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Stadium Renovations

bigsacstatehornetfan said:
Expanding Hornet Stadium's capacity to 32,000 would be a big tool to steal recruits from Montana & Montana State!
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Not a bad idea, but won't happen until upgrade go FBS. The State of Montana only has college football, therefore they need to accommodate a fan base that is hungry b/c there are not pro-sports there. Sac has a pro NBA team with w/in city/county limits and two football team w/in a very reasonable drive.

The field was upgraded last season, as you might know. That's a good start. The Hornets are in a position in a football-less city to attract and win over throngs of fans each fall Saturday. "Build it and they will come" doesn't apply here. Win it and they will come, does. Once they come, you can start the improvements.
 
"Until upgrade to go FBS" makes it sound like that is the plan. Is that really a possibility? I would love nothing more, but has that been acknowledged as a goal by the school? I know they were in the discussion when the WAC was expanding. The WAC seems a bit sketch though, lots of attrition and they seem to be trading down. Isn't the basketball facility the problem to moving up anyway, not the football stadium? Maybe the new Sacramento arena could be a temporary home to the basketball team if they transitioned?
 
My speculation is FBS is off the table. The WAC is one defection away from insolvency and that is before considering that FBS has zero financial incentives for western FCS programs looking to “move up”. The WAC is basically the BSC but with higher operating expenses (scholarships, coaching salaries, budgets, etc).

As far as the stadium goes I wouldn’t expect anything to get fixed unless private donors step in. The biggest issue now is the lack of support facilities (concession and bathrooms) and lack of a decent press booth. Capacity is more than sufficient (although improvement quality wouldn’t hurt) and the new fieldhouse addressed the locker room and coaching offices issue. I would also add that a new updated scoreboard with a bigger and better jumbotron would be nice. New turf was added a couple of offseasons ago and they improved (or covered) the aesthetic issues with signage and banners.
 
My biggest problem with the Hornet Stadium has always been aesthetic. The capacity is adequate, the sight lines are good, and I like the bench style seating that pervades most of the stadium. It reminds me of Husky Stadium and many other college venues. My problem, however, is how impermanent the seating fixtures themselves feel. When one walks around to the home side of the stadium, you see the backside of the bleachers/stands. You can see the exposed iron bars that support the seats. A facade of some kind around the stadium would be more than welcome. The field house and other buildings which are now behind the endzones do contribute to making it feel much more like a stadium, though. I know that this isn't Notre Dame stadium or whatever, but having a stadium that impresses people rather than makes them doubt the integrity of the seats they will be seating in could go a long way towards impressing/converting/keeping fans. I mean, isn't walking up to Hughes Stadium more impressive and historic feeling that Hornet Stadium? (until you get inside, of course)
I have roots in North Carolina, and have been back to a game in at Wake Forest. BB&T field, their stadium, seats something like 30K, one of the smallest in the FBS. The capacity isn't what I want to point out though. Google that stadium, look at the pictures on the wikipedia page, near the bottom. Brick around the backs and sides of the stands makes the place snap. It feels permanent, and makes you feel like the program is gonna be there forever. That's what I want for Sac State. When people drive past on the freeway, I want them to see something that feels like a permanent fixture in the city, not something that could be taken down at any whim. Sustained success, really, is what will bring both capacity and aesthetic changes. I'm eagerly waiting for that day, and I hope that whether we move up to FBS, or stay in the FCS, that whatever changes come to Hornet Stadium come in a well-planned, concerted effort to really have a noteworthy place to watch football in this city.
 
I don't think anyone here likes the erector set stadium. On the plus side, however, I think the school has done a good job of maintaining the seating areas since that Farm Extension lawyer dude fell through the seats awhile back.

That said, if the money ever appeared (don't hold your breath), my dream for the stadium is to build a bowl. Given the way the school got cold feet when a dude tried to build a baseball/softball complex, I don't expect that this will happen, at least not under the current administration. But it would sure make for a nice place to watch football!
 
9,953 was the average of the 5 home games last year. 39th in attendance among the 120 FCS schools last year.

Montana and Davis hit nearly 13,000 and Eastern Washinton was over 10,000 last year. Idaho State and Northern Arizona drew crowds well below this to bring the average down.

Most fans sit on the west side that holds 11,000 and was packed last year for 3 of the 5 games.

The stadium holds over 21,000
 
Here are the CA FCS attendance numbers:

Sac State: 39th, 9,553 avg, 12,874 max (3 games of 10k+)
farm extension: 41st, 9,192 avg, 10,125 max (1 game of 10k+)
CP: 45th, 8,770 avg, 11,075 max (2 games of 10k+)

All 3 teams only had 5 home games. Both CP and the farm extension are limited by stadium capacities of about 10k-ish.

http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/2011/Internet/attendance/FCS_AVGATTENDANCE.pdf

With the rotating BSC schedule I’m not sure how that will impact the attendance but we will always be guaranteed a big draw home game every year with the CP and the farm extension rotation. We’ve had good crowds on Homecoming the past few years and last year we hosted UM that gave us a bump. I expect our average to be around the 10k mark year in and year out. Previously without the CP/farm extension home guarantee, we saw a significant drop off without hosting a regional game (about a 7.5k avg).
 
bigsacstatehornetfan said:
If we win a Big Sky title this year we sell out
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Beat NMSU and Colorado, and Hornet Stadium will sell out, at least the home side will. I state it like that b/c I get the impression that they are very many fair weather hornet football fans in Sac.
 
L.A.HornetsFan said:
bigsacstatehornetfan said:
If we win a Big Sky title this year we sell out
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Beat NMSU and Colorado, and Hornet Stadium will sell out, at least the home side will. I state it like that b/c I get the impression that they are very many fair weather hornet football fans in Sac.
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The fans were ready to come out last year after the Oregon State game. Then we throw up on ourselves the next two games and then beat Montana. The lack of coaching to help the kickers and the lack of an OC really hurt us after that. If we can adjust, be creative and do what the other team doesn't expect us to do, and put forth a good effort every game, we can put butts in the seats. We won't be having sell-outs until we become consistent winning games, but if we can get 12-14k per game, that's a good deal.
 
:agree:

Don't forget the admin dropped the ball with only scheduling 1 home game in the first 6 weeks last season. That alone gave plenty of cool off time for anyone who would have come out following that epic win over Pac-12 Oregon State.
 
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