Sports Guy comments on the Big Razor and new stadiums

mpruitt · Jan 3, 2003

from his recent column, I quess you can add his name to the list as well for people who agree that Gillette leaks more sound than my old '87 civic.

I'm also not sure that the Steelers have a significant homefield advantage anymore. Much like every other 21st century stadium that's been built -- and we definitely felt it in New England this year (with the breathtaking and utterly lifeless Gillette Stadium), as well as in Denver and Colonesco Field (or whatever they call it) -- crowds can't rattle opposing players anymore, partly because they aren't as close to the action, partly because many of the hardcore fans have been shifted to the 300s and 400s to make way for luxury boxes and club seats.

Quick tangent: My buddy J-Bug has been attending Pats games since the early-'90s, sitting in the 300s with the rest of the diehards who start tailgating at 9 a.m. and finally wobble back home 12 hours later. During that entire time, he was sitting on a freezing cold metal bench, waiting in long lines to use 17th century bathroom trenches and order lukewarm hot dogs and watered-down beer ... and he loved every minute of it. He felt like he and his buddies were close enough to the field that they were affecting the game. Now he's sitting in comfortable seats, with dozens of food and beer items, in a spotless stadium ... and he's hating life. It's not the same. They're a million miles away from the field, all the pseudos are sitting close and not making noise, and the place is so cavernous, it can't hold sound the way Foxboro Stadium did.

Fans are closer to the fireworks than the game at Gillette Stadium.
"I hate going to games this year," Bug always says. "There's no way I'm renewing my tickets next year."

So if you're looking for a reason why so many teams have been winning on the road, and why so many underdogs covered this season, maybe you should start here. These state-of-the-art stadiums are killing homefield advantage as we know it. Just a theory.
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http://espn.go.com/page2/s/simmons/030103.html

Paul Nasta · Jan 3, 2003

Well, you can blame soccer for some of this. All of these new stadiums are being built with a wider field surface to accomodate either MLS or international soccer matches. For an NFL game, however, this just puts the fans farther away form the action.

mpruitt · Jan 3, 2003

thats an interesting take on that part of the argument. But I in part disagree. If you look at Gillette the seats are far more extended back from the feild, much beyond the length of a soccer field. Also more accurately probably is the pitch of the stands themselves. Foxborro was called by some writer recently a glorified high school stadium, and it was. High rows of bleachers, essentially, not this expansive low angle seating. That has more to do with the immediacy of the fans than how close the people are in the first couple of rows to the action.

rkupp · Jan 3, 2003

Originally posted by Paul Nasta
Well, you can blame soccer for some of this. All of these new stadiums are being built with a wider field surface to accomodate either MLS or international soccer matches. For an NFL game, however, this just puts the fans farther away form the action.
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That's just a few yards, it's not the real difference. The big space eater is the the private boxes, especially those that offer indoor and outdoor seating.

To build stadiums/arenas that get fans as close as possible, you need lots of steep stairs, minimal legroom, narrow seats, fewer aisles, more levels (balconys), smaller overall capacity, less flexibility in event setup, fewer entrances/exits to seating area, fewer private boxes, lessened visibility for scoreboards, more visible structural supports, fewer concession areas, smaller bathrooms, etc.

If you surveyed fans, they'd probably request just the opposite of all of those features. It's another instance of the "Law of Unintended Consequences".

NullPointerException · Jan 3, 2003

Originally posted by Paul Nasta
Well, you can blame soccer for some of this. All of these new stadiums are being built with a wider field surface to accomodate either MLS or international soccer matches. For an NFL game, however, this just puts the fans farther away form the action.
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I dont know if you can blame soccer. American football only uses the center 10 yards of the field 99% of the time anyways!