Del Loy Hansen interview. Highlights. No more concerts at RioT. Same type and size of video board at Levi Stadium is coming to the south end of the RioT. http://www.kutv.com/sports/features/talkin-sports/stories/vid_1810.shtml
Holy crap, that's huge, 140x40', that's going to be substantially larger than the current scoreboard. In fact that will make it the 43rd largest scoreboard in the world! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_video_screens
Nice! Won't have to turn around to watch replays! If it is that big, it'll be one of, if not the biggest in MLS. Big as many NFL or MLB boards. If they make it so it can turn sideways, they show advertises to the freeway from that thing.
Isn't the south end the likeliest location for adding more seats? Will this hamper future capacity expansions?
No, to my knowledge the "upper bowl" can expand on both the north and south sides as well as be rebuilt to be larger on the east side. At least that's what I was told on my tour while it was being built. They can wrap the upper bowl all the way around and take capacity to over 30k. I'd image they would do it in steps though and not one large expansion. I guess down the road it would hamper it, but it's not like they couldn't move it later if needed.
I actually quite enjoyed the mini-concert with One Republic a few years back and had hoped for something like that in the future. I understand that has to be really hard on the pitch and all, but they let people on it for fireworks. On a side note, I always sort of cringe watching all the people without blankets watching the fireworks from the field, right after I've watched 2 hours of players spitting and doing that plug-one-nostril-while-launching-"blockage"-from-the-other thing.
But will it keep up the tradition of the south board and freeze time every few seconds before catching up?! I would hope that they put it in a place that won't hamper future expansion. I would think it'd be above where the south end is now, and since they're doing away with concerts, I would think expansion would be along the lines of filling in the south end, and potentially extending the upper deck from the east side to curve around to the south end up to the new screen.
Yeah, what is it with that thing? It's been doing it forever - you'd think someone in the FO would notice.
I wonder if they'll put the new board on pillars so that it's at the same height as the north board. I'd expect them to just bowl-in the south end and make the lower bowl all the same. I think you could essentially wrap the upper deck around the north side and use the current concourse for both the upper and lower decks. The north concourse would just be under the new stands. However, you would need to do two things. Add a few more restrooms and concessions Teach Utahns how to walk in crowds without slamming into people. I am still new to to state but I've been to NFL games with 65,000 people and haven't been shoved, bumped, cut in line in the restroom more than when I go to a game at the RioT.
Installing seats like those cuts away from existing STH seats/sales. Placing shelters over the benches on the field blocks the line of sight for those same seats. I'm happy with the benches we already have.
First thing I noticed when I moved to Utah in 1992 was that people there walked in public situations rather strangely. The moment that crystalizes it for me was this: watching people walk into a McDonalds and stand just inside the door and look around, as if they'd never seen a McDonalds before. Meanwhile, people coming in the door behind piling up like a freeway traffic jam.
I'm sure the players and coaches aren't. Those benches make our seats at the stadium look like leather sofas. Hopefully Jaime didn't notice those while he got the tour. You have no idea how much this pisses me off. I think my Dad is finally a true Utahn after 15 years cause he does this all the time. If we're waiting for someone he'll just stand in the middle of walking traffic and start checking his phone and I'll have to pull him to the side so people can actually go.
There are a number of teams around the world (and not just limited to soccer) that build these things called dugouts. I see absolutely no reason why they couldn't put the benches slightly below field level and build proper places for the teams to sit. I'm not a fan of the high school benches they use and the shelters over the top and I think it's one thing DLH should address. I cannot imagine it would be very difficult to build a recessed bench area just below field level near the base of the stands.
As an example, here's a team bench at Maracana stadium in Brazil: Looks a million times better than RSL's current crappy high school benches, wouldn't block the sitelines of the high paying seats. Would it really be that hard to install something like this?
If it could easily connect to the playing fields drainage system than it would be fairly easy, but if it requires a separate drainage system and can actually be quite a bit.
Why would they want to connect to the field's drai....oh, I see. To drain off the tears of the Brazilian team after they lost 7-1 to Germany.
anyone who has been on here for the last few years knows this is one of my biggest gripes with the RioT. I want those dugouts. As is, our benches are actually worse than those that we had at Westminster College
Rio Tinto is slowly becoming more world class. First with the electronic sideline boards, now the giant screen in the south end. I can't imagine nicer dugouts are far in the future. In fact it might be as simple as bringing them to DLs attention. Sooo if any of you know him...
If you look at the area on either side of the entrance tunnel, there looks like there is plenty of room for some nice seats for the players that won't interfere with sight lines at all. I hate to be "that guy" but maybe some of this discussion should me moved to the RioT expansion thread or something
I hate electronic sideline boards. I do not feel they make a stadium world class. I feel they create a distraction for the attendees and television viewers. I'm watching a Celtic match on TV right now. No electronic boards there.