OT: Tulsa Facilities

[smu diamond m]

I think it is going to seat more in the 25-26,000 range. As nice as it is-a 100% improvement, I think nice, small stadiums still leave a little off the table on the WOW factor for recruits wanting the big time college football experience. I don't know if it can be expanded. Didn't June Jones mention that he hoped Ford could be expanded as per the original option to fill in the bowl in the South endzone. One result will probably be the end of some pretty big occassional games Tulsa has had with Arkansas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State over the years.

Which do you think is more condusive to recruiting "top 25" level talent - playing in the big-time, yet craphole Cotton Bowl, or playing in nice, but small-time Ford?

Please explain to me how an empty Cotton Bowl is any less bigtime than a partially empty Ford?


Build it (and win) and they will come.

[ponyte]

I think it is going to seat more in the 25-26,000 range. As nice as it is-a 100% improvement, I think nice, small stadiums still leave a little off the table on the WOW factor for recruits wanting the big time college football experience. I don't know if it can be expanded. Didn't June Jones mention that he hoped Ford could be expanded as per the original option to fill in the bowl in the South endzone. One result will probably be the end of some pretty big occassional games Tulsa has had with Arkansas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State over the years.

Which do you think is more condusive to recruiting "top 25" level talent - playing in the big-time, yet craphole Cotton Bowl, or playing in nice, but small-time Ford?

Probably Ford. The reason is multifold. First, the entertainment facilities for recruits are much better at Ford than the Cotton Bowl. Next, recruits can see first hand the Blvd. and then witness the team heading to the stadium. The locker rooms at Ford at much better. The environment for college ball is better and the facilities are better at Ford.

Imagine you are a young kid checking out potential schools. Would you rather go to the Cotton Bowl and see a few folks mingling towards the stadium or would you rather see the activates of the Blvd and much more important, the SMU co-eds walking around in their game day finery?

[couch 'em]

Please explain to me how an empty Cotton Bowl is any less bigtime than a partially empty Ford?

Not saying playing in the Cotton Bowl is better than playing in Ford, but if you trot a recruit out on the field and say "we're down now, but we'll fill this place in a few years" you can churn up alot more 18 year old dreams of glory promising a full cotton bowl than a full Ford, can't you?

[smu diamond m]

Please explain to me how an empty Cotton Bowl is any less bigtime than a partially empty Ford?

Not saying playing in the Cotton Bowl is better than playing in Ford, but if you trot a recruit out on the field and say "we're down now, but we'll fill this place in a few years" you can churn up alot more 18 year old dreams of glory promising a full cotton bowl than a full Ford, can't you?

Been to the Cotton Bowl lately? It's not that amazing.

[couch 'em]

Imagine you are a young kid checking out potential schools. Would you rather go to the Cotton Bowl and see a few folks mingling towards the stadium or would you rather see the activates of the Blvd and much more important, the SMU co-eds walking around in their game day finery?

Have to agree - the blvd skirt has to be a great selling point.

But how much can we improve before we hit the point where we're trying to recruit athletes who feel they are better than playing in a 32k seat stadium? I know that point exists.

[George S. Patton]

It's nice looking. They hope this will be ready by the fall?

[ponyte]

Imagine you are a young kid checking out potential schools. Would you rather go to the Cotton Bowl and see a few folks mingling towards the stadium or would you rather see the activates of the Blvd and much more important, the SMU co-eds walking around in their game day finery?

Have to agree - the blvd skirt has to be a great selling point.

But how much can we improve before we hit the point where we're trying to recruit athletes who feel they are better than playing in a 32k seat stadium? I know that point exists.

Ford was designed with expansion capacity. If we hit the 32,000 capacity, we can expand. Upon expansion, we would be close to TCU/Baylor capacity (not quite but an approximation). We could then discover the advantages disadvantages that these two schools have face with less than huge stadiums.

Rice of course has a magnificence stadium yet it doesn't seem to attract higher end athletes. Tulane has the Stupor Dome. Vandy has a nice size stadium. None seem to be able to cash in on the stadium size. Probably the best thing is to fill the stadium we have with excited, supportive fans and a good student section and let that atmosphere sell itself.

A strong winning program will be attractive to a significant number of recruits. We may not be in the mega stadium school’s league but we will be able to compete.

[RGV Pony]

New Mexico's stadium held just over 30,000 and they played for crowds of 15,000-25,000 for years until near the end of the Franchione era. The regents & state fought them (the AD et al) a few times over in the legislature, saying UNM didn't fill up the 30k in the first place, so why expand to 40k +? Eventually they did, upgraded the other facilities, and now they average over 30k to 35k.

[Mustangsabu]

This is not a fair comparison in many ways but look at Duke Basketball, they have a tiny capacity and are perennial heavyweights. they have turned it into a big deal to get a ticket and, in doing so, guarantee that the atmosphere inside is out-of-this-world.

If you get a recruit to witness 32,000 maniacal fans, they'd sign in a heartbeat.

[smu diamond m]

New Mexico's stadium held just over 30,000 and they played for crowds of 15,000-25,000 for years until near the end of the Franchione era. The regents & state fought them (the AD et al) a few times over in the legislature, saying UNM didn't fill up the 30k in the first place, so why expand to 40k +? Eventually they did, upgraded the other facilities, and now they average over 30k to 35k.

The argument that increasing capacity brought in more fans can not be made here. The reason they are sitting more now is not because there is now room for more people to stay comfy.

[couch 'em]

This is not a fair comparison in many ways but look at Duke Basketball, they have a tiny capacity and are perennial heavyweights. they have turned it into a big deal to get a ticket and, in doing so, guarantee that the atmosphere inside is out-of-this-world.

If you get a recruit to witness 32,000 maniacal fans, they'd sign in a heartbeat.

I'd be happy if we could get 32 fans in Ford or Moody that could be called maniacal. (before security escorts them out)

[Big Hoss]

This is not a fair comparison in many ways but look at Duke Basketball, they have a tiny capacity and are perennial heavyweights. they have turned it into a big deal to get a ticket and, in doing so, guarantee that the atmosphere inside is out-of-this-world.

If you get a recruit to witness 32,000 maniacal fans, they'd sign in a heartbeat.

Speaking of the Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium, it only seats about 9200 (about 200 more than Moody).

And ponyte, Rice's stadium isn't all that great. We went back in 2006, and it's not a dump by any means. It's of a similar feel to TCU (except no falling upper decks ). Also, Rice took out all their endzone seats, so instead of seating 70k, it now only seats about 42k.

[Pony81]

If Ford wasn't built and SMU had been in the Cotton Bowl all these years of awful football, I'm afraid the program would have perished.

Can you imagine how hard it would be to get the 15,000 average attendance at Ford to show up at the Cotton Bowl in the ghetto?

We would have averaged 5-6,000 fans and been an even bigger laughing stock.

When every you see Gerald Ford you should shake his hand and thank him for saving the program.

[Big Hoss]

The only game that is impressive to go to in the Cotton Bowl is the Texas/OU game during the Fair. That is the only time the atmosphere is truly amazing.

Going to the actual Cotton Bowl game on New Year's Day in the middle of a deserted fair grounds is really a let down. And going to that stadium with only like 5 of your fellow SMU fans back in the late 90's was absolutely painful!

Even if we became CUSA champs year after year, we still wouldn't fill up the Cotton Bowl, so why have any of our games there? Give me the game day atmosphere at Ford any day.

Now, if you are talking Jerry World in Arlington every year for the TCU/SMU matchup, that might be a different story.

[lwjr]

Maybe if we can get a big time coach in here and start winning then SMU can start to think about filling up Ford, other than when Tech comes to play.

Hired June Jones, goal one accomplished. Let's win now!! PONY UP !