FCS Football Stadiums ranked

[IndyValpo]

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/news/12-29-2015/1303/2015-fcs-college-football-stadium-experience-rankings/

[vu72]

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/news/12-29-2015/1303/2015-fcs-college-football-stadium-experience-rankings/

Well Hey!  We weren't last!!  My son-in-law and I are going to the FCS title game in Frisco, Texas on Saturday morning.  Game starts at 11 central and will be on ESPN2.  The stadium holds 20,000 and should be packed.  Really looking forward to the experience.

[Vinny]

I'm also shocked to see Brown Field isn't last or 2nd to last. Hard to believe there are 12 worse facilities.

[covufan]

I'm also shocked to see Brown Field isn't last or 2nd to last. Hard to believe there are 12 worse facilities.

Didn't think it would be last, but was surprised by the number that are considered lower than Brown Field.

[VULB#62]

And in 2017 we open our season at #1 rated Washington Grizzly Stadium on the campus of the U of Montana. 

[VU2624]

I'm surprised Franklin Field is up in the top 25. It's large for an FCS team but that works completely against the ambiance as you have a few thousand people showing up in a 40,000 seat stadium. I found it a tough place to watch a game.

It's great for the Penn Relays though. Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[VULB#62]

I had some other observations as well.  My overall observation on the rankings is that some of the rankings seemed way out of whack.

1  Mercer is #6    I hate Mercer for reasons already mentioned to death, but besides that, the only thing that would merit a decent rank is that it is brand new (completed for their first and only PFL season).  A 10K capacity is not impressive.

2  Campbell's Barker Lane Stadium number 16.  Come on!

3  Georgetown, with a 2500 capacity at #21 -- it is not even a dedicated facility -- it's the "Multi-sport Field" that sits on top of a parking garage.

4  Franklin Field (#23) over Harvard (#33 - with those gothic columns and a capacity 30K that sellout for The Game.  It is football only and the stands are right on top of the bench area) and Yale (#30 - capacity 61,000 and they easily get 50K for The Game.  It feels like the Big House but smaller. It, like Harvard stadium, is one of only 4 stadiums registered as a national landmark [the Rose Bowl and LA Coliseum being the other two])    Nah.  Not quite, but close.  Should be in the same tight conversation.  Agree, 2624, great for the Penn Relays though.

5  Butler Bowl (#28) better than the Ivies? No way Jose.

6  Spec Martin Stadium #47 (Stetson) and #48 Richardson Stadium (Davidson) ranked right behind Lehigh's Goodman Stadium    Goodman holds 16,000 and is nestled in the Lehigh Valley with beautiful mountains all around. 

My biased conclusion:  No PFL stadium deserves to be rated any higher than, maybe, 75.  The PFL is the PFL because it is non-scholarship and minimal institutional investment.  All their stadiums reflect that.  If, per chance, the PFL goes full FCS scholarship,  only Drake and Welcome (and maybe Jane) would meet FCS attendance standards and most would require expansion and upgrades.     

My own rating:

1.  Torero Stadium - USD (103)
2.  Barker-Lane - Campbell (16)
3.  Tenny Stadium - Marist (90)
4.  Drake Stadium (111)
5.  Welcome Stadium - Dayton (100)
6.  Butler Bowl (28)
7.  Jane Stadium - Morehead (98)
8.  Milne Field - Jacksonville (76)
9.  Spec Martin - Stetson (47)
10. Richardson Stadium- Davidson (48)
11. Brown Field (112)

[usc4valpo]

Drake Stadium is nothing special --- it is ideal for Track but not football. The football atmosphere is as dull as having a picnic in Schererville.

That being said, restrooms for Brown Field would be good. A temperature controlled press box would be a decent thing too. Is that too much to ask?

[VULB#62]

Just going on capacity, age (tradition) and gallery photos and Google Maps arial image.  There looks to be a long way between the stands and the field.  But you've been there and that's important. I guess part of it is atmosphere.

Update:  But when you think 'football stadium,' Drake has most all of the key boxes checked and just looks good:

A Horseshoe; mostly enclosed (open end open to other athletic fields)
Adjacent tailgate lot
10K capacity; ~30 rows high; some seatbacks (but why just the left side of the press box?)
Two-level press box; 30 yards in length
Visually appealing (i.e., the powder blue track, stadium color scheme)

[VULB#62]

That being said, restrooms for Brown Field would be good. A temperature controlled press box would be a decent thing too. Is that too much to ask?

Regarding a 'renovated' Brown Field.....
~30 rows high; some seatbacks
Two-level press box; 30 yards in length; concessions and restrooms underneath
Adjacent good-sized tailgate lot (more relaxed tailgate rules too)
Visually appealing (the track certainly helped, but the open grass field to the north does us no favors; nor does the galvanized chain link fence).
(I'd also add 15' to the light poles and double the number of light bars for better illumination -- watching a M/WSO night game you actually see players run into shaded areas).

I'll take care of all that tomorrow night when I win Powerball 

[VULB#62]

But, if I were King (or this week's Powerball winner), I'd go another way. I'd leave Brown Field almost as-is.  Remove the grid iron markings and dedicate to Soccer and T&F.  Instead of constructing a new soccer stadium next to the proposed field house as indicated by the 30 year plan,  I'd build a new, compact (i.e., close to the playing field) Football/Lacrosse stadium with the home grandstand and press box integrated into the proposed new field house and design its supporting infrastructure to accommodate concessions, locker rooms, training rooms and rest rooms necessary to support both the field house as well as the stadium.

[agibson]

That being said, restrooms for Brown Field would be good. A temperature controlled press box would be a decent thing too. Is that too much to ask?

At minimum, better signage for the restrooms, for away fans, would be good.

Is the press box not even heated?  Space heaters?  Ouch!

I don't know if it makes sense, but A/C would give them better control over how much noise from away fans gets reflected on broadcasts.  Somehow in soccer season the away fans tend to end up very close to the microphone.

[agibson]

Instead of constructing a new soccer stadium next to the proposed field house as indicated by the 30 year plan,  I'd build a new, compact (i.e., close to the playing field) Football/Lacrosse stadium

Trouble is, the soccer stands want to be right on the field too.  And a soccer field should be bigger.  I assume Brown Field is a respectable size for football?  At least the playing surface?  Not so for soccer. Maybe having the track at Eastgate made since...

[VU2624]

Instead of constructing a new soccer stadium next to the proposed field house as indicated by the 30 year plan,  I'd build a new, compact (i.e., close to the playing field) Football/Lacrosse stadium

Trouble is, the soccer stands want to be right on the field too.  And a soccer field should be bigger.  I assume Brown Field is a respectable size for football?  At least the playing surface?  Not so for soccer. Maybe having the track at Eastgate made since...

I may be answering the wrong question here but football has very defined dimensions. 100 by 53 1/2 with 10 yard endzones in yards or 360 by 160 in feet. This holds from High School through the NFL.

Soccer fields are wider, at the very least, but also vary by level as far as I know.

[VULB#62]

Some are as much as 75 x 110. Brown is more like ~65 TDs wide. (53 plus ~5 yards added to each FB sideline).

Instead of constructing a new soccer stadium next to the proposed field house as indicated by the 30 year plan,  I'd build a new, compact (i.e., close to the playing field) Football/Lacrosse stadium

Trouble is, the soccer stands want to be right on the field too.  And a soccer field should be bigger.  I assume Brown Field is a respectable size for football?  At least the playing surface?  Not so for soccer. Maybe having the track at Eastgate made since...

My line of thinking was that eventually (sooner than later) the Brown Field grand stands need to be upgraded and a new press box built if football is to stay there. The 30 year plan also calls for a new soccer stadium with press box. Overall, it might be easier and more cost-effective to only build one new stadium instead of rebuilding one and also building another new one. (I also lean a little more toward FB in my passions, although Mike's MSO program is right behind in my book - and my checkbook  )

[agibson]

Yeah, not even thinking of youth, there's a great deal of variability possible in soccer fields.  Maybe 100 to 130 yards in length, 50 to 100 yards in width.  For international matches the variance is tighter; 110-120 yards long, 70-80 yards wide.

The NCAA allows sub-minimal cases, but nominally requires 110-120 yards in length, 65-80 yards in width, saying the new facilities shall be 70+ yards wide and 115+ yards long, and that the optimum size is 75 yards by 120 yards.

120 yards is apparently five yards longer than Old Trafford (Manchester United) or the Bernabéu (Real Madrid).  (There was some movement eight years ago to standardize the size for international matches, apparently at the Old Trafford size; about 115 yards by 74 yards.)

Anyway, apart from inconveniences like uprights and football lines, a football field is _long_ enough for soccer.  But considerably too narrow.  It's common to move out past the football sidelines, and they do that at Brown Field.  On Google Maps aerial imagery they've got the soccer field about as wide as will fit, and it's not quite 70 yards.  So, it's legal, but sub-optimal.  Worse, there's apparently some kind of metal ledge, maybe also with a drop-off, rather close to the edge of the soccer field.  It was made pretty clear that Omaha wouldn't come back because of it - too much risk of injury.

Interesting for me to hear that you'd prefer football stands close to the field - I think the tradition's probably even stronger in soccer.  Fans expect it, and it helps create the sort of noisy, intimate connection between fans and players the leads to a home field advantage and quality game day experience. 

A soccer-specific stadium would probably prefer less seating too. Maybe 2,000? You'd prefer to keep the fans close together.  Not a strong reason to be bigger than you'd expect to fill at least once a year.

So, if we're building a bigger field, it would seem a bit of a shame to build another one the same size.  Instead of something bigger and soccer-friendlier.  But, obviously, I'm privileging soccer in this discussion.

[bbtds]

ag, would you like for the crowd to sing songs such as "Hey, Jude" the whole game? 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc9tR6F_M1g


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMDqRGeyD-Y


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjZB6ihEKkI

[valpopal]

Some are as much as 75 x 110. Brown is more like ~65 TDs wide. (53 plus ~5 yards added to each FB sideline).

Instead of constructing a new soccer stadium next to the proposed field house as indicated by the 30 year plan,  I'd build a new, compact (i.e., close to the playing field) Football/Lacrosse stadium

Trouble is, the soccer stands want to be right on the field too.  And a soccer field should be bigger.  I assume Brown Field is a respectable size for football?  At least the playing surface?  Not so for soccer. Maybe having the track at Eastgate made since...

My line of thinking was that eventually (sooner than later) the Brown Field grand stands need to be upgraded and a new press box built if football is to stay there. The 30 year plan also calls for a new soccer stadium with press box. Overall, it might be easier and more cost-effective to only build one new stadium instead of rebuilding one and also building another new one. (I also lean a little more toward FB in my passions, although Mike's MSO program is right behind in my book - and my checkbook  )

As we continually discuss small facilities upgrades—new seating, better rest rooms, nicer concession stands, etc.—and dream of a new football/soccer field or basketball arena, we can read the following and weep:

"Rising construction costs have pushed the price tag for a high school stadium north of Dallas to a whopping $70 million.

Voters in McKinney approved a bond package in May that set aside $50 million to build a 12,000-seat football stadium. Another $11 million previously was set aside for site preparation and other work.... But The Dallas Morning News reports officials recently learned that concrete prices have soared, driving up the cost. A decision to do additional road construction around the stadium also is contributing. The new construction estimate would appear to make the project the most expensive high school stadium ever built."

Image of stadium at the following link: http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Texas-high-school-plans-70-million-football-stadium-390793941.html

[VULB#62]

Yeah -- for 12,000 seats they'll spend $70 million+.  Possible Rationalization = it will be shared by the 3 high schools in the district, so the cost per HS is a mere $23 million per school.

Allen, TX completed the previous headliner for expensive HS stadiums at $60 million for 18,000 seats in 2012.  It was just for the Allen, TX, Eagles and in 2014 it had to be temporarily closed because cracking was discovered in the superstructure.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Eagle+stadium+allen+TX&biw=1556&bih=957&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVvtvJ19XOAhVINiYKHUXoCwoQsAQIIw

[vu72]

Yeah -- for 12,000 seats they'll spend $70 million+.  Possible Rationalization = it will be shared by the 3 high schools in the district, so the cost per HS is a mere $23 million per school.

Allen, TX completed the previous headliner for expensive HS stadiums at $60 million for 18,000 seats in 2012.  It was just for the Allen, TX, Eagles and in 2014 it had to be temporarily closed because cracking was discovered in the superstructure.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Eagle+stadium+allen+TX&biw=1556&bih=957&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVvtvJ19XOAhVINiYKHUXoCwoQsAQIIw

Keep in mind the people down here are nuts and a lot of that money will go to road work which wouldn't need to be done in Valpo.  I have been to the Allen Stadium and it is crazy.  18,000 seats, a walkway all the way around with walk up concessions like Chick Fila etc.  While waiting in line you don't have to miss any action as the concessions all have video feeds to the on the field action.  It is very similar to the Major League Soccer Stadium in Frisco, Texas where the FCS title game is played each year.