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While I think that HP could well be encouraged to allow Ford to be build up more (and I would LOVE to see a second deck on the east side) surely the biggest problem that UP (and SMU) would have with expanding the stadium is parking. Where on God's green earth would 60,000 people park?

I'm just surprised no-one has mentioned this yet.

At the expense of the students. Prohibit freshman from having cars, force all students to move them off campus on the weekend. SMU could always build a new garage on the land they've purchased East of 75, and there's a new parking garage going in, I think, where Dedman's parking lot is by the Potomac houses.

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:At the expense of the students. Prohibit freshman from having cars, force all students to move them off campus on the weekend. SMU could always build a new garage on the land they've purchased East of 75, and there's a new parking garage going in, I think, where Dedman's parking lot is by the Potomac houses.

I did not know about the new parking lot, but I still think and extra 30-40k attendees are going to have a tough time.... but this is hardly my area of expertise.

Buy a slurpee at 7-11 and walk over.

This is where the partnership Orsini is creating with the city od Dallas comes in...

Make DART rail free with a ticket. Encourage remote parking and a better bus system from remote DART parking lots.

I keep thinking of the Byron Nelson - parking at Texas Stadium for a fee and busing it in.

Have a north remote parking lot perhaps at Collin Creek Mall or maybe closer in like the old Valley view lot. East, West and south can have similar parking arrangements.

The city stands to make it's money off rooms, food/beverage.

Maybe get a contract with Dallas' new city owned hotel for the away team?

WorldStang wrote:This is where the partnership Orsini is creating with the city od Dallas comes in...

Make DART rail free with a ticket. Encourage remote parking and a better bus system from remote DART parking lots.

I keep thinking of the Byron Nelson - parking at Texas Stadium for a fee and busing it in.

Have a north remote parking lot perhaps at Collin Creek Mall or maybe closer in like the old Valley view lot. East, West and south can have similar parking arrangements.

The city stands to make it's money off rooms, food/beverage.

Maybe get a contract with Dallas' new city owned hotel for the away team?

I hate to say it, but the relationship with the city of Dallas is the part that both excites and terrifies me. Working with DART is a great idea, but it seems every time the city of Dallas tries to do something big (Olympic bid, convince UT/OU to stay in the Cotton Bowl, etc.) they fail miserably. I hope that trend can be changed with some help and pressure from the SMU admin to be cooperative, but the city of Dallas tends to be as consistent a partner as Pakistan is in the war on terrorism. Too much infighting and mismanagement to be effective.

All that said, I think any outreach that SMU can do to the city and the surrounding suburbs is helpful if for no other reason than it gets our name beyond the park cities, and if they can make an attractive offer to how helping SMU helps them, they will hopefully find some receptive ears.

How does TCU accommodate enough cars for 40K at their games?

PonySnob wrote:How does TCU accommodate enough cars for 40K at their games?

A lot of the parking is on the street in the surrounding residential area. I have had to park as much as a half mile away, but they have buses running routes in those areas that take you up to the stadium.

We're only talking about 5 to 6 times yearly out of 365 days. I think we can deal with a little American ingenuity & inconvenience to deal with this issue.

CalallenStang wrote:

Bingo ! News flash: you do not need a car to drive to the SMU campus In the next year or two you will be able to fly-in to DFW or Love Field and go all the way to Ford stadium without even the need to rent a car. Folks living in far North Dallas or far South Dallas can leave their cars at home. Ford stadium should be the Wrigly Field of college football.

Good show - Paladin!

DART is not an entity of the City of Dallas (not directly anyway), and is already a partner in our game days with parking at the Mockingbird Station lot. Like someone else said, we will cross this bridge when we come to it, but between the DART option (both trains and parking lots), the land we own on the other side of Central, and the amount of office parking structures that go unused on weekends within a small radius, handling the parking will not be an issue.

Also, UP would have to approve a height increase, not HP.

RE Tycoon wrote:DART is not an entity of the City of Dallas (not directly anyway), and is already a partner in our game days with parking at the Mockingbird Station lot. Like someone else said, we will cross this bridge when we come to it, but between the DART option (both trains and parking lots), the land we own on the other side of Central, and the amount of office parking structures that go unused on weekends within a small radius, handling the parking will not be an issue.

Also, UP would have to approve a height increase, not HP.

UP would have to grant us a waiver. SMU also owns the buildings on the other side of Central with plenty of ground and garage parking. Easier walk than Mockingbird Station.