It's Time To Get That Stadium Done

[Gatorhater]

Gonna be hard AF to bribe city officials in Coral Gables to get an on-campus stadium.

Tell those smucks the alternative is we are going to set up a frigging "refugee" camp for 20,000 ISIS terrorists Obama is flying in 1st class! Or we could use the same land for a stadium. Let the city pick one.

 

[Gatorhater]

We are being slaughtered by the media and every other fanbase right now for our horrible gameday atmosphere, terrible facilities, lack of an on-campus stadium, and administration's indifference toward winning. Now, anyone that lives down here knows wins = attendance. That is true in any SoFla sport. It's a front-running town full of transplants and UM's alumni base is small and spread out. The facilities issue I believe is somewhat overblown. But the one thing I tend to agree with is the stadium problem.

It seems like every single D1 program has, or is in the process of getting, an on-campus stadium. The atmosphere at these stadiums is part of what makes the college gameday experience great. Ours, by comparison, is a certified nightmare. I think Sun Life stadium is a problem based on its size and location. I've had the displeasure of attending a lot of UF games when I was at school up there and son of a bltch if it wasn't amazing. It made me sad coming back down here and realizing we play in a library in the middle of nowhere. When you think about it, what about Sun Life should elicit excitement on gameday? The quaint drive through a trailer park? When I was driving into the Nebraska game we saw a dude on the sidewalk doing martial arts. An authentic, barefoot crackhead in sweatpants engaging in a karate fight against an invisible opponent. But if that didn't get me hyped the stunning view of the Sonic dumpster would. Or maybe I could partake in the time-honored tradition of tailgating in front of a Wal-Mart.

We have to find a way to build a 40k-45k stadium close to campus that would actually give us some semblance of a homefield advantage and a college gameday environment. This school really needs to ask themselves whether or not they're serious about fielding a competitive division 1 football program, and if they are, start acting like it. Put that money up.

Getting an on-campus stadium was Howard's dream. School work him over on it bad. I have always believed that was the true reason he left. Maybe today it might be different but it is going to be the heavy lift of all times. Best case would be ACC mandate to do it or else.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

We are being slaughtered by the media and every other fanbase right now for our horrible gameday atmosphere, terrible facilities, lack of an on-campus stadium, and administration's indifference toward winning. Now, anyone that lives down here knows wins = attendance. That is true in any SoFla sport. It's a front-running town full of transplants and UM's alumni base is small and spread out. The facilities issue I believe is somewhat overblown. But the one thing I tend to agree with is the stadium problem.

It seems like every single D1 program has, or is in the process of getting, an on-campus stadium. The atmosphere at these stadiums is part of what makes the college gameday experience great. Ours, by comparison, is a certified nightmare. I think Sun Life stadium is a problem based on its size and location. I've had the displeasure of attending a lot of UF games when I was at school up there and son of a bltch if it wasn't amazing. It made me sad coming back down here and realizing we play in a library in the middle of nowhere. When you think about it, what about Sun Life should elicit excitement on gameday? The quaint drive through a trailer park? When I was driving into the Nebraska game we saw a dude on the sidewalk doing martial arts. An authentic, barefoot crackhead in sweatpants engaging in a karate fight against an invisible opponent. But if that didn't get me hyped the stunning view of the Sonic dumpster would. Or maybe I could partake in the time-honored tradition of tailgating in front of a Wal-Mart.

We have to find a way to build a 40k-45k stadium close to campus that would actually give us some semblance of a homefield advantage and a college gameday environment. This school really needs to ask themselves whether or not they're serious about fielding a competitive division 1 football program, and if they are, start acting like it. Put that money up.

Getting an on-campus stadium was Howard's dream. School work him over on it bad. I have always believed that was the true reason he left. Maybe today it might be different but it is going to be the heavy lift of all times. Best case would be ACC mandate to do it or else.

LOL@ACC mandating it. The ACC is not going to mandate that a member institution spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a stadium, even if UM could get it approved by the City of Coral Gables, which it can't.

 

[terdferguson]

I think this issue is way overblown. The revamped sunlife is fine. They addressed the size by reducing the upper deck capacity substantially. The total attendance number is now going to be 65k. That's perfect. If we're good and we have 45k showing up to watch us play Pitt, it won't look like a desert out there. If we play fsu or another good team 65k gives us a nice upper limit to still have a decently big and loud crowd. You add on the roof and the noise level is going to be bananas in big games helping our home field advantage.

**** the national media. As others have pointed out, they always bash us for one thing or another. The tailgating sucked at the orange bowl. The orange bowl held 80k so it was often empty as well. Those things didn't impede us from winning. Times have changed you say? Recruits won't want to come here. Bullsh!t. Despite sucking ****, Al Golden's average class ranking was in the mid teens. That's with us playing in the old sun life and with Al being Al. The only thing this program needs right now is a coach who can coach his nuts off. Everything else will take care of itself.

 

[duke4heisman]

Why don't we let Addidas build a stadium? They dumped so much money into "making us their Oregon" to get into the south Florida market, what better way than have your own stadium? I can see it now......Butch Davis field at Addidas stadium!

 

[canestim]

the only realistic site for a stadium is tropical park.

That's pretty much agreed upon.. Just need to make it happen.

Without a partner like Beckham Tropical is probably the best place. The place Zen posted could work probably as well depending on who owns that land. $225 million stadium with part paid by fund raising and part by a multi year note, it's possible. UM was going to put up quite a bit of money for OB renovations at one point. Build around 48,000 seats and keep ticket demand high.

 

[Brandinho]

Is the Beckham Stadium a no go?

Pretty sure the train left the station on that one. Beckham & co. and MLS were adamant about the stadium being ~25k seats, UM needed at the MINIMUM 40k, preferably 45-50k.

It actually looks like they're proceeding without us but with a stadium capacity of 30k. It's beyond stupid that we can't be involved if the capacity desires are now not that far apart. Again, get Adidas involved. They LOVE futbol.

I feel like they can work around the number by adding additional seats for the UM games. Something like in the OB when playing FSU, those extra bleachers in the end zone

Or just run with a 30k seater stadium that is packed out and rocking every game.

If we sell out for a couple of years maybe you can have the discussion about extending it for another 10k or so. You'd have a much stronger case at that point.

It seems to me that SunLife, whilst apparently now a very nice stadium after the refurbishment, isn't fit for the purpose of UM football.

Not sure if 30k would cut it logistically. Gotta section off 7-10k for undergrad and grad students, a few thousand for season ticket holders, and then you're left with only 15k seats to sell.

 

[canestim]

I think this issue is way overblown. The revamped sunlife is fine. They addressed the size by reducing the upper deck capacity substantially. The total attendance number is now going to be 65k. That's perfect. If we're good and we have 45k showing up to watch us play Pitt, it won't look like a desert out there. If we play fsu or another good team 65k gives us a nice upper limit to still have a decently big and loud crowd. You add on the roof and the noise level is going to be bananas in big games helping our home field advantage.

**** the national media. As others have pointed out, they always bash us for one thing or another. The tailgating sucked at the orange bowl. The orange bowl held 80k so it was often empty as well. Those things didn't impede us from winning. Times have changed you say? Recruits won't want to come here. Bullsh!t. Despite sucking ****, Al Golden's average class ranking was in the mid teens. That's with us playing in the old sun life and with Al being Al. The only thing this program needs right now is a coach who can coach his nuts off. Everything else will take care of itself.

We need our own stadium but Dolphin Stadium does get **** on a little too much. It's not ideal but UM could make it a lot better. The roof will improve sound and if they got serious about tarping the right way they could make it look better on TV.

 

[Cane2014]

Tropical park is the ideal place is close to campus and a 50k stadium there would be nice similar to what Cincinnati or Oregon state have not huge stadiums but on game days they feel like there 100k people there. Now with the being said, if we start and developing players it doesn't matter where we play because recruits don't go to Alabama or Ohio state because they play in 100k stadium they go because they know they are gonna play for titles and be in contention every just like we used to be. Hire the right coach and BRING GREAT assistants and we will be back sooner than a lot of people think

 

[Brandinho]

Beckham United has said it will privately finance the stadium construction but is looking for a bargain on public land.

Pulled that quote from this article from reuters: Beckham mulls plan to add school to Miami stadium in bid for MLS team | Reuters

Tropical Park would definitely come at a discount, right? The proposed 30k stadium would cost 250M, 40k would cost what, 50M more? UM can definitely put up that excess cash.

 

[MiamiHurricaneZ]

I have always hated Joe Robbie Stadium/Pro Player Park/Pro Player Stadium/Dolphins Stadium/Dolphin Stadium/Land Shark Stadium/Dolphin Stadium again/Sun Life Stadium until this year. The renovations have made it a much better place. The stands being closer to the field helps, the Aqua seats are a lot better than the old faded Orange seats, and the cover next year will be even better. I think the stadium issue is somewhat overblown to. I still miss the Orange Bowl though

#HireButchDavis

 

[dookie blaylock]

I have always hated Joe Robbie Stadium/Pro Player Park/Pro Player Stadium/Dolphins Stadium/Dolphin Stadium/Land Shark Stadium/Dolphin Stadium again/Sun Life Stadium until this year. The renovations have made it a much better place. The stands being closer to the field helps, the Aqua seats are a lot better than the old faded Orange seats, and the cover next year will be even better. I think the stadium issue is somewhat overblown to. I still miss the Orange Bowl though

#HireButchDavis

the fact that ross installed aqua seats is him thumbing his nose at our program. he wants our rent money, but doesn't give a **** about us otherwise. he could've put in new orange seats to keep the stadium looking somewhat like we belong there, but now it's even more obvious that we're just another check to him.

 

[HarryCarayisGoat]

I don't give a **** where we play I'm just ready to win

 

[F-MarioCristobal]

Is the Beckham Stadium a no go?

Pretty sure the train left the station on that one. Beckham & co. and MLS were adamant about the stadium being ~25k seats, UM needed at the MINIMUM 40k, preferably 45-50k.

Pretty sure I read somewhere they agreed on a 30k stadium recently. No reason Miami can't jump in and tell them to make it capable of 40-45k and we will pay for the rest. Somehow we need adidas in this to go along with us to get Beckham to agree on something.

But then again Ross was not happy about the suggestions of us wanting to get out of the SLS lease.

 

[F-MarioCristobal]

Is the Beckham Stadium a no go?

Pretty sure the train left the station on that one. Beckham & co. and MLS were adamant about the stadium being ~25k seats, UM needed at the MINIMUM 40k, preferably 45-50k.

It actually looks like they're proceeding without us but with a stadium capacity of 30k. It's beyond stupid that we can't be involved if the capacity desires are now not that far apart. Again, get Adidas involved. They LOVE futbol.

Beat me to it. Exactly the same things I've been suggesting

 

[Gatorhater]

We are being slaughtered by the media and every other fanbase right now for our horrible gameday atmosphere, terrible facilities, lack of an on-campus stadium, and administration's indifference toward winning. Now, anyone that lives down here knows wins = attendance. That is true in any SoFla sport. It's a front-running town full of transplants and UM's alumni base is small and spread out. The facilities issue I believe is somewhat overblown. But the one thing I tend to agree with is the stadium problem.

It seems like every single D1 program has, or is in the process of getting, an on-campus stadium. The atmosphere at these stadiums is part of what makes the college gameday experience great. Ours, by comparison, is a certified nightmare. I think Sun Life stadium is a problem based on its size and location. I've had the displeasure of attending a lot of UF games when I was at school up there and son of a bltch if it wasn't amazing. It made me sad coming back down here and realizing we play in a library in the middle of nowhere. When you think about it, what about Sun Life should elicit excitement on gameday? The quaint drive through a trailer park? When I was driving into the Nebraska game we saw a dude on the sidewalk doing martial arts. An authentic, barefoot crackhead in sweatpants engaging in a karate fight against an invisible opponent. But if that didn't get me hyped the stunning view of the Sonic dumpster would. Or maybe I could partake in the time-honored tradition of tailgating in front of a Wal-Mart.

We have to find a way to build a 40k-45k stadium close to campus that would actually give us some semblance of a homefield advantage and a college gameday environment. This school really needs to ask themselves whether or not they're serious about fielding a competitive division 1 football program, and if they are, start acting like it. Put that money up.

Getting an on-campus stadium was Howard's dream. School work him over on it bad. I have always believed that was the true reason he left. Maybe today it might be different but it is going to be the heavy lift of all times. Best case would be ACC mandate to do it or else.

LOL@ACC mandating it. The ACC is not going to mandate that a member institution spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a stadium, even if UM could get it approved by the City of Coral Gables, which it can't.

Maybe but how many "refugee" tents on the campus do you think it would take to get City's approval? I've owned property in Gables for years. They are not very pleased with "outsiders" roaming around. I suggest a little game of political chicken with the Council. Daddy always said, "Boy you never know what you can get away with until you try." Conventional methods will not work here.

 

[pimpcane1]

I don't give a **** where we play I'm just ready to win

The ACC wants to expand by adding at least ND. So do you want them coming to Miami potential beating us then negatively recruiting against us by saying how their game day environment is so much better while offering a better education?

 

[CaneBucsFan]

Our own place at Tropical Park is obviously the best possibility. But personally, I think the stadium renovations are gonna make the current situation much more tenable. The capacity for UM games next year is going to be down to ~55k (13k less than this year, 20k less than last year), because they say they will not be selling tickets in the upper endzones. The rendering below, in my opinion, looks nice. If they tarp it off like this picture, it will look pretty cool. 55k is a decent size for us if we're back to being a competitive, winning program.

 

[canesstevealum08]

I personally say let Beckham build the stadium because were playing there in five or 10 years anyway. No real soccer fans like the American League because it doesn't have the most stars. they will fold just like the Fusion did.

 

[Hurracanes]

I think this issue is way overblown. The revamped sunlife is fine. They addressed the size by reducing the upper deck capacity substantially. The total attendance number is now going to be 65k. That's perfect. If we're good and we have 45k showing up to watch us play Pitt, it won't look like a desert out there. If we play fsu or another good team 65k gives us a nice upper limit to still have a decently big and loud crowd. You add on the roof and the noise level is going to be bananas in big games helping our home field advantage.

**** the national media. As others have pointed out, they always bash us for one thing or another. The tailgating sucked at the orange bowl. The orange bowl held 80k so it was often empty as well. Those things didn't impede us from winning. Times have changed you say? Recruits won't want to come here. Bullsh!t. Despite sucking ****, Al Golden's average class ranking was in the mid teens. That's with us playing in the old sun life and with Al being Al. The only thing this program needs right now is a coach who can coach his nuts off. Everything else will take care of itself.

Terd, you're one of my favorite posters, but I have to respectfully disagree. SLS is a problem. Think about it, picture yourself as a 18 year old, would you rather play at Doak or the Swamp over SLS? I would. Forget that attendance, 40k in that stadium is a brutal environment. It's not like the OB where the crowd still impacted the game. SLS, in spite of renovations, still doesn't provide a home field advantage and players notice. Our opponents have gone on record about not worrying about noise factors in that stadium. We are going to rot at SLS much like everything else that plays there.