***2021 Iowa HS FB Playoffs Thread***

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Without improvements, the dome is such a sad, sad facility. Like there’s not reason for the crappy shape and the way it operates/looks both inside and out. If they can’t fix it, then alternatives are necessary to look at.
The turf is even poor. They don’t have field turf. It’s better than the old carpet but that’s about the extent.
 
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cyfanatic13

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I live near Cedar Falls, and agree that the dome needs to make improvements, but moving it down to DSM would be really disappointing. I think the IAHSAA/IGHSAU (moreso IAHSAA) are incompetent ********, but the one thing they do well is having the state finals in different areas of the state. Basketball/track in DSM, football in CF, volleyball in Cedar Rapids, softball/XC in Fort Dodge, they split up baseball this past year.
 

AuH2O

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The big problem with moving to Trice and Kinnick , besides scheduling and weather (I'm not sure Iowa and Iowa State are willing to give up all possibilities of having a home game on that weekend like UNI is) is that you'll have no atmosphere. The 4A title game probably had 6000 people last night. That's just empty sadness in Trice or Kinnick.
There is usually a good portion of the people in the dome that are HS teams going to watch the games all day, or at least it used to be. I think the dome certainly helps that. It still is a goal to get lots of people there. The dome seems to be a good way to achieve that, and I think it being indoors is a big reason.

A lot of times the weather is perfectly fine, but there have been some real nasty, cold days. I loved playing in the dome, but for me, the hotter the better when playing, so I'm not sure I'm very representative.
 
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1UNI2ISU

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The turf is even poor. They don’t have field turf. It’s better than the old carpet but that’s about the extent.

The new surface is pretty good. It's got a rubber infill like a traditional field turf it just isn't 'overfilled' like a traditional field turf is because it has to come up. Same surface they use in a bunch of buildings including the Dome in St Louis.

The last turf was cheap junk but this stuff is made by Field Turf.
 
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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
I live near Cedar Falls, and agree that the dome needs to make improvements, but moving it down to DSM would be really disappointing. I think the IAHSAA/IGHSAU (moreso IAHSAA) are incompetent ********, but the one thing they do well is having the state finals in different areas of the state. Basketball/track in DSM, football in CF, volleyball in Cedar Rapids, softball/XC in Fort Dodge, they split up baseball this past year.
The girls do a good job of mixing it up. The boys are basically DM and the dome since that is the only dome.
 

heitclone

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Without improvements, the dome is such a sad, sad facility. Like there’s not reason for the crappy shape and the way it operates/looks both inside and out. If they can’t fix it, then alternatives are necessary to look at.

This is the sad reality, things like atmosphere aren't a concern with these things. It's going the way of Vets Auditorium. FB will get stuck in a generic venue like basketball and wrestling eventually.
 

1UNI2ISU

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There is usually a good portion of the people in the dome that are HS teams going to watch the games all day, or at least it used to be. I think the dome certainly helps that. It still is a goal to get lots of people there. The dome seems to be a good way to achieve that, and I think it being indoors is a big reason.

A lot of times the weather is perfectly fine, but there have been some real nasty, cold days. I loved playing in the dome, but for me, the hotter the better when playing, so I'm not sure I'm very representative.

Exactly. This is the weekend that UNI hosted Carolina a few years ago and then had a football game afterwards. We had to move 10 inches of snow to tailgate.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
The new surface is pretty good. It's got a rubber infill like a traditional field turf it just isn't 'overfilled' like a traditional field turf is because it has to come up. Same surface they use in a bunch of buildings including the Dome in St Louis.

The last turf was cheap junk but this stuff is made by Field Turf.
I wasn’t impressed when I was on it and my son said it has an odd feel and it feels like it is giving out and moving underneath you when you run and cut.
 
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JM4CY

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I wasn’t impressed when I was on it and my son said it has an odd feel and it feels like it is giving out and moving underneath you when you run and cut.
I’ve been on it a couple of times. It’s not complete trash but it’s really, really far from good. Watch kids slip on it today during games.
 

1UNI2ISU

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We'll see what we get post-reno. I've seen the renderings and it looks great but it's all in execution. I have zero faith in the administration doing everything correctly so let's hope we get a great contractor that knows what they're doing.

If we don't get it right, it's not just the HS playoffs that are in jeopardy, its the long term viability of UNI Athletics as well.
 
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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
We'll see what we get post-reno. I've seen the renderings and it looks great but it's all in execution. I have zero faith in the administration doing everything correctly so let's hope we get a great contractor that knows what they're doing.

If we don't get it right, it's not just the HS playoffs that are in jeopardy, its the long term viability of UNI Athletics as well.
As good as UNI football has been, it surprises me that they can’t get better donors or a stronger fan base to pack the dome. Are the grads that cheap or what is going on?
 

BillBrasky4Cy

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Interesting. Since they expanded to seven classes, which means 14 semifinal games instead of the old 12, I wondered if IHSAA would consider splitting across multiple sites moving forward. They could have done something like 8/A/2A/4A at Jack Trice and 1A/3A/5A at Kinnick, and then switch the next year (or they could keep the Dome in this rotation, too, and use 2 of the 3 stadiums each year). That would have allowed them to play all of the semifinals in two days instead of four. But, it sounds like they are committing now to keep everything at the Dome moving forward.

The whole point of moving the semifinals to the dome was to take weather out of the equation. Ironically it seems like more years than not anymore, playoff football weather has been pretty pleasant. The semi's will stay at the dome.
 

BillBrasky4Cy

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Without improvements, the dome is such a sad, sad facility. Like there’s not reason for the crappy shape and the way it operates/looks both inside and out. If they can’t fix it, then alternatives are necessary to look at.

Who cares, UNI is a FCS program...
 

BillBrasky4Cy

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The turf is even poor. They don’t have field turf. It’s better than the old carpet but that’s about the extent.

I don't understand why they went with this style of turf when the replaced the old field a few years back.
 

wxman1

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As good as UNI football has been, it surprises me that they can’t get better donors or a stronger fan base to pack the dome. Are the grads that cheap or what is going on?

I would say look at their grads and the careers. The one's I know are not in high paying fields. My uncle is a big supporter and donor (was honored during a game earlier this season) but he is far from Mel and Kathy Weatherwax or the Sukups.

Another interesting metric would be how many of their grads have season tickets/donate to Iowa and ISU.
 

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