively? I don’t care if we are sitting on one side only. I just want to lose the track. That being said I doubt our administration would even consider doing it “on the cheap”. They would likely just want to wait until the funds are there to build a nice stadium with a few more amenities. And I can understand that.
Could you imagine having a track around your football stadium? Sheesh, what a frustration that must be.
I agree 2k. If they had told us we had to have a track around our new football field I would have seriously considered lobbying the school to just forget it. ;D
I think dugouts might be a good idea, otherwise TransAm is perfectly fine for soccer.
[quote=“2k, post:6, topic:27720”]Could you imagine having a track around your football stadium? Sheesh, what a frustration that must be.[/quote] Even if you remove it like App plans to you still have seats that are a long way from the field. Removing a track really only helps if you are also going to relocate the seating on one side. I believe Texas State just did this. They removed their track and moved the entire field and one side of seating so that the fans were not 100+ feet from the field. It would be very costly for App to do this because they have pretty substantial seating on both sides of the field.
Aesthetically it will look better, but some of the problems associated with having a track around the field will remain.
I’m very happy we decided not to half-ass our stadium and build it around the soccer field like some of us here were in favor of. We don’t have the space restraints that App has always had, so us putting a stadium around a track would certainly be half-assing it.
Anyway, I’d love to have a soccer specific stadium, but there are so many other things I’d rather see them spend money on first. I would like to see them add bleacher seating to the two small grassy areas right beside the existing seating though. I think that makes the stadium look a little unfinished.
I don’t really see a need for a SSS stadium. Yes, we have an excellent soccer program, and great crowds to support our team. However, priorities should continue to be the big revenue sports, such as football, basketball and baseball. Transamerica is great place to watch college soccer, and it seems to be a great size to fit our needs. We can fill it up, and not really have a demand for more seats. Now, if we make a few National Championship runs, then I can definitely see the potential to look at building an SSS stadium, but our priorities should be on different things right now.
[quote=“Timo99, post:10, topic:27720”]I don’t really see a need for a SSS stadium. Yes, we have an excellent soccer program, and great crowds to support our team. However, priorities should continue to be the big revenue sports, such as football, basketball and baseball. Transamerica is great place to watch college soccer, and it seems to be a great size to fit our needs. We can fill it up, and not really have a demand for more seats. Now, if we make a few National Championship runs, then I can definitely see the potential to look at building an SSS stadium, but our priorities should be on different things right now.[/quote]Well said.
Could the football stadium be used for soccer games? I don’t know how soccer plays on the field turf surface.
I’m not sure about the rules about turf versus grass, but would it really make sense to play soccer in a stadium that seats 15,000+? Think from a player’s standpoint. Would they rather play in a bigger stadium with lots and lots of empty seats, or look over and see an entire section full of rowdy fans? I think it would be cool to play on the football field, but I don’t think it would make much sense, and would take away from the rowdy soccer environment.
The track at Transamerica Field does take away from the soccer experience. However, given the current ticket price ($5 per game, I think OR even less if you buy Gold Card), I doubt there are any plans in the immediate future for significant changes.
To facilitate any serious discussion on this subject, I think you need to be selling out games and/or doing something to draw greater revenue from the sport.
To my understanding soccer on artificial turf is frowned upon compared to football. Of course we have an extremely high quality artificial field and those drawbacks may only apply to older Astro turf type artificial fields. All that being said I don’t want anything other than football played in the new stadium. Keep it pure. Soccer would look horrible there anyway because of the lines. The field at TA is a nice field and overall the facility is great except for the track. It has just enough seats to offer plenty of seating without having too many empties. They may see a slight reduction in attendance this year with football coming in. There are only so many trips a year to campus that people can justify.
Or maybe everyone is just going to get pumped up even more to support the niners in all sports and the attendance will increase. Who knows.
I agree with the overall viewpoint on this subject. A SSS would be a nice feather in our cap but if other sports have to be the priority then lets get that upper deck built out and THEN we can hit the SSS. The upper deck for football has to be the #1 facility priority without question.
There’s nothing wrong with what we have now.
Soccer on turf is the worst thing ever.
What if “premium” seating was created by putting bleachers on the track? You could sell it for double the normal admission.
Aint nobody putting bleachers on my track, secondly, they could just expand on the practice soccer field beside their locker rooms at wellsfargo field house, that would be the logical choice for SSS, but an upgrade to the track and our locker room/ coaches offices is derserved before SSS. 23+ A10 team championships “cough, cough”. No offense to soccer but our facility is aging at an alarming rate.
I agree. I absolutely love going to spring games up on the hill at the old soccer stadium. I think Transamerica is perfectly fine though. Not a glaring need, and would be incredibly expensive. The only thing I hate, but I don’t know how to fix it, is that our Soccer players have to walk down the road to get to the locker room. But then again, it’s a nice new locker room facility, so even that is not that bad.