Tailgating idea to solve the red line problems
JTS Improvements - Want More
- Thread starter TOFB4ISU
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Watching the parking situation around JTS change and be refigured over the past 10 years, has continued my belief that ISU is soon to end up like EIU regarding parking around the stadium. I said at the time, that the university should have taken over the intermural fields to the east and converted that to parking or erected a parking ramp garage there. Was severally chastised for the suggestion of moving those fields out by the cross-country fields.
Parking gets tighter every year, and I do not see any way that is going to go away. Seems like the powers that be want us to start parking further away from the stadium and either busing in or walking to JTS or pony up even more money to maintain were we currently are parking now. It's a lose/lose situation for the average fan, and another reason that I am really thinking about this being my last year as a season ticket holder.
Parking gets tighter every year, and I do not see any way that is going to go away. Seems like the powers that be want us to start parking further away from the stadium and either busing in or walking to JTS or pony up even more money to maintain were we currently are parking now. It's a lose/lose situation for the average fan, and another reason that I am really thinking about this being my last year as a season ticket holder.
I have. I was just making a joke that the high school's new stadium and practice facility was so unbelievable that the recruit would not be pressed with our own. Guess it was a pretty bad joke based on all the flak I've received.
It's stupid to exchange something used 7 days a year for something used hundreds of days per year.
When I was in school the proposal was floated but athletics didn't have enough land in suitable condition to just swap. The land that they had available needed tens of millions in upgrades for recreation services to maintain the same level of service they had. They were willing to give up space but the request was for field turf and lights so they had additional hours they could use the space. Athletics (rightly) didn't want to commit the money to that when there were significant needs elsewhere.
Okay, I admit it. This new parking p***** me off. We shopped for a new tent, 8X8. We discussed it. We thought heck, no more getting up before daylight to wait in line to get “our” lot and in “our” space when Game Day is in town or Iowa in town and every other home game day. No more preparing cold weather gear and small propane heaters to heat an 10X10 tent. No more feeding family member who don’t understand work involved. Thanking friends bringing desserts and donating money.
Oh no, we will wait till after the first game, when most folks wait in traffic to crowd into one exit, after all the real cops have gone home leaving no one to assist traffic getting onto 30 or I-35. We’ll wait, then we’ll set up our new 20X20 tent, fire up a powerful bad a** generator, turn on illegal 1000 watt incandescent flood lights. Heck, maybe we’ll bring a 277 volt to 120 transformer and steal power from an ISU light pole.
Sure we’ll go to the first game, do nothing. Next year, we’ll figure out how to plug into the electrical panel on the back of the CyTown clinic or the CyTown brewery and have a party on all “C” lots. Maybe just bribe the CyTown electrician to install a locked connection similar to the open connections at RV land.
we’ll just move ISU from the best on the list of tailgaters to the after-game top of the power-stealing party list.
Oh no, we will wait till after the first game, when most folks wait in traffic to crowd into one exit, after all the real cops have gone home leaving no one to assist traffic getting onto 30 or I-35. We’ll wait, then we’ll set up our new 20X20 tent, fire up a powerful bad a** generator, turn on illegal 1000 watt incandescent flood lights. Heck, maybe we’ll bring a 277 volt to 120 transformer and steal power from an ISU light pole.
Sure we’ll go to the first game, do nothing. Next year, we’ll figure out how to plug into the electrical panel on the back of the CyTown clinic or the CyTown brewery and have a party on all “C” lots. Maybe just bribe the CyTown electrician to install a locked connection similar to the open connections at RV land.
we’ll just move ISU from the best on the list of tailgaters to the after-game top of the power-stealing party list.
So, what you are saying is the people that controlled the fields wanted an infinitely better set up than what they currently have like adding field turf and lights, neither of which they had at the time, or they were refusing to move?
Funny I have been by those fields a few times this summer, never in use, never seen them used in the winter months during bb season, I get the students are not in school some of that time, but 100's of days a year is not true either.
While I get the idea that the university is for the students, they would not have been harmed by appeasing the fans that pump millions of dollars into the university for no other reason than attending sporting events. I am quite sure they could have made new fields somewhere else that would not have cost ten's of millions of dollars.
The iowa state tents are actually 9x9. Or at least the one I have is. When I was shopping around I didn't find any isu tents that weren't 9x9.
Most are 9x9, that is true. I have a 10x10 and since most tents are 9x9, the accessories like shades/wind guards are too small for the tent I have. There are some 10x10 tents out there.
They aren't used during the winter to my knowledge. There are spring, fall, and summer intramural (or at least used to be...albeit much lower participation than fall and spring) sports. The sports clubs use them for tournaments. The Iowa Games use them. Special Olympics use them. March 1 to May 1 and September 1-November 15 is 170ish days of usage by students.
I could be wrong on the amount but the best athletics could offer for a land swap was about a 50% reduction in space at the cross country course but the land needed significant grading, utility work, and parking improvements. In order to serve the same number of activities they needed field turf and lighting to keep surfaces playable for longer hours. Rec Services already had the plans together for the current facilities and determined that's what they needed for a suitable replacement.
If I remember right wasn't the current facility $12M or so? $20M+ doesn't seem out of line at all for the extra work that would've needed to happen for a different space.
I can’t wait to have this problem. Between soccer and flag football for the kids, I can barely drive to Ames, park in my secret spot, and be at my crews tailgate in time for a short tailgate. Last year for Ohio, my son and I were literally walking into JTS as the team was walking in.
While the wind does not blow in Ames except during 40° below walks to your car from Hilton. Yet a 10X10 tent during football requires four 50 pound counterweights, an 8x8 may only require 4 full large Gatorade bottles.
So many pluses.
So many pluses.
Intramural services owned the land. The athletic department wanted it. But they didn’t have the ground available to make the trade. That’s all there is to it.
Not to nitpick but March 1st to May 1st is 61 days, and Sept 1st to Nov. 15 is roughly 75 days, so around a total of 136 days if used every day during that time span, quite a bit short of the 170ish days. The Special Olympics and Iowa Games were a week long, so add another 14 days there. So even if used all those days, its only roughly 150 days, not the 170ish.
Rec. services enjoyed where they were and unless the athletic department was going to overwhelm them, they were not going to move. None of that matters now, because too much money has been invested to move them now, so we will just have to deal with parking problems down the road.
