FB: American Rivers Conference

[D1HawkD3CUI]

I wonder if Central and Simpson might actually get crowds to rival Wartburg if they actually had better looking seating.  Plus I would think it would help recruiting a bit if it didn't look like most of the other schools had better facilities than you, even if the current seating capacity was adequate.  Of course Central has a pretty good argument that they are doing just fine thank you very much in the recruiting department!!!

Central has it in the master plan to renovate the stadium, but I think it is a longer range plan.  This year they are adding a new education/psychology building and renovating one of the residence halls.  Academics gets their turn at Central.    Eventually the plan is to build a new stadium opposite the current home bleachers for the home side and the current home stands will become visitor seating.  The plan is to have a nice area behind the top of the bleachers where they can serve meals tailgate style, have reunions, etc.  It sounds awesome, but I'm not sure how long before it comes to be a reality.  

Weren't you guys saying a week ago that we didn't have enough fans to justify the stands we already have??

Central's seating is definitely adequate for the number of fans, I've never seen it full. I always heard it was "standing room only" for Wartburg and Simpson games before my time there. Not the case in my 4 years there. People would be scattered on the hills behind the end zones but that was by choice.

The field/complex looks nice with the field turf, the red end zones and alt. colored green 5 yard stripes are pretty sharp.

Flipping the home/visitor would be a good thing, only disadvantage is it's a longer walk from the parking lot but not a big deal. I like the idea of having that patio type area overlooking the field. That would be pretty neat and practical I would think.

I've seen every IIAC field/stadium in person and I would say Wartburg is by far the nicest. I do like The Rock Bowl for some reason and Luther is probably my number two favorite, mostly for the scenery around it. Our field is pretty sharp but I wish they would do more to give it an enclosed feel on the west side. We obviously don't need more seating, but aesthetically it would be kind of cool.

[DutchFan2004]

I wonder if Central and Simpson might actually get crowds to rival Wartburg if they actually had better looking seating.  Plus I would think it would help recruiting a bit if it didn't look like most of the other schools had better facilities than you, even if the current seating capacity was adequate.  Of course Central has a pretty good argument that they are doing just fine thank you very much in the recruiting department!!!

Central has it in the master plan to renovate the stadium, but I think it is a longer range plan.  This year they are adding a new education/psychology building and renovating one of the residence halls.  Academics gets their turn at Central.    Eventually the plan is to build a new stadium opposite the current home bleachers for the home side and the current home stands will become visitor seating.  The plan is to have a nice area behind the top of the bleachers where they can serve meals tailgate style, have reunions, etc.  It sounds awesome, but I'm not sure how long before it comes to be a reality.  

Weren't you guys saying a week ago that we didn't have enough fans to justify the stands we already have??

Central's seating is definitely adequate for the number of fans, I've never seen it full. I always heard it was "standing room only" for Wartburg and Simpson games before my time there. Not the case in my 4 years there. People would be scattered on the hills behind the end zones but that was by choice.

The field/complex looks nice with the field turf, the red end zones and alt. colored green 5 yard stripes are pretty sharp.

Flipping the home/visitor would be a good thing, only disadvantage is it's a longer walk from the parking lot but not a big deal. I like the idea of having that patio type area overlooking the field. That would be pretty neat and practical I would think.

I've seen every IIAC field/stadium in person and I would say Wartburg is by far the nicest. I do like The Rock Bowl for some reason and Luther is probably my number two favorite, mostly for the scenery around it. Our field is pretty sharp but I wish they would do more to give it an enclosed feel on the west side. We obviously don't need more seating, but aesthetically it would be kind of cool.

I think the Rock Bowl is the most unique.  I like that the setting is kind of down in there.  The visitor's area there was not the best but since Loras does not draw a large crowd there were more than enough seats on the home side.  Just not sure I like sitting behind the home team and cheering for the visitors. 

[doolittledog]

I'm curious to know what some of you think of the Cornell football stadium..Ash Park

I personally think that it is a pretty nice field and our field guy Ace does a good job of painting it up and making it look nice. I definitely think we could use some new home seating and a press box though. A new scoreboard would be nice as well.

I know there has been some talk in the community that Mt. Vernon may go in with Cornell and get field turf and lights then Mount Vernon would play all of their games there. I see this happening eventually I just don't know how soon it will be.

I know a lot of visitors do not like the train but I know some people I have talked to from other shcools in the conference didn't mind it and thought it was kind of unique.

Dubuque and Cornell played at Ash Park in the rain last season and the grass seemed to hold up pretty well.  I prefer watching football on grass but I know I am in the minority on this.  I like the name Ash Park...just sounds good!!!  Cornell could put a more modern press box in and maybe a presidential suite on top of the press box for the money people to sit in.  Maybe a nice looking fence instead of the chain link.  Maybe put the 3 visitor side bleacher sections together into one.  I like having the train right by the field.  A home team is supposed to make it difficult on the visiting team!!!  Overall I would say Cornell has a pretty nice and scenic looking stadium. 

[DBQ1965]

Slightly off topic (and showing my age a bit...) I always hated the UIU game. Decent home stands for them, but the visiting bleachers were pathetic. We were always cheering on top of the fans, it seemed like. They used to do this weird thing and have the home team stand in front of the vistors bleachers....weird.

Coe needs more visiting bleachers, period. It's easier to stand on the sideline, or sit in the home bleachers with the natives. They love that!

And how about the corner of the UIU endzone that went uphill?

[Ash Park]

I'm curious to know what some of you think of the Cornell football stadium..Ash Park

I personally think that it is a pretty nice field and our field guy Ace does a good job of painting it up and making it look nice. I definitely think we could use some new home seating and a press box though. A new scoreboard would be nice as well.

I know there has been some talk in the community that Mt. Vernon may go in with Cornell and get field turf and lights then Mount Vernon would play all of their games there. I see this happening eventually I just don't know how soon it will be.

I know a lot of visitors do not like the train but I know some people I have talked to from other shcools in the conference didn't mind it and thought it was kind of unique.

Dubuque and Cornell played at Ash Park in the rain last season and the grass seemed to hold up pretty well.  I prefer watching football on grass but I know I am in the minority on this.  I like the name Ash Park...just sounds good!!!  Cornell could put a more modern press box in and maybe a presidential suite on top of the press box for the money people to sit in.  Maybe a nice looking fence instead of the chain link.  Maybe put the 3 visitor side bleacher sections together into one.  I like having the train right by the field.  A home team is supposed to make it difficult on the visiting team!!!  Overall I would say Cornell has a pretty nice and scenic looking stadium. 

I agree...Ash Park is a very cool name  8)

[OzJohnnie]

I prefer watching football on grass but I know I am in the minority on this.

Interesting...  Are you sure you're not a closet Macalester grad?

[doolittledog]

I prefer watching football on grass but I know I am in the minority on this.

Interesting...  Are you sure you're not a closet Macalester grad?

Hmm, interesting wording on my part.  My parents did live in San Franscisco from 1961-1967...and when taking a fence out at our farm i did find a whole bunch of ditch weed.  When asking my dad about it he replied he had no idea what that stuff was!!!

[5 Words or Less]

Slightly off topic (and showing my age a bit...) I always hated the UIU game. Decent home stands for them, but the visiting bleachers were pathetic. We were always cheering on top of the fans, it seemed like. They used to do this weird thing and have the home team stood in front of the vistors bleachers....weird.

Coe needs more visiting bleachers, period. It's easier to stand on the sideline, or sit in the home bleachers with the natives. They love that!

They must have enjoyed watching

[Klopenhiemer]

I am really not a fan of field turf in general.  This is coming from a person who sells it as part of their product line.  The turf company that we represent has moved to a hybrid style of turf that encorporates both natural turf and field turf.  The Packers will actually be installing this system if it has not already been installed.  It is the best of both worlds.  You get a much more maintence free playing surface while still maintaining the integrity of grass. 

One of the biggest issues that I have with field turf is the "splash".  Simpsons field is terrible for this.  My contacts within the industry have actually told me that Simpson was quite unimpressed with the final product and have had issues with it waving of the course of time.  Installation is the key with this product.  No matter how good of a product one has, if it isnt installed right, it will be garbage. 

Also here is your fan cheat sheet.  If you want to see how many people can actually sit in a stadium follow this formula.  Take the length of the stands by the number of row and divide that by 1.5.  Many places will advertise based upon their net seats.  In the bleacher business all we are worried about is gross seats.  Okay I am off that soap box

[coocooforcoekohawk]

  it would be nice if coe put up some visiting stands (not the mobile ones they have now) and also some student seating in the endzones. 

Hey that sounds familiar.

Sure I would like to see Coe continue their success and field turf may help that, what I am truly arguing is that we should have more respect for visiting fans and have a decent place for them to sit.  I sat on the visitors side for the Westminster game and it was ridiculous. 

At least we got the field turf. 

[doolittledog]

Also here is your fan cheat sheet.  If you want to see how many people can actually sit in a stadium follow this formula.  Take the length of the stands by the number of row and divide that by 1.5.  Many places will advertise based upon their net seats.  In the bleacher business all we are worried about is gross seats.  Okay I am off that soap box

That works out pretty well for UD saying their new home stand will seat 2,000.  For Luther that would be about 3,400 for the home side + 300 for the visiting side...figure 500 for standing around the field...maybe they can fit another 800 overlooking the field in the cafeteria and on top!!!  That could get them to 5,000!!!  For Walston Hoover if the home side goes from the 5 to the 5 and it's 16 rows in front of the press box and 19 otherwise...figure 3,200 fans for the home side...500 for the visiting side...1,000 standing around the field...they get a lot of people doing that...4,700 capacity for Walston Hoover!!!  

Klop, what are installation costs for installing Field Turf???  Is it really cheaper than keeping a natural grass field???  Even if it cost $50,000 per year in upkeep for a grass field, If a field turf field is only guaranteed for 7-10 years unless it costs less that $2,000,000 you aren't really saving anything.  Plus, have any players out there ever get those rubber pellats in their eyes while playing on this kind of surface???  I would think that could be an issue.  

[sportsknight]

I am also not a big fan of the train rolling through during Cornell games.  While it does give me the chance to make a well-time Johnny Cash reference ("I hear the train a-comin'"), it gets pretty annoying after about a quarter.  I think I noticed it more when I was there as a fan than the time I shot highlights down there though.  

Playing baseball down there in high school was always interesting.  The train tracks rolled just beyond left field and it always seemed like the MV pitchers were able to time their pitches just as a train was going by.

The other thing I didn't really like about going to games at Cornell was that the parking was a bit of a clusterf@#$.  Never seemed like they had enough parking space to go around.  Same situation at Coe.  Last time I was down there I had to park in this empty lot that dropped off about 6 feet to get to street level.  I think I left half my transmission there after the game.  Most of the rest of the conference seems to have decent parking for games though.

I prefer watching football on grass but I know I am in the minority on this.

Interesting...  Are you sure you're not a closet Macalester grad?

Hmm, interesting wording on my part.  My parents did live in San Franscisco from 1961-1967...and when taking a fence out at our farm i did find a whole bunch of ditch weed.  When asking my dad about it he replied he had no idea what that stuff was!!!

Out on my grandma's farm we'd always find the stuff when we went on hikes through her property.  I wish I had thought to grab some and sell it to the burnouts I went to high school with.  I could have made some mad bank back in high school.

[sportsknight]

So twice as high but half as long as Walston Hoover

That's what she said.

[Klopenhiemer]

I am also not a big fan of the train rolling through during Cornell games.  While it does give me the chance to make a well-time Johnny Cash reference ("I hear the train a-comin'"), it gets pretty annoying after about a quarter.  I think I noticed it more when I was there as a fan than the time I shot highlights down there though.  

Playing baseball down there in high school was always interesting.  The train tracks rolled just beyond left field and it always seemed like the MV pitchers were able to time their pitches just as a train was going by.

The other thing I didn't really like about going to games at Cornell was that the parking was a bit of a clusterf@#$.  Never seemed like they had enough parking space to go around.  Same situation at Coe.  Last time I was down there I had to park in this empty lot that dropped off about 6 feet to get to street level.  I think I left half my transmission there after the game.  Most of the rest of the conference seems to have decent parking for games though.

I prefer watching football on grass but I know I am in the minority on this.

Interesting...  Are you sure you're not a closet Macalester grad?

Hmm, interesting wording on my part.  My parents did live in San Franscisco from 1961-1967...and when taking a fence out at our farm i did find a whole bunch of ditch weed.  When asking my dad about it he replied he had no idea what that stuff was!!!

Out on my grandma's farm we'd always find the stuff when we went on hikes through her property.  I wish I had thought to grab some and sell it to the burnouts I went to high school with.  I could have made some mad bank back in high school.

Getting taped and dressed at Cornell is quite the ClusterF&*# as well. 

[Klopenhiemer]

Also here is your fan cheat sheet.  If you want to see how many people can actually sit in a stadium follow this formula.  Take the length of the stands by the number of row and divide that by 1.5.  Many places will advertise based upon their net seats.  In the bleacher business all we are worried about is gross seats.  Okay I am off that soap box

That works out pretty well for UD saying their new home stand will seat 2,000.  For Luther that would be about 3,400 for the home side + 300 for the visiting side...figure 500 for standing around the field...maybe they can fit another 800 overlooking the field in the cafeteria and on top!!!  That could get them to 5,000!!!  For Walston Hoover if the home side goes from the 5 to the 5 and it's 16 rows in front of the press box and 19 otherwise...figure 3,200 fans for the home side...500 for the visiting side...1,000 standing around the field...they get a lot of people doing that...4,700 capacity for Walston Hoover!!!  

Klop, what are installation costs for installing Field Turf???  Is it really cheaper than keeping a natural grass field???  Even if it cost $50,000 per year in upkeep for a grass field, If a field turf field is only guaranteed for 7-10 years unless it costs less that $2,000,000 you aren't really saving anything.  Plus, have any players out there ever get those rubber pellats in their eyes while playing on this kind of surface???  I would think that could be an issue.  

Dog the cost to install one of those field really depends upon a lot of site conditions and how much site prep needs to be done.  That is a lot of the cost as well.  The industry is kind of a "whores" market.  Most of the turf, with the exception of the company I represent, is made in Dolton, GA.  Its the carpet mill capital of the world.  The turf can be made on a carpet press and can be made very inexpensivly.  Thus why you see so much fluxuation in bid results.  Its not unthinkalbe to sock 250K to 500k in to a football field.  The advanage of the field turf is that you can have soccer, football, lacrosse, field hockey, and any other type of field related activity on it.  Plus it can double as a practice facility as well.  No more rained out practices.  The maintenace and upkeep on the field is basically nothing and really depends upon the amount of teams that play on it per season.  It needs to be raked, and more rubber infill does need to be replaced after many years.  The seams are big problem and can lead to delamination.  The rubber in the eyes and all over your uniforms is refered to as "splash".  I hated this and it was one of the biggest reasons that I hated playing on the stuff.  I think for high school or large park and recreation facilities that runs a lot of programs, it can be a great tool.  For the college who is only dedicated to playing football, get yourself a good groundskeeper and some Kentucky BlueGrass and call it day