Great explanation of all the things associated with stadium construction. Thanks for the education and logic. I had the opportunity to visit the new Texas A&M stadium a couple of years and listen to a presentation by one of the project managers. Very interesting technology used. They essentially demolished 1/2 of their old stadium in 2 consecutive years and had it ready about 1 week prior to the season both years. Of course it is A&M where they are pretty fanatical about their football and pretty sure donations are not an issue (or perhaps even endangered armadillos).

To me expansion doesn’t make a whole lot of sense until there is sufficient and consistent demand for seats. I think it is more exciting to watch a game in a full smaller stadium than in a sparsely filled bigger one. Every time I watch San Jose State on TV I ask myself “where are the fans”. It doesn’t seem possible that they have the 12,000 or so in attendance that is listed in the game stats. South Dakota State just redid their stadium - they seem to be more of a cohort/model.

Sky boxes and party decks present significant revenue opportunities if the demand for those amenities is there.

Exactly. If people on here are talking about stadium expansion for a potential future in FBS, then we should be going with all of the bells and whistles. Big money types use the sky boxes.

Ok, what is a skybox?

They are box suites that typically have catered food and whatnot. They are usually used for businesses or big time doners to schmooze.

there are a couple boxes in the current stadium that are used to house fans. the chancellor is usually in the one next to the visiting radio broadcasts. its BYOE -> bring your own everything. not sure there are chairs, since they always seem to be standing!

I'm far less concerned with seating expansion, until we're consistently bursting at the seams of Aggie Stadium. I'd imagine that in a bind (dare I say playoffs?!) we could import temporary bleachers a la The Toom's endzones?

Instead, I'd focus Aggie Stadium v2 on things that will wow recruits and streamline operations:

• Expanding/modernizing weight training facilities.
• Expanding/modernizing athletic training & physical therapy HQ (now decentralized across Pavilion, Hickey & Stadium, with varying hours & services)
• Building facilities to centralize football day-to-day @ Aggie Stadium. The current state: practice (Stadium & Howard Field), coaches offices (Hickey), team meeting rooms (empty classrooms on campus, by position group), weight room (near Toomey), athletic training (above)
• Training table (cafeteria for athletes)
• Tutoring & study facilities
• Team-building/game room
• Equipment room built to flaunt all that sweet sweet Adidas gear

+1

DITTO!!!!!

Yes. From pictures that I have seen, the locker room at Aggie Stadium resembles a high school stadium locker room. Bland walls, metal lockers, ect. For comparisons sake, this is Montana's locker room.

Looks like it could be a private party room in Vegas which begs the question, "When is enough enough?"

@CA ForeverGood lord, that's an actual photo and not an artist's rendering.

And i agree that we first need the amenities @blueforce listed, and we first need to consistently (read multiple years in a row) stuff the stadium to capacity before entertaining expansion. But it's fun to dream after our long walk through the desert. I think that's what these fan forums are for.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but these are the types of things that recruits see when they come on official visits. Davis is fielding a good team right now and that helps, but the glitz and glamour definitely help in the process.

Yep, I believe that is an actual photo. This is what we are competing against in the Big Sky in terms of quality of amenities.

And their weight room... :gasp:

I guess they couldn’t take that to North Dakota.

Not to continue with the Montana facilities envy fest, but here is a link to their "Champions Center," of which the weight and locker rooms pictured above are a part. It is astonishing. https://gogriz.com/facilities/?id=12

I think posters here are absolutely right - we need something like that at UCD first before we build up the stadium. But now I'm starting to think that expanding the stadium would be less expensive!!!

Wow... :yikes:

The Gods forbid we actually do something extra and special for the football program.

Why can't an athletic training center be used by all ICA teams?

I'm for a facility, not for Vegas glam.

that's what SDSU does, the athletic facility is next to the practice fields and football has just about a whole floor, but the gym, academic tutoring center, and some meeting rooms are for the whole department. And there's a lecture hall on the ground floor that has classes.

I imagine that kind of setup would be an easier sell for the Aggie stakeholders

Believe it or not, Montana built their training facility for about $275/sf, a pretty good value in construction. I watched a video tour and it is a pretty simple building in terms of construction and materials. Just lots of vinyl graphics and a little architectural lighting make it look more impressive. Actually pretty financially responsible. They were able to fund-raise the full cost of construction, which is not likely at Davis. As Zander alludes to, a common funding mechanism at public universities is to co-mingle athletics and academics in one structure - you can use state academic money to build general use offices, classrooms, and lecture halls. In this way you can help subsidize the sunk costs of site development, utilities, general conditions, etc. under academic auspices and athletic funding covers the difference for their added floors or wing at a better price-point than going it alone. It just means you have to be OK with non-athletes being around and do it strategically enough not to get the Academic Senate's panties in a wad.

I wonder if they used non union labor. And its Montana, not California. If Football asks for too much football specific, and gender equity becomes tougher.

I believe the planned athletic training facility will be multi-sport. There might be a football specific weight area.

Don't worry guys, when I win the mega millions tonight that athletic center will get built REAL quick

While the Montana facility does include a football locker room, the balance of the facility is for all 15 sports they field. True, they were probably not paying the CA $50-75/hr prevailing wage to construction workers, but I will say this - politics aside, I work with both union and non-union labor and the union guys show up on time, have fewer OSHA injuries and less re-work. There's value in that.

True Story, helps bidding too

I've heard in affluent parts of the Bay the cheapest guy on a home remodel job is $90.

I wonder when balconies collapse recently, etc., how much was non union or illegal blow and go. I had relatives in the trades, they did it right, and to last. To code, or above.