Imagine Aggie Stadium .....

[Maxell]

.... with an upper deck like this. East Carolina added this at a cost $11.1 million. The athletic dept put up $4.1 million and borrowed $7 million from the state while doing an athletic giving campaign.




It includes skyboxes, club rooms, etc. and added 8,100 seats to their capacity.

[aggiemanone]

It looks sort of industrial in my opinion. I'm more impressed by the renovations down at NC State. The luxury that embellishes their renovations could make most of those Texas football-territory schools envious. But of course, it cost way more that 11.1 million.

If we could do something eye catching like NC State, but scaled down to our size needs and a $11 M budget, I would really like that.

[DOOMS]

I'd like it if Aggie Stadium was track and field only and we built a new one w/o a damn track and with its own fitness and wellness center up the street somewhere.

Aggie Stadium is a poorly designed erector set.

[Maxell]

Dooms,
Even if we had the money(which we don't), where would we get the land?

[bluehaze]

We have had this discussion before and I agree with Doomsday. Especially with all of the good publicity the track is getting. Let that be a stand alone, dedicated track facility.

Maxwell, you are right we don't have the money, but as far as land. How about right across the street? No disrepect intended, but how much is the Grove Apartment area really worth? That land should be pretty cheap.

[Bigboy]

Why do we even need more seating capacity? The only game that we fill up the place is homecoming. We need to figure out a way to get people in the stands at all the other games. Hopefuly the new AD will come up with some promotional strategies that will improve the attendance at all games. Having a consistant winning program will help with this problem too.

[Tee-Sharp]

Are there any 1A schools with a stand alone track facility the size of Aggie Stadium? That would seem to be a huge waste. Building a stand alone football stadium is financially not wise with 22,000 seat Aggie Stadium sitting right there. Yeah, it’s a big cheap stadium but it still looks fairly modern and is better than probably half the 1AA stadiums out there.

In this case, it’s probably best to try to improve what we already have. Engineering wise, it can be done on the home side. Temporary supports would have to be used while they knock out the buildings underneath. Perhaps bricking in the erector set (like Florida State did to theirs) would help with aesthetics. Of course, the cost of improving the stadium vs. building a new one should be taken into consideration.

[DOOMS]

Yeah, Aggie Stadium is a little huge for track and field only but imagine the caliber of track athlete you could recruit by saying "hey there young fast athlete, this is your facility and that is your field house." Sheesh.

It would probably be better for track and field than football. Having to put the press under a tent during games is kinda embarassing. And if I see people band together to lift wheelchair-bound alumni up the stands one more year...

The University of Louisville (bad example, I know) has an old 40,000 seat stadium just sitting there while they play in state of the art Papa John's Stadium right next door. They said the hell with it. Now all we need is an alum to start a billion dollar pizza business and then decide to pay for a stadium for us.

The land behind the bookstore would've been perfect, but I think it's been bought up and is being turned into apartments.

Man, a brick stadium without a track with 20,000 or so permanent seats and expandable another ten or so grand would be the bomb.

The grove would be a good spot (across from the current stadium) but I'm sure the city would have something to say about that.

That being said, we don't have the cash for any undertaking like that.

[bluehaze]

bigboy, "build it and they will come". I think a 30k modern facility with luxury suites would not only attract fans but would attract top notch athletes.

sharpless, the stand alone track could be a signature spot for track events across the east coast.

I know it's a pipe dream, but it's fun to imagine.

[Aggie E]

We've had some ideas about this before. I say we demolish the entire home side and replace it with an expandable arrangement including a new pressbox. Right now you can't add anything to that side because the seating is supported by the structures underneath. A new home side arrangement should increase the capacity to 28-30K. In the future we could do the same to the opposite side if necessary. Just a thought.

[aggiemanone]

Dooms, I think the school is the one buying up that land behind the bookstore. I know it's slightly off topic, but I was thinking that would be a good place to put a new basketball arena, and use corbett speciffically for intramural sports. They could put an indoor track on the upper level, and that would be an off-da-hook student recreation center.

As for building a new stand-alone football facility, y'all know we have all that farm land fronting right up to Lee st. and only a skip away from I-85. There is some type of stipulation where a land-grant university can use their farmland for other purposes, just as long as they buy some farm land somewhere else to replace the land they developed. And farm land is comparatively cheap. They are already planning to turn the patch fronting lee st. into a research park (millenium campus).

[Bigboy]

Renick already has plans to upgrade Aggie Stadium. We already have the lights, the track, the fieldhouse and soon the new jumbo-tron. His plan for the future(near future) is to add seating, pressbox renovation and to brick up the outer perimete of the stadium. He actually talked about making all of these things a reality when he first arrived at A&T. If what he has already accomplished is any indication of whats to come, then all the other improvements should not be that far away. A new stand-alone stadium just for football would be nice though!!

[Aggie One]

A little history.

For those of you who were not around at the time or privy to the original design plans of Aggie Stadium in early 1970, our current Aggie Stadium was planned as a temporary ten year stadium until funds became available to complete the eventual design proposal which would encase the exsisting structure with a white pre-fabricated concrete outer shell much like the old NASCAR raceway in Wilkesboro.

The outer shell would have crossing walkways and 2 handicap elevators on both sides to a upper level that would extend 9,000 seats around the entire upper rim all the way around the stadium, extending from the front of the exsisting structure by an additional 30 yards and bringing the final capacity to 32,000, then the minimum for D-1 admission.

That plan showed a reflective glass three level press box with the chancellor's floor on the bottom, ten suites in the middle, and press and TV, radio on the top floor. I would assume that the late Mr. Jenkins design is still on the table and could probably carried out fairly easily if and when such a move is made. The pre-fab concrete facade reduces cost by 40% of that of laid concrete and can be easily replaced by section when maintenance becomes an issue.

Estimated cost in today's dollars? $7 million.

[aggiemanone]

They would probably have to modify that design due to the present placement of the stadium lights. They are too close to the U for a continous upper deck in that area.

[trues]

Also Renick next step is to have a Multi Million Pres Box. They would need to take the upgrading the stadium into consideration when building this complex.

Realistically I am not sure they can upgrade the side where this huge Press would go.