We are little brother
- Thread starter JustBecause
- Start date
Yeah, pretty much, unless you are in the S$C or Big 10. Did you see the playoffs rankings? 9 out of 12 for the bad guys.
Love Target field. I liked the old Met a little better, especially for football in December, but I think Target is in a good location. Clyde Williams was a very loud place, even though it was probably half the crowd of Kinnick. I’ve heard stories of Johnny Majors choosing the side of the field in the fourth where it would cause the biggest problem for the other team. In addition, Friley’s half horseshoeshape kinda kept the noise within the stadium. My biggest problem with Kinnick is the crowd being too close to the players and workers. As a working media I was actually physically assaulted by two drunk Hok fans as I was making my way from one end zone to another. Had to go through Hok players who offered me their protection. That makes it very difficult for TV crews, media, sports medicine, etc…. After dealing with all the parking problems at Clyde, the University I think was very glad to move the stadium to the present location.
There's no question that there are some drawbacks to just keep renovating stadiums in the heart of campus. And if you're going to build new it only makes sense to to exactly what ISU did with JTS in terms of location and design. On the other hand id give anything to have an old stadium thats cozy and cramped. There's a certain charm that goes with it. As someone who lived on Hunt St. when a went to ISU it would be been off the hook. I'm I Royals fan so I hope the new stadium is somewhere between downtown and midtown(Union Station area). I think where the women's soccer stadium is would have been perfect. I'll gladly deal with the "pain in the ass" traffic to have a revenue generating picturesque ballpark than building something on the other side of 435 from the speedway. KC doesn't have the skyline of like a Seattle or even Minneapolis but its really cool and historic. I have not been to Target Field but had been to the Metrodome a few times for various things. I'm glad they built the new venues close to downtown. I'm a big believer that if you don't invest in the flagship city of a metro it will go in decline. I despise these suburban ballparks/stadiums. KC had become an absolute dump until they started investing in KCMO again. Keep stuff off the Kansas side ffs. There is already enough money is Johnson County and even the Legend's area of Wyandotte. KC kind of lays out similar to Pittsburgh. Look at their stadium and tell that would have been better in the burbs.
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If my memory is correct, at one time they were thinking about building a new football stadium between Iowa City and C.R. Kinnick is in a terrible location and the university has to sink a ton of money to repair it. Obviously, they love the noise and the history of the stadium now, so there is no way the U of I will build a new one. If they have to depend on a $50 million welfare check from the state, they will never spend a half a billion on a new stadium or whatever it costs. Wouldn’t mind a KC ballpark near Union Station. BYU fans ALL commented on the tailgating at Iowa State. They all said “we have a good stadium in Provo, but we would kill for this” pointing at all the tailgating going on and towards the entrance to Jack Trice. I think Iowa State’s entry to the University with the Stadium beats anything Iowa City has. IMHO.
I guess I've never hear anything about U of I ever thinking about building a new stadium. They sure swung and missed building Carver Hawkeye Arena. There is nothing appealing about that place at all. Looks like they just said "here's a giant hole, we've got a **** ton of material left over from university projects, and we'll see what we can come up with. To me it's the underground version of Bramlage Coliseum just in a circular shape.
Exactly. Carver Hawkeye Arena reminds me of Caddyshack when Rodney Dangerfield says “the dance of the living dead.”
If I'm an AD I'm not building anything that doesn't have 2 levels to give the appearance of a "big time" feel. One of the better arena's I've been in is actually Redbird Arena at Illinois State. I'm not talking atmosphere but just potential and "big time" feel. Its way better than CHA and it's a Valley school. Im not sure given limited resources anyone has ever done better than that and that's been 25 years anyway. I mean you go in there and you feel like you're in a Big 12/ Big 10 arena. From the outside too. Given the talent in that state and the facility it has to be one of the more underachieving programs in the country. They can't even with the freaking Valley.
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They didn't swing and miss building the morgue, they wanted an arena for wrestling and that is exactly what they got. BB was always a secondary tenant, but it was built to host wrestling championships which is why it has all the space around the court, they need that much space to get all the mats in for the national finals.
That's ridiculous.1. Lute Olsen was the coach at the time they built it, 2. and even Iowa isnt building a 15k seat arena just for wrestling. They needed a replacement for the fieldhouse. The BB program was on a roll. Just by the way the Fieldhouse was built(if you look at the architecture) it wasn't sustainable even compared to say St. Johns Arena, UW fieldhouse, or Williams Arena. They were 2 years removed from a Final Four and thank God he went to Arizona because he would have done exactly what he did there at Iowa. He was that good. People were shocked he left Iowa. Arizona was just as bad as ISU before Johnny Orr.
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Carver was doing the major funding for the building, it's why his name is on the building. He wanted a wrestling venue first and foremost and that what was built. Whether you believe it or not is on you, but the building was built first and foremost as a wrestling arena and bb was always a secondary tenet.
I have no doubt he may have designed it for wrestling but the reason it seats 15k is for basketball, graduation, etc... I've read old articles about how iowa designed it as multi-sport arena it would be 15k sears so rounding I wrestling mat otherwise. They realized they needed a replacement for the u of I fieldhouse.
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They built the arena to host the NCAA wrestling finals, they needed that size of arena to be able to host the event. Everything else, BB, concerts, graduation were secondary items to hosting wrestling meets and hosting the NCAA finals was the goal.
To host the finals they need the space to put down 6 to 8 mats all at same time, which is why the seats are so far away from the court.
Look at all the money that Roy Carver pumped into IC and where most of that funding went, not BB but wrestling. He was the wallet behind Gable making sure they had the best of the best and it was that way until his death.
JFC dude it even says right on the wiki page that is sourced the big driving factor was the success of the basketball team. There has never been an time where Iowa wrestling was actually bigger than basketball. Even in the 80s when Gable was at his peak they still weren't as big as the basketball program. Thats almost like saying Iowa State cross country was bigger than Johnny Orr. Even in Iowa its still wrestling. Even Todd Lickliter was bigger than Iowa wrestling if you want to be honest. You aren't building a 15k arena just to host the national finals once every 10 years. Was Hilton Coliseum built for Harold Nichols and the wrestling program? Its wrestling. Penn State wrestling still doesn't draw what their basketball does. Roy Carver also has his name on a wing at the hospital and it wasn't built for wrestlers. Even in the state of Iowa wrestling isn't bigger than basketball. Its just more popular here than most anywhere.
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Believe what you want to believe, Penn State wrestling outdraws their MBB by a 2-1 ratio, wrestling averaged 9225 last season and the basketball team less than 4500 per game. Carver was built first and foremost for wrestling. Iowa average 13,640 per wrestling meet, and less than 9,000 for their mens BB games last season, of which is tickets sold, anyone that actually watch the game or attended knows that for many of their games there was less than 5,000 people in the stands.
Have you been to bramlage?
Yes, they are pretty similar in design w/ the big bowl and a lot of the same complaints that come with that, but Bramlage is a significantly better building IMO. And I'm not even talking about the fans (which that part is obvious).
Bramlage kind of has this closed-in theatre/indoor oasis type vibe and warmth to it. Kind of reminds me loosely of the basketball version of going to some theater or show in a vague way. But it also somewhat reminiscent of that element you felt when you'd enter a varsity gym as a kid and you'd feel the contrast that you're inside a different world and winter doesn't exist for a little while. Going from the bitter cold of the outside to the chilly semi-exposed draftiness of the hallways sharpens this contrast.
Carver does not give that vibe at all. CHA feels like you're exposed almost in some kind of greenhouse/warehouse exhibit that is just barely welcoming you in from the outside world/elements in the most bare minimum sense. Someone left the door propped and the game is going to be played in that hallway, in this case it's a industrial shed built over a hole in the ground.
You feel like the people in the seats towards the top have their respective coats draped over their arm for 40 mins just waiting to layer up and make the dash to wherever the heck they parked thru the propped-open glass door beckoning their exit. 'We got your money, anyways... you ventured out here thru all this so we know we got you' type thing. The fans closer to the action feel the same way, but they have the hiking climb while fighting the crowd to worry about, too.
Aside from the play or lackthereof on the court, the CHA building itself gives off this vibe of unease TO those in attendance. Like it's as hostile to the fans even being there as it is to opposing teams, if not more so.
The concourse in Bramlage is actually narrower than CHA, at least how I remember it. But it is walled off and separated from the seating area. this leads to the warmth factor being better, both in spacial terms as well as lighting. The parking for bball and football is basically the same. Ample and mostly convenient. I parked for free on a side street and it was about the same walk as from the A lots. Overall, I can see that it's clearly dated and could use an upgrade/replacement really, but that's not uncommon and overall I was pretty impressed. especially compared to CHA, which I'm sure we can all agree is not that high of a bar.
One of the big reasons CHA was built was because of the age of the field house and the steel girders which blocked the vision for hundreds of spectators, especially at basketball games. But they also wanted to host NCAA championships for wrestling.
LSU is notorious for fans leaving early. Check out any non close game in the third quarter in the last 25 years and it will be about 1/3 of capacity. Saban used to get on the fans for leaving early when he was there. Tiger stadium holds 110,000 people on an old campus with crappy infrastructure. Plus add in at least another 50k just tailgating. It is a night mare to get out of and people always try and beat the crowd out of the game.
