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New UAB stadium

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Sean Miller Fan

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https://uabsports.com/news/2019/9/18/football-bjcc-reveals-protective-stadium-design-plans.aspx

The final designs are complete. Its amazing that a program that was such crap, it was eliminated a few years ago, gets a new stadium, funded largely by the city of Birmingham. 45K seats seems way too big for UAB football and the USL soccer team that will play there. It wont be on the UAB campus but I have always said the location of the stadium isnt what is most important. The size of it is. Birmingham is building exactly what I have said for years what Pittsburgh should: a joint college football/pro soccer stadium.
 
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This is the exact type of thing we have always said. Why cant this be done? Beautiful rendering that will look awesome if it can be filled.
 
Pitt should have a 45-50 thousand seat stadium with the fan base as it is. Even if Pitt put together some winning seasons and major bowls Heinz is hard to fill to capacity. Pitt has never drawn well over the years except for small samples. The Steelers have fans from all over and are a great organization. If there was room in Oakland for an on campus it would be the right thing to do. Doesnt mean more fans would go or anything else but it fits the program. A city school.
 
PittFanDan17 said:
This is the exact type of thing we have always said. Why cant this be done? Beautiful rendering that will look awesome if it can be filled.
Click to expand...

Let me make this simple!

Its because other places have people who think out of the box, politicians who are forward thinking and support their local universities, and a population that's not stuck back in the 90's, accepts new ideas, and development.

No matter whats suggested you hear the Pittsburghers say " we tried that", " it cant be done", " its impossible", "it will never work", on and on.
Where I work back in the mid 90's we fired anyone who came up with those responses to new ideas.

Politicians who don't like the University of Pittsburgh? Hows that?
PITT is probably one of the best things that ever happened to the city.

University officials who have been attempting ( and failing) to put a decent football program on the field since the 80's. Forty years of failure which makes success almost impossible until the philosophy of the institution changes.

Pittsburgh is a beautiful city, a poorly run city ( incompetent administration), inhabited by the remaining dinosaurs who eventually will find a tarpit!

PITT is a great University but is also not good at doing anything other than academic development.

Partner the cities incompetence, and PITT's inability to understand or be interested college football and college sports ( the basketball Stallings debacle) in general and you have massive Gridlock. Decades of it!

Oh ya Gridlock came from my nice words dictionary I actually had other more appropriate words to choose from.
 
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The presentation, the planning and the design are amazing. Wish Pitt could pull off something similar in my lifetime.
 
PittFamily2 said:
Let me make this simple!

Its because other places have people who think out of the box, politicians who are forward thinking and support their local universities, and a population that's not stuck back in the 90's.

No matter whats suggested you hear the Pittsburghers say " we tried that", " it cant be done", " its impossible", "it will never work", on and on.

Where I work back in the mid 90's we fired anyone who can up with those responses to new ideas.

Pittsburgh is a beautiful nice, poorly run city, inhabited by the remaining dinosaurs who eventually will find a tarpit!
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90s? It goes back further! And it's every Pittsburgh organization, Steelers, Pens, Pirates, Pitt, anytime something DIFFERENT is suggested, something EVERYONE ELSE can do, the answer for our teams is always WE CAN'T.
 
PittFamily2 said:
Let me make this simple!

Its because other places have people who think out of the box, politicians who are forward thinking and support their local universities, and a population that's not stuck back in the 90's.

No matter whats suggested you hear the Pittsburghers say " we tried that", " it cant be done", " its impossible", "it will never work", on and on.

Where I work back in the mid 90's we fired anyone who can up with those responses to new ideas.

Pittsburgh is a beautiful nice, poorly run city, inhabited by the remaining dinosaurs who eventually will find a tarpit!
Click to expand...

Honestly though, it starts with Pitt. The city isnt going to call up Heather or Gallagher and say, "hey, you guys want us to build you a stadium." Pitt has to make the first move and there is no evidence that Pitt has ever even thought about a new stadium. There have been very very few official comments from them in the last 20 years.

Land can be found, money can be found. Its not the city. Pitt doesn't want to do it. Maybe they are afraid with the expectations that will come with a new stadium. They are happy with 40K empty seats and going 7-5
 
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Sean Miller Fan said:
Honestly though, it starts with Pitt. The city isnt going to call up Heather or Gallagher and say, "hey, you guys want us to build you a stadium." Pitt has to make the first move and there is no evidence that Pitt has ever even thought about a new stadium. There have been very very few official comments from them in the last 20 years.

Land can be found, money can be found. Its not the city. Pitt doesn't want to do it. Maybe they are afraid with the expectations that will come with a new stadium. They are happy with 40K empty seats and going 7-5
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Agreed.
Its kinda the chicken or the egg thing but in a normal well adjusted town or city the two groups usually work together since a thriving University sports program can only help the city.

Go to the Northshore, Southside, other place on a big home gameday and the place is packed people paying for hotels, food, beverages, frequently the retail establishments, going to PITT games and PIrate games, same for the Steelers, this is good for the city and good for PITT.

Only Pittsburgh could F this up with some help from the University.
 
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9nationalchampionships said:
Cost per sq ft in Birmingham, AL = ?
Cost per sq ft in Pittsburgh, PA (if you can find 22 contiguous acres) = ?
Click to expand...

Of course, Pitt hasn't been considering getting those needed acres. Pretending that HF is great is just easier for the last 20 years instead of obtaining the land eventually becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
 
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HailtoPitt said:
A stadium like that will cost at least half a billion. According to some here.
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This is another problem since we keep hearing "according to some here."
Who are the some here ? Posters on the Free board?

Why doesn't a group of people from the city and University with an IQ over 50 sit down with some experts and put some effort into coming up with a reasonably accurate calculated real number.

I'm sure if they worked hard on this, and tried to keep costs down by not making this one of the "sweet labor deals for city and union workers" the costs could be managed to a reasonable level.
 
PittFamily2 said:
This is another problem since we keep hearing "according to some here."
Who are the some here ? Posters on the Free board?

Why doesn't a group of people from the city and University with an IQ over 50 sit down with some experts and put some effort into coming up with a reasonably accurate calculated real number.

I'm sure if they worked hard on this, and tried to keep costs down by not making this one of the "sweet labor deals for city and union workers" the costs could be managed to a reasonable level.
Click to expand...

I think that even CrazyPaco's land acquisition estimate was under $100 million. Mine was lower when I figured it out a few years ago. That's IF Pitt owned NONE of the needed land, which isn't likely in Oakland.
 
If Pittsburgh didn’t have professional sports, then they would be more willing to work with the University of Pittsburgh.
 
So now a stadium that’s not on campus is being advocated? Location of the stadium isn’t important?

giphy.gif
 
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HailtoPitt said:
I think that even CrazyPaco's land acquisition estimate was under $100 million. Mine was lower when I figured it out a few years ago. That's IF Pitt owned NONE of the needed land, which isn't likely in Oakland.
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The cost of Heinz was roughly 400 million if adjusted to present day dollars. We could probably see construction costs for a 50K or less stadium with bench seating and simpler amenities for around 300K or less now. It would be highly dependent on how much they would want to put into club seating, concessions, video/sound, etc., but you could build a pretty decent stadium that is right sized for less than 400K with land acquisition included.
 
infinitehighway42 said:
The cost of Heinz was roughly 400 million if adjusted to present day dollars. We could probably see construction costs for a 50K or less stadium with bench seating and simpler amenities for around 300K or less now. It would be highly dependent on how much they would want to put into club seating, concessions, video/sound, etc., but you could build a pretty decent stadium that is right sized for less than 400K with land acquisition included.
Click to expand...

The better question is this. If he only cost 400K, would Pitt still choose to play at HF? ;)
 
infinitehighway42 said:
The cost of Heinz was roughly 400 million if adjusted to present day dollars. We could probably see construction costs for a 50K or less stadium with bench seating and simpler amenities for around 300K or less now. It would be highly dependent on how much they would want to put into club seating, concessions, video/sound, etc., but you could build a pretty decent stadium that is right sized for less than 400K with land acquisition included.
Click to expand...

The new college stadiums are on campus, multi use, have academic classroom space, meeting space, physical fitness and sports medicine for the athletics and entire University so the facility is used everyday.
 
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PittFamily2 said:
The new college stadiums are on campus, multi use, have academic classroom space, meeting space, physical fitness and sports medicine for the athletics and entire University so the facility is used everyday.
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The more uses you have for the building, theoretically, the higher the cost as you would have to equip it for those uses. Obviously you would want to tie any new university structure into campus and use it as much as possible to validate its construction, but with Pitt you run into the issue of land availability close enough to justify those uses. I think you would need to find where you would ideally want to build the thing before you could even estimate costs even just for the building. The lowest cost options for Pitt would probably be further from campus (where they can easily get the land and connect it to existing roadways) with very little use outside of football just due to proximity to campus.
 
infinitehighway42 said:
The more uses you have for the building, theoretically, the higher the cost as you would have to equip it for those uses. Obviously you would want to tie any new university structure into campus and use it as much as possible to validate its construction, but with Pitt you run into the issue of land availability close enough to justify those uses. I think you would need to find where you would ideally want to build the thing before you could even estimate costs even just for the building. The lowest cost options for Pitt would probably be further from campus (where they can easily get the land and connect it to existing roadways) with very little use outside of football just due to proximity to campus.
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The stadium would have to be on campus or lets just play at Heinz field which is just "down the road " and is just a football facility.

I was looking at some new designs and it was pointed out they eliminated the "wasted" stadium space of traditional stadiums in the design of the new Compact Stadiums (48k and below) to add academic and other space for daily use. The incremental cost wasn't that much.

These New Compact stadiums include club seats, Corp Boxes, concessions and shops but have less stadium "lobby", stand around room, or other open space that you see on each level at Heinz.

That's way they call they Compact Stadiums.

You enter and go right to stairs or escalators. At Heinz you can wonder around in the lower lobby forever. A 48k crowd does need that much open space in a stadium.

The academic space and other non football space added to the stadium would make it possible for the University to cancel plans to spend money building or buying building for the same purpose.
It saves future University expenditures.
 
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PittFamily2 said:
The stadium would have to be on campus or lets just play at Heinz field which is just "down the road " and is just a football facility.

I was looking at some new designs and it was pointed out they eliminated the "wasted" stadium space of traditional stadiums in the design of the new Compact Stadiums (48k and below) to add academic and other space for daily use. The incremental cost wasn't that much.

These New Compact stadiums include club seats, Corp Boxes, concessions and shops but have less stadium "lobby", stand around room, or other open space that you see on each level at Heinz.

That's way they call they Compact Stadiums.

You enter and go right to stairs or escalators. At Heinz you can wonder around in the lower lobby forever. A 48k crowd does need that much open space in a stadium.

The academic space and other non football space added to the stadium would make it possible for the University to cancel plans to spend money building or buying building for the same purpose.
It saves future University expenditures.
Click to expand...
I think your first sentence really sums it up: if we can't get something on or adjacent to campus, Pitt will have no reason to break off from Heinz, or at least no major advantage will be gained from doing so. That's the argument that the athletic dept will probably be using in the future. I think the only way they will move toward a stadium of our own would be if our ability to use Heinz changes.

BTW, I loved the stadium at GT when I went down there this year. It really showed how poorly Heinz uses the footprint it sits on and how much space is wasted. I went to every stadium in the old Big East other than USF, and working through the ACC now, that was the first stadium that I really thought would be a good fit for what Pitt should be looking at.
 
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MarshallGoldberg said:
You should basically double costs then to account for land value around Oakland and even more so, union prevailing wage laws for construction workers on projects of that size.
Click to expand...

Even if land acquisition cost $200 million and a stadium cost $300 million for a half billion dollar total, Pitt could find the money without breaking a sweat. They are spending $300 million on a volleyball arena and academic support building, 2 things which would be nice to have but neither is needed more than a right-sized football stadium.
 
PittFamily2 said:
Let me make this simple!

Its because other places have people who think out of the box, politicians who are forward thinking and support their local universities, and a population that's not stuck back in the 90's, accepts new ideas, and development.

No matter whats suggested you hear the Pittsburghers say " we tried that", " it cant be done", " its impossible", "it will never work", on and on.
Where I work back in the mid 90's we fired anyone who came up with those responses to new ideas.

Politicians who don't like the University of Pittsburgh? Hows that?
PITT is probably one of the best things that ever happened to the city.

University officials who have been attempting ( and failing) to put a decent football program on the field since the 80's. Forty years of failure which makes success almost impossible until the philosophy of the institution changes.

Pittsburgh is a beautiful city, a poorly run city ( incompetent administration), inhabited by the remaining dinosaurs who eventually will find a tarpit!

PITT is a great University but is also not good at doing anything other than academic development.

Partner the cities incompetence, and PITT's inability to understand or be interested college football and college sports ( the basketball Stallings debacle) in general and you have massive Gridlock. Decades of it!

Oh ya Gridlock came from my nice words dictionary I actually had other more appropriate words to choose from.
Click to expand...
If you thought i was going to read your long exert thats rivals the harry potter novels, you thought wrong
 
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Sean Miller Fan said:
Even if land acquisition cost $200 million and a stadium cost $300 million for a half billion dollar total, Pitt could find the money without breaking a sweat. They are spending $300 million on a volleyball arena and academic support building, 2 things which would be nice to have but neither is needed more than a right-sized football stadium.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
The University should get itself up to speed when it comes to sports facilities. A track and baseball complex, would be nice. I believe the baseball complex is off campus.

I can say when I was in college and the wrestling season was over after class I'd wander over to the baseball complex and watch a small college baseball game. The baseball team was one of the better small college teams in the country probably attracted 400-500 people at most games but it was a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.
 
PittFanDan17 said:
If you thought i was going to read your long exert thats rivals the harry potter novels, you thought wrong
Click to expand...
Just scan it. Or read the first and last sentence or get the Cliffs Notes version ( that's how I got thru English Lit in college).
Scroll back and dig into that thing.
Get a beer, a Fish Sammich, and relax.
Who's in a hurry.
You have no idea what you're missing???
 
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PittFamily2 said:
Agreed.
The University should get itself up to speed when it comes to sports facilities. A track and baseball complex, would be nice. I believe the baseball complex is off campus.

I can say when I was in college and the wrestling season was over after class I'd wander over to the baseball complex and watch a small college baseball game. The baseball team was one of the better small college teams in the country probably attracted 400-500 people at most games but it was a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.
Click to expand...
Are you talking about Pitt? They've had a baseball facility on campus for a decade now. Its predecessor, Trees Field, as shabby as it was, has been around since the 1970s.
 
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Sean Miller Fan said:
Even if land acquisition cost $200 million and a stadium cost $300 million for a half billion dollar total, Pitt could find the money without breaking a sweat. They are spending $300 million on a volleyball arena and academic support building, 2 things which would be nice to have but neither is needed more than a right-sized football stadium.
Click to expand...

I have no clue if Pitt could raise $500 million and get the required zoning and political support, but I do think it's a reasonable price estimate at least.
 
MarshallGoldberg said:
I have no clue if Pitt could raise $500 million and get the required zoning and political support, but I do think it's a reasonable price estimate at least.
Click to expand...

How are they raising $300 million for a volleyball arena?

How did tiny little RMU with no resources or fans raise $50 million for their arena?
 
PittFamily2 said:
The new college stadiums are on campus, multi use, have academic classroom space, meeting space, physical fitness and sports medicine for the athletics and entire University so the facility is used everyday.
Click to expand...

Noooo! From all the Einsteins in here that said it would only be used six times a year.
 
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Still shocked the volleyball etc plan is 300m. Can't believe that got the green light. I'll admit it opened my eyes. A little.
 
TIGER-PAUL said:
Still shocked the volleyball etc plan is 300m. Can't believe that got the green light. I'll admit it opened my eyes. A little.
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I'd bet anything if someone who knows what they're looking at reviewed the $300m they'd find the "big city political/union mark-up" worth $50-$100 mill.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
$300 million for volleyball and an academic building. $0 for a football facility. Makes sense.
Click to expand...
This may be a signal of where PITT athletics is headed.
Basketball
Volleyball
Soccer
Wrestling
Baseball
Swimming
Track
Lyke likes all the sports where only need a shirt, shorts or equiv for the sport, jock strap, sports bra, bathing suit, etc.

Tennis
Football
 
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