Question Brown Field Facilities

Love the idea!  Very creative.  Valpo admins need some help so maybe send a suggestion to the AD??

At that point, why not buy this grandstand and use it as true replacements to the superstructure. Northwestern would probably be willing to sell the structure at a discount considering it would be used. The endzone grandstand would be a welcome replacement and even comes with club seating. With the way this endzone piece is designed, it wouldn't take too much effort, or money, to slap this on the back of a new basketball arena. Even then if those plans fall through. All you loose is the back lot behind the ARC.

@vulb62 - this is brilliant, and should be sent to Padilla and Hosmer ASAP. At least make a phone call! 

@usc4valpo The email is on its way to AD Hosmer, cced to President Padilla. 😎

@rezynezy I agree on its versatility.  The new Ryan Field will be completed for the 2026 FB season. The temporary structures can come down as early as the end of the 2025 season.

Now for a dose of some Valpo reality. Any new arena is maybe 5-6 years away, IMO.  With this in mind, if Valpo can swing a deal for, say the NU south end zone section, it would have at least two choices:

1) Immediately replace the current home side of Brown Field permanently with the NU component.  That would enable the revision of the arena plan to eliminate the grandstands connected to the arena and save on construction costs. Essentially, it’s a double savings (used NU stands + no additional costs to the arena construction).

2) Replace the current visitors side with the NU component but being careful place in a position to be incorporated into a new arena when it is built some time down the line 

Personally, I’d go for #1 for the following three reasons: a) it would replace the older of the two grandstands and the outdated press box and b), being an immediate gratificationist, it appeals to my sense of completing Brown Field by 2026, end of story, and finally, c) it gives planners much more design and cost flexibility for any new arena.

@vulb62 right on the money LB. It honestly works a whole lot better the way you described it. The club level seating is what intrigues me the most. With as little alumni relations on the academic side there have been. This end zone section could see an immediate return on investment for special alumni clubs and season ticket holders. Even meetings to discuss business transactions between the community and the university could be held at club levels. I assume season ticket holders would be pleased with the upgraded seating and club access. 

Ultimately plans are not set in stone unless renderings and blueprints are drawn up. An opportunity like this is perfect. Those stands are stereotypical iron bleachers with a little more pizzas. You could swing a deal for 5 million. And that's high balling it. Relatively cheap if you ask me. This isn't even accounting for the easy set up and tear down the temp stadium would havbe. Considering the WM golf event stands were the inspiration for NUs temp seating.

I like the out of the box thinking, yet let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. The firm InProduction was hired by Northwestern to put together these temporary stands. This firm specializes in temporary seating for major events - they are the ones who actually did the "stadium" seating for the WM golf event, and also do seating for golf, auto racing, tennis (etc.). They probably have used or will re-use portions of this seating for future projects. 

@valpo95 Good point 95, but ya gotta give it a go.  Could still work out to Valpo’s financial advantage as a purchase through InProduction rather a “temp” installation like NU’s which now seems more like a lease arrangement. Kinda like buying a low milage SUV out of Hertz’s rental fleet. 

That aside and personally only speaking from a need standpoint, the Brown Field environment, with the impressive Hoger track, new turf covering and a quite adequate visitor’s side, is just one component away from being a legit FCS stadium — the home grandstand and press box component. So replacing that with newer, updated home side accommodations is a genuine need.

I could not find any information as to if InProduction still owns the seating, but one suggestion that Northwestern does own the grandstand is that the naming rights to the field were "sold off " in house to Northwestern Medicine. Albeit this is a weak point, but it doesn't hurt to send a call Northwestern's way to inquire about buying out either seating or an entire grandstand.

I know I mostly said it as a joke on the Wesleyan game thread, but whether it be the pregame festivities, or just VU footballs allure being magically better, the stands were packed tonight and there was a "heavy" student, and community presence at Brown field(and the DJ was pretty good too). This presence was noted and beloved by the players in the post game interview and Todd Ickow had a little bit to say about the atmosphere and fan prescience as well. IF you want my opinion, why not do a pregame event for every single home game if this is the result.

However, this does not fix the major issue at play here. If you were to put Brown field on a tier list of football fields in the county, heck on a list of football fields in the city of Valparaiso (Incorporated territory included) it probably wouldn't even scratch top 5. 

Lets do a quick comparison with the other major football program in the city. Valparaiso High School's Viking Field

1. Scoreboard - While VHSs new board is brand new, the old board, while barely functional, had a jumbotron which already makes it better. The new one just improves upon the old board which was already better than VUs

2. Grandstand - Unfortunately Viking Field wins again. Although both are a standard iron bleacher set up, Viking Field has the ability to seat as many as 6 thousand fans to Brown Field's 5000. Not to mention the Brown Field Homestand is about the size of Viking Field's away stand

3. Press box- This one can be up for debate. Viking Field has been plagued with electrical problems and PA issues for years now. With the DJ and gametime media prescience really boosts Brown Fields ratings here. 

4. Media -  Brown Field. Look, an ESPN media crew is going to beat a bunch of Career Center Kids any day of the week. The only plus Viking Field has over Brown Field is the sight line for the overhead cameras. Once again, that DJ for the Wesleyan game was a really nice touch.

5. Atmosphere -  Unfortunately, Viking Field has had the edge in years past. Packed houses are common at VHS with the noise level being near deafening at times. Also the backdrop of Viking Field is leagues better than the backdrop of Brown Field. The woods are a nice touch.

While I could certainly go on, I think I can rest my case that I believe Viking Field to be superior to Brown Field in almost every facet. But why is this. How is it that a High school, which had lights for at least as long back as when the school was built, is able to outperform a D1 facility in almost every respect. VHS's athletic complex is even a complex that has its design suffer from lack of space due to the nature preserve behind the away bleachers. I would like to think that in a perfect world, VHS and VU would have been sharing a facility much like how Dayton shares Welcome Stadium with the Dayton Public School system.

With the allure of VU football being shown tonight. There is serious concern as to whether Brown Field can support much more of a turn out from fans. It might be necessary, although shameful as it is, to move home games to Viking Field if support for Beacon Football continues with this incredible atmosphere. I also noticed there is not much overlap between Viking Fans and Beacon Fans. Why not make an event and invite the Football teams of the Middle and High school to Brown Field and set up some temporary seating in one of the endzones?

BTW, I received a reply to my email to Laurel Hosmer. She will be contacting NU to close that loop. 

@vulb62 nice to see our new AD is open to such suggestions. Great for pr and to build a community