The North Endzone Expansion
Artistic representation of north endzone entrance
The Bryant-Denny Site Plan
Expansion Building Sections
Club Interior Perspective
Approved BDS Renderings out
- Thread starter thbama
- Start date
The North Endzone Expansion
Artistic representation of north endzone entrance
The Bryant-Denny Site Plan
Expansion Building Sections
Club Interior Perspective
This may be the wrong question to ask, but is the program (in it's current state) worthy of this facility? I mean it seems the basketball program should get the next expansion/renovation because they need the facilities more than football. Plus I can't see an expansion legit when we can barely sell the tickets we have now. Just an honest question here. Plus, is the expansion going to join up with the existing upper decks or will it be free-standing??? RTR!!!
Script A said:
Isn't coleman slated for renovation very soon, too? To answer your question, football STILL makes a WHOLE LOT more money for the school than does Basketball. I'm a HUGE b'ball fan, and go to all the home games, so I know where you're coming from (Coleman is like Boston Garden used to be)...the answer is yes we/they deserve having a better place to play, too....
J
Script A, I think you have to plan for the future. If we come out next year (with our INCREDIBLE home schedule) and Brodie is hot... we wouldn't have ANY problem filling it up. I know it won't be done then, but you get the idea. You can't wait until you're playing well to add an expansion. We'll be back to where we should be... and when we get there, we'll have the facility ready and waiting!
And Coleman is getting some rennovations. I think most of it will be exterior (I'm not sure, someone may want to correct me here). I've heard plans for taking out the concrete sidewalks and replacing with brick, new "antique" lamp posts outside and two large "Script Circle A's" to flank the parking lot.
And Coleman is getting some rennovations. I think most of it will be exterior (I'm not sure, someone may want to correct me here). I've heard plans for taking out the concrete sidewalks and replacing with brick, new "antique" lamp posts outside and two large "Script Circle A's" to flank the parking lot.
Concerning the tickets....
I think I read some place that the only Tide Pride tickets that aren't sold out on in the upper deck in the sun (which hasn't mattered much with all of our night games). I know there is a waiting list for the box seats and I think the rest of the games this season are sold out (unless visiting schools return some tickets.) I know that we have a few vacant seats beside ours so that tells me a lot of season ticket holders are not attending.
As far as updating our stadium, it is past due. Schools have to update their facilities to help with recruiting, no matter who you are. Football is still the cash cow and I am all for making our stadium bigger and hopefully louder.
I think I read some place that the only Tide Pride tickets that aren't sold out on in the upper deck in the sun (which hasn't mattered much with all of our night games). I know there is a waiting list for the box seats and I think the rest of the games this season are sold out (unless visiting schools return some tickets.) I know that we have a few vacant seats beside ours so that tells me a lot of season ticket holders are not attending.
As far as updating our stadium, it is past due. Schools have to update their facilities to help with recruiting, no matter who you are. Football is still the cash cow and I am all for making our stadium bigger and hopefully louder.
They're spending about $38 million on Coleman from what I've heard and have hired HOK (arguably the premier sports architecture firm in the world and certainly the best in the United States) to design it. The outside will be completely updated, the lobby expanded, and I think pretty much everything inside updated as well for that kind of a price tag. I read something somewhere about remodeling the seating area, at very least replacing a large portion of the seats.
Personally, I hope they reduce the capacity of Coleman. It's too big for any of its tenants (Mens & Women's Basketball and Gymnastics) to fill more than a couple times a year, which leaves the following problems:
-Too many extra seats for opposing fans to buy up--see the Mississippi State game at Coleman last year.
-Right now it's too cavernous and unintimate. Somehow when they built it they only managed to get 15,000 seats without a single skybox in a space that could pretty much hold a 20,000 seat NBA arena. If seats were taken out, a feaux ceiling of some sort installed, the result would be constant packed, rockin' loud games.
My other complaints:
-The decor is reminiscent of a New York City subway station, with it's distinct lack of windows, institutional feel, and way outdated tile mosaic over the entrance.
-There really are no extra revenue streams for the University whatsoever--no club seats, no suites, nothing. I don't remember the last arena I've been in the size of Coleman that didn't have a single premium seat in the house--charging extra for a ticket in a raggedy theater seat doesn't count.
-The portable food vendors seem like random people who decided to set up card tables and sell food. Granted the food is good enough, but the booths generally look like crap.
-There's no semblance of a 'team store' which I think is a concept that should be applied at Bryant Denny as well.
-The bathrooms. I don't think I need to say anything else here.
-The seating configuration. The endzone seats are generally too high, causing that 4 row cliff down to the temporary seats, and the sideline seats are too far from the court and on too narow a pitch close to the court.
The idea for the place was quite revolutionary, as there weren't too many truly 'multi purpose' facilities in the 60's. Sadly, they took the easy way out by just making a giant floor, instead of using retractable seating close to the floor that would allow for increasing space or reconfiguration.
The structure itself is great. It's solidly built, and in good condition for the most part. With the right updates it could be a pretty spectacular facility.
Personally, I hope they reduce the capacity of Coleman. It's too big for any of its tenants (Mens & Women's Basketball and Gymnastics) to fill more than a couple times a year, which leaves the following problems:
-Too many extra seats for opposing fans to buy up--see the Mississippi State game at Coleman last year.
-Right now it's too cavernous and unintimate. Somehow when they built it they only managed to get 15,000 seats without a single skybox in a space that could pretty much hold a 20,000 seat NBA arena. If seats were taken out, a feaux ceiling of some sort installed, the result would be constant packed, rockin' loud games.
My other complaints:
-The decor is reminiscent of a New York City subway station, with it's distinct lack of windows, institutional feel, and way outdated tile mosaic over the entrance.
-There really are no extra revenue streams for the University whatsoever--no club seats, no suites, nothing. I don't remember the last arena I've been in the size of Coleman that didn't have a single premium seat in the house--charging extra for a ticket in a raggedy theater seat doesn't count.
-The portable food vendors seem like random people who decided to set up card tables and sell food. Granted the food is good enough, but the booths generally look like crap.
-There's no semblance of a 'team store' which I think is a concept that should be applied at Bryant Denny as well.
-The bathrooms. I don't think I need to say anything else here.
-The seating configuration. The endzone seats are generally too high, causing that 4 row cliff down to the temporary seats, and the sideline seats are too far from the court and on too narow a pitch close to the court.
The idea for the place was quite revolutionary, as there weren't too many truly 'multi purpose' facilities in the 60's. Sadly, they took the easy way out by just making a giant floor, instead of using retractable seating close to the floor that would allow for increasing space or reconfiguration.
The structure itself is great. It's solidly built, and in good condition for the most part. With the right updates it could be a pretty spectacular facility.
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Nate, good points! I've always been an Alabama football fan first and foremost, but I went to undergrad at South Alabama. Since we had no football team, I picked up basketball. I went to the UA/MSU game last year, and I was somewhat disappointed. I think a large portion of the reason is due to the reasons you mentioned. Well, that, and the fact that I was spoiled by the Mitchell Center. I got into basketball again last year during the NCAA Tourney, but I think a nicer facility will bring the marginal fan in. The hardcore basketball fans will go to the home games if they're played outdoors on an asphalt court with chain nets, the same as I'd go to football games if they were still played on the Quad. I think the Athletic Dept. is going in the right direction by upgrading both facilities though... I know I'll likely go to more games at Coleman. If for no other reason, it'll be "nicer."
onward and upward: the only way to go....oh and I think they are currently doing a few thigns to Coleman...I know some of the non-football sports' coaches are having to move out of their offices
From what I've heard they're doing the Coleman remodel in 2 phases. One was supposed to have taken place this summer I thought, and then again next summer, to minimize effect on its tenants. Seems to me like they might have scrapped that plan and pushed it back seeing as they're just now starting turn the grass around the outside of it into dirt per Crimson Tradition photos.
DKE House is still there
That's great to see. That fraternity house has a great look, and they are always having a big party before the game
That's great to see. That fraternity house has a great look, and they are always having a big party before the game
So they're not going to connect and "horse shoe" the upper deck???? It's nice and all, but I feel like if they aren't going to connect the decks, then they should make it similar to FL, aTm and South Carolina by making it really high. It seems difficult to me to get 10,000 people in a deck that is the same height as the bigger east and west decks, but only the width of the endzone.
LoudBamaFan..........................
The expansion won't add 10,000 people. More like 6,500 from what I've heard. THey are going to add 37 skyboxes and some club seating which will help to cut down on the total number of seats that can be added. As far as it connecting to the east and west stands....It will come VERY close to connecting, but due to the height differences between the two stands, I understand it to be just about impossible to TOTALLY connect it.
The expansion won't add 10,000 people. More like 6,500 from what I've heard. THey are going to add 37 skyboxes and some club seating which will help to cut down on the total number of seats that can be added. As far as it connecting to the east and west stands....It will come VERY close to connecting, but due to the height differences between the two stands, I understand it to be just about impossible to TOTALLY connect it.
A curiousity....
I noticed in the second illustration, to the right and left of the entry way are yellow brick ovens of fireplaces. Would these be used by tailgaters for ribs during pregame activities or are they open air ovens to be loaded wih straggling UT and Barn fans.
I noticed in the second illustration, to the right and left of the entry way are yellow brick ovens of fireplaces. Would these be used by tailgaters for ribs during pregame activities or are they open air ovens to be loaded wih straggling UT and Barn fans.
3rd and short said:
Well then they've scaled this whole thing down overall I guess. That's kind of disappointing. The original plans called for a 9,000 - 10,000 seat upper deck of above all of the boxes. It also mentioned removing the existing ramps on that end so that the deck could connect. Now, I'm afraid it's going to look pieced together, kind of like another school in Knoxville, TN.
If you look at the picture, the upper deck is similar in size and level with the existing ones. It extends out from the suite structure below and over the spirals, and does appear to either connect with the existing decks or come very close to it. Also, it appears from the drawings that the expansion still encompasses about 10,000 total seats, with the club seats having been moved as part of a "reconditioning" of sorts of the top rows of the main bowl, giving added room in the new structure for more suites. The net effect of the project would be an increase of about 6500 over the current 83,818.
Regardless, it keeps in uniform with the rest of the architecture of the stadium as far as I can tell, the same overhanging roof over the main upper deck, a similar style of building as the one at the base of the east upper deck, but somewhat larger and more luxurious. Before criticizing it as possibly looking "pieced together," look at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. That is pieced together. Three distinctly different looking structures loom over the stadium.
While this addition to Bryant Denny may not connect excatly, it is attractive, it is very similar architecturally to what is already there, and will not be offending to the eye as most college stadium additions are--examples: Sanford Stadium, Athens, GA (putting an upper upper deck on one side instead of filling in the open end); Camp Randall Stadium, Wisconsin (a hodgepodge of additions which include about 100 suites with windows that don't open, an athletics administration building integrated into the stadium but barely has any windows facing the stadium, and also juts out into the stadium instead of being incorporated into the other structure that was constructed as part of the remodel); and the aforementioned Vaught Hemingway Stadium at Ole Miss.
Regardless, it keeps in uniform with the rest of the architecture of the stadium as far as I can tell, the same overhanging roof over the main upper deck, a similar style of building as the one at the base of the east upper deck, but somewhat larger and more luxurious. Before criticizing it as possibly looking "pieced together," look at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. That is pieced together. Three distinctly different looking structures loom over the stadium.
While this addition to Bryant Denny may not connect excatly, it is attractive, it is very similar architecturally to what is already there, and will not be offending to the eye as most college stadium additions are--examples: Sanford Stadium, Athens, GA (putting an upper upper deck on one side instead of filling in the open end); Camp Randall Stadium, Wisconsin (a hodgepodge of additions which include about 100 suites with windows that don't open, an athletics administration building integrated into the stadium but barely has any windows facing the stadium, and also juts out into the stadium instead of being incorporated into the other structure that was constructed as part of the remodel); and the aforementioned Vaught Hemingway Stadium at Ole Miss.
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