Before I get flamed to death I will start off by saying I absolutely love Rio Tinto as is, and if it never changed for the next 10 years I wouldnt mind too much (unless of course there werent enough seats to accomodate a lot of fans.) However nothing in this world is perfect. So I am just curious as to what all of you would like to see added to Rio Tinto to make it more awesome than it already is. No need to only focus on the realistic (well kind of keep it in the bounds, I mean saying a launch pad to the moon for STH is ridiculous) let your imagination be the limit. Also feel free to discuss where you think expansion will take place in the very distant future when our digs arent quite big enough to accomodate our growing fanbase. As for me: Of course the obvious would be a real scoreboard and maybe another jumbo-tron on the south end of the field. Also electronic ad signs around the field make everything look nicer. A not very realistic renovation I would like to see is a "Sky Restuarant/Bar" (not sure how else to describe it) above the stands on the south end above the future jumbotron. You pay for reservations which include a ticket to the game (A limited amount per game). You are allowed into the stadium earlier so you can have time to eat before the game. You take an elevator to the restaurant. The north side of the restaurant is obviously made of glass so you can look at the stadium. Out the front you have your seats that resemble the other luxury box suites. On the east and west sides of the restaurant are balconies with tables and chairs set up so you can eat outside, and watch the game. I would hope the food is good. The last thing I would like to see, which I think is completely realistic, is statues of some of the players that brought us our first ever MLS Cup Championship outside of the stadium like the Utah Jazz have (except of course their players never brought them their first ever championsip, they were just really good). Anyway all this talk of new MLS stadiums, and stadium renovations mixed with the inability to sleep got my imagination stirring, and since my life isnt eventful enough for me to think of anything else I found the time to think of these things. So now its your turn to tell me your Rio Tinto pipe dreams!
1. A plaque inside the stadium commemorating the 2009 MLS Cup Championship. Sorry, but having it on a flag sucks. 2. Electronic ad boards. 3. Recessed bench areas with covered benches. It looks like a high school bench now. 4. A parking garage under the stadium for players, VIP's, SG's, and STH's. 5. Turn the current tailgating lot into a practice field (related to #4). 6. Enclose the press box (that probably only matters to me and Randy).
Planner's surely planned on stadium expansion, so I would like to see those extra seats to make U.S. International matches more likely to be in Salt Lake in the future.
As long as we're allowed to be unrealistic, I'm going to ask for steeper stands that are closer to the field. Put us right on top of the game, like they do in the RBA, or a lot of European stadiums.
Better actual seats. I am not a big guy at all but I feel like I am going to break them. they aren't the worst seats in the world but they are far from the best. Pretty much everything else that was stated.
Better West side access. One stairwell and two elevators just don't cut it. Especially when staff has to run up and down the same stairs to do their job and usually end up stuck in a sea of people.
I'm with you on this. At Rice-Eccles, I always sat in the 20th row at the top of the south penalty area, and I felt like I had a pretty decent view of the other end of the field. But we sat in a similar place for the Arabe Unido game, taking advantage of the $15 price, and I felt like the south goal was a million miles away. If I'm only going to be able to see one end of the field at a time, I might as well sit up in the North end, where the seats are cheaper. Which may be why they are raising the prices there.
I really couldn't care less about having electronic ads on the field. It sounds like a waste of money to me. If the advertisers want to fork out the money to be on electronic boards then so be it, but the club having to pay for them is a waste IMO. Use that renovation money for something else like working on the outside grounds (parking lots in the west, stairwells, entrance gate access). Or use it for buying new talented players
Wow, you guys don't dream big do you?... Uhhh...I would like the stadium loaded onto the back of a truck and driven north on I-15 and then planted somewhere near downtown Salt Lake...that way ReAL Salt Lake can play in real Salt Lake... now THAT'S a dream...
#3 on IBIK's list is a huge one of my areas of "wanted improvement" With the increase in prices for the east side, nobody is going to sit there... why not put the players up in the stands like Philly does. If not that, then a dugout like they have at the San Siro with a cover over it. Anybody else find it interesting that during the Arabe Unido game they brought those covers back out... but just for that game. Wonder if its a CONCACAF rule or something
Why not a team bar/pub right at the RioT? If not there, very close by. Have it in or near the south end with an entrance JUST for supporter groups... I know this is based upon attendance, but an upper deck that goes all the way around would be awesome. I think it would help a ton with the sun issue, at least for the lower bowl, as well. Close in the gaps between the south end and the east/west sides... The land to the north and north west of the stadium converted to additional parking or training facilities/complex
As someone pointed out before, stadium expansion doesnt need to be based just on Reals attendence. You increase the capacity and you are more likely to get US Mens games which will more than likely sell out. Having a larger capacity will enable us to bring in big name Int. friendlies because we will make larger profit off of those games as well. Also that means more concert ticket sales too since Paul Mcartney would have sold out no matter the capacity. Then of course as you pointed out, the greatest reason of all would be blocking out the sun for the westerners. So there is plenty of reason to expand, I'm guessing they just dont have the money to do so. As for the pub I dont know about the South end. I'm trying to think of how big the "Carnival Real" area is outside of the stadium. Because what would be cool is if they put buildings around the perimeter of it leaving the middle open for the Carnival Real activities. Then rented the buildings around the outside to different fast food joints, and shops, then also a pub. Renting these buildings out could bring in some pretty good revenue. However this is all assuming that my mind isnt overestimating the size of the Carnival Real area.
Besides the stage issues (bye bye), I would like to request that RSL buys all the surrounding fallow land and pave it over, especially the are around the Dirt/Supporters lot. Other than that, I am pretty content with the stadium. Unless... they can create a on/off ramp from I-15 just for me that leads directly to my premium parking spot. I kid!
I must say that I don't like too much the neighborhood around. I don't like that weird part of the land and the stadium on the southeast corner of the stadium. I which RSL would buy it and erect a Stalinesque statue for Jason Kries. The statute is so big, that people can take the elevator at his feet and get to the top of his head and look at the valley and the RioT. I also would love it if there could be a way to have seat warmers during those cold fall/winter games. My always dreamed of renovations to the stadium would be to use a synthetic field with red and yellow dyes to match the team colors. That way we will stand out over any other team in the MLS.
our own version of smurf turf? wtf are you smoking? I love the grass at the RioT... if only we could get the grass Carl Spackler created. It would lock in KB for a life time
I'd take out the stage and connect the supporters stands with the rest of the stadium. I like the idea of everyone being on the same page rather than separating the hardcore supporters because they drink and are a little vulger. The family atmosphere is big to RSL, but I think we can do a little better to blend in together. After that, I'd definitely build a Gazebo... like they have at SUU: And put in commemorative plaques and statues and stuff. And I'd build a sports bar in some adjacent land where the supporters groups and everyone else can pre-game and then walk into the stadium together.
if we are thinking grandiose i would toss the stage and fill in the south endzone all the way around, then i would add a second deck to the south and north ends and complete the roof all the way around the stadium. make the upper decks real steep so that the crowd noise blasts the field. that would boost total capacity to probably around 30-33k. of course that would be something done well down the road when the franchise and league are much more stable and making money (or at least not losing tons of it) and consistently selling out the stadium
I think we should have the dead grass in the front replaced with a nice brick layout, a few benches maybe a fountain...it would still be ideal for carnival real and be a nice and inviting area. I also think they should have a jumbo screen on the south end as well…our puny scoreboard is embarrassing. Oh and an additional minutes timer would be nice. I love the idea of a sports bar/pub place at or very near the RioT…we fans need a cool place to convene before/after during away games and such.
they dont remember the issues we had @ TFC a couple years back. I havent seen it posted since then and that was one of the examples they used as their reasoning Someone stated earlier that we need a plaque for winning the MLS Cup, not just some stupid flag... I totally agree with this. It should be near midfield on the east side right where Uncle Dave likes to sit when he is in town
Actually, an efficient way to get on the freeway northbound after games would not be a bad idea. Maybe knock down a few sections of that fence along the frontage road around 94th South and let us just get on from there. Freeway traffic is usually pretty light on Saturday nights.
I think that they can do a better transformer type of stage/stands for the south end. Raise up and it is stands, lower it and it is a flat stage that extends into the field a bit. Not easy, but it is within the realm of technology. that way, the stadium can be set up and taken down for a concert in less than 24 hours.