Wash-Griz Stadium Expansion Info

[CrunchGriz]

Here's the info on Montana's eastside stadium expansion, due to be done by the 2008 season, and bringing Washington-Grizzly Stadium up to over 25,000 seats (complete with diagrams and a flyby):

Eastside Stadium Expansion (http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_index.htm)

[PSUVikings]

Pretty cool.

[GoGuins]

Awesome!xthumbsupx

[89Hen]

Very good looking but seems like a awful lot of work and expense to add only 2000 seats. Obviously the club seats are a nice bonus. Any word on the cost?

[henfan]

By far, the best stadium in the FCS. No other's even close.xthumbsupx

[FlyYtown]

Very Nice.... I still think the Debartolo Stadium Club at YSU will be the nicest club in FCS; but boy your stadium is looking AWESOME! I agree though, seems like a lot of work for 2000 seats.

http://www.ysupenguins.net/facilities/stadium20club1.jpg

http://mc878.photosite.com/~photos/tn/147_348.ts1131933103167.jpg

[Proud Griz Man]

Very good looking but seems like a awful lot of work and expense to add only 2000 seats. Obviously the club seats are a nice bonus. Any word on the cost?

Cost? Can you help us get a 30-year fixed to finance it? xlolx

[GannonFan]

By far, the best stadium in the FCS. No other's even close.xthumbsupx

We all know Princeton does. xthumbsupx

[th0m]

All I can say is "I wish".

[89Hen]

Cost? Can you help us get a 30-year fixed to finance it? xlolx
How about an interest only one month ARM? :p

[Ronbo]

Looks great. I have two seats reserved.xnodx The stadium capacity will actually go over 26,000 with the bleachers they bring in now. We had 24,080 at the MSU game last year and this adds 2000 more seating.

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/images/east_side_view.gif

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/images/view_from_field.gif

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/images/view_from_behind.gif

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/images/canyon_room.gif

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/images/club_view.gif

[dgreco]

looks good.

[Ronbo]

Very good looking but seems like a awful lot of work and expense to add only 2000 seats. Obviously the club seats are a nice bonus. Any word on the cost?

I heard $5,000,000. It would have been $7,000,000 for 4000 seats so you can see the bulk of the costs are the indoor club level, the new restrooms, new concessions, etc. There was a howl when they scaled back the expansion and the costs only went down $2M.

[Grizo406]

We already have, arguably, the best stadium, and game day atmosphere in the FCS.

In 2008, we will be still be the standard that others are measured by, stadium wise, but team wise, I'm thinkin'...this year, the best looking one didn't get invited to "The Dance".xtwocentsx

[th0m]

I heard $5,000,000. It would have been $7,000,000 for 4000 seats so you can see the bulk of the costs are the indoor club level, the new restrooms, new concessions, etc. There was a howl when they scaled back the expansion and the costs only went down $2M.

So why didn't they bite the bullet and spent the extra $2M for the 2k seats? Is the price going to be the same when they want to add the 2k in the near future? Was it supposed to be part of a larger deck on the East side, or somewhere else?

[Ronbo]

Supply and demand I'm thinking. They had a waiting list for season tickets of 500. They want to keep her sold out or close to sold out every week.

Here is a 3-D flyover that gives a good view of the expansion.

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/3d_flyby.html

[Dane96]

I think it looks great, however I am sorry...just bite the bullet...and build the 4000 seats. Seriously...if the ticket list is 500...you have to also assume that there is probably a demand for 2000 seats (those not signing up for the list).

I think you can easily get 3000 more people...though what do I know.

I do know that a fully upper-deck is astheticlly more pleasing to the eye than the 2000 seat expansion.

Still...looks fabulous.

[NoCoDanny]

Wow, I'm impressed and I'm a pretty cynical bastard.

[FargoBison]

Looks nice, 4k would have been even cooler but I can't blame UM for wanting to keep the sold out image it has.

[Ronbo]

The next time they expand on the East side I heard that they will run seating from the North end zone and connect up to the new deck.

We seem to be on a every 6 year expansion program.

The next phase will be the West side with 24 new luxury boxes on top of the existing 24 plus an all new press box on top of the new luxury boxes. That will be a three story structure with 48 luxury boxes and press box. They really want to do this so I'll bet it happens by 2010. Might be why they scaled back the East side so they could get going sooner on the West side.

The phase following that will be an expansion of the South end zone with a structure that will have new locker rooms, coaches offices, weight room and additional seating, maybe another 2000. Maybe 2015-2016.

[patssle]

only negative i see is indoor seating. who the heck wants to watch a football game from inside and through glass? no thanks.

I have press credentials...but thats for the sidelines, not the press box ;)

[AZGrizFan]

Looks nice, 4k would have been even cooler but I can't blame UM for wanting to keep the sold out image it has.

Well, given what the FIRST cut looked like (where the 2000 seats were centered between the 30's), this is a quantum leap improvement. It'll look awesome, and i can't wait to get to Missoula and take in a game!

[SDFS]

Nice upgrade but I think I would have went for the 4,000 seat upgrade

[Ronbo]

We did what we could. The AD probably got dozens of emails, maybe tens of dozens supporting the 4000 seat expansion. We even suggested a private donation campaign and I offered $200 to kick it off. They still wouldn't do it because it required a raise in the student fees.

[TheBisonator]

Even with the 2,000-seat upgrade, it would be one of the top-3 stadiums in the WAC. I think after the expansion after this one is completed (the multi-decked suites/press box on the other side), Montana should ball up and just go FBS. I personally don't see Montana still in the FCS 10 years from now. Considering that the Griz now have as many season ticket holders as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (my favorite CFL team), it's gotta happen sooner or later.

[GRZZ]

How many season tickets do the Blue Bombers sell? I didn't realize the CFL got crows quite that big, but my knowledge of the CFL attendance trends is very little.

[TheBisonator]

How many season tickets do the Blue Bombers sell? I didn't realize the CFL got crows quite that big, but my knowledge of the CFL attendance trends is very little.

Well, I follow the CFL quite a bit (usually for the 8 weeks prior to the NFL season), so it's basically my summer football fix. CFL teams leaguewide average about 26-27,000 per game in attendance, but it varies a little bit. The Saskatchewan Roughriders (who have probably the best fans in the league, but not enough of them) have a lot of games where they only get 21-22,000 to the stadium. The Montreal Allouettes also play in a small stadium that seats 20,200 but they sell out every single game and have a waiting list up the azz. On the other hand, the Edmonton Eskimos get up near 40,000 every game they play. However, they play in a 60,000-seat stadium.

The Blue Bombers have just over 17,000 season ticket holders (like the Griz have). Here's a list of how generally CFL teams do in attendance (for this past decade). Numbers are just an approximate average. These are just figures I extrapolated from remembering weekly box scores:

Edmonton - 37,000 or so
Calgary - 33,000
British Columbia - 30,000
Toronto - 27,000
Winnipeg - 26,000
Hamilton - 23,000
Saskatchewan - 23,000
Montreal -20,000+

As you can see, the Griz already draw about as much as Saskatchewan and Hamilton, and more than Montreal. In my personal opinion, when you start drawing more fans per game than a few CFL teams, it's time to move up.

I would say that the CFL's fan support (in just raw numbers) is most comparable the football teams in Conference USA. It's the same kind of crowds that CUSA, most of the Big East and most of the Mountain West get.

[TheBisonator]

What do you think guys, does this look like a WAC stadium to you??

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/images/east_side_view.gif

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/images/view_from_field.gif

[TheBisonator]

When I see this view here, I think "FBS School".

http://umt.edu/athletics/wgs_expansion/images/club_view.gif

[Ronbo]

You know you guys were the first team to play in Wash/Griz when that new north end zone was expanded in 2003.

[DuckDuckGriz]

I agree it looks like a WAC stadium.

Wish they woulda gone for the 4k seats instead but it looks pretty good - will look much better once they expand the west side too. The great thing about this is that the stadium SHOULD get even louder since that sound will have nowhere to go coming from the westside/northendzone. And of course more fans. Although after the north endzone was expanded I thought the stadium was louder previously (as in 2000-2001 vs 2003 and after).

[Grizalltheway]

We all know Princeton does. xthumbsupx

*cough* east coast bias *cough* *cough*

[Grizalltheway]

only negative i see is indoor seating. who the heck wants to watch a football game from inside and through glass? no thanks.

I have press credentials...but thats for the sidelines, not the press box ;)

The wine and cheese crowd. xthumbsupx