Is it time to expand Autzen again?
by Duck4Lif3 on Jun 18, 2009 11:58 PM PDT
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With the success of Oregon football and the growing demand of tickets, should the athletic department expand? One problem might be harder to expand since its a bowl shape but surely not impossible. Its not like husky stadium where you can just slap on a upper deck.
This might seem crazy at this time with PK park and Matt arena. Also with the economy down, but with the economy down it would be cheaper.
Every single game is always sold out no matter the quality of the team. Its crazy how single game tickets are sold out in hours. There would be no problem selling a few more thousand tickets. Usually there's more people then there are seats!
Autzen is a great venue but I did come up with a few ideas to make it better.
-Duh more seats but the question is how many? I am thinking about 6,000 to make the capacity at a even 60,000. (does any one really know the capacity I have seen these numbers 54,000, 56,000 and 58,000. For some reason I go with 54,000.)
- MId-way entrances all around stadium
-New Duck Vision video board!
-Back rest for the ENTIRE stadium!
- A parking structure is long over due. Could be built on campus and shuttles to Autzen or walk which I highly recommend . Especially with PK park taking up some spots.
I think its time to start or at least thinking about it because it would take a few years to get the money and get it cleared by the state.
Discuss!
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or the Addicted To Quack Moderators. FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable Oregon fans.
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Ummm.....
The problem with this is that you cannot expand Autzen stadium by just a few thousand tickets. If Autzen expansion is going to happen, then they will expand the north side of the stadium as they did the south side in 2002. That will increase the capacity by over 12,000. Because of that…with the down economy, it would be tough to fill that out every game, and also raise money to expand to the degree necessary.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
I would love to see Autzen expand, but right now it isn’t the right time.
Expanding by a few thousand isn’t financially smart, and a larger expansion (As jtlight said) is too expensive as a lump sum. We need to show that we can immediately fill 12,000 (Or whatever the expansion amount is) and get enough donations up front. That’s what PK Park and Matt Court had.
We can’t rely on uncle Phil. Even when he’s donated to these sorts of things, he’s always done it after several thousand donations. In two years, I think this discussion will start to be prevalent.
"It’s spelled S-H-U-F-E-L-T-M-E-U-P"
We can’t rely on uncle Phil.
Until Avia makes a biiiiiig comeback I think you’re pretty safe relying on Daddy Swooshbucks. Dude’s got money for days—he freaking bankrolled Corraline and that movie, though it was terrible, made a lot of cash. The kid is doing OK…
"The brownies,'' Fernandez said after the game. "The brownies are good for me to make three-points.''
- from Quick's Behind the Blazers Locker Room Door, 4/16/09
We’re safe, but the University of Oregon cannot RELY that he’ll give a major donations.
"It’s spelled S-H-U-F-E-L-T-M-E-U-P"
I doubt they “rely” on it, but I think when planning major projects his name comes up repeatedly. I would be surprised if they didn’t plan on some sort of funding from Knight…
"The brownies,'' Fernandez said after the game. "The brownies are good for me to make three-points.''
- from Quick's Behind the Blazers Locker Room Door, 4/16/09
Only playing devil's advocate here...
It doesn’t feel right given other projects and current economy, agreed. However, construction cost are also way down right now due to a lack of market demand. See PK Park phase 2 bids coming in 15% under budget. I seriously doubt it’s in the cards, but if the university were to pull together the money, now would be an ideal time to do the north side expansion.
It will only get more expensive.
I'm really tired of it not being football season.
That’s definitely true…..but with this economy, could we really fill 70,000 week in and out?
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
We'd need to get BendNSnap for the halftime show.
Addicted To Quack [dot] com; Dear Joevan, Develop motor skills. Love, ATQ.
The under budget bit isn’t telling of anything other than this is an economy where construction companies are under bidding to get a project. It’s better to have your guys do something and invoice someone than to cut your work force just to delay bankruptcy. Even if that means you essentially do things at non-profit rates. It ensures that when the economy does pick up, you’re still a player in the area.
In addition, the market on construction materials has gone in several directions. Example: Lumber has really gone down due to lack of market demand, but the price of steel has skyrocketed, and the trend is continuing up. Because of the steel sizes and the amounts to do projects like PK Park, and Matt Knight Arena, they probably hit bids for the steel early so they could hit the mill dates. The material costs for the steel is going to be significantly lower than if they tried to get the steel today.
Will it only get more expensive? Well, in direct terms of monetary value, yes. However, even if it only cost $76.5 million (15% less than the first expansion), and they can only raise $30 million in donations, I’d rather them spend $90 million with $60 million in donations.
Just because shear costs is cheaper, doesn’t mean it is actually cheaper for the University (Or the state).
"It’s spelled S-H-U-F-E-L-T-M-E-U-P"
I was impressed with your cogent analysis right up to
because shear costs is cheaper
you had me at It’s Sexy.
Sleeping under an avalanche with Cartman, wake me Sept 3.
by trumpetduck on Jun 19, 2009 10:31 AM PDT up reply actions
I was impressed with your analysis right up to
by JShufelt
Addicted To Quack [dot] com; Dear Joevan, Develop motor skills. Love, ATQ.
you can't bid it today, either
unless they have a complete drawing package from the last reno sitting on a shelf somewhere, ready to be built, they could also easily have a year long design phase if made the decision to start today. at that the end of design, construction costs could be right back up, or even lower, who knows. my read is back up.
of course all these real issues are far less important than a sense of balance in the world. just look at this photo link. it’s going to fall over, or become our own leaning monument, it’s just lopsided. our little temple must be made whole.
by Bill Musgrave on Jun 19, 2009 8:58 PM PDT up reply actions
It depends on the type of expansion. If they wanted to make it symmetrical, the design is pretty much already done, and they could get a order of building supplies pretty quickly.
"It’s spelled S-H-U-F-E-L-T-M-E-U-P"
Whatever; just make it louder.
Addicted To Quack [dot] com; Dear Joevan, Develop motor skills. Love, ATQ.
by qrsouther on Jun 20, 2009 4:24 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
i'm all for heading down to home depot today and getting started!
66,000 capacity, here we come.
Did appreciate your analysis and do agree that economic climate might kill the quantity of donations (if Philly didn’t cover it) regardless of the 10%-20% construction cost you might save today, but even “exact” future symmetry would have technical / economic / functional / artistic / administrative / political / etc. etc. challenges that involve analysis, decision making, and design side production… and thus time.
but blah blah blah from me, i’ve got my hammer, let’s get to making this thing louder
by Bill Musgrave on Jun 20, 2009 5:57 PM PDT up reply actions
For Sure
Expand the north side just like they did the south side, would add about ten thousand seats and be louder and sweeter!!!
by oregonsportsaddict on Jun 21, 2009 9:06 PM PDT reply actions
Closer to 7,000-9,000, most likely.
Addicted To Quack [dot] com; Dear Joevan, Develop motor skills. Love, ATQ.
I think we could sell out around 62-63k, but it is pushing it in the 64-66 range.
Addicted To Quack [dot] com; Dear Joevan, Develop motor skills. Love, ATQ.
Make it bigger
I dont think that Oregon would have any problem selling out 65,000. Sure they will probably not sell out Utah st., but last year seemed like half the stadium was empty for that game. If they can keep up the consistant high level and keep winning 10 games + a year they would fill the stadium year after year.
Yes
Will Eugene let the Ducks do so though? Its already tough enough with the parking issues. I think we could sell it out though…
Proud member of Duck nation!
I think it's high time for parking structures around there, personally
Addicted To Quack [dot] com; Dear Joevan, Develop motor skills. Love, ATQ.
I always park downtown
And take the Duck Express shuttle. Its really easy to do and gets me out quickly at the end…
Proud member of Duck nation!
of course its time to expand Autzen, and we also need more parking!
yea its hard to get tickets to a game anymore, and since were building new building around autzen, were going to need a lot more parking spots too! i think the university should consider expanding for 85000, because its reasonable, since we have 20,000 people in the parking lot that dont even have tickets, and all the other fans that dont even bother coming because they dont have tickets.
by Wherearemy5stars on Jun 28, 2009 10:59 PM PDT reply actions
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