"The Dome roof"

[sutomcat]

Winner! The real issue is modernizing the Dome. We all agree on that. Naming rights, stream of revenue, honor, etc., are all emotional issues with which we take umbrage. While each point is valid (new money, honor, increased football spending, integrity) each of is individually places more emphasis on this point or that.

Of course, once the final plans are announced, we will begin fighting over the specific details while missing the point that improvements are on the way and with out a billionaire footing the bill, we simply will not get everything we each want.

Agreed.

It would be an interesting exercise to identify say the top 20 issues the fan base wants resolved with the renovation, and have everyone on the board prioritize them.

SU has done some polling of the fan base already and has other avenues, like the Fan Council, to get feedback here, so they have a list. Sounds like it includes air conditioning and individual seats.

I am a fan of individual seats as long as they are going to rip all the concrete out of the third deck and completely redo it so the space between the rows is big enough to accommodate modern legs and allow people to enter and leave rows without great difficulty.

I have season tickets for basketball on the 3rd level today, with individual seats with backs. It is good to have them because you are guaranteed enough room to sit down again after you stand up (to applaud a play, show respect for the national anthem, etc.). It is bad because there isn't enough room in my row when people try and walk past me, no matter how I position myself. I am only 6'0 tall.

Further, I am constantly getting kicked in my back by the person sitting behind me, or by people passing through the row behind me. There was always a problem on the 3rd level allowing people to get by you but it got a lot worse after the individual seats were installed. At least with these seats, they are only held in place by a plastic tie and you can slide them a little bit to buy a little room. With permanent seats, it is just going to be worse.

The problem is the rows on the 3rd level were not designed to have enough room to accommodate seat backs. The seats on the first and second levels were designed to have backs and there is noticeably more leg room on those levels. I don't think it will be a problem installing permanent individual seats on those levels.

I hope SU is aware this is a problem and doesn't just blindly install individual seats on the 3rd level. I think this will make fan comfort far worse and be a major disaster.

 

[Consigliere]

Further, I am constantly getting kicked in my back by the person sitting behind me, or by people passing through the row behind me.

Made me smile. We have two elderly gentlemen who have been in front of our football seats for years. If we bump their seat backs they'll turn and glare miserably. Wife calls them Waldorf and Statler -

 

[sutomcat]

Made me smile. We have two elderly gentlemen who have been in front of our football seats for years. If we bump their seat backs they'll turn and glare miserably. Wife calls them Waldorf and Statler -

I don't really blame the people kicking me. There just isn't enough room between rows on the 3rd level today.

I fear this is going to make a bad problem worse. People are just getting taller and fatter over time so if you project 20 or 30 years into the future, things are going to get really ugly up there.

 

[Fly Rodder]

It would be an interesting exercise to identify say the top 20 issues the fan base wants resolved with the renovation, and have everyone on the board prioritize them.

1) Larger concourses and stairwells; 2) bigger seats; 3) AC; 4) Improved lighting; 5) Better infrastructure for modern tech (which isn't something I personally have an issue with, but its something that probably needs updating).

The rest is lipstick, to me anyway. I don't spend a significant portion of my year in the dome, but making it more comfortable makes it easier to get up there on a Tuesday night for 9pm game ... the width of the seats is an issue - especially with bleachers and no real demarcation of territory. I don't know how often my ticket says my seat is seat 15, but by halftime I'm in 18.

 

[OttoMets]

Made me smile. We have two elderly gentlemen who have been in front of our football seats for years. If we bump their seat backs they'll turn and glare miserably. Wife calls them Waldorf and Statler -

Small world! We used to have a Waldorf and Statler in 306 until (I think) the end of the 2015 season. Maybe OrangeXtreme knows the details of their whereabouts. In hindsight they weren't so bad, since they've been replaced by the World's Surliest Man, a guy who glares at everyone behind him and occasionally puts both fingers in his ears when the Dome gets too loud...

 

[IDOC]

My thoughts
The dome in unique in college football and the fact that when I go to games I walk through my campus is a major plus over parking in a field and going to a stadium far from campus, although 100,000 Penn State Fans would not agree with me! Yes, it is warm in the winter for this old guy! M street and the Sheraton are fun and would not be the same without the dome.

My uneducated plan would be to replace the inflatable roof with a permanent roof. It does not need to retract but rather save that money to construct circular extensions on the sides of the dome which would have improved (increased) bathrooms, larger drink and food venues that allow seating giving a reason to arrive early, result in increased customer comfort and sales, wider interior walkways and in general create an upgraded spacious modern ambiance that the dome now lacks. Can it be done? Sure. Increase attendance, you bet!

 

[Consigliere]

I don't really blame the people kicking me. There just isn't enough room between rows on the 3rd level today.

I fear this is going to make a bad problem worse. People are just getting taller and fatter over time so if you project 20 or 30 years into the future, things are going to get really ugly up there.

Speak for yourself! I'm an inch and a half shorter than I was when I graduated and have lost 55 lbs. since the start of last football season!

 

[SUFaninNJ]

I bought seat backs for my 2 seats for football moreso because they mark my territory than the couple of inches of padding it provides between my butt and the bleacher.

 

[OburgOrange]

Speak for yourself! I'm an inch and a half shorter than I was when I graduated and have lost 55 lbs. since the start of last football season!

55 lbs? Good for you Mark!

 

[sutomcat]

1) Larger concourses and stairwells; 2) bigger seats; 3) AC; 4) Improved lighting; 5) Better infrastructure for modern tech (which isn't something I personally have an issue with, but its something that probably needs updating).

The rest is lipstick, to me anyway. I don't spend a significant portion of my year in the dome, but making it more comfortable makes it easier to get up there on a Tuesday night for 9pm game ... the width of the seats is an issue - especially with bleachers and no real demarcation of territory. I don't know how often my ticket says my seat is seat 15, but by halftime I'm in 18.

Food has been mentioned. It would be nice to have decent options for weeknight basketball games, so I wouldn't have to scarf down dinner in record time before getting dressed and leaving for the Dome after getting home from work. But I could live without.

I don't care much about better bathrooms. I rarely go during games and if I do, I want to get in and out quickly. So I like the troughs which I suspect will be eliminated. Future President Rags and I will try and prevent that from happening.

Wider concourses are important. Bigger staircases too. Or better yet, escalators!

Especially if the football program gets competitive again and the fair weather fans start to return. Things have always been bad but the decisions to jam more and more vendors into places not designed to sell stuff creates major congestion in the hallways and makes it a lot harder to get around, meet others at halftime, talk to friends before a game, etc.

Comfortable seats with reasonable leg room are really really important. I hope both are possible.

Don't care much about cup holders and based on my experiences at other arenas, I would prefer that they don't have them, as they tend to a place I hit with my knees a lot.

I would love to be able to see out of town scores, especially during football games. That feature has not worked since the auxiliary scoreboards were thrown out. When they try and show the scores on the big scoreboard, they use a hopelessly small font that no one can read.

When they occasionally interrupt the non-stop blare of oboxious ads on the ribbon scoreboards to show out of town scores, they again use the wrong font, don't show them long enough and did I mention that they don't show them enough period. Same applies to the live game stats. They do show them, but I only notice them at the end of each quarter. Would love to have them up and always showing, being updated continuously. There is no need to use all the real estate on the ribbon scoreboards for ads almost all the time. For God's sake, stop grabbing for pennies all the time and making the experience for fans so much worse than it could be!

Replays of interesting plays/controversial ads should be a given. It should always happen. Whoever is in charge of directing the replay scoreboards needs to be trained or fired. This isn't rocket science. Why are things awful so often with the game day experience?

Easy access to free wifi should be a given. It should be scaled so response time is great at all times. This is especially true given the great struggles to operate the scoreboards in the Dome.

SU should be trying to cater to fan needs as much as possible. Their priority always seems to be to feature and sell ads, not to provide information fans want.

The fans that attend can get a lot more information and much better use of replays watching at home. SU needs to understand what they are up against. Fans are comparing the game day experience in their house, on their 60 inch HDTV screen, in their comfortable chair. Try and make choices accordingly.

 

[NJCuse97]

I get your point but the place where ND plays basketball is called Purcell Pavilion now.
Joyce wasn’t a corporate sponsor but it was the name of the place.

Good post though.

I believe you have to think of it like the Lampe Athletic Complex, which includes the Melo Center, Manley Fieldhouse, Einsley Practice Facility, Coyne Field, etc.

 

[reedny]

Wider concourses are important. Bigger staircases too. Or better yet, escalators!

Comfortable seats with reasonable leg room are really really important. I hope both are possible.

SU should be trying to cater to fan needs as much as possible. Their priority always seems to be to feature and sell ads, not to provide information fans want.

Excellent ideas, and sorely needed - especially the seating and the crowded concourses with vendor lines perpendicular to traffic. If the vendors were removed/repositioned, the concourses would be much less crowded.

I would add ... much more LIGHT and OPEN SPACES on the periphery, so fans have places to see outside, to sit, talk, eat, whatever. The current structure feels very crowded and dark.

In-game I'll leave to you. The skits are amateurish and boring. McDonalds for $50 has to go. We need more/colorful characters to interact with Otto and opposing mascots. There's room for lots of improvement to the in-game entertainment/choreography during the many down periods.

 

[rrlbees]

I bought seat backs for my 2 seats for football moreso because they mark my territory than the couple of inches of padding it provides between my butt and the bleacher.

I hate those things. The back is too stiff or something. Whomever sits where my basketball seats are during football must buy them because early in the basketball season I have to make Dome personnel remove them for the game.

 

[Toga]

I would like to see the original paperwork before coming to a definitive position on the matter.

That said, it seems that a different location solves the issue. One can also argue that demolishing the original structure does the same. So, the only issue is what percentage of reconstruction qualifies as a new structure. I don't think 100% is the right answer. Courts would probably view some large percentage as "substantially" a new structure and that would probably be determinative.

In all likelihood Carrier would probably agree that a "substantially" new structure permits a new naming deal.

I would guess this could all get negotiated into a new deal.

Once the dome is substantially reconstructed, the footprint is irrelevant. Putting $100 million into s structure makes it a new building does it not.

If the original language specifies Carrier Dome - wouldn't any modified structure which isn't a dome be a major point in the school's favor?

 

[OburgOrange]

I hate those things. The back is too stiff or something. Whomever sits where my basketball seats are during football must buy them because early in the basketball season I have to make Dome personnel remove them for the game.

I like them

 

[nzm136]

I propose a simple setup like this:

"The Wegmans Carrier Dome at Ernie Davis Field, Presented by Carrier (again) at Syracuse University"

Everyone wins.

 

[xc84]

If the original language specifies Carrier Dome - wouldn't any modified structure which isn't a dome be a major point in the school's favor?

I don’t think there is any strict definition of “dome”. They are pretty much syonomous with indoor stadium.

 

[Bayside44]

Seems like a convenient, if not contorted, dodge because you want the money for a new facility.

Build a new stadium somewhere else and I have no problem. Put a new roof on the Carrier Dome and it's still the Carrier Dome.

Nah, if it's a lot different then it's a lot different. I mean it's still a football stadium and it wasn't called Archbold once you put a lid on the place.

 

[DoubleDee]

I don’t think there is any strict definition of “dome”. They are pretty much syonomous with indoor stadium.

I’m pretty sure there is. If it’s domed, not flat, it’s a done regardless of material used, or how hard/soft it is.

 

[blizz]

If I recall, SU and Carrier have the framework for a continued deal that included Carrier supplying the AC equipment and $ going forward to preserve the naming rights and SU playing honorably and not demanding full market value. Both win, neither is screwed and the two remain partners for a much longer time.

All too often, people believe that maximum benefit is attained by dealing with the here and now only and no look towards the future, like a buying a car. In reality, long term relationships generally allow partners to grow more and together, luring business to each other, even though the two partners are not maximizing a single deal between them. Individually, we do this all the time by stopping at a favored coffee shop or bakery or restaurant or other business we favor.

Besides, cultivating new relationships takes much work in itself, why waste the effort to screw over a long term partner (trading one partner for another) when you can add the new relationship to the network?

Because screwing someone over is more entertaining.

 

[xc84]

I’m pretty sure there is. If it’s domed, not flat, it’s a done regardless of material used, or how hard/soft it is.

ok. Give me the link to the definition. Thanks. Here is a link to NFL “domed” stadiums. https://www.quora.com/Which-NFL-stadiums-have-domes

 

[TexanMark]

Because screwing someone over is more entertaining.

Nothing Runs Like a Trane Field at the Carrier Dome

 

[blizz]

Nothing Runs Like a Trane Field at the Carrier Dome

New tradition emerges where everyone in the Dome holds hands and sings Heartless by Kanye West. A boy can dream.

 

[DoubleDee]

ok. Give me the link to the definition. Thanks. Here is a link to NFL “domed” stadiums. https://www.quora.com/Which-NFL-stadiums-have-domes

 

[sutomcat]

Excellent ideas, and sorely needed - especially the seating and the crowded concourses with vendor lines perpendicular to traffic. If the vendors were removed/repositioned, the concourses would be much less crowded.

I would add ... much more LIGHT and OPEN SPACES on the periphery, so fans have places to see outside, to sit, talk, eat, whatever. The current structure feels very crowded and dark.

In-game I'll leave to you. The skits are amateurish and boring. McDonalds for $50 has to go. We need more/colorful characters to interact with Otto and opposing mascots. There's room for lots of improvement to the in-game entertainment/choreography during the many down periods.

Agree about the light. I pray the powers that he will try and utilize ETFE as much as possible for the roof and cut out concrete exterior walls where possible and replace them with ETFE as well. That would make sitting in the Dome on a beautiful fall day a lot more pleasant.

What else? The Dome has never had a functional sound system for football and it isn’t very good for basketball. I assume a big part of that is due to the weird roof we have today.

A concourse at the top of the third level would make the seats way up near the top a lot more attractive, especially if bathrooms, escalators and concessions were added. It would also reduce congestion. I know there is talk about adding elevators for the coaching boxes. I hope they do more than that. Leave space for private boxes all along where the stands end and the wall begins, even if there isn’t demand for them yet.

It would be amazing if the Western wall of the facility, at least where the proposed third level of concourse would be, was made of ETFE so you could enjoy the sun and spectacular views of Onondaga Valley. Could see the downtown skyline and even Onondaga Lake if the corners were also opened up with ETFE.

Large open areas need to be added where people can stand around and talk with friends, walk bored kids, try their luck playing interactive games, etc. A food court is where people can buy a decent meal, then sit down and eat it is needed. It needs to have tables and chairs like food courts in a mall. Some restaurants are needed, where you can enjoy a nice meal, have a conversation with friends and watch the game while unwinding (on TV). The restaurants would ideally not be national franchises like Pizza Uno or Burger King but local restaurants that do Syracuse food. Places like Pastabilities, Kitty Hoynes, Avicollis, Delmonicos, Brooklyn Pickle, Twin Trees, maybe Heids and Tully’s.

Definitely need a Syracuse University sports museum. It should sell some souvenirs but also have interactive exhibits, film from big games, documentaries on all time Syracuse greats, etc, you should be able to get your picture taken with SU All Americans, try to kick a FG, throw a pass, etc,

And ginger ale should be available. Along with lots of other soda choices and lots of beer choices too.