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Fresno turf update

A dome that could hold 30-35,000 people, weather resistant, sturdy (no issues like what the Vikings had with their stadium), and maybe bowl shaped (or just throw it over the current stadium, but have enough room to potentially expand it into a bowl shape) seats. Maybe kick the politicians in the balls enough that they'd allow it to be built? Hell, could even have a bowl game with a dome over the War. :D
 
fromolwyoming said:
A dome that could hold 30-35,000 people, weather resistant, sturdy (no issues like what the Vikings had with their stadium), and maybe bowl shaped (or just throw it over the current stadium, but have enough room to potentially expand it into a bowl shape) seats. Maybe kick the politicians in the balls enough that they'd allow it to be built? Hell, could even have a bowl game with a dome over the War. :D

Nice idea but....as I said before....politics will prevent it!
 
Wyokie said:
fromolwyoming said:
A dome that could hold 30-35,000 people, weather resistant, sturdy (no issues like what the Vikings had with their stadium), and maybe bowl shaped (or just throw it over the current stadium, but have enough room to potentially expand it into a bowl shape) seats. Maybe kick the politicians in the balls enough that they'd allow it to be built? Hell, could even have a bowl game with a dome over the War. :D

Nice idea but....as I said before....politics will prevent it!
Yeah, I know.

I know! Let's get a bunch of former UW football players into the state govenrment, and then they could approve the dome!
 
fromolwyoming said:
Wyokie said:
fromolwyoming said:
A dome that could hold 30-35,000 people, weather resistant, sturdy (no issues like what the Vikings had with their stadium), and maybe bowl shaped (or just throw it over the current stadium, but have enough room to potentially expand it into a bowl shape) seats. Maybe kick the politicians in the balls enough that they'd allow it to be built? Hell, could even have a bowl game with a dome over the War. :D

Nice idea but....as I said before....politics will prevent it!
Yeah, I know.

I know! Let's get a bunch of former UW football players into the state government, and then they could approve the dome!

Nice but the state legislature will weasel out of it. What needs to be done is to kick out the old guard who doesn't want to spend $$ on UW athletics and only want to use the money for the academics and vote in people who do care about UW athletics. It would help to get a governor who is pro-UW athletics. Don't see that happening anytime soon.
 
Think Paul Roach might be interested?

Yeah, I know, about as likely as Washington not being full of jackasses, but hey, a guy can dream.
 
fromolwyoming said:
Think Paul Roach might be interested?

Yeah, I know, about as likely as Washington not being full of jackasses, but hey, a guy can dream.

Could work ...except he's WAY too old now. He deserves his retirement!
 
Wyokie said:
fromolwyoming said:
Think Paul Roach might be interested?

Yeah, I know, about as likely as Washington not being full of jackasses, but hey, a guy can dream.

Could work ...except he's WAY too old now. He deserves his retirement!
I know. But he would definitly support it.
 
fromolwyoming said:
Wyokie said:
fromolwyoming said:
Think Paul Roach might be interested?

Yeah, I know, about as likely as Washington not being full of jackasses, but hey, a guy can dream.

Could work ...except he's WAY too old now. He deserves his retirement!
I know. But he would definitly support it.
No agrument here. I'm just saying.....
 
A couple of things worth thinking about:

1. I believe Boise State has a smaller athletics budget than us. But it is close. I don't think money will buy what a little determination can accomplish (conference championships).

2. I'm not sold that the State Legislature needs to get involved with the Wyoming Athletics department outside of capital development. If they want to help build Wildcatter Suites, etc, that will bring in additional revenue for the athletics department, I'm all for it. I just have a hard time prioritising athletics over the person in the Wyoming Health Department who tracks cancer cases across the state and tries to find a root cause.

Many government departments don't have the ability to generate revenue, and some that do shouldn't. That's not the case with Wyoming Athletics though. Some capital development and improvements here and there and it should mostly sustain itself as long as its winning. In down times, a cash injection wouldn't hurt, but it should be the exception, not the rule.

Just my $0.02.
 
Here's the thing about domes: They suck balls. They lack any personality, they feel hallow, and how the hell do you gain any home field advantage in a dome. The elements are what make War Memorial an intimidating place to play. You don't know if you're going to have a calm, sunny day, or if you're going to be in a 30mph blizzard, and believe me, that really screws with a SDSU player's head as they have no way to prepare for it.

The problem in Laramie is simple (concerning average attendance)... Laramie is in the worst possible place in Wyoming for most people to attend a game. It's hard to get folks from Sheridan, Powell, Cody, Billings, Jackson, Newcastle, etc to get to a game in Laramie when the roads start to get iffy. Yes, I know we're all Wyomingites and there's no weather we can't navigate, but there's also a very real possibility that past October 15th the road may close in Casper and you can't get any further South. And if you're over in Evanston, and sometimes even in Cheyenne (or Fort Fun/Denver area) you may not get to Laramie. That really cuts down on the number of people that are fringe season ticket holders. 10,000 really dedicated season ticket holder is cool, those people will be there no matter what happens, they'll come over a day early, leave a day late, but they'll never miss a game. It's the fickle fringe people that keep the stadium from being packed week in and week out. Wyoming fans have proven that the stadium will fill, we saw it against Texas, Boise, and now we'll see it vs. Nebraska. Part of it is winning, part of it is location, part of it is a sometimes fickle fan base. Lots of stuff in play here.

And with that, if and when the War is expanded, connecting the East and West side with a bowl on the South end would be cool! It would look a lot better than always bringing in temporary seating.
 
wyobrandon said:
A couple of things worth thinking about:

1. I believe Boise State has a smaller athletics budget than us. But it is close. I don't think money will buy what a little determination can accomplish (conference championships).
Nope. BSU's athletic budget last year was 30.9 million. UW's 24.7.
 
MrTitleist said:
Here's the thing about domes: They suck balls. They lack any personality, they feel hallow, and how the hell do you gain any home field advantage in a dome. The elements are what make War Memorial an intimidating place to play. You don't know if you're going to have a calm, sunny day, or if you're going to be in a 30mph blizzard, and believe me, that really screws with a SDSU player's head as they have no way to prepare for it.

The problem in Laramie is simple (concerning average attendance)... Laramie is in the worst possible place in Wyoming for most people to attend a game. It's hard to get folks from Sheridan, Powell, Cody, Billings, Jackson, Newcastle, etc to get to a game in Laramie when the roads start to get iffy. Yes, I know we're all Wyomingites and there's no weather we can't navigate, but there's also a very real possibility that past October 15th the road may close in Casper and you can't get any further South. And if you're over in Evanston, and sometimes even in Cheyenne (or Fort Fun/Denver area) you may not get to Laramie. That really cuts down on the number of people that are fringe season ticket holders. 10,000 really dedicated season ticket holder is cool, those people will be there no matter what happens, they'll come over a day early, leave a day late, but they'll never miss a game. It's the fickle fringe people that keep the stadium from being packed week in and week out. Wyoming fans have proven that the stadium will fill, we saw it against Texas, Boise, and now we'll see it vs. Nebraska. Part of it is winning, part of it is location, part of it is a sometimes fickle fan base. Lots of stuff in play here.

And with that, if and when the War is expanded, connecting the East and West side with a bowl on the South end would be cool! It would look a lot better than always bringing in temporary seating.

I think it isn't a matter of if, it is a matter of when. Wyoming's population won't hold at 550,000 forever, we'll probably have 650-700K in 10 more years. It won't surprise me to see improvements and new buildings on campus every year in the future as the student population slowly increases.

Now, I think the War will look good in a bowl configuration, but I'm enjoying the open endzones, views and trees right now. I thought it was sad when the wildcatter suites went in that I lost the view of the laramie range when i sit in the west stands. The wildcatter was a nice improvement though.
 
You're assuming Wyoming will continue to grow.. but that will only be true as long as the state is producing energy..
 
J-Rod said:
wyobrandon said:
A couple of things worth thinking about:

1. I believe Boise State has a smaller athletics budget than us. But it is close. I don't think money will buy what a little determination can accomplish (conference championships).
Nope. BSU's athletic budget last year was 30.9 million. UW's 24.7.

Last year it appears to be $28.1 million.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/28/1706753/bsu-budget-growing.html

Regardless it is still larger. I still think I read somewhere a year or two ago they were in the $22 - $23 million range so it looks like they are doing well anyways.
 
wyobrandon said:
Last year it appears to be $28.1 million.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/28/1706753/bsu-budget-growing.html

Regardless it is still larger. I still think I read somewhere a year or two ago they were in the $22 - $23 million range so it looks like they are doing well anyways.
According to this Wyoming's budget was at 25.1 million last year, so BSU's would be larger and I anticipate continue to get larger considering the rate they've been moving at.
 
A dome over War Memorial would make no difference in attendance figures. A dome over 287, I-80, and I-25 would, however. Oh yeah, and doubling or trippeling the states population.
 
J-Rod said:
wyobrandon said:
Last year it appears to be $28.1 million.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/28/1706753/bsu-budget-growing.html

Regardless it is still larger. I still think I read somewhere a year or two ago they were in the $22 - $23 million range so it looks like they are doing well anyways.
According to this Wyoming's budget was at 25.1 million last year, so BSU's would be larger and I anticipate continue to get larger considering the rate they've been moving at.

Considering they only have fielded a div 1 team for a decade, we are getting are asses handed to us at 84% of their budget. Anyways, sorry about the distraction on the BSU athletic budget. My original point was more along the lines of:

BSU = 66% of TCU's budget
Wyo = 55% of TCU's budget

BSU does alot with less and Wyoming should be able to as well.
 
Unless you build the dome big enough to cover Cheyenne and Casper and Laramie all at once so that closed roads aren't a problem, a dome won't increase attendance appreciably.
 
A dome is ridiculous and not feasible given the stadium's current layout IMO. How is that supposed to work? Essentially building a big tent around War Memorial? That would look worse than the Kibbie Dome.

As several have mentioned, our attendance has to do with:

1. Fickle fan base
2. Low population
3. Large distances to travel, sometimes through weather.
 
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