$42 million Meade Stadium Replacement

[Bartoburger]

One tier for now with the luxury boxes and press box then add a secomd tier if ticket demand increases. Guessing the new east side stands will be in the 7500-8000 capacity. A shame there are did not include endzone seating.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Obviously besides being wider than the current stands they could also be higher which adds to the design in addition to increased capacity. Personally I like the two tier option, but maybe there are drawback?… cold in the shade of the upper tier? I agree 42 million in RI will not go as far as in other states, maybe it’s transport of materials that increases costs, but I would guess it’s the contractors more so? We also have no idea on the amenities included. Will there be a beer garden? Will locate restaurants be able to set up shop vs the crappy RC style food? Lots of unknowns. It might not be perfect but what we have now is completely embarrassing and watching the East stands being torn down will give me nothing but joy! Lastly I would not mind some sort of end zone seating. Maybe just room for 1k at each end zone.

Ha ha! Good one. They don't have food at the Ry...that people buy...do they ?

[RhowdyRam02]

One tier for now with the luxury boxes and press box then add a secomd tier if ticket demand increases. Guessing the new east side stands will be in the 7500-8000 capacity. A shame there are did not include endzone seating.

We don't know if end zone seating is included or not, the drawings out are just for illustrative purposes and are not the official plans

[ramster]

One tier for now with the luxury boxes and press box then add a secomd tier if ticket demand increases. Guessing the new east side stands will be in the 7500-8000 capacity. A shame there are did not include endzone seating.

We don't know if end zone seating is included or not, the drawings out are just for illustrative purposes and are not the official plans

Just curious about end zone seating. I'd prefer to sit on sidelines always over end zone. Is this desire to add end zone seating just to add capacity? Or is this a more desired seat location to sidelines?

[NYGFan_Section208]

One tier for now with the luxury boxes and press box then add a secomd tier if ticket demand increases. Guessing the new east side stands will be in the 7500-8000 capacity. A shame there are did not include endzone seating.

We don't know if end zone seating is included or not, the drawings out are just for illustrative purposes and are not the official plans

Just curious about dnd zone seating. I'd prefer to sit on sidelines always over end zone. Is this desire to add end zone seating just to add capacity? Or is this a more desired seat location to sidelines?

Getting ready for concerts? Maybe? Hopefully...?

[Rhody15]

One tier for now with the luxury boxes and press box then add a secomd tier if ticket demand increases. Guessing the new east side stands will be in the 7500-8000 capacity. A shame there are did not include endzone seating.

We don't know if end zone seating is included or not, the drawings out are just for illustrative purposes and are not the official plans

Just curious about end zone seating. I'd prefer to sit on sidelines always over end zone. Is this desire to add end zone seating just to add capacity? Or is this a more desired seat location to sidelines?

It makes it feel/look like an actual college stadium instead of a high school field.

[RhowdyRam02]

One tier for now with the luxury boxes and press box then add a secomd tier if ticket demand increases. Guessing the new east side stands will be in the 7500-8000 capacity. A shame there are did not include endzone seating.

We don't know if end zone seating is included or not, the drawings out are just for illustrative purposes and are not the official plans

Just curious about end zone seating. I'd prefer to sit on sidelines always over end zone. Is this desire to add end zone seating just to add capacity? Or is this a more desired seat location to sidelines?

I think if you made that student seating it could create a tougher environment for opposing teams at that end zone and it helps it to make the stadium look better/more college worthy

[bigappleram]

One tier for now with the luxury boxes and press box then add a secomd tier if ticket demand increases. Guessing the new east side stands will be in the 7500-8000 capacity. A shame there are did not include endzone seating.

We don't know if end zone seating is included or not, the drawings out are just for illustrative purposes and are not the official plans

Just curious about end zone seating. I'd prefer to sit on sidelines always over end zone. Is this desire to add end zone seating just to add capacity? Or is this a more desired seat location to sidelines?

It's the perfect student section. Don't even need actual seats....build a hill like amphitheater style. Let it be a party

[KeaneyBluBallz]

We don't know if end zone seating is included or not, the drawings out are just for illustrative purposes and are not the official plans

Just curious about end zone seating. I'd prefer to sit on sidelines always over end zone. Is this desire to add end zone seating just to add capacity? Or is this a more desired seat location to sidelines?

It's the perfect student section. Don't even need actual seats....build a hill like amphitheater style. Let it be a party

gimme a Shaidzon tent and some of those $3 pours!!

[Rhodysk]

End zone seating is also a perfect location for the band. The band now takes away really good seats that could be purchased. Just saying.

Also I would really hope they keep the old score board and put it in the opposite end zone.

Such a competitive disadvantage having it on one side of the field.
Remember all the complaining about the score board at the Ryan Center, that’s why they add that smaller ones on the end zone concrete. With score and time.
Hopefully they learned from the past and don’t waste that scoreboard.

[OBRAM]

Twenty Year old photo of redesign looks more exciting.

[Bartoburger]

Sigh....that rendering is top notch. A shame that verison never came to fruition. URI built part of that plan- the west side stands. Then typical Rhody politics were involved that blocked the rest of the expansion from happening. URI football interest is increasing with each winning season. No reason Meade cant get average attendance close to 8k a game. Here is to hoping for a nice student endzone section. Make it similar to the endzone seating at Univ. of Oklahoma!- kidding, it is probably more in their endzone than all of Meade.

[ramster]

We don't know if end zone seating is included or not, the drawings out are just for illustrative purposes and are not the official plans

Just curious about end zone seating. I'd prefer to sit on sidelines always over end zone. Is this desire to add end zone seating just to add capacity? Or is this a more desired seat location to sidelines?

It's the perfect student section. Don't even need actual seats....build a hill like amphitheater style. Let it be a party

Could shut down and reroute West Alumni Avenue and build an Amphitheatre Hill on the North end of the field.
Currently plenty of room to do the same Amphitheatre Hill seating on the South End of the Field.
The New Scoreboard is tall enough to allow for a Student Hill.
These enhancements could be done now well ahead of the $42 million expansion. Relatively low cost compared to physical stands. Just bring in the dirt and cover it with beautiful Kingston RI home grown sod.

[ramster]

Twenty Year old photo of redesign looks more exciting. NewMeade.jpg

Beautiful

THAT is what we need!

[jcru]

The problem is the road behind the North End Zone doesn't allow for any great idea anyone has had about expanding this stadium.

If this were Bryant, the Bryant President could wake up tomorrow and say, "I don't like that road being there, hindering my stadium design" and within 24 hours, bulldozers would be where that road used to be, demolishing away.

Here at URI, everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE, knows what the problem is, but no one can do anything about it. Someone will come along with "well, we named that road after URI's top rower back in 1918, so we can't possibly move that road, it would be disrespectful"

PC can do whatever they want on their campus. Here at URI, it requires a super majority 2/3rds vote by Congress.

[Rhodymob05]

The final design will be unveiled in the future. What was shown is a basic 3d modeling concept. Most they can do is 6-7 row bleachers at the end zones. Better then nothing I suppose. Also room to beef up the east side.

[RhowdyRam02]

The problem is the road behind the North End Zone doesn't allow for any great idea anyone has had about expanding this stadium.

If this were Bryant, the Bryant President could wake up tomorrow and say, "I don't like that road being there, hindering my stadium design" and within 24 hours, bulldozers would be where that road used to be, demolishing away.

Here at URI, everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE, knows what the problem is, but no one can do anything about it. Someone will come along with "well, we named that road after URI's top rower back in 1918, so we can't possibly move that road, it would be disrespectful"

PC can do whatever they want on their campus. Here at URI, it requires a super majority 2/3rds vote by Congress.

Honestly I don't have a problem with no seating in the north end zone, but ideally you would be putting up the new scoreboard there leaving the south end zone a mostly blank canvas to do whatever you wanted

[RhowdyRam02]

The final design will be unveiled in the future. What was shown is a basic 3d modeling concept. Most they can do is 6-7 row bleachers at the end zones. Better then nothing I suppose. Also room to beef up the east side.

Exactly. The 20 year old design is better developed because it was hoped to be just added into the Ryan Center project. What we have no is basically no more developed than a quick scetch and people shouldn't be basing opinions off of it

[jcru]

Jumping to conclusions based off of sketches is what we do best though.

[R.Kelly150]

If the 20 year old model actually was built it would be hands down the best stadium in the CAA. It’s an artist rendering but boy what a beautiful layout. URI might not make that happen this time, but there is no reason why they can’t get close. We need, I totally get its a long long shot, some deep pocketed booster(s) to add another 10-15 million to the states 42 million. Wow what a facility, a true really tell tale sign to everyone that football at URI is here to say and we will be a force to be reckoned with be it FCS or dare say to FBS.

[ramster]

If the 20 year old model actually was built it would be hands down the best stadium in the CAA. It’s an artist rendering but boy what a beautiful layout. URI might not make that happen this time, but there is no reason why they can’t get close. We need, I totally get its a long long shot, some deep pocketed booster(s) to add another 10-15 million to the states 42 million. Wow what a facility, a true really tell tale sign to everyone that football at URI is here to say and we will be a force to be reckoned with be it FCS or dare say to FBS.

Completely agree

[NYGFan_Section208]

Just curious about end zone seating. I'd prefer to sit on sidelines always over end zone. Is this desire to add end zone seating just to add capacity? Or is this a more desired seat location to sidelines?

It's the perfect student section. Don't even need actual seats....build a hill like amphitheater style. Let it be a party

Could shut down and reroute West Alumni Avenue and build an Amphitheatre Hill on the North end of the field.
Currently plenty of room to do the same Amphitheatre Hill seating on the South End of the Field.
The New Scoreboard is tall enough to allow for a Student Hill.
These enhancements could be done now well ahead of the $42 million expansion. Relatively low cost compared to physical stands. Just bring in the dirt and cover it with beautiful Kingston RI home grown sod.

Wait, there's home grown sod around here? Actually, those sod farms do make good neighbors...nice and quiet, fake wolf cutouts to keep the real wolves away, you can always get your passenger to look when you drive by...

[steviep123]

The final design will be unveiled in the future. What was shown is a basic 3d modeling concept. Most they can do is 6-7 row bleachers at the end zones. Better then nothing I suppose. Also room to beef up the east side.

Exactly. The 20 year old design is better developed because it was hoped to be just added into the Ryan Center project. What we have no is basically no more developed than a quick scetch and people shouldn't be basing opinions off of it

As I like to say, (and I don't know where I "stole" this quote from), "If you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?" You can replace time with money here.

[ramster]

The final design will be unveiled in the future. What was shown is a basic 3d modeling concept. Most they can do is 6-7 row bleachers at the end zones. Better then nothing I suppose. Also room to beef up the east side.

Exactly. The 20 year old design is better developed because it was hoped to be just added into the Ryan Center project. What we have no is basically no more developed than a quick scetch and people shouldn't be basing opinions off of it

As I like to say, (and I don't know where I "stole" this quote from), "If you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?" You can replace time with money here.

Agree. Do it right even if you can't go all of it at the beginning. Have the master plan and build towards it.

[RF1]

While many athletics facilities at URI need improvement, at least it is not as bad as it was at FDU.

Fairleigh Dickinson not watching game film in shower anymore
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... er-anymore

[RhowdyRam02]

I tried to get a potential timeline of when we might see what the replacement for the East stands would look like at the last game, but no such luck. My guess will be this summer or early fall. I have to assume we'll see a design before the wrecking ball hits Meade after the 2024 season

[RhowdyRam02]

Further proof that what we've seen so far isn't what the finished product will look like, we're only now selecting the architecture and engineering firm

https://www.independentri.com/news/arti ... 9cc5d.html

[jcru]

I wouldn't say no to HoK. They are the ones who designed the Ryan Center. People seemed to like their design for Meade Stadium the best. Would probably be the best bet to get congruent structures that look like they belong with one another.

[jcru]

HOK Sports architecture company is now Populous...

https://populous.com/our-global-studio/our-history

[ramster]

HOK Sports architecture company is now Populous...

https://populous.com/our-global-studio/our-history

Populous did the New Practice Facility and as you said the Ryan Center

Big outfit

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(company)

[jcru]

Look at all of the stadiums alone. Gillette, Manchester United, London Olympic stadium, Arrowhead, Wembley, the Soldier Field rebuild...

https://populous.com/portfolio#stadiums

They even did the stadiums for the two football teams from where my wife comes from. Southend United Stadium and London Stadium...

https://populous.com/project/southend-united-stadium

https://populous.com/project/london-201 ... ic-stadium

The relationship between those two teams would be like the Patriots and the Giants here, prior to 1985. West Ham United, the Hammers, is a well established club that was featured in the movie Hooligans (or Green Street Hooligans) and the traditional team of the majority of fans from Essex. Southend United is the team that is literally just down the street from my in laws. Kind of like when the Patriots used to practice at Bryant for their summer training camp. They only made it into the league that the bigger teams are in just a few years ago, they've been steadily building a following.

[UNHwildcat18]

Hopefully Meades new capacity will be closer to 15-18k. Thee reason is to get to stronger football conference. Please note- UNH unofficial long term-10- 20 years is to get rid of the track. Then bump the football field closer to the "new"grand stands while demolishing the current basketball gym which would be replaced by another grand stand/luxury seating area. This is survival mode right now for the CAA teams! I think sooner than later you will see this conference go FBS, that 12 team playoff is no joke and if a CAA or any other non power 5 conference is licking their chops at chance to run the table and possibly host a playoff game.

ummmm.... Source?

[Steve81]

Hopefully Meades new capacity will be closer to 15-18k. Thee reason is to get to stronger football conference. Please note- UNH unofficial long term-10- 20 years is to get rid of the track. Then bump the football field closer to the "new"grand stands while demolishing the current basketball gym which would be replaced by another grand stand/luxury seating area. This is survival mode right now for the CAA teams! I think sooner than later you will see this conference go FBS, that 12 team playoff is no joke and if a CAA or any other non power 5 conference is licking their chops at chance to run the table and possibly host a playoff game.

ummmm.... Source?

Perhaps a hope and a prayer, but the MAC is at 13 teams and will need a 14th team. Western Kentucky is preferred, but they have all the CUSA teams exit money to consume. Albany would be a tighter footprint wise, but would be nicer to have you guys over Albany.

Noting the MAC media contract is currently double that of the A10 and is close to renewal. Each G5 team earns around 1.7M from the College Football Playoffs. The CFP is through 2032 and not sure about what the P4 will be doing by then.

[ramster]

Hopefully Meades new capacity will be closer to 15-18k. Thee reason is to get to stronger football conference. Please note- UNH unofficial long term-10- 20 years is to get rid of the track. Then bump the football field closer to the "new"grand stands while demolishing the current basketball gym which would be replaced by another grand stand/luxury seating area. This is survival mode right now for the CAA teams! I think sooner than later you will see this conference go FBS, that 12 team playoff is no joke and if a CAA or any other non power 5 conference is licking their chops at chance to run the table and possibly host a playoff game.

ummmm.... Source?

Perhaps a hope and a prayer, but the MAC is at 13 teams and will need a 14th team. Western Kentucky is preferred, but they have all the CUSA teams exit money to consume. Albany would be a tighter footprint wise, but would be nicer to have you guys over Albany.

Noting the MAC media contract is currently double that of the A10 and is close to renewal. Each G5 team earns around 1.7M from the College Football Playoffs. The CFP is through 2032 and not sure about what the P4 will be doing by then.

Steve81,
1. How much did UMass receive from the A10 for all sports and how much did UMass receive from the CAA for Football?
2. How much will UMass receive for all sports from the MAC? Does UMass receive the same amount as all MAC schools? Or is there a gradual increase due to being new?
3. This upcoming season will have 12 teams in the FBS Playoffs. Are they going to 14 teams the following year?
4. What do you think UConn ends up doing for Football and all sports? Is UConn the only Independent FBS team remaining now?

[Steve81]

ummmm.... Source?

Perhaps a hope and a prayer, but the MAC is at 13 teams and will need a 14th team. Western Kentucky is preferred, but they have all the CUSA teams exit money to consume. Albany would be a tighter footprint wise, but would be nicer to have you guys over Albany.

Noting the MAC media contract is currently double that of the A10 and is close to renewal. Each G5 team earns around 1.7M from the College Football Playoffs. The CFP is through 2032 and not sure about what the P4 will be doing by then.

Steve81,
1. How much did UMass receive from the A10 for all sports and how much did UMass receive from the CAA for Football?
2. How much will UMass receive for all sports from the MAC? Does UMass receive the same amount as all MAC schools? Or is there a gradual increase due to being new?
3. This upcoming season will have 12 teams in the FBS Playoffs. Are they going to 14 teams the following year?
4. What do you think UConn ends up doing for Football and all sports? Is UConn the only Independent FBS team remaining now?

Think UConn will eventually get into the ACC and will stay indy for now.
The 12 team is set. 14 teams is a possibility for 2025 and beyond but is unclear. Just know 12 is certain.

The A10 averaged 2 NCAA credits and nothing for COVID so 8M plus this year 2M is the A10 NCAA men's basketball pot of 10M. Teams earning a credit get 75% and unclear how many of those teams out of the 15. So going to over simplify saying 5 teams split 75% and 10 teams split 25% or 250k. Womens did go to the NCAA in 2023 and don't know that stuff, but women's and other sports will be a push in $ in the MAC.

The A10 media was 5M plus secondary streaming. The new contract does not mention the primary so will assume not a big over all raise as will keep it simple.

The MAC is 10M for the primary and 12 teams. Poster is saying the new contract will be 1.5-2M per team. Football, the CAA is unknown as we've been out since 2012 but guessing peanuts. The CFP did give all FCS conferences 1% to split with around 164 teams. We'll get .9M from the CFP but the new CFP reduces independents to 1/5 of a G5 member. We will be G5 and get the 1.7M It also cuts out any money to FCS conferences.

Summary:

A10 around 600k with media and men's NCAA Credits. We got a split of 0.5% of CFP money or around 630k and will be around 900k with Army joining the AAC. (Note: New CFP contract reduces independents to around 350k.)

The MAC will be around 4M.

The plan is 1 buy game. FBS teams get 1.5 to 1.9M and with FCS teams about a third. So a million difference.

These are best guesses, but we'll earn 5M in the MAC with the buy game minus a FCS team on the schedule.

Hope that helps and the money and exposure are the reasons many good and not so great FCS teams try to move up to FBS. There are other reasons as being with peer institutions.