WyoBrandX said:
From the 70's
Year: 1976
Estimated cost: 24 Million
Some evidence that they were going to dome it in the 70's:
http://www.si.com/vault/1976/10/25/626667/seldom-is-heard-a-discouraging-word" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Moreover, Wyoming fans are hardly what you would call fair-weather friends. The Cowboy Joes, a statewide support group, started a fund-raising drive last year—when the team was 2-9—that has enriched the athletic program by a remarkable $250,000. No team in the WAC derives so much from so few. The school itself is the smallest in the league. And so is its stadium, although there are those who now believe that Akers is only a legislative session away from the $24 million appropriation he has been pumping for in order to dome over Memorial Stadium and, thereby, to allow the Cowboys to play home games in November. Because southern schools in the WAC are squeamish about such things as chill factors and snow accumulation, Wyoming always has to play its last four or five games on the road. The disadvantages are obvious.
Akers didn't want to be here anyway. It's amazing the excuses that are made for losing when you are away from winning so long. Losing for lack of home games in November?
Yet, weather never stopped Eaton from winning, never stopped Devany or Wyatt from having amazing seasons. And the crowds didn't dwindle under their eras. They grew. In the mist of the cold, snowy weather. More dangerous roadway system than we have now, the crowds grew and did not complain. They grew and so did or stadium.
We went back to winning under Roach and our fans started coming back again. The 2000's resemble the 1970's very much. We are 15 years of no back to back winning seasons. And only three winning seasons in that time. Crowds are avg at best. And the ones that do show want some topic to pass the time, or just something to complain about. And doming the stadium comes back to the forefront. Year after year.
I know. We can just build a four story building in the open endzone and just fill if with suite seats. If you're cold. There you go. Cheaper in door seating for yourself. It won't change attendance that much on a snowy November night game, because it's not only the, "sitting in the cold" excuse, but the main reason, a terrible drive. Closed roads, closed interstate. Something that no "Dome" will change.
Our past coaches and successes got or stadium advanced to 33,500 in a matter of time. Now, people would rather drop our capacity because of the "eyesore" knothole seats, we need those suites, for the rich class. Lose 6,000 bleacher seats for a mere 2,000 suite seats. And don't forget the move to actual seats! Those are big enough that you will lose several thousand more seats. And I've yet to see a renevation that has not taken away a significant chunk of seating, so do the dome, the cost will be too much, they will have to downsize and trim up certain areas to make it more affordable and BOOM!!!! You have your newly renevated, suite filled, seat filled, indoor arena/dome of 20-22,000! Who cares about the size, as long as we're comfortable and now we can claim sellouts almost every game...
Might as well get rid of the AA altogether and do what Syracuse does at this point and use the stadium for both basketball and football.
In the name of progress we've gone from:
AA: 15,000 to 11,000 (currently)...so far.
WAR: 33,500 to 29,181 (currently)...so far.
And to think even bringing in endzone seats for "both" sides and our sellout with Nebraska a few years back is still over 2,000 less than our 97 record setter 34,745.
That is sad.
Key term used for WYO. "Downgrade". We downgrade our attendance, we downgrade our capacity, we downgrade our tolerance all in the name of relevance. Relevant to what? A better looking stadium? A better atmosphere (for those that can afford it)? All to be relevant. Relevant to who? The fan who occasionally shows up. Who buys season tickets and neglects to use them (hence, the empty seats drama we had to deal with in the AA last year.)
Relevant to the conference? We made our stadium look fancy... They must be successful up there in WYO, right? Nevada has one of the worst stadiums in the conf. And they have more success on the field and in attendance than we do. New Mexico used to hold almost 2,000 less than The War, they upgrade to almost 37,000. And they are one of the worst programs in the conf. UNLV, 32,000 in the 90's. Upgrade to almost 40,000. CSU used to hold exactly 3,000 less than WYO, they upgraded and now hold around 34-35,000. And they are getting a new stadium which will hold significantly more than that! Utah St. Has talked about expanding. They are currently the smallest stadium in the conf.
Utah! Yeah, I know they aren't in the MWC anymore. They grew up and continually moved forward. They used to even hold less than The War. 32,500. Then we have Olympic expansion. The money from the Olympics helped aid Utah to relevance as they continued to look higher. Now, they want to expand to over 50,000. Wyoming has the money to look ahead. Whether from the state itself or from donors, but we would rather have a nice looking stadium that hold significantly less than it used too.
So what are we being relevant to by renovating/downgrading constantly? I agree with several on here that we have a small mind complex way of thinking. Dome it! Dome it? If you Dome it you have resided yourself to smallest ranks of the highest division in college football. And at that point flirting with being left behind or dropped down a level. If you Dome it. You have pretty much relegated us to the fact that our time will be limited based on success and we will eventually join the ranks of the Big Sky/ FCS. When was the last time you saw a team with a stadium of under 30k relevant at the current FBS level? USU? I wouldn't say they are relevant. They've had a couple of good years. They've had more bad years than WYO. The answer is, nobody. Even your "good" MAC schools aren't consdered relevant, and that has to do with size. The MAC is generally mocked for having some of the smallest stadiums.
So let's aim for that. Let's quite literally put a "lid" on this whole thing. And I gauruntee we will be close to the ranks of Idaho very soon.
