Michigan Stadium just got out of the pool.....

[VaNtyLion]

Shrinkage.....

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080715aaa.html

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Following several seating adjustments, Michigan Stadium's ticketed seating capacity has been slightly reduced.

The iconic 88-year-old Michigan Stadium remains college football's largest venue, but increasing its accessibility and configuration adjustments for major non-football events led to a decrease in the total number of seats by just over 2,000 to create the new official capacity of 107,601.

This lower capacity, coupled with the national interest in first-year J. Ira and Nikki Harris Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh, has led to Michigan's tickets once again being the hottest commodity on the secondary markets, as recently covered in the media.

The most noticeable changes to Stadium seating relate to ADA accessibility, as seats had to be eliminated in order to widen aisles and install hand railings around the entire bowl with the exception of the student seating section.

"Our facilities group has done a phenomenal job in increasing the accessibility of Michigan Stadium while minimizing the reduction in seat locations," said Kurt Svoboda, Associate Athletic Director for External Communications and Public Relations. "These shifts have taken place over several seasons; each adjustment causes a ripple effect in seating due to the large number of season ticket holders at U-M. We are incredibly thankful to the response of fans who have been affected by changes in seat locations."

Other less permanent seating adjustments over the past two years related to the Stadium's major non-football events such as the NHL Winter Classic and the International Champions Cup in 2014.

"With these accessibility projects complete and no major non-football events scheduled for 2015, the athletic department is able to establish this new official number," said Svoboda.

Penn State's Beaver Stadium has the second-highest capacity at 106,572, according to that school's official athletic department website.

Michigan Stadium seated 84,401 when it opened in 1927. Its third stadium expansion project in 1956 put capacity at 101,001. The last digit in seating capacity has been "1" since requested by director of athletics Fritz Crisler in 1956. The final seat was later said to be reserved in honor of the Hall of Fame football coach.

Removing 2,000 seats to bring about increased accessibility has been applauded by season ticket holders who require the widened aisles and railings to better navigate the stadium bowl.

 

[fairgambit]

"This lower capacity, coupled with the national interest in first-year J. Ira and Nikki Harris Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh, has led to Michigan's tickets once again being the hottest commodity on the secondary markets, as recently covered in the media."

I have suggesting lowering the capacity of Beaver Stadium which I expect would have similar results. It also adds to the comfort of the fans which makes the entire experience more enjoyable.

 

[PennState1997]

This really has to happen at Beaver Stadium. The next time they increase ticket prices for season tickets they better be ready with some benefits other than a new logo.

 

[NittPicker]

The NFL aside, attendance in general at most sporting events and most venues is down thanks in large part to people opting to watch in HD while sitting on their recliner. Look at NASCAR as an example. Many tracks thought the fans would always keep coming back and as a result they went nuts on expanding their seating. If you watch a NASCAR race today many of those seats are empty. As for PSU, Beaver Stadium upgrades are needed so fans have a reason to get off their recliner. The traffic blows too. Making the stadium experience fun and convenient is the key to getting people there. If the stadium capacity is reduced by a couple thousand then so be it.

 

[fairgambit]

The NFL aside, attendance in general at most sporting events and most venues is down thanks in large part to people opting to watch in HD while sitting on their recliner. Look at NASCAR as an example. Many tracks thought the fans would always keep coming back and as a result they went nuts on expanding their seating. If you watch a NASCAR race today many of those seats are empty. As for PSU, Beaver Stadium upgrades are needed so fans have a reason to get off their recliner. The traffic blows too. Making the stadium experience fun and convenient is the key to getting people there. If the stadium capacity is reduced by a couple thousand then so be it.

Penn State throws away money on all manner of things. Let them spend some on reducing the capacity and increasing the comfort. All the years I had season tickets, I cannot say I was ever really comfortable at a big game. It was always knees in the back, too little seating area, etc. If they did something as basic as eliminating a seat or two from every row to provide more lateral comfort it would be an improvement.

 

[Woodpecker]

J. Ira and Nikki Harris Head Football Coach

Their head coaching position is sponsored? What's next? "That's a shot of the Barbeque-flavored Fritos Defensive Coordinator up in the booth, Bob"

 

[gogolion]

TIME OUT! The most interesting part of this article is that UM has sold the naming rights to their head coaching position: Harbaugh is not just the UM head coach, he is the "J. Ira and Nikki Harris Head Football Coach". I hadn't heard about this and it seems like an all time low. Its one thing to sell naming rights to a building, like a stadium, but to a person's title? That is a little over the top. Here is an article for anyone else who hasn't heard about it:

https://leadersandbest.umich.edu/page.aspx?pid=1088

 

[BobPSU92]

I guess the um football coaching position is endowed like an academic position. That sounds like a culture problem at um to, essentially, equate the two.

Also, the article cited in the first post states Beaver Stadium's capacity as 106,572. I thought it was 107,282. When did it change and why?

 

[Blueblood4eva]

TIME OUT! The most interesting part of this article is that UM has sold the naming rights to their head coaching position: Harbaugh is not just the UM head coach, he is the "J. Ira and Nikki Harris Head Football Coach". I hadn't heard about this and it seems like an all time low. Its one thing to sell naming rights to a building, like a stadium, but to a person's title? That is a little over the top. Here is an article for anyone else who hasn't heard about it:

https://leadersandbest.umich.edu/page.aspx?pid=1088

All time low was naming our Creamery building for free. Surely we can find a sponsor to remove that new name.

 

[Woodpecker]

http://news.psu.edu/story/185820/2000/11/20/berkeys-give-3-million-food-science-building
I don't think it was free

 

[Go M&B]

TIME OUT! The most interesting part of this article is that UM has sold the naming rights to their head coaching position: Harbaugh is not just the UM head coach, he is the "J. Ira and Nikki Harris Head Football Coach". I hadn't heard about this and it seems like an all time low. Its one thing to sell naming rights to a building, like a stadium, but to a person's title? That is a little over the top. Here is an article for anyone else who hasn't heard about it:

https://leadersandbest.umich.edu/page.aspx?pid=1088

This is done at others schools as well, including Stanford.

 

[Kiber]

I would be 100% supportive with dropping a few thousand seats in order to create a more comfortable game day seating environment.

Many have suggested stadium-wide chair back seating. But in all reality that would take away too many seats. For example, a typical "aisle" probably has 30-40 numbered bench seat assignments. For example: seat 2-4-6-8 .... My guess is that if an aisle had 30 seat assignments, it would only fit about 20 chair back seats. So you'd be losing 10 seats per aisle. I could not even begin to guess how many aisles are in Beaver Stadium.

But if they simply re-numbered the seats in each aisle making them wider by about 4-6", then my guess is they'd only lose 2-3 seats per aisle. It does not sound like much, but let's say for example a typical aisle has 30 people squeezed in. It would make a huge difference to only have 27 people in that same aisle.

Right now, we all have to sit kind of sideways. If the aisle is completely full, there is no way that everyone can sit squarely shoulder-to-shoulder.

If the capacity was 104,000 instead of 107,000 it would still be a big ass stadium that generated a boat load of revenue 8 weekends per year.

 

[NittanyAmerica]

When you hire a psychotic clown to be your coach, you also get to name the psycho anything you want, for money of course...

N i t t a n y A m e r i c a

 

[baircub1!]

The NFL aside, attendance in general at most sporting events and most venues is down thanks in large part to people opting to watch in HD while sitting on their recliner. Look at NASCAR as an example. Many tracks thought the fans would always keep coming back and as a result they went nuts on expanding their seating. If you watch a NASCAR race today many of those seats are empty. As for PSU, Beaver Stadium upgrades are needed so fans have a reason to get off their recliner. The traffic blows too. Making the stadium experience fun and convenient is the key to getting people there. If the stadium capacity is reduced by a couple thousand then so be it.

Think they need to take a look at what Seattle has created for their soccer club and fan experience .,, they have nailed it !

 

[ILLINOISLION]

"This lower capacity, coupled with the national interest in first-year J. Ira and Nikki Harris Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh, has led to Michigan's tickets once again being the hottest commodity on the secondary markets, as recently covered in the media."

I have suggesting lowering the capacity of Beaver Stadium which I expect would have similar results. It also adds to the comfort of the fans which makes the entire experience more enjoyable.

PSU's AD is so screwed up they'd just white out a random seat number in the middle of every row instead of renumbering and respacing!

You heard it hear / here first!

 

[fairgambit]

Their head coaching position is sponsored? What's next? "That's a shot of the Barbeque-flavored Fritos Defensive Coordinator up in the booth, Bob"

PSU's AD is so screwed up they'd just white out a random seat number in the middle of every row instead of renumbering and respacing!
You heard it hear / here first!

OK, I like the post, but I note that it was your 35,000th. Congratulations!

 

[NittPicker]

PSU's AD is so screwed up they'd just white out a random seat number in the middle of every row instead of renumbering and respacing!

You heard it hear / here first!

I can picture that. Someone walking down each row with a bottle of white out in order to paint over a random number. Sure, paint would make more sense but this is the PSU administration we're talking about.

 

[dwiz]

The seats at Michigan stadium are 12 inches wide. You throw a fat-ass Midwesterner in the mix, and everyone in the row is down to 11 inches. Just an absolutely horrible situation. Also, everyone has to go out the same way. The people below ground level walk up the the 1 exit, and everyone above ground walks down to that same exit. It really makes beaver stadium look good. At least at the beav you can get the chair cushion put on your seat so your space is reserved. It is nice telling people to move over off your reserved seat and they have to somehow gel into zero space due to the spread out factor.

 

[BobPSU92]

The seats at Michigan stadium are 12 inches wide. You throw a fat-ass Midwesterner in the mix, and everyone in the row is down to 11 inches. Just an absolutely horrible situation. Also, everyone has to go out the same way. The people below ground level walk up the the 1 exit, and everyone above ground walks down to that same exit. It really makes beaver stadium look good. At least at the beav you can get the chair cushion put on your seat so your space is reserved. It is nice telling people to move over off your reserved seat and they have to somehow gel into zero space due to the spread out factor.

um's stadium is awful. Terribly overrated.