East side issues of DWS

[KorbenDallas]

Anyone have any ideas on what we should do with the upper and lower east side?This is two weeks in a row that side looks like MM Roberts Stadium.We need the smartest guy in the room to come up with some ideas and soon for the south endzone and the whole east side.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

What? It was packed out. Some seats up in the corners but that was about it. And the plan is to put balconies in those corners next year.

 

[Dogpatrol]

How have the balconies been for games?

 

[Pilgrimdawg]

First thing would be for the folks in section 20 to stop giving their tickets to our opponents. I am not sure but I think that is the faculty section.

 

[BigDawg0074]

IDK but they need to add concessions at club level in the West side. There are far too many people crammed into the lower concessions to get even half of the them served during halftime. East side has more concessions up top from what I recall.

 

[KorbenDallas]

What? It was packed out. Some seats up in the corners but that was about it. And the plan is to put balconies in those corners next year.

Not even close to being packed.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

What? It was packed out. Some seats up in the corners but that was about it. And the plan is to put balconies in those corners next year.

East side wasn’t near packed out, also there was a lot of red in premium seats on that side.

 

[00Dawg]

Chairback the stadium. Simple answer.

 

[wsjmsu75]

Agree on the all chairbacks. But I'm wondering, are there any all chairback stadiums in college football?

 

[The Cooterpoot]

East side wasn’t near packed out, also there was a lot of red in premium seats on that side.

Looks pretty full. We were about a couple thousand from a sellout. That's strong for 11:00.

 

[Drebin]

Looks pretty full. We were about a couple thousand from a sellout. That's strong for 11:00.

East side wasn't remotely close to being full. Contributing factors:

- Arkansas didn't sell all of their allotment. Lots of empty seats in their area.
- We waste prime seating on faculty tickets and those seats end up empty or full of visitors
- The student section is great in the endzone but slow to fill in above the band
- Of course the 11 am kick. It was a cool day but the sun still cooked people.

All this said, it was a great, energetic crowd, especially for an 11 am game.

 

[mcdawg22]

Agree on the all chairbacks. But I'm wondering, are there any all chairback stadiums in college football?

UNC is. Except for the student section. Not sure who else

 

[L4Dawg]

Agree on the all chairbacks. But I'm wondering, are there any all chairback stadiums in college football?

I think Stanford. Check into what that cost. It ain't happening here.

 

[KorbenDallas]

Looks pretty full. We were about a couple thousand from a sellout. That's strong for 11:00.

It wasn't near full.It's an eye sore every home game.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

The upper deck is never full. Hence, balconies will be up there next year. The bottom was full. You're acting like it was all empty. It wasn't close.

 

[L4Dawg]

The upper deck is never full. Hence, balconies will be up there next year. The bottom was full. You're acting like it was all empty. It wasn't close.

8-9 years ago it WOULD have been full. I paid $60 for STANDING room for the Auburn game in 2014.

 

[Dawg84]

8-9 years ago it WOULD have been full. I paid $60 for STANDING room for the Auburn game in 2014.

True story!!!

 

[Maroon13]

The student section needs to be moved completely from the north endzone to the east side.

For the north endzone, west side and upper east, chairback it this winter. More balconies to the west side.

making those changes should fill the east side and spread out the fans attending well enough to fill the place.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

8-9 years ago it WOULD have been full. I paid $60 for STANDING room for the Auburn game in 2014.

But it's that way at every school. Again, that's why the upper deck will have balconies next year.
There's a waiting list on balconies already. But the lower bowl was pretty much full. At some point we're going chair back and will lose a couple thousand seats. Also, in 2014 we're we're a number 1 ranked team playing highly ranked teams. We aren't that. Winning will fill up most all the stadium.

 

[ezsoil]

Well let's look at this year ...a win at Kentucky will increase the Auburn attendance from our fan base and the Georgia game will be a hard sell out and then the layup before the egg bowl will be sparse ...many of the Arky empty seats were because they were ranked in the top 10 and bought tickets then after two losses ...decided it was too far to watch a beatdown ..those lower level east side empty seats are the tickets sold by Arky...I'm betting Auburn will have the same thing...tickets have been sold but they won't come ....

 

[Dawgbite]

It will never be full on a consistent basis. Up until this year I had been a season ticket holder for 25+ years but I gave them up. The Covid year was enlightening as far as how much easier it was to just stay home. I don’t know if it’s the athletic department, the BDC, the game day staff, or a combination of the three but they’ve made it more and more difficult to go to games. Last year I finally decided that it wasn’t worth paying $5000 in order to deal with 7 weeks of this Mickey Mouse ****. I wasn’t alone and I won’t be the last.

 

[HotMop]

8-9 years ago it WOULD have been full. I paid $60 for STANDING room for the Auburn game in 2014.

Wasn't that before we expanded?

 

[garddog]

Students were moved back in the early 90's because Billy Brewer flipped us off and the student section at that time was the whole north end of east side. Brewer and Ole Miss players got pelted with trash and liquor bottles. Section was moved before the next season because of the complaints to the SEC. Pretty sure we paid a fine also.

 

[Perd Hapley]

Wasn't that before we expanded?

No. Unless you call those South EZ golf tents an “expansion”.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Students were moved back in the early 90's because Billy Brewer flipped us off and the student section at that time was the whole north end of east side. Brewer and Ole Miss players got pelted with trash and liquor bottles. Section was moved before the next season because of the complaints to the SEC. Pretty sure we paid a fine also.

When I was there 2000-2004 the student sections was the north end of of the east side.

 

[garddog]

When I was there 2000-2004 the student sections was the north end of of the east side.

Yep, but not behind the visiting team. We had about half of the east side bottom before the Ole Miss incident. Those rickety *** high school bleachers were put in under the old scoreboard after all that happened.

 

[vhdawg]

When I was there 2000-2004 the student sections was the north end of of the east side.

Not sure if it changed to that in 98 or 99, but when I got there in 96-97, the student section was both ends of the east side.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Yep, but not behind the visiting team. We had about half of the east side bottom before the Ole Miss incident. Those rickety *** high school bleachers were put in under the old scoreboard after all that happened.

It was east side bottom but it didnt go all the way to the bottom. The lower part of the section was fenced off and had season tickets. I never sat in the endzone bleachers. It was still behind the visitors bench but there was a buffer.

 

[The Usual Suspect]

UNC is. Except for the student section. Not sure who else

A&M has quite a few chair backs, but a lot of bleacher seats also. The difference is, they replaced both east and west side structures in the past 5 years, and there is much more leg room and better steps etc. to make the experience much more enjoyable from a space perspective.

 

[RocketDawg]

UNC is. Except for the student section. Not sure who else

Syracuse.

 

[KorbenDallas]

The upper deck is never full. Hence, balconies will be up there next year. The bottom was full. You're acting like it was all empty. It wasn't close.

I sat right across from the east side in perfect view all game,it wasn't near full.The left side of the lower seats was fine the middle to right was the same as it was vs Texas A&M , far from full and embarrassing.I won't even get into how bad the east side upper deck looks every game.We had some Hog fans make a comment to us yesterday about how good the atmosphere is with the fans that do show up, but are always taken a back by how one side of DWS might be 30 to 40% full everytime they come to games here .Said it's the only place in the SEC West they see that at.

 

[Maroon13]

Going even further back to 1980s. The student section was the entire north end of the east side, 50 to goal. Then sometime in the Felker era, the SEC passed a rule about students being behind the visiting team. Felker moved our bench to the east side for a few years to not disrupt the student seating.

Then in the early Jackie years, the team
Bench was moved back to the west side. Then the student section was split in half to the two sections furthest north and south on the east side.

Then I dnk what year, the student section went back to the north end of the east side, 50 to goal. However the bottom 10 rows or so was fenced off from students to comply with the students behind visiting team rule.

 

[L4Dawg]

Wasn't that before we expanded?

No. It was the first year after we expanded.

 

[AstroDog]

West side redo is scheduled next. That said Cohen has also indicated at least the lower bowl will all be chairbacks in the not-so-distant future. Would lower the capacity to around 55K, but that's not an issue as it will be much more comfortable and plenty of leg room. All the concrete pad structure will have to be redone to handle the space needed. Probably do one side at a time. I would guess the West side will be done first, then the East side. Then possibly chairback the upper deck areas that aren't balconied. That would drop capacity to about 50-52K. After all that is done, then in about 5-6 years, we'll likely be looking to add back capacity (if needed) and comfort in the form of the SEZ expansion. I'm pretty sure no other expansions will ever be added without chair backs and the modern-day size & leg width needed for today's human beings.

 

[Maroon13]

Louisville's Papa John Cardinal Stadium is completely chairback.

Dayum, if only Pizza Inn could have held on.....