Stadium expansion and 2015 opener?

Someone posted in the shout box on Saturday night that they were told by Ruiz that we would be expanding the stadium after this season and also that we would be opening the 2015 season at Kentucky. Anyone else have details on these 2 items or can confirm/deny them?

[quote=ā€œ919R, post:1, topic:28757ā€]Someone posted in the shout box on Saturday night that they were told by Ruiz that we would be expanding the stadium after this season and also that we would be opening the 2015 season at Kentucky. Anyone else have details on these 2 items or can confirm/deny them?[/quote]That was me.

No other details really.

He told me they delayed the lights were designed to be dependent on expansion rather than standalone, hence why they were delayed this summer.

No idea if what he said is accurate or not, but itā€™ll make for some interesting offseason discussion and may even spur denial or confirmation from people in the know.

He also said we were opening with UK next season. UK had been rumored here before, but there havenā€™t been any official announcements, so I would not be surprised at all if this turns out to be true. I hope the stadium information is accurate too.

[quote=ā€œNiner National, post:2, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œ919R, post:1, topic:28757ā€]Someone posted in the shout box on Saturday night that they were told by Ruiz that we would be expanding the stadium after this season and also that we would be opening the 2015 season at Kentucky. Anyone else have details on these 2 items or can confirm/deny them?[/quote]That was me.

No other details really.

He told me they delayed the lights were designed to be dependent on expansion rather than standalone, hence why they were delayed this summer.

No idea if what he said is accurate or not, but itā€™ll make for some interesting offseason discussion and may even spur denial or confirmation from people in the know.

He also said we were opening with UK next season. UK had been rumored here before, but there havenā€™t been any official announcements, so I would not be surprised at all if this turns out to be true. I hope the stadium information is accurate too.[/quote]Thanks. I couldnā€™t remember who posted it. I have heard the UK rumor for a while as well and have hoped for the expansion. Hopefully they are both true and hopefully confirmation will come from others.

The Wildcats donā€™t stand a chance.

I think weā€™ll get several interesting announcements over the off season. Not so sure about the stadium expansion, I would expect to see how next year goes, thatā€™s big $$. Certainly the lights and the band will both hit for 2015 and those are huge moves forward.

Think out of the box!

[quote=ā€œchasmo101, post:5, topic:28757ā€]I think weā€™ll get several interesting announcements over the off season. Not so sure about the stadium expansion, I would expect to see how next year goes, thatā€™s big $$. Certainly the lights and the band will both hit for 2015 and those are huge moves forward.

Think out of the box![/quote]
I think we almost HAVE to go ahead with expansion to atleast 25,000 for 2015. If we are to be taken seriously as an FBS team, we canā€™t play in a 15,300 seat stadium.

If Kentucky is the opener, then no Georgia State game on September 3rd.

[quote=ā€œ919R, post:6, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œchasmo101, post:5, topic:28757ā€]I think weā€™ll get several interesting announcements over the off season. Not so sure about the stadium expansion, I would expect to see how next year goes, thatā€™s big $$. Certainly the lights and the band will both hit for 2015 and those are huge moves forward.

Think out of the box![/quote]
I think we almost HAVE to go ahead with expansion to atleast 25,000 for 2015. If we are to be taken seriously as an FBS team, we canā€™t play in a 15,300 seat stadium.[/quote]

I agree. I hope there is something in the works.

[quote=ā€œ919R, post:6, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œchasmo101, post:5, topic:28757ā€]I think weā€™ll get several interesting announcements over the off season. Not so sure about the stadium expansion, I would expect to see how next year goes, thatā€™s big $$. Certainly the lights and the band will both hit for 2015 and those are huge moves forward.

Think out of the box![/quote]
I think we almost HAVE to go ahead with expansion to atleast 25,000 for 2015. If we are to be taken seriously as an FBS team, we canā€™t play in a 15,300 seat stadium.[/quote]Yeah, Iā€™d think 20,000 would be about the absolute minimum weā€™d need in the very near future. An upper level on one side would likely get us there. Iā€™d prefer now to have a lopsided stadium, so hopefully weā€™ll build symmetrical upper levels on both sides with 5-6,000 seats. I think 25,000ish is really all we need in CUSA anyway.

If we do play a game that requires significantly more seats, the city now has 6 days a year to use BoA. Iā€™m sure theyā€™d gladly give us a game if we were playing a big name opponent.

At first, I was with you Niner National on the ā€œno asymmetry, pleaseā€ notion. However, if it looked similar to JMUā€™s I would be ok with that. Plus, if we build a larger upperdeck on the pressbox side, if it could provide more shade for the field, stands, and in the later afternoon games, for the students (possibly). So Iā€™m not as against it as I once was.

25k would be greatā€¦ I donā€™t want asymmetry, it really wouldnā€™t fit the campus.

If they are only going to 20,000 initially I would be very surprised if they didnā€™t just put 5000 temporary seats (that can be fitted out to look like permanent seats) on the concourses. Would be relatively easy to do, especially in the endzone oppose the field house, and would be relatively cheap. Not my preferred choice, but it sure does seem like it would make the most sense at least to me.

Yeah, if you are going to take on the cost of full blown construction, might as well make it a legitimate expansionā€¦ If mot just go temp

[quote=ā€œNiner National, post:9, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œ919R, post:6, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œchasmo101, post:5, topic:28757ā€]I think weā€™ll get several interesting announcements over the off season. Not so sure about the stadium expansion, I would expect to see how next year goes, thatā€™s big $$. Certainly the lights and the band will both hit for 2015 and those are huge moves forward.

Think out of the box![/quote]
I think we almost HAVE to go ahead with expansion to atleast 25,000 for 2015. If we are to be taken seriously as an FBS team, we canā€™t play in a 15,300 seat stadium.[/quote]Yeah, Iā€™d think 20,000 would be about the absolute minimum weā€™d need in the very near future. An upper level on one side would likely get us there. Iā€™d prefer now to have a lopsided stadium, so hopefully weā€™ll build symmetrical upper levels on both sides with 5-6,000 seats. I think 25,000ish is really all we need in CUSA anyway.

If we do play a game that requires significantly more seats, the city now has 6 days a year to use BoA. Iā€™m sure theyā€™d gladly give us a game if we were playing a big name opponent.[/quote]
I may be in the minority, but if we just do one upper deck (on 1 side) initially I hope it is on the student side. Of course, this assumes the press box tower is not part of the first expansion. That student side just looks so odd to me (so low) especially on TV and that is the side that shows on TV. Plus, the press box we have now atleast gives a little extra ā€œheightā€ to the ā€œhome sideā€.

[quote=ā€œ919R, post:14, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œNiner National, post:9, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œ919R, post:6, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œchasmo101, post:5, topic:28757ā€]I think weā€™ll get several interesting announcements over the off season. Not so sure about the stadium expansion, I would expect to see how next year goes, thatā€™s big $$. Certainly the lights and the band will both hit for 2015 and those are huge moves forward.

Think out of the box![/quote]
I think we almost HAVE to go ahead with expansion to atleast 25,000 for 2015. If we are to be taken seriously as an FBS team, we canā€™t play in a 15,300 seat stadium.[/quote]Yeah, Iā€™d think 20,000 would be about the absolute minimum weā€™d need in the very near future. An upper level on one side would likely get us there. Iā€™d prefer now to have a lopsided stadium, so hopefully weā€™ll build symmetrical upper levels on both sides with 5-6,000 seats. I think 25,000ish is really all we need in CUSA anyway.

If we do play a game that requires significantly more seats, the city now has 6 days a year to use BoA. Iā€™m sure theyā€™d gladly give us a game if we were playing a big name opponent.[/quote]
I may be in the minority, but if we just do one upper deck (on 1 side) initially I hope it is on the student side. Of course, this assumes the press box tower is not part of the first expansion. That student side just looks so odd to me (so low) especially on TV and that is the side that shows on TV. Plus, the press box we have now atleast gives a little extra ā€œheightā€ to the ā€œhome sideā€.[/quote]I agree completely. This is what Georgia Southern is doing right now and the result looks pretty good. Their press box is a little taller than ours so it looks a little less lopsided than ours would, but ours would still look quite a bit better if the first upper level was constructed there (assuming we donā€™t do two at once).

[quote=ā€œNiner National, post:15, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œ919R, post:14, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œNiner National, post:9, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œ919R, post:6, topic:28757ā€][quote=ā€œchasmo101, post:5, topic:28757ā€]I think weā€™ll get several interesting announcements over the off season. Not so sure about the stadium expansion, I would expect to see how next year goes, thatā€™s big $$. Certainly the lights and the band will both hit for 2015 and those are huge moves forward.

Think out of the box![/quote]
I think we almost HAVE to go ahead with expansion to atleast 25,000 for 2015. If we are to be taken seriously as an FBS team, we canā€™t play in a 15,300 seat stadium.[/quote]Yeah, Iā€™d think 20,000 would be about the absolute minimum weā€™d need in the very near future. An upper level on one side would likely get us there. Iā€™d prefer now to have a lopsided stadium, so hopefully weā€™ll build symmetrical upper levels on both sides with 5-6,000 seats. I think 25,000ish is really all we need in CUSA anyway.

If we do play a game that requires significantly more seats, the city now has 6 days a year to use BoA. Iā€™m sure theyā€™d gladly give us a game if we were playing a big name opponent.[/quote]
I may be in the minority, but if we just do one upper deck (on 1 side) initially I hope it is on the student side. Of course, this assumes the press box tower is not part of the first expansion. That student side just looks so odd to me (so low) especially on TV and that is the side that shows on TV. Plus, the press box we have now atleast gives a little extra ā€œheightā€ to the ā€œhome sideā€.[/quote]I agree completely. This is what Georgia Southern is doing right now and the result looks pretty good. Their press box is a little taller than ours so it looks a little less lopsided than ours would, but ours would still look quite a bit better if the first upper level was constructed there (assuming we donā€™t do two at once).[/quote]
Dang NN, you and I have been ā€œagreeingā€ quite a bit lately. ??? Whats up with that?

if we do do only 1 side, it should be on the Alumni side for the shade aspect aloneā€¦ Lights will mitigate this some.

Weā€™re not playing Kentucky in the opener next year unless we can the Georgia State series; and since this staff has been pretty steadfast in their not wanting to give the guys too much to handle too soon, I doubt our first FBS opponent will be in the SEC, even their lower levels.

Iā€™d rather build a 20k seat stadium and if the demand warrants, Add on. Nothing worse than empty seats.

D.O.B.A.