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There it is...a glimmer of hope...

Why would U build a soccer another stadium when U have one in Ft Lauderdale that's NEVER filled ,that's right build another one for hundreds of millions of dollars that will be empty like Marlin stadium is......Marlins should be playing at the U baseball stadium and still wouldn't be filled..

GOCANES
 
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KevinCaneFace said:
One of the biggest problems originally with Hard rock was it was built to be a multi sport facility. The field was built wide to accommodate soccer and baseball. That made the stands far from the field. Now we play in a stadium that’s been redesigned for only football.
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This is a great point. Joe Robbie Stadium was designed specifically to lure World Cup soccer matches and a soccer field is a much wider field in terms of dimensions than a football field. This problem was remedied with the renovations with seats moved approximately 10 rows closer to the sidelines and, coupled with the partial canopy, it's a new stadium when it comes to noise and home-field edge. The amenities are now top-notch and recruits seem to love it. These renovations were done specifically with the intention of luring Super Bowls in mind (we have the 2020 Super Bowl because of this).

Several years ago and beyond I was in agreement with those who feel like the stadium is a problem, but no more. I was there for the VT game and it was an amazing atmosphere that I hope we replicate time and again.
 
Moving now would be a mistake:

  • We are locked into a long term lease with the graverobber who own the Dolphins. We can’t get out without paying a penalty to Stephen Ross. Nobody at the Hecht or on the BOT will do that to satisfy the fans on some online board.
  • Secondly, as Richt solidifies this team and turns them into the kind of club that can get past Clemson and into the playoffs every year, attendance at the Rock will justify our presence there.
  • The National Championship Game is there in 2021, as I recall.
  • The ACC is improving, so the Conference games will become more competitive, televised events, much like the VaTech game was last year. That means more attendees and more gate for UM and Ross.
  • ***** Beckham: if he and Mas don’t have the good sense to try and locate an Association Rules Football Club on the Bayfront so they can attract European talent to the MLS’ Miami franchise, they might as well play at Lockhart.
 
Something I don't understand is why we would want to play in any stadium that also accommodates soccer when that inherently means we'd be going back to having seats further away from the field by virtue of the fact that soccer fields are wider than football fields.
 
I think opinions will change on this topic (for/against) if photos of what this stadium would look like becomes available. If it was identical to Hard Rock but seated 52,000, would that be a game changer? Also, this wouldn't be a reality for what, 4-5 years? I like Hard Rock, but would like to see what this stadium will atleast look like. Go Canes
 
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The thing that also irks me about this is Beckham and Don Garber having had a window a few years ago to try to involve us but they were both too full of themselves and a false sense of how easy they thought getting things done based on Ol Beck's name alone would be. Wasn't it THEM that publicly ruled out a venue large enough to accommodate us?

Now years pass, they fumble around and basically almost lose any hope of actually having a Miami franchise......and then the Mas Bros save their *** (unfortunately they couldn't save the Marleens too). So NOW we should team up with them because the Mas Bros. realize it'll be the fastest and most profitable path to a stadium for them? It'd never happen but I'd want a mea culpa from Beckham and Garber before I'd even acknowledge their existence.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
You're just doubling down on stupid.

You were comparing the "on-campus" students at Vanderbilt and Duke (which includes grad-law-med students) to Miami (which has no grad-law-med students living on campus), and you were not bothering to include students who live within 5 miles of the campus. Furthermore, the current UM student housing capacity is 4,500 (which will increase once the new dorms are built next to Eaton, as Eaton will not be torn down), and another 100-200 on Fraternity Row. Most of the off-campus students live within 5-7 miles of campus, in South Miami, Kendall, Gables, and the Grove.

You're just engaging in selective statistics to try to prove a point, when the truth is that an OFF-CAMPUS stadium at Melreese would be incredibly close to the campus, incredibly close to where nearly all of the off-campus students live, and incredibly close to the airport and high-speed rail station for alums and fans who live outside of Dade. AND there would be parking garages, not tennis courts.

If you want to yap about all of the new amenities at Hard Rock, fine. But if you want to act as if the UM students would not be much better served by a stadium at Melreese, and you want to start comparing UM's campus to Duke's, then I'm going to call BS on your googling skillz.
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I'm not sure why you feel the need to take such a hostile tone with your desire for a change, but you really don't find it questionable for Miami to want to leave, what has become a great situation, to accommodate a few students that may become donors? Also to dismiss the life-blood of the program being the sidewalk alum, is much more dangerous in my opinion. The students can't be bothered to go to basketball games which requires a short walk across campus, and basically wanted to revolt over the ban on DJ's etc. that came about last year, but we should be accommodating them over all else...not as far as I'm concerned.
 
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This thing is dead in the water from the start due to field layout alone.

A wider field / fans further away - count me out.

And we’d be sharing a stadium again anyway. Except this time we be sharing it with the less stable financial entity. Never a good idea.

“Being closer” to campus is completely irrelevant. It’s not ON campus and NEVER will be. Close doesn’t count. It’s still just a few thousand students anyway. Barely enough to fill a section.

And please let’s not talk about taking public transportation to the stadium. People that talk about that don’t live in Miami. Only a tiny percentage of people would even do that. You just don’t get living in Miami if you think any significant number of people are going do that. That’s just a joke.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
You're just doubling down on stupid.

You were comparing the "on-campus" students at Vanderbilt and Duke (which includes grad-law-med students) to Miami (which has no grad-law-med students living on campus), and you were not bothering to include students who live within 5 miles of the campus. Furthermore, the current UM student housing capacity is 4,500 (which will increase once the new dorms are built next to Eaton, as Eaton will not be torn down), and another 100-200 on Fraternity Row. Most of the off-campus students live within 5-7 miles of campus, in South Miami, Kendall, Gables, and the Grove.

You're just engaging in selective statistics to try to prove a point, when the truth is that an OFF-CAMPUS stadium at Melreese would be incredibly close to the campus, incredibly close to where nearly all of the off-campus students live, and incredibly close to the airport and high-speed rail station for alums and fans who live outside of Dade. AND there would be parking garages, not tennis courts.

If you want to yap about all of the new amenities at Hard Rock, fine. But if you want to act as if the UM students would not be much better served by a stadium at Melreese, and you want to start comparing UM's campus to Duke's, then I'm going to call BS on your googling skillz.
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With all due respect, you barely fill the student section at Watsco (and only do so for big games) and it's a half mile walk from Mahoney. I flew into MIA a month ago and stayed right across from Melreese. Took me 30 minutes to get to campus and that was on a Saturday morning in early February. When I flew down to Miami for the Florida game, it took me the same amount of time from FLL to the stadium taking the Turnpike.

And by the way, MIA has got to be the worst international airport in the US. Train to rental car area was broken. Inter-airport transportation sucks. Had to walk at least a quarter mile from baggage claim to get upstairs and out to transportation. Limited escalators and elevators are a nightmare. Dropoff is pure chaos as you have to cut over barricades to drop off people and bags. Hadn't flown into MIA for at least 20 years but we were taking a cruise so it was supposedly going to be convenient. Back to FLL I go anytime I'm back down to Miami.
 
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TimeB0mb said:
Took the whole family to the Hard Rock this year. Parking was only like $10 and wasn't that far of a walk. The sight lines were amazing. I went to Joe Robbie (might have been Pro Player at the time) and it suuuuuucked. I roasted in the sun then it rained, then sun came back out, and roasted again, but with mosquitoes eating me to pieces. Hard Rock was 1 million times better and LOUD. The OB was loud and kinda scary, when the fans got real loud the stadium felt like it was going to fall apart.

Teams can't negative recruit about the stadium situation anymore. That's pretty much all that matters to me. I don't know how you improve the stadium experience by moving to a smaller place that is still far away from campus. Eventually when the Marlins move to Orlando, San Antonio, or Mexico City we might get a shot at a near campus stadium. But that won't be for another 3 years at least.
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You're better than this. The Marlins are NEVER leaving Miami. Ever. MLB won't allow it especially with the Marlins now having their own state of the art Ballpark. The South Florida market is too important for them. A new owner just purchased the franchise and they are broke. Hurricane fans need to accept reality and realize this is not an option.

That being said, I am fine with HRS. I doubt we consider changing stadiums unless something crazy happens.
 
Yes, let's move from a first class 65,000 seat stadium to a soccer stadium that will have roughly half the capacity. There's literally no reason to even consider this option.

Here's some news, just like the rest of the fans, the students show up in droves for big games and get apathetic for snoozers.

The only people calling for UM to move from Hard Rock now are people who live in southwest Dade and don't like having to drive all the way to Miami Gardens.
 
TimeB0mb said:
Took the whole family to the Hard Rock this year. Parking was only like $10 and wasn't that far of a walk. The sight lines were amazing. I went to Joe Robbie (might have been Pro Player at the time) and it suuuuuucked. I roasted in the sun then it rained, then sun came back out, and roasted again, but with mosquitoes eating me to pieces. Hard Rock was 1 million times better and LOUD. The OB was loud and kinda scary, when the fans got real loud the stadium felt like it was going to fall apart.

Teams can't negative recruit about the stadium situation anymore. That's pretty much all that matters to me. I don't know how you improve the stadium experience by moving to a smaller place that is still far away from campus. Eventually when the Marlins move to Orlando, San Antonio, or Mexico City we might get a shot at a near campus stadium. But that won't be for another 3 years at least.
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Very underrated post! Folks don't remember how ****** the view and games were when we first moved there, during the dirt infield days. Then we had to watch the Hurricanes get their *** kick in process lol. The fact I went to some games, and actually had a chance to watch the game while it was raining, without having to move was worth the price of the move from the OB. They did a really good job renovating the stadium, with the 4 Screens, fan atmosphere, and concessions. Last year legitimately felt like the Old OB where your felt you were going to see everything. Fights, parties, girls twerking on a portable pole during tailgate, more dancing, and more fights. Didn't get to go to VT Game, but the Notre Dame game was crazy!
 
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So youre saying my rough math of 4000 is stupid and your response is there is a max capacity on 4500 on campus.

Please transfer to FIU. My degree is losing value the more you post.
 
Yeah, we are splitting hairs on this topic. Regardless of on campus student body being 3k-4500 isn't changing attendance. We still need to address the total Miami student body enrolled isn't more than 15k? Miami is a commuter school, and many people ignore this. Moving should only occur with a major issue with Hard Rock. Otherwise we are gaining 8 fewer miles on the bus for on campus students. And I recall those buses transferring from the Metrorail. They were hopping. An extra 8 miles on them probably gets the students amped.
 
the students arent going to show up to the games regardless of where that stadium is. just look at basketball.
 
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When does our lease at HR end? If we don't have a viable alternative, they could jack up the rate on us to almost anything.
 
It may be a blunt statement but imo student attendance factors about 0% in any decision being made about the program or where it plays.

The U brand is big business and the football team is the flagship of that brand. It’s all about maximizing revenue (profit) and staying competitive in facilities arms race.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Look, with all due respect, a lot of you guys just don't understand.

First, a well-built soccer stadium is very loud and very comfortable. I have season tickets for Orlando City, and it only seats between 25K and 30K, yet the soccer players from all over the MLS say that it is one of the loudest stadiums. I agree with everyone's comments about what a craphole is being planned for Liberty City, but with the involvement of the Mas brothers (and MasTec), and the goal of doing something very special with a stadium in Melreese, it could be a very nice venue (and I do like Hard Rock as it has been renovated, and I sit in a very good 100-level club section).

Second, I realize a lot of you guys are only concerned with how this impacts yourself. But having been an undergrad/grad/law student at UM, and having student tickets for nearly a decade from the mid-80s to the mid-90s, I can tell you that many of you are simply overlooking how important the "student experience" is to building lifelong fans/boosters/season ticket holders. I have a number of friends who drive down from Orlando for every game, and it is because we are UM alums. I realize that a certain percentage of seats can be filled with South Florida residents, but the people who give the most amount of money to UM are the UM alums (not counting when someone chooses to pay for a new building on the Med campus).

Student disinterest may not profoundly impact attendance now, but ongoing student/alum apathy will surely impact attendance in the future. Having a stadium in Melreese would make a huge impact on the UM football program, from student/alum attendance to "no more dirty recruiting" from the player perspective.

As for the tri-county area, there is now a bullet train that will have a station near MIA, which is INCREDIBLY close to Melreese. Literally, across the street from Melreese.

I love what has been done with Hard Rock, but the stadium is already 30+ years old. I never thought that we would lose the Orange Bowl, but it happened. And there is nothing that stops us from playing one big game per year in Hard Rock.

With the Mas brothers involved (UM alums), I am quite certain that they would go the extra mile to build something that works very well for UM. It took us over a decade to get that with Hard Rock, and only because the NFL wouldn't give the old stadium a Super Bowl any longer.

Be honest, it would be amazing to have a place close to campus, with great access to transportation and parking. ****, Hard Rock is giving a huge chunk of the current parking lot to TENNIS COURTS.

Let's revisit this topic in a year.
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Lock the thread and sticky this post.
 
I can certainly understand the argument for having a stadium closer to campus that would be more accommodating to students and alumni. Heard that argument for years about the OB. However, in today's CFB world, it's all about revenue. Being able to fill 65,000 seats versus 25-30,000 would greatly reduce that revenue stream. Not to mention concessions.
 
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