Can Ford Be Fixed?

[couch 'em]

There have been numerous posts over the years by myself, Stallion, and others highlighting the horrible design of Ford. A quick summary off the top of my head as I take a break at the office:

1. Flat bowl design shifts a large number of seats into the less attractive corners and endzones, resulting in less quality/expensive seats.

2. Similar to #1, the stadium looks smaller than it really is, especially from field level.

3. The oversized pressbox complex compounds the problems with #1 and #2.

4. The sunken bowl design makes the stadium look really small-time from outside the stadium. If you drive down Mockingbird, by pure chance the 'break' between the top and bottom sections just about lines up with your eye, so the stadium looks even smaller.

5. The open horseshoe to the street outside instead of an athletic complex highlights how low to the ground you are, making the stadium feel, yet again, small time.

6. The flat bowl design doesn't retain sound very well - PA problems, crowd noise is minimized.

Yes, I know that many of these were probably unavoidable due to UP regulations. BUT, as we have seen with the replacement of the field lighting, what has been conventional wisdom on this board can be untrue. The field lighting was indeed a problem and not positioned well. With Ford stadium having been design in the Copeland, anti-competitive era, who knows how much effort was made to make the stadium feel big-time?

Recently I found myself in Allen, and stopped by their new stadium. Luckily, the construction site was not as difficult to access as you might think and I checked out the inside. Wow, what a well designed facility. It is clearly smaller than Ford, (20,000 seats?) but it feels "closer" to Ford than it should based on the numbers. The home side seats are decked and steep, giving great sight lines. The concourse on the home side is open and tall, making the facility seem big-time vs. Ford's low ceilings. From field level, the home stands look impressive. Southlake is going to be really PO'd when they play there this year.

So, does anyone on ponyfans have any experience in building design? Is there a way to save Ford, or do we tough it out until we can build a new facility on the Dallas side of 75?

[AusTxPony]

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That post is about as far off base as possible, IMHO. I disagree with almost every point you made and I am an architect.

[couch 'em]

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That post is about as far off base as possible, IMHO. I disagree with almost every point you made and I am an architect.

Please, elaborate. I know "feel" is subjective but you don't think tall sideline seating makes a stadium feel larger, and result is more seats worth paying more for? Do you not think Ford has a small time feel?

[SC Pony]

I do agree that Ford feels somewhat small. I like that better that a Tulane in the Superdome where it literally feels like there are 700 - 800 fans. I think that Ford is pretty well designed and still looks good, especially when viewed from the common areas around the structure. Hopefully as we continue to improve it can be enlarged some day, but we are not UT and don't need their stadium.

[BigT3x]

We're really reaching for things to [deleted] about.

We have one of the better stadiums in college football. There isn't a bad seat in the house, it seamlessly fits into the neighborhood, built for expansion, new scoreboard, new locker room, DART rail access, etc etc etc

Does it "feel smalltime"? I don't know. It feels like an extremely well designed stadium that is perfect for a school our size. Let's go down your [deleted] list.

1. The seats are built on both long sides of the field and one endzone. Standard configuration for maximizing quality seats.

2. Smaller than what? How many other 32k stadiums do you go to? Pretty sure the reason you think it looks small is because most other stadiums are a mess of haphazardly thrown together additions.

3. How can you [deleted] about no quality seats in point #1, then complain about the large pressbox that maximizes club seating?

4. Same argument as #2. Furthermore, why would we want a stadium that doesn't fit with the neighborhood towering over our beautiful campus that we're known for?

5. Not sure how many times you're going to state this same opinion. Also not sure how a random building hiding the stadium from Mockingbird would make us more "big time"

6. Uh, a dug out bowl retains crowd noise. Our crowd noise problem has nothing to do with the stadium. We don't sell the place out. Which makes this entire thread ridiculous. When we start selling out Ford, we'll deck the east side.

Long story short, sounds like you're butthurt that we don't play in the Cotton Bowl anymore. What's more "big time" than the Cotton Bowl, right?

[couch 'em]

I've never been to a game at the Cotton Bowl, but I can imagine it isn't worth getting shot going to the car after the game, so I'll pass.

The stadium, like everything else, influences how people perceive the program. I was a student in the Ford Stadium era - since day 1 setting foot in that stadium it has said "small time" or DI-AA to me. Many others agree. It is hard to sell the program as "Big East BCS!" when our 32,000 seats feel like 20,000.

I made a post years ago comparing Ford to other similarly sized stadiums to compare "feel". Maybe I'll pull that up if I have a chance to search for it.

Here is a random example I came across that inspired me to bring this subject up again.

Toyota Stadium, somewhere in Japan. This place holds 45,000 seats. Does this look like 45,000?







Do we need 100,000 seats? No. Should we go play in the Cotton Bowl in front of 75% empty seats? No. But it is just so bad that instead of maximizing what we could with Ford we went the other direction and almost tried to make it look as second tier as possible.

[BigT3x]

I've never been to a game at the Cotton Bowl, but I can imagine it isn't worth getting shot going to the car after the game, so I'll pass.

If you're scared of Fair Park, you seriously need to get out of the suburbs more often.

[couch 'em]

I've never been to a game at the Cotton Bowl, but I can imagine it isn't worth getting shot going to the car after the game, so I'll pass.

If you're scared of Fair Park, you seriously need to get out of the suburbs more often.

Jesus man learn to recognize a joke. Did you design Ford or are you incapable of recognizing fault with anything you support?

[Digetydog]

I've never been to a game at the Cotton Bowl, but I can imagine it isn't worth getting shot going to the car after the game, so I'll pass.

The stadium, like everything else, influences how people perceive the program. I was a student in the Ford Stadium era - since day 1 setting foot in that stadium it has said "small time" or DI-AA to me. Many others agree. It is hard to sell the program as "Big East BCS!" when our 32,000 seats feel like 20,000.

I made a post years ago comparing Ford to other similarly sized stadiums to compare "feel". Maybe I'll pull that up if I have a chance to search for it.

Here is a random example I came across that inspired me to bring this subject up again.

Toyota Stadium, somewhere in Japan. This place holds 45,000 seats. Does this look like 45,000?







Do we need 100,000 seats? No. Should we go play in the Cotton Bowl in front of 75% empty seats? No. But it is just so bad that instead of maximizing what we could with Ford we went the other direction and almost tried to make it look as second tier as possible.

1) you have to go to a game at the Cotton Bowl. Whatever it isn't, it is the House that Doak Built and worth watching a game at. Including SMU, high school, and the World Cup, I have probably been to 50 games in that place. Never had a problem with getting mugged.
2) I haven't been to a game at Ford yet, but I'll let you what I think after the Aggie game.
3) My family has been to games there. They love the place and my nephews really had a good time. They love the open area - especially my really young nephew.

Having said that: I have walked around the place and have watched a few games on V.

1) The TV camera towers should have been built so they face the home crowd - not the visitors (aka the empty side). It would make the crowds look bigger. The current setup looks empty even when the home side is pretty full.
2) It seems to me that they could have built it so that an indoor practice facility, an academic building, or even a red brick dorm closed up one end of the stadium.
3) The "flat bowl" design seems to be a function of the need for a lot of luxury boxes/club seats for what is a really small stadium.
4) The endzone area should have been square to the field like at FC Dallas Stadium.

BUT - I have heard that a prime reason for the current "low" design was local zoning rules.

[GiddyUp]

It will always look and feel high school unless there is an upper deck built. Enclosing the end zone/ kid zone would be great, add more box seats there or a corral where people can watch the game and enjoy cocktails.

[No Quarter]

I thought there were limitations on height and so on that the city of University Park made that resulted in several of the things that couch 'em mentioned.

It seems to me the stadium size is a match for the attendance at most of our games. I hope that changes - soon. I agree though, that the 45,000 seats which I've heared is the expansion limit for the original design would be more credible for a D-1A program and still too few to attract many teams we might want on a home and home.

[Digetydog]

It will always look and feel high school unless there is an upper deck built. Enclosing the end zone/ kid zone would be great, add more box seats there or a corral where people can watch the game and enjoy cocktails.

Since I am in a bad mood and feeling the need to be argumentative, I thought that I would provide links to a few single deck stadiums used by college and pro teams.

1) The Historic Yale Bowl: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yale_Bowl_aerial.jpg
2) USC's Stadium: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:11-11 ... USC-UO.jpg
3) The Big House: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michi ... m_2011.jpg
4) Lambeau Field: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lambe ... norama.jpg

And my favorite stadium: http://www.texasbob.com/stadium/stadium ... BWbj7Ty-4k When I was playing, they had the best grass in North Texas. Hated playing on astroturf.

[PK]

Noticed that none of those stadiums had upper decks and in order to get the capacity they have, some of those seats are a hell of a long way from the playing field. Personally, I would prefer to see an upper deck added on the east side, if possible, and leave the south end-zone open. Those new seats would bring a better price for tickets than more end-zone seating.

[Digetydog]

Noticed that none of those stadiums had upper decks and in order to get the capacity they have, some of those seats are a hell of a long way from the playing field. Personally, I would prefer to see an upper deck added on the east side, if possible, and leave the south end-zone open. Those new seats would bring a better price for tickets than more end-zone seating.

Actually, I am with you.

If I was designing the place, I would look to English Premier League stadiums as my model (without the roof)
1) Build 4 separate stands.
2) Rectangle
3) Close to field
4) Double deck when capacity needed.
5) To minimize endzone seating, I would probably intentionally build a building (say an indoor practice facility/alumni party facility) so as to completely obstruct seating on one side. UT did it, but I would move the building closer to the field. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Memor ... m_Pano.jpg

Check out Goodison Park: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goodisonview1.JPG. Without a roof, there would be no obstructed seating.

One nice thing to consider is the fact we will never need a 60-80K seat stadium. If we start drawing big crowds to a couple games a year, the Cotton Bowl or Jerryworld could be used in a pinch.

[Rayburn]

English Premier League? Ooooooohhhh damn!

Ford is fine. We need to fill what we have consistently before we add seating that's why Ford has a cracker box feel.

Yes, by all means go see a game in the Cotton Bowl. It is a Lone Star treasure and worth the trip.