FWIW

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/news/12-30-2015/1304/2015-f... /

Peden Stadium.....ummmm.....not good according this.

Is anyone surprised?
Rustic, quaint and historic only goes so far.

So which of us is going to win Powerball tomorrow and change this?

Because that's about the only way we're going to get this "blow it up and make it differ'nt" crap to end.

Perhaps it's loads of memories that have me seeing Peden as a pleasant venue.

I'm asking myself what stadiums I've seen in person. Ones that come to mind include those at Akron, Kent, Central Michigan, Toledo, BG, Western Michigan in the MAC. Others include Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa State, West Virginia, Arizona State, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State.

As I reflect on those stadiums, to me game day appeal comes down to what I'm looking for. At Ohio State where I've seen a dozen or so games, it's spectacle. At Peden it's charm and vistas. Before each game I like to take a few moments and stand in the top row outside the press box. I savor all the red brick and white trim, the river, hills, trees, the Ridges. More than once when taking in those vistas, I've thought to myself that it's good to be alive and healthy.

Of the other MAC stadiums I've seen, only the Glass Bowl holds some appeal for me.

Call it the Ohio Bowl (which has a slightly easier ring to it than the "Yale on the Hocking Bowl"

It is what you make of it. I have very few places that I can escape to and think of nothing else than what is going on inside the place. Peden happens to be one of my happy places. I wish it was louder and had better pizza but other than that I won't let these rankings ruin my day.

My thoughts;
1) Leave the Victory Hill as is because the view of the river is unique.
2) Tear down the rest and re-build with increasing the parking so the stadium holds 35k, restrooms updated, concessions food and Ohio stuff updated as well.
3) Add in a new video score board, speaker system, etc.
4) With the rebuild the locker rooms will be updated and be a show place.

In conclusion: When I win the Power Ball I will donate the $75-$100M and get this project underway. In addition this money would also be used to update the Athens Airport so it can accommodate planes up to 737's. This will make it more accessible to teams, and should help in scheduling better competition as well as a selling point to recruits.



GO BOBCATS

Wow, who really cares about the ranking on that list? If OHIO had been ranked in the top 25, what difference would it make to anyone's life?

Glad to be an OHIO alum, a school that appears to realize something that will be used perhaps 35 hours per year is not worth putting much more than a nickel of money towards. In 2015, hardly any more fans would have attended and it wouldn't have meant a single extra victory for the team had it been ranked tops in the MAC in stadiums.

The only needed improvement may be to adding more restrooms.

I've never bought anything from the concession. Go to a tailgate or Tailgrate and eat--then all you'll need is the plumbing.

Forget the scoreboard. Are you all so teched up that you must be entertained constantly? In fact in the character of Wrigley/Peden, don't even have an electronic scoreboard--have a one giant or several manual ones! For those of you who don't like the "------s Bank, First down Bobcats" get ready to pay for the scoreboard with constant ads, and forget about the 110 playing any songs in the stands as they will be told that it is FORBODEN--we must run ads every moment!

I guarantee had the Browns never left Cleveland and had remained in Municipal Stadium (as long as it remained structurally safe) that fans would have continued to attend in numbers that other cities could only dream about. While the fans may have stood in a restroom with 2 inches of water on the floor, they'd be commenting how great it was winning the two super bowls and regularly stomping the squealers. A fancy stadium would have had little effect on the fans.

Take a note from one of the esteemed posters who pointed out in an earlier post in this thread to just go to the top of the stands ( I insert: after filling up at a tailgate or uptown) and enjoy the many views and then be happy that the place was prudently paid for long ago!

say what you will about Peden but do you really think the game exp ranks dead last in the MAC? This ranking, are from a cold, dreary weeknight game vs Buffalo in either 2008 or 2010.

This review is irrelevant.

Exactly. This review isn't based on a Saturday GameDay experience. It is crap.

Peden Stadium is a better setting than it is a facilty. Stick Peden on say, Buffalo's campus, and it's pretty bland. But put Buffalo's stadium on the site of Peden Stadium and it's better than it is in Amherst.

So many of the stadiums people rank highly have no character to me. They are just huge and plain. At least Peden has a historic look to it, though obviously there is a need for upgrades and fixes to a stadium so old. And as others have said, the stadium backdrop is almost as good as they come.

The university master plan for the future of campus was released. Included is an Academic Center for Peden and Welcome Center for Convo both major additions facilities and aesthetic perspective. The next step before for pushing Peden capacity upward is pushing ticket prices up. This year I was able to sell four games from my family pack which I bought for $180 for $250 at heavily discounted prices. That wouldn't be possible if they hadn't pushed ticket prices up to the point where the secondary market is attractive. Virginia Tech pricing is a good bar as to the upper limit for what Ohio could be charging. Last season they charged $45 dollars for FCS game and $60 for ACC games. Ohio might be able get away with $60 for homecoming, $50 for other Saturday games and $35 for midweek games. Increase season tickets by only 20% and force more fans into season tickets. In Peden they set aside 2500 tickets for visitors and 5500 tickets for students, out of 22,000 physical seats. A season ticket sellout then is 14,000. Before expanding Peden a season ticket sellout at elevated prices has to happen first before serious talk of adding seats to the stadium. At the pace the program is going under Schaus its 5 years away.

http://virginiatech.sportswar.com/free-content/2015/04/02... /