🏈 BDS Upgrade? Will UA reduce seating? (UPDATE: UA adds new cell towers to BDS)

[rammerjammer]

I wonder if they really care.... much like most surveys....it to make u feel like ur part of future .... but... really...u aint...the boss mans gonna do what they think is best for them...

I agree with this sentiment 1000000000%

If they have half a brain, they will take it in to consideration. Right now Alabama and the brand are at an all time high. Everything is a premium and they can charge through the nose and get it. This ride is not over, but I think we are getting near the end of CNS and his tenure at UA. I'm guessing 5 years or less, simply based on age.

Having said all that, what are they going to do when we are not dominating year in and year out. When we are out of the SEC race by mid October? It is not just the fact of winning, it is the fact that I can watch every game on TV in high-def and piss in my own toilet without a line to get the job done. This is a reality that all sports teams face this day and age. How do you maintain the AIS factor (ass in seat).

Several of the issues addressed in the survey need to come about and be dealt with wifi/cell service are huge. Affordability is another one. Will they be willing to decreases prices when the waiting list for Tide Pride tickets is not 10k deep?

 

[Sgt. Lincoln Osiris]

no idea why AT&T is even a sponsor with no signal, maybe i should do a video at A-day for them to show how well it works

It's because EVERYBODY, literally 80-ish% of students and game attendees have AT&T. There's only so much throughput towers can handle.

Thing is, this has been a known problem for well over a decade. If AT&T is "the official wireless carrier of the Tide" and a primary sponsor, then why in the hell have they not struck a deal yet with the University to add 3-4 more towers throughout campus alleviating all that throughput?

 

[mhardiman]

This may be a dumb question but who cares about cell service during the game? Agreed with It Takes Eleven; don't reduce the capacity.

 

[planomateo]

This may be a dumb question but who cares about cell service during the game? Agreed with It Takes Eleven; don't reduce the capacity.

I do

Social media, check scores of games, being available for family, etc.

 

[doemasters]

This may be a dumb question but who cares about cell service during the game? Agreed with It Takes Eleven; don't reduce the capacity.

I am on call most weekends and have had to help some people just by texting and also good in case of a family emergency

 

[Bamabww]

I only go to one or two games a year and one of them is homecoming. Our seats are just north of the pressbox on the same level. I have never had trouble sending pictures to friends and text during the games whenever I tried, maybe 3 or 4 times a game. I'm using an Iphone and AT&T.
May be it's where your seats are located. I don't know but I haven't had a problem inside the stadium. Around the Quad, yes I have.

 

[UAgrad93]

This may be a dumb question but who cares about cell service during the game? Agreed with It Takes Eleven; don't reduce the capacity.

I'm in constant contact with family during a game. So I appreciate having decent service to share our thinking and at time bitch sessions! Checking up on scores is a must as well. The ribbon around the stadium is awfully slow!!

 

[mhardiman]

This may be a dumb question but who cares about cell service during the game? Agreed with It Takes Eleven; don't reduce the capacity.

I'm in constant contact with family during a game. So I appreciate having decent service to share our thinking and at time bitch sessions! Checking up on scores is a must as well. The ribbon around the stadium is awfully slow!!

It's that kind of crap why I held out till 2012 to even get a cell phone; I didn't want to be that easy to get ahold of. You can call my phone; text whatever but I'm not reading, replying or paying any attention to my dang phone while Bama's playing. No I'm not old; I'm in my thirties.

Honestly I could see the need for skybox's replacing U1 and U2 on the west side upperdeck. There is no way to do that without reducing capacity unless they remove the chairbacks in U3 (west upperdeck) with bleacher seats. Even when Bama is down we are not one of those programs that needs to reduce our capacity; if anything we need to add 2,000-3,000 seats and remove a few thousand seats from the student section for Tide Pride. BDS went through three expansions during our down years; 1988 Curry years, 1998 Dubose and 2006 in the Shula years. In the age of HD blah blah what ever TV's at the game experience will always be a demand for Bama fans. I personally want to see cosmetic changes. The lower bowl inner concourses (Gates, ramps. concessions, restrooms the part of the stadium you don't see advertised on TV) look there age, more symmetry between the east and west upperdecks (rather than less like y'alls email sounds like they want to do) and I want more brick on the exterior. West should match the east and north should match the south. I what to see BDS look something like this.

West exterior

East exterior

West upperdeck reconstruction (like Tiger Stadium 15 or so years ago) with skyboxes maintaining but blending in the pressbox and bleacher seats int the upperdeck to add a few thousand seats. I've sat in the West upper deck several times; some of the best seats in the house but the chairbacks have got to go to add the skyboxes below.

 

[TerryP]

@50+yeartidefan, @rammerjammer

From what I've learned a few weeks ago there were a few of the bigger dollar people ferried on and off campus via helicopter. They were being "pitched" on donations along with improvements to BDS. It wasn't the first I'd heard about what they were doing but it was before this latest survey was sent. There's a post here about the areas that were being most talked about--five or six major ones as I recall--and the one that comes to mind this morning was upgrades with the video boards.

So, no. I really doesn't matter--in a sense.

It's my opinion they need to put individual access points on all the seats. It would be expensive, but it's not unheard of. They did it for the Super Bowl this year.

 

[planomateo]

People like their data... I haven't seen numbers for the latest SB52. Question is, does BDS have similar data that tells the story.

• 4.1 TB used at Super Bowl 49
• 7 TB at Super Bowl 50
• 11 TB at Super Bowl 51

 

[TerryP]

Impressive yearly increases there.

 

[planomateo]

Weird, those numbers I posted above don't add up, they are from the same website...perhaps they are carrier data numbers instead of WiFi.

https://www.mobilesportsreport.com/...ata-during-super-bowl-52-at-u-s-bank-stadium/

The network also saw a peak concurrent connection of 25,670 users, and a peak data transfer rate of 7.867 Gbps, according to the numbers released by Extreme. Though Extreme gear was not used in the operation of the network, Extreme has a partnership deal with the NFL under which it provides the “official” network analytics reports from the Super Bowl.

The final total of 16.31 TB easily puts Super Bowl 52 ahead of the last two Super Bowls when it comes to Wi-Fi data use. Last year at NRG Stadium in Houston, there was 11.8 TB of Wi-Fi use recorded, and at Super Bowl 50 in 2016 there was 10.1 TB of Wi-Fi data used at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. So in reverse chronological order, the last three Super Bowls are the top three Wi-Fi events, indicating that data demand growth at the NFL’s biggest game shows no sign of slowing down. Combined with the 50.2 TB of cellular data used in and around the stadium on game day, Super Bowl 52 saw a total of 66.51 TB of wireless traffic Sunday in Minneapolis.

 

[TerryP]

11 TB at Super Bowl 51

The final total of 16.31 TB easily puts Super Bowl 52 ahead of the last two Super Bowls when it comes to Wi-Fi data use. Last year at NRG Stadium in Houston, there was 11.8 TB of Wi-Fi use recorded,

Weird, those numbers I posted above don't add up,

Sort of fits...

 

[It Takes Eleven]

I wonder if they really care.... much like most surveys....it to make u feel like ur part of future .... but... really...u aint...the boss mans gonna do what they think is best for them...

If they pull 5,000 regular seats and replace them with 2,000 premium (just a guess for discussion), they probably need to be able to gauge fan response to some degree. Some of the questions were asking about price points of what you'd be willing to pay.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

@mhardiman ....that’s some impressive pics you posted....
I guess they could make premium seating in west U2 or U3....
but us people have been there a longtime..... not that it would matter...
When is enough...enough...
Got high donors wanting something.....and willing to push out loyal fans to appease them.... would piss me off royal l...if they changed chair backs for benches....or moved us...
When is enough....enough

 

[It Takes Eleven]

@mhardiman ....that’s some impressive pics you posted....
I guess they could make premium seating in west U2 or U3....
but us people have been there a longtime..... not that it would matter...
When is enough...enough...
Got high donors wanting something.....and willing to push out loyal fans to appease them.... would piss me off royal l...if they changed chair backs for benches....or moved us...
When is enough....enough

We've always paid for the seat backs for our west UD seats. They won't come off easily, but you can scoot them down the bench. Always funny when we get there just before game time and someone has helped themselves to our seats by scooting them down a space or three.

I agree they're trying to squeeze more dollars out of attendance, and it will come back to bite them at some post-Saban point.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

What’s really going to be interesting is. UGAs recruitment this year. If they put together a #1 class again. They will reign over the east
and challenge the west for domination

If ifs and buts were cherries and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas. If frogs had wings, they wouldn't scrape their butts when they hop.

@mhardiman ....that’s some impressive pics you posted....
I guess they could make premium seating in west U2 or U3....
but us people have been there a longtime..... not that it would matter...
When is enough...enough...
Got high donors wanting something.....and willing to push out loyal fans to appease them.... would piss me off royal l...if they changed chair backs for benches....or moved us...
When is enough....enough

We've always paid for the seat backs for our west UD seats. They won't come off easily, but you can scoot them down the bench. Always funny when we get there just before game time and someone has helped themselves to our seats by scooting them down a space or three.

I agree they're trying to squeeze more dollars out of attendance, and it will come back to bite them at some post-Saban point.

Ours arent extra. They are just regular chairs instead of bench seats. Much more comfortable and no butt to butt stuff
Not the ones u pay extra for.

 

[TerryP]

Some interesting ideas being floated around this week that will be welcomed to some, disliked by others.

With BDS the dollar figure seems to be around 300 million. The idea is taking the current press box area and turn it into more "zone" type seating--luxury/sky boxes if you will. The new press box will be moved to the end-zone. Along with those there will be other structural changes on the comesmetic end. I keep hearing a few terms like "more family friendly" (gives me the idea of more open space within BDS,) and "student friendly."

IF they do this you can expect changes in the U section of BDS. Also, there's word the number of seats may be reduced (not season ticket holders though some may be moved.)

It's a work in progress...but rest assured we're going to see changes in both of the two largest venues on campus.

 

[TUSKtimes]

I'm starting to sense a growing concern among the Aggie faithful and their future stadium expansion. Bet I can guess what it's going to look like.

 

[Bamabww]

IF they do this you can expect changes in the U section of BDS.

Bummer, that's where my son's seat are located.