Game Day Experience

[FalconTurf]

Dakich and possibly Larranaga had plans in hand of a new arena(s) that never happened. I have been told for years an alum from the late 60's heard Fitch was promised a new arena if he stayed. Fitch stated this in a coaching class. The winds blow hard but the changes are slow in BG.

[BGSU33]

There are drawings of the new/renovated football stadium. However, with the University still in the silent phase of their current fundraising campaign, they will not start a fundraising campaign for a football stadium. Last projections I heard were 5 years before major work would begin. However, the idea of the grand entrance into the stadium IS part of that plan.

Can you share what any of the drawings looked like? What would be the major changes? And as for the grand entrance, what that on the south side of the stadium?

[Falconfreak90]

Try asking Chris Kingston if it is that important to you! He is 1000 times more open to telling you what is happening and why and will even tell you the truth.

CK is about as open as an AD can be. Very approachable and wants feedback. His enthusiasm for BG is awesome and he actually wants to be here. Unlike the previous AD...It is night and day and thank goodness he is our AD.

[mscarn]

One side note to all of this is, one thing I feel Greg Christopher did a much better job over Chris Kingston is, keeping us informed of facility projects and improvements. Like letting us know our needs, where things stand with projects, what we want to do, etc. Maybe it was because GC excelled more in this area (just speculating, not stating) but I remember several reports about plans and progress from GC and he'd even come right out and answer things directly in the Ask the AD segments. Shortly before GC left BG he had announced attention was now being turned to a substantial project with the Doyt with what seemed like a big announcement looming, but when he left, and as some of us expected, its seems we heard very little since. I feel like we knew more 5 years ago than we do now. I just feel we're less connected about the status of those things now. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like in the past under GC, we'd have announced something about the practice field project and we'd know it was coming. Instead of now where it seems someone sees a fence going up around the field and we all wonder why.

Agreed. Kingston is a great, approachable guy and will undoubtedly give you the straight scoop when asked. However, this is a Division I athletic department and it's highly impractical to personally communicate messages to the thousands of stakeholders that make up a university. A far more broad-based communications strategy is needed to share and disseminate information to people that care about BGSU. It shouldn't be incumbent on individual people to personally approach those at the top of the food chain in order to obtain basic answers.

The Ask the AD segments have disappeared. The Falcon Club conference calls have either ceased and/or are no longer being put on the website. One of those calls that brought up many of the issues discussed here was cited in this very thread. If the department isn't in touch with its constituents and aware of their concerns there's no way these issues will ever be resolved.

As I've said before, in the long run Kingston's tenure here will be judged by what happens with the football stadium. Everything else pales in comparison. I want the new softball coach to succeed, I'd like to be able to DVR and see football games on actual TV and it's terrific that the overall GPA went up from a 3.0 to 3.1 or whatever it did, but those things will not define his legacy and do not define the legacies of Division I athletic directors. I think he's assembled a great team and is doing great work on many fronts. Most of all, he needs the support and backing of the President and the Board to push a project of this magnitude forward. WE need to pressure THEM to recognize the importance of athletics and be the drivers of it. Whether it's showing up at meetings a la the faculty union or getting athletic-orientated people appointed, this is a critical time for those that want football to continue to succeed.

[footballguy51]

There are drawings of the new/renovated football stadium. However, with the University still in the silent phase of their current fundraising campaign, they will not start a fundraising campaign for a football stadium. Last projections I heard were 5 years before major work would begin. However, the idea of the grand entrance into the stadium IS part of that plan.

Can you share what any of the drawings looked like? What would be the major changes? And as for the grand entrance, what that on the south side of the stadium?

From what I recall, it involved having some type of statue (like the falcon at the Stroh) with a concourse. It may have been at the South end but I'm not 100% on that. The drawings were very rough sketches of dream scenarios and I honestly cannot speak to what they looked like specifically. I can say, however, that the plans in the meantime included the practice fields (done or almost done), locker rooms, and critical maintenance to the structure. The board minutes from the February 20 meeting stated the following:

WHEREAS, funds in the amount of $5,600,000 have been identified for the repairs and upgrades to Perry Stadium (with $4,000,000 to be provided from future long-term debt to be issued and $1,600,000 to be provided from the generous gift of a donor to Intercollegiate Athletic Department); and
WHEREAS, the project includes urgent repairs and upgrades to Perry Stadium as needed to address the problems identified in the 2009 facility analysis and more fully described in the attached background to the resolution; and
WHEREAS, the project also includes improvements to the practice fields that are adjacent to the stadium (supporting irrigation, fencing, goal posts) as well as the construction of a modest storage and locker
room building; and
WHEREAS, the design, bidding, and construction will follow all applicable state laws and regulations;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees hereby authorizes the Vice President for Finance and Administration to proceed with the project as described above.

[Falcon137]

What do people want Kingston to say? It has been reported that BG is looking into a stadium, they are in the silent phase and trying to get the big donors lined up. They are touring other schools to get an idea of what they want and how much it's going to cost. There is no point in going to the public with anything if they can't get the initial seed money.

Kingston has talked about these exact things (addressing the Doyt, addressing scholarship limits, paying players) at season ticket and Falcon Club events, those are your stakehoders. If you are a member and missed something or want to know something, ask. They will tell you. The kind of inside information people are asking about is limited to the biggest donors who have pull in the matter, that is standard at every university. It's not secretive, it just is what it is.

Christopher's ask the AD never told us anything substantial.

[TG1996]

Dakich and possibly Larranaga had plans in hand of a new arena(s) that never happened. I have been told for years an alum from the late 60's heard Fitch was promised a new arena if he stayed. Fitch stated this in a coaching class. The winds blow hard but the changes are slow in BG.

Anderson Arena was, what, 8 years old when Fitch was here for a season? Hopefully there's a "...for 20 years" after the "if he stayed" part of that story.

[BGSU33]

There are drawings of the new/renovated football stadium. However, with the University still in the silent phase of their current fundraising campaign, they will not start a fundraising campaign for a football stadium. Last projections I heard were 5 years before major work would begin. However, the idea of the grand entrance into the stadium IS part of that plan.

Can you share what any of the drawings looked like? What would be the major changes? And as for the grand entrance, what that on the south side of the stadium?

From what I recall, it involved having some type of statue (like the falcon at the Stroh) with a concourse. It may have been at the South end but I'm not 100% on that. The drawings were very rough sketches of dream scenarios and I honestly cannot speak to what they looked like specifically. I can say, however, that the plans in the meantime included the practice fields (done or almost done), locker rooms, and critical maintenance to the structure.

Very interesting, thanks for the info. How were you lucky enough to see the drawings? One thing I am very hopeful of is that the renovations to the Doyt are much more extensive, noticeable and substantial than what was done to the ice arena. Yes, I fully understand how much of the ice arena's renovations were operational issues and we were told we wouldn't notice many of them. But that in itself was rather disappointing. Obviously the operational renovations were crucial, but I have to say, after the latest renovation with the exception of brighter lighting and a new shop, the core of the arena looks almost exactly as it did when I was in school 15 years ago, and it was tired looking even back then. I do know about the side addition and that part is very nice, but the overall look and feel of the arena still looks dated and worn out.

As much as I would love to have a replica of Akron's new stadium (I said stadium, not team), I know it's never going to happen here at BG. But that said, I do think we still have something decent to work around - mainly that we actually have "real" grandstands. While I much prefer grandstand decks (much better sight lines and views) over grandstand slabs (ours slope too far back without much rise), our grandstands are at least that - grandstands - and not some hunk of crap section like the one on Kent State's east side. Plus, we also already have a very nice north endzone facility in the Sebo Center. If BG was able to do the structural repairs to the existing grandstands, and add a nice press/suites tower like Toledo, Ball State and Ohio have done, and do a substantial project to the south endzone, it could really push our stadium into the upper tier of the MAC.

I also wish BG had a fieldhouse by the stadium that could be tied into the venue like what many other MAC schools have done with theirs. But I also know the fieldhouse at BG isn't just football's facility. BG had access to its fieldhouse many years before many other MAC schools had one at all, but the wave of the rest of the MAC building them in the last decade has seen many schools leap over BG and nearly all of them are either right next to their stadium or tied into the stadium (Toledo, NIU, WMU, Ohio, Akron, Miami, Kent State, CMU). EMU doesn't have a full-scale fieldhouse by Rynearson but it has a bubble. I still think BG's "overall" fieldhouse is nicer than most of the other ones in the MAC because BG's facility has multiple bays - one is the turf bay with the field, and the other bay is the one with the track and courts. But where BG lacks now is the football bay compared to the others new ones in the MAC. Many people might not know this, but BG's turf bay is much smaller than nearly all the rest of the MAC's. Nearly all of the new fieldhouses in the MAC have a full-length turf field which is 120 yards (100-yard field, two 10-yard endzones). BG's is much shorter as it only has a 70-yard playing surface. If you walk onto BG's turf field (you enter it on its south side when you walk in the doors), it starts with an endzone and goes to the 10, 20, 30 and 40 yard lines then to midfield at the 50, but when you cross the 50 it only goes from the 40 to 30 and at the 30 is where the north endzone starts. It's also dimly lit as our translucent ceiling panels are very small (lighting not very good either) as many other fieldhouses use much bigger panel areas nowadays to allow much more natural lighting. BG's walls surrounding the field are also right up tight on the field while the new ones have much more space in between. Again, I think our overall facility is very nice, but our turf bay is lagging far behind the rest of the MAC.

[FalconTurf]

Dakich and possibly Larranaga had plans in hand of a new arena(s) that never happened. I have been told for years an alum from the late 60's heard Fitch was promised a new arena if he stayed. Fitch stated this in a coaching class. The winds blow hard but the changes are slow in BG.

Anderson Arena was, what, 8 years old when Fitch was here for a season? Hopefully there's a "...for 20 years" after the "if he stayed" part of that story.

The program in 4 short years after Harold Anderson had slipped into total chaos as I understand it and this coach comes in and immediately takes an irrelevant team to a MAC championship. I think everyone realized they had something special and they were making every effort to keep him.

First, Anderson Arena had to have been quickly identified as geographical mistake. Outside of basketball, swimming and wrestling everything else was moving out to edge of campus. It had to been considered poor planning by many. Second, look at other arenas that were built 5-10 years after Anderson you would see something very different. Cutting edge for a very short time. Compare it to the Doyt which took schools like Toledo decades to match or exceed.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

Interesting timing for this.....

http://www.bgsufalcons.com/news/2015/9/ ... 55321.aspx" target="_blank

Facilities
We are focused on sustaining our current fields and facilities at a high level, while investigating the opportunities to improve. We are blessed with a number of first-class facilities, as a direct result of Falcon Club private giving. We also have a responsibility to ensure that we find ways to make the necessary capital improvements to ensure that what both the student and fan experiences on game days are second to none. Some of the improvements we need to address are simple, basic needs like the layout and accessibility of our concessions operations and our restroom facilities.

There is a real need for us to consider artificial turf for many of our outdoor surfaces that will provide better predictability and playability for both practice and competition. From baseball and softball to a practice pitch for men's and women's soccer, we are evaluating how we can provide upgrades with the dual purpose of supporting our students and providing opportunities to generate revenue while showcasing our campus to visitors.

Doyt Perry Stadium and the surrounding complex is another facility in need of some improvements and as a result of a generous, private gift, we started the process by protecting the investment we made in improving the surface of the football practice fields. A storage building on the south side will complete the enclosure of the practice fields and I hope to continue the same type of fencing in future projects.

While Doyt Perry Stadium requires some infrastructure improvements that should begin within the next 9 months, we are currently working to determine what other improvements could improve the experience. Some of those items are: an arrival plaza, improved seating in the bowl, suite and press area upgrades, updated restrooms, and concession points of sale redesign. Private giving, sponsorships and other generated revenues will be the main sources of funding for our additional facility project needs.

[gspointer]

All I can say is PLEASE no renovation. I cannot support that. We need a new stadium- period!

[TG1996]

All I can say is PLEASE no renovation. I cannot support that. We need a new stadium- period!

"Pay to the Order of...."

And add lots of zeroes.

[transfer2BGSU]

All I can say is PLEASE no renovation. I cannot support that. We need a new stadium- period!

"Pay to the Order of...."

And add lots of zeroes.

I believe the first number should start with a 5 and have about seven 0's after it BEFORE the decimal.

"Welcome to Doyt Perry Field at gspointer Stadium." A little difficult to roll off the tongue, but it could be learned over time.

[thewebboy]

A storage building on the south side will complete the enclosure of the practice fields and I hope to continue the same type of fencing in future projects

Assuming he means the Doyt, among others.

While Doyt Perry Stadium requires some infrastructure improvements that should begin within the next 9 months

Interesting. I wonder what exactly this means. Reinforcing the concrete? Reconfiguring the grandstand entrances?

We are currently working to determine what other improvements could improve the experience. Some of those items are: an arrival plaza, improved seating in the bowl, suite and press area upgrades, updated restrooms, and concession points of sale redesign.

I wonder if some of this could/should be done in stages. A few improvements each off-season for the next several years. Start with the most glaring of issues. Start with concession redesign/restrooms. Then work on seating/suite upgrades. Top it off with the arrival plaza, Doyt statue and other aesthetic improvements. Use the funds in stages instead of one giant project.

[Flipper]

The stadium is attached to the Sebo Center....how are you going to build a new facility? Where are you going to build a new facility? The only real choice they have...unless the thing falls down tomorrow, is to renovate what we have.