POLL: Stadium upgrades

What upgrades to DWS would you prefer to see first?

  • LED Lights

  • New Audio System

  • Legit chairback (not the crappy "upgrades") even if it lower capacity

  • Bring back the Templeton Troughs


Results are only viewable after voting.

aTotal360

Well-known member
Nov 12, 2009
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What upgrades to DWS would you prefer to see first?

See poll.
 

dawgnabit

Well-known member
Oct 13, 2016
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The LED lights are just a must and it's to the point where I wouldn't even make some tweet or publicity about putting them in because it's just embarrassing we don't have them yet. Hell, our baseball stadium even has them which tells you all you need to know about our previous AD
 

dawgstudent

Well-known member
Apr 15, 2003
36,580
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Did Selmon say that specifically in the article? I think he's waiting on the master plan to determine next steps but those seem like not time consuming things outside of the seats.
 

aTotal360

Well-known member
Nov 12, 2009
18,713
7,463
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Did Selmon say that specifically in the article? I think he's waiting on the master plan to determine next steps but those seem like not time consuming things outside of the seats.
Haven't read it, but what is there to determine? Find the contractor and pay them. It's not like those things require a substantive infrastructure change.
 

dawgstudent

Well-known member
Apr 15, 2003
36,580
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Haven't read it, but what is there to determine? Find the contractor and pay them. It's not like those things require a substantive infrastructure change.
Preaching to the choir but I would think the LED lights would the first thing that could be done. Seats and audio might change based on changes made structurally to the stadium in the plan.
 

NawlBennyDawg

Active member
Jan 23, 2023
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Not sure how much capacity would be affected by adding chairbacks in DWS, but I know when UNC converted Kenan Stadium to chairback a few years ago, they had a capacity of about 62,500 (about 1k higher than our capacity now), and now they have a capacity of 50,500, so we would be looking at a DWS capacity at about 50k-53k ish, give or take, with chairbacks. This would drop us a spot below Kentucky (Kroger Field: 61,000) to 13th in the SEC in capacity. Vandy is last with 40,350 in FirstBank Stadium, although I doubt Vandy fans could even fill up Nanih Waiya's beachers.

Just for reference, last time our capacity was around that much:
2001 capacity before the 2002 renovation was 45,286
2002 capacity during reno was 52,884
2003 capacity was 55,082 after renovation was completed

Just guesstimating and throwing some scenarios out there. I'd much, MUCH rather have chairbacks though.
 
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The Peeper

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2008
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I don't get the love for the lights. I've seen them at other stadiums but they are just kind of, meh? They use them at The Dude for a home run but not once have I ever heard ANYBODY say, damn, those really look awesome and add a lot, nobody even says anything about them, at all. They flash them for awhile after a home run and then, its over. I don't get it, enlighten me (pun intended)
 

kired

Well-known member
Aug 22, 2008
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Not sure how much capacity would be affected by adding chairbacks in DWS, but I know when UNC converted Kenan Stadium to chairback a few years ago, they had a capacity of about 62,500 (about 1k higher than our capacity now), and now they have a capacity of 50,500, so we would be looking at a DWS capacity at about 50k-53k ish, give or take, with chairbacks. This would drop us a spot below Kentucky (Kroger Field: 61,000) to 13th in the SEC in capacity. Vandy is last with 40,350 in FirstBank Stadium, although I doubt Vandy fans could even fill up Nanih Waiya's beachers.

Just for reference, last time our capacity was around that much:
2001 capacity before the 2002 renovation was 45,286
2002 capacity during reno was 52,884
2003 capacity was 55,082 after renovation was completed

Just guesstimating and throwing some scenarios out there. I'd much, MUCH rather have chairbacks though.
I wonder if they added chairbacks everywhere. I'd go for us just adding to lower east & west sides. Leave upper sections and student sections as they are now. That may also encourage people to buy tickets in the lower levels vs. sitting up top --- would probably look better on TV since that's mainly what you see.
 

NawlBennyDawg

Active member
Jan 23, 2023
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I wonder if they added chairbacks everywhere. I'd go for us just adding to lower east & west sides. Leave upper sections and student sections as they are now. That may also encourage people to buy tickets in the lower levels vs. sitting up top --- would probably look better on TV since that's mainly what you see.
I could be wrong, but I think they have chairback seating everywhere but the student section, including their upper decks, but they are also a complete bowl. I think it would also be interesting to see what their plan is to close in the South EZ and turn that into chairback seating as well, because Cohen apparently wanted that done at one point.

Cohen quote from July 2022: "'(We want) to full circle, to be able to visit every part of the football facility,' Cohen said. 'We’re not there yet. Very few facilities are like our baseball facility (Edit: classic Cohen, LOL) in which you can walk 360 and have an optimal view of the game.'"
 
Aug 22, 2012
207
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I’m with Peeper on the LED lights. Just don’t get the love for them. I honestly think they are a little cheesy and bush league. I don’t care who else has them, including Bama and Myrtle. Only thing I hate worse is bat flipping.
 

eckie1

Well-known member
Jun 23, 2007
3,241
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I don't get the love for the lights. I've seen them at other stadiums but they are just kind of, meh? They use them at The Dude for a home run but not once have I ever heard ANYBODY say, damn, those really look awesome and add a lot, nobody even says anything about them, at all. They flash them for awhile after a home run and then, its over. I don't get it, enlighten me (pun intended)
They’re a relatively cheap and easy option to do cool stuff with. We have one in our pool, and can set it to all kinds of things…. It’ll be red for Halloween, etc.

I don’t care anything about a light show like everybody was raving about at the scar game. But, it’s a quick win and pretty versatile.
 

L4Dawg

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
6,205
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What is needed the worst is to upgrade the underside of the stadium on the EAST side. As for the LED lights, who cares.
 

uptowndawg

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2010
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Here comes the wet blanket on the chair back idea…. And while I do think it would be our most welcome upgrade I do not think it is physically feasible in our stadium. If you think of each row as a stair step, made out of concrete as they are. These steps have a fixed tread depth. This is the measurement from one step toe to the next heel, or the flat part as measured in a direction to and from the sideline. Think of this as the distance from your knee to the knee behind you. Its pretty tight to sit as it is on bleachers. I’m 6’ and if I’m sitting behind and in front of similarly sized people then I can’t imagine having another ~2” of that tread depth taken away by the thickness of a chair back. The only way to increase this depth is to sawcut every other row which would leave us with way too much tread depth and half the lower bowl capacity. We would also have to reduce capacity laterally for armrests. I cant see us reducing capacity in the lower deck by over 50%

unless we put a vertical clearance bar at the entrances to keep out all the fans over 5’9”.
 

Maroon13

Well-known member
Sep 29, 2022
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What's the slope and rise of the west 100 level? Also the east club level? You have chairbacks there and just below bleachers. I can't remember a noticeable difference in the space and rise of the steps in either locations.

Then the west upper deck. You have chairbacks in a small section and bleachers above and below. The west upper can easily accommodate chairbacks based on that fact alone.
 

The Peeper

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2008
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Fans. Can we get some of those for the stadium?
Not until we have some good wins, I'm not talking about sneaking past W MI, I'm talking about beating a bad LSU team maybe earlier this year? Then maybe a mediocre KY? Then beat the brakes off a terrible Univ of Southern MS team followed 5 days later by beating Univ of Northern MS. Lose those then you won't see fans for at least 2 years because next year will be worse than this one
 

Dawgtruc

Active member
Sep 8, 2018
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This cheap *** university won’t do any of these options anytime soon.

Somebody is pocketing a good chunk of that SEC money.

Greed.
 
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BIGDAWG44

Active member
Aug 22, 2012
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Unpopular opinion get rid of the Jumbotrons so people actually have to come in the game to see it. I can’t tell you how many stay in the junction and just watch the Jumbotron.
 

The Peeper

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2008
12,059
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What is needed the worst is to upgrade the underside of the stadium on the EAST side. As for the LED lights, who cares.
How much time do fans spend underneath the East or West side bleachers, seriously? You walk to your seats, maybe visit the troughs while the band plays then walk back to the car after the game. I bet I spend no more than 10 minutes per game under the bleachers
 

Maroon13

Well-known member
Sep 29, 2022
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Not until we have some good wins, I'm not talking about sneaking past W MI, I'm talking about beating a bad LSU team maybe earlier this year? Then maybe a mediocre KY? Then beat the brakes off a terrible Univ of Southern MS team followed 5 days later by beating Univ of Northern MS. Lose those then you won't see fans for at least 2 years because next year will be worse than this one
BS. We won last year. We had a small crowd for SELA. Then we had perfect weather and kickoff for AZ and nobody shows. We are 2-0 going into the LSU, small crowd.

State fans deserve nothing. Because What's the point of led lights and blah blah blah if no one is there.
 

L4Dawg

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
6,205
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Literally EVERYTHING in that poll is not a real need, not even close. A new audio system is the closest, but upgrading the concourses under the lower east side is the GLARING need.
 

Duke Humphrey

Well-known member
Oct 3, 2013
2,302
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Literally EVERYTHING in that poll is not a real need, not even close. A new audio system is the closest, but upgrading the concourses under the lower east side is the GLARING need.
I’ve been to every SEC stadium, and east concourse is far from the worst. Maybe even upper tier. Especially when comparing to Tiger Stadium, Jordan Hare, Neyland, Florida, etc.

Chairbacks equal comfort which equals more money.
 

Duke Humphrey

Well-known member
Oct 3, 2013
2,302
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Here comes the wet blanket on the chair back idea…. And while I do think it would be our most welcome upgrade I do not think it is physically feasible in our stadium. If you think of each row as a stair step, made out of concrete as they are. These steps have a fixed tread depth. This is the measurement from one step toe to the next heel, or the flat part as measured in a direction to and from the sideline. Think of this as the distance from your knee to the knee behind you. Its pretty tight to sit as it is on bleachers. I’m 6’ and if I’m sitting behind and in front of similarly sized people then I can’t imagine having another ~2” of that tread depth taken away by the thickness of a chair back. The only way to increase this depth is to sawcut every other row which would leave us with way too much tread depth and half the lower bowl capacity. We would also have to reduce capacity laterally for armrests. I cant see us reducing capacity in the lower deck by over 50%

unless we put a vertical clearance bar at the entrances to keep out all the fans over 5’9”.
There are plans to completely redo the tread of the west, lower bowl to accommodate chairbacks
 

Maroon Eagle

Well-known member
May 24, 2006
16,456
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I don't get the love for the lights. I've seen them at other stadiums but they are just kind of, meh? They use them at The Dude for a home run but not once have I ever heard ANYBODY say, damn, those really look awesome and add a lot, nobody even says anything about them, at all. They flash them for awhile after a home run and then, it’s over. I don't get it, enlighten me (pun intended)
brain network GIF by Nico Roxe


I don’t get it either.

Maybe MSU wants to blind us so we don’t see how terrible we are. **
 

AstroDog

Well-known member
Oct 5, 2022
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Haven't read it, but what is there to determine? Find the contractor and pay them. It's not like those things require a substantive infrastructure change.
Redoing the concrete pads for the chairbacks will be the most time cosuming. Current seat spacing is 18" width. New seating will likely use a 20-21" width for all the new fat arses we now have. Plus, an increase of several inches in depth will be needed for better leg room and movement through the aisles. Will likely reduce current stadium capacity to around 50K.
 

L4Dawg

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
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I’ve been to every SEC stadium, and east concourse is far from the worst. Maybe even upper tier. Especially when comparing to Tiger Stadium, Jordan Hare, Neyland, Florida, etc.

Chairbacks equal comfort which equals more money.
It may not be the worst in the SEC, but it's the worst at Davis Wade, by far. It does not match the rest of the stadium. That's a fairly cheap fix too. Comfort isn't going to mean much more money these days. You are competing with the couch at home there. That is a battle that can NOT be won. If comfort is the thing, people ain't going to come. It's the extraneous experiences/annoyances that will make a real difference. That means making parking easier, and cheaper. That means making it easy to get a hot dog and a beer/coke, and not so expensive. That also means making it easier to get to a restroom and making those not so revolting. Cutting the expense and annoyance to actually GOING to a game will improve the atmosphere AND attendance. That will do more than the relatively small loss of revenue in the long run. What WE need to be doing is making it cheaper and easier to go to a game. That will pay real dividends in the future. I ain't holding my breath. We never look at the long term.
 
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Duke Humphrey

Well-known member
Oct 3, 2013
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It may not be the worst in the SEC, but it's the worst at Davis Wade, by far. It does not match the rest of the stadium. That's a fairly cheap fix too. Comfort isn't going to mean much more money these days. You are competing with the couch at home there. That is a battle that can NOT be won. If comfort is the thing, people ain't going to come. It's the extraneous experiences/annoyances that will make a real difference. That means making parking easier, and cheaper. That means making it easy to get a hot dog and a beer/coke, and not so expensive. That also means making it easier to get to a restroom and making those not so revolting. Cutting the expense and annoyance to actually GOING to a game will improve the atmosphere AND attendance. That will do more than the relatively small loss of revenue in the long run. What WE need to be doing is making it cheaper and easier to go to a game. That will pay real dividends in the future. I ain't holding my breath. We never look at the long term.
What’s wrong with it as is? What can be a cheap fix?
 
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