More seats at KBS

[mountaineerman]

Basketball is a total different animal . If we are to host the likes of Ecu, unc,and ncstate we will need bigger and those days are coming!

[97grad]

Are there any charts, demographics that show where our active Yosef (season ticket holders) live? I wonder how many live within 2 hours of Boone? It gets expensive to travel up to 3 hours away, pay for tickets, hotel and food. I'm not conjuring up excuses. Maybe just explanations- of course this isn't a relevation.

three hours you can drive up and back same day and not have a hotel bill

I do this with my family 6 times a year. Not bad at all. Especially with 3:30 kick-offs.

To each their own. For us, the 3+ hours from Raleigh is really pushing it for a day trip with the kids. That and we enjoy hanging around the High Country and being able to take our time, even if it means we can't make every game.

[AppDawg]

Are there any charts, demographics that show where our active Yosef (season ticket holders) live? I wonder how many live within 2 hours of Boone? It gets expensive to travel up to 3 hours away, pay for tickets, hotel and food. I'm not conjuring up excuses. Maybe just explanations- of course this isn't a relevation.

three hours you can drive up and back same day and not have a hotel bill

I do this with my family 6 times a year. Not bad at all. Especially with 3:30 kick-offs.

To each their own. For us, the 3+ hours from Raleigh is really pushing it for a day trip with the kids. That and we enjoy hanging around the High Country and being able to take our time, even if it means we can't make every game.

Certainly understand kids. We have a 5yr old and a 2yr old.

Usually hit the road around 8:00 when the kennel opens for us to board our dog. We drop him off on the way out of town typically rolling into Boone between 10:30 and 11. Provides a good 3 hours or so of tailgate time. After games we grab a bite to eat. Before hitting the road, we put the youngin's in their pajamas. They fall asleep on the ride home, then easy transfer to bed.

With a 3:30 game, we are usually home no later than 11pm, depending on what we grab go eat. If we eat while on the go, have made it back to Raleigh by 10.

[97grad]

Are there any charts, demographics that show where our active Yosef (season ticket holders) live? I wonder how many live within 2 hours of Boone? It gets expensive to travel up to 3 hours away, pay for tickets, hotel and food. I'm not conjuring up excuses. Maybe just explanations- of course this isn't a relevation.

three hours you can drive up and back same day and not have a hotel bill

I do this with my family 6 times a year. Not bad at all. Especially with 3:30 kick-offs.

To each their own. For us, the 3+ hours from Raleigh is really pushing it for a day trip with the kids. That and we enjoy hanging around the High Country and being able to take our time, even if it means we can't make every game.

Certainly understand kids. We have a 5yr old and a 2yr old.

Usually hit the road around 8:00 when the kennel opens for us to board our dog. We drop him off on the way out of town typically rolling into Boone between 10:30 and 11. Provides a good 3 hours or so of tailgate time. After games we grab a bite to eat. Before hitting the road, we put the youngin's in their pajamas. They fall asleep on the ride home, then easy transfer to bed.

With a 3:30 game, we are usually home no later than 11pm, depending on what we grab go eat. If we eat while on the go, have made it back to Raleigh by 10.

Yeah we've done a similar routine before, but can't handle it every game. We typically get up there by 11 or 12 on Saturday, hang around town, hit the game, get dinner then crash at a hotel. Sunday we get up and go hike somewhere off the parkway, hit Blowing Rock for lunch then head home. The hotel definitely adds significant cost, but makes it feel more like a mini-vacation than 6 hours in the car with a football game in between

[97grad]

three hours you can drive up and back same day and not have a hotel bill

I do this with my family 6 times a year. Not bad at all. Especially with 3:30 kick-offs.

To each their own. For us, the 3+ hours from Raleigh is really pushing it for a day trip with the kids. That and we enjoy hanging around the High Country and being able to take our time, even if it means we can't make every game.

Certainly understand kids. We have a 5yr old and a 2yr old.

Usually hit the road around 8:00 when the kennel opens for us to board our dog. We drop him off on the way out of town typically rolling into Boone between 10:30 and 11. Provides a good 3 hours or so of tailgate time. After games we grab a bite to eat. Before hitting the road, we put the youngin's in their pajamas. They fall asleep on the ride home, then easy transfer to bed.

With a 3:30 game, we are usually home no later than 11pm, depending on what we grab go eat. If we eat while on the go, have made it back to Raleigh by 10.

Yeah we've done a similar routine before, but can't handle it every game. We typically get up there by 11 or 12 on Saturday, hang around town, hit the game, get dinner then crash at a hotel. Sunday we get up and go hike somewhere off the parkway, hit Blowing Rock, eat lunch then head home. The hotel definitely adds significant cost, but makes it feel more like a mini-vacation than 6 hours in the car with a football game in between

[AppDawg]

three hours you can drive up and back same day and not have a hotel bill

I do this with my family 6 times a year. Not bad at all. Especially with 3:30 kick-offs.

To each their own. For us, the 3+ hours from Raleigh is really pushing it for a day trip with the kids. That and we enjoy hanging around the High Country and being able to take our time, even if it means we can't make every game.

Certainly understand kids. We have a 5yr old and a 2yr old.

Usually hit the road around 8:00 when the kennel opens for us to board our dog. We drop him off on the way out of town typically rolling into Boone between 10:30 and 11. Provides a good 3 hours or so of tailgate time. After games we grab a bite to eat. Before hitting the road, we put the youngin's in their pajamas. They fall asleep on the ride home, then easy transfer to bed.

With a 3:30 game, we are usually home no later than 11pm, depending on what we grab go eat. If we eat while on the go, have made it back to Raleigh by 10.

Yeah we've done a similar routine before, but can't handle it every game. We typically get up there by 11 or 12 on Saturday, hang around town, hit the game, get dinner then crash at a hotel. Sunday we get up and go hike somewhere off the parkway, hit Blowing Rock for lunch then head home. The hotel definitely adds significant cost, but makes it feel more like a mini-vacation than 6 hours in the car with a football game in between

Hotel or cabin is definitely preferable and more enjoyable.

The one off games are not bad, but the back-to-back weekends come quick and the 3 of 4 weekends in a month with home games start to feel like you can't catch your breath. Glad we only have 1 back-to-back this year.

Luckily for us, my daughter is tracked out the 2nd week of Sept and I was able to schedule a CPE trip in the mountains between the two games. For the 1st time with the entire family we are making a week of it.... 1 trip and 2 football games.

Can't wait to be in Boone the days leading up to Miami.

[DaphneUrquhart]

As a recent grad, I live 350 miles away from Boone, and I'll likely only make it to 1 game this year. I probably won't be able to make it to any game after October as I'll be heading off for the Coast Guard.

Some other friends that I graduated with are heading back up to Boone for the ODU game and I couldn't be more excited for App State football again.

Coasties rule! Thank you.

[hotrod2001]

If they ever want some seats, they should contact Bruton Smith and get the backstretch bleachers off old North Wilkesboro. They're in perfect condition and there's about 30k worth of them just sitting off 421.

[AppDawg]

If they ever want some seats, they should contact Bruton Smith and get the backstretch bleachers off old North Wilkesboro. They're in perfect condition and there's about 30k worth of them just sitting off 421.

If Bruton was of the giving heart, that is a great idea. However, I am afraid Bruton would charge an arm & a leg for those things... Greedy, arrogant, NASCAR ruining, S.O.B.

[MtnDevil95]

Having been a part of building some large temporary stadium type installations, bringing in temporary seats is not horribly expensive, or time consuming for that matter. While I'd love to see KBS expand on a permanent basis, I also agree App needs to see sell-outs for games that are not just the once in a season (or many seasons) marquee like Miami or ECU. It wouldn't be completely unreasonable to close the end in front of the field house with temporary bleachers that "connect" the East and West side for 1 game.

[fjblair]

Count me among those who believe we're not quite ready for expansion ... but we're close. I'd rather see a crowd of 28,000 crammed into a stadium that seats 25,000 than the same crowd in a stadium that holds 35,000. Major league baseball teams are downsizing for that reason. Duke basketball never upsized, preferring its intimate atmosphere.

I'd like to see us focus on getting ready for expansion. That is, do the things -- expensive things -- that will position us for future expansion. We need to, 1) relocate the track, 2) tear down Owens, 3) lower the field or move the lower portion of the east stands closer to the west stands, 4) regrade and take out the U in the the south end zone, and 5) add luxury suites to the east side. None of this will add a meaningful number of seats, but it will position us nicely for the time when we have to expand.

I like your ideas but it would seem inefficient to do all of the above and not add the seating.

[AppOrange]

Think of it this way, you don't build a parking garage at the mall JUST because you don't have enough parking at Christmas. Trying to add a ton of seats for MIami is an expense I don't think is justified, and would not be a smart use of money. It's more expensive than you think to add those seats and take them down, and I don't want to see more aluminum the rest of the home games. It's one mans opinion that we are doing the right thing here.

Actually, I believe that you will find that when malls are being built, the parking capacity is absolutely set based on the peek Christmas season demands. That's why, on almost any other day during the year, there are numerous empty spaces in mall parking lots. It might not be the closest parking, but it's certainly there! I'm not saying we need to built "tons" of seating, but the idea that we need to average +30K fans before expanding our PERMANENT seating is just wrong. We have used temporary seating for years. Yes, our attendance has dropped recently and that has been beat to death. Let's see what our average attendance is this year. I will wager that it takes a nice jump upward.

We should not be relying on temporary or grass seats to accommodate normal volumes. Right now, we are! I think that an expansion that puts permanent seats around 30K is reasonable. We absolutely DO need a fiscally responsible plan for funding any additions, meaning it should not impact existing debt retirement and should not ride on the backs of student fees. That is the valid reason for wating...not attendance. I'm not sure how that happens, but that's the administration's job. Hopefully they can figure it out.

As soon as I win that doggone lottery, we will be much closer! How does Campbell Concourse sound to everybody? HA!

Well we will have to agree to disagree because most businesses, from my experience, would not make such an investment for such a small window of need, weather it be parking or any other accommodation that would not have a good ROI. In regards to malls, yes, parking is ample for most of the year (more of a result of spaces needed per square footage code) but also typically lacking during the big shopping season. Your logic would suggest shopping centers all have adequate parking during these peak times and tons of extra parking the rest of the year. I simply do not see this as the case anywhere I have been. I agree with the rest of your post on responsible funding plans, but just do not see a need for added spaces when they haven't been needed in years. Some of our biggest games have had too many empty seats, adding more now does not seem prudent. If we start seeing more than 1 sell out a year, I'm right with you.

I have yet to see a mall that doesn't have a huge parking lot. For 11 months out of the year most never fill up.

As an aside why do all Walmarts (arguably one of the most profitable and successful chains in the world) choose to install 30 or so checkout lines with registers but never operate all of them? Now during the holidays they ramp up employees and operate more lines. They don't tear them out when shopping drops off.

I completely agree that it would be fiscally irresponsible to expand to 35-40k permanent seating. I just don't think we will maintain an alumni base large enough. Some of these schools playing in huge stadiums with 15,000 fans look pitiful.

Correct, malls have huge parking lots because they have to, by code their square footage dictates the amount of spaces they have to have. But still never enough aound the holidays, people are always looking for spaces and complaining. They don't build more decks or loads of parking just for those days, the cost/maintenance does not justify it. As for Walmart lines, yes, when building new facilities it is easier to go ahead and put in extra, but I would also contest that their are lots of times when most of those lanes could be open on a year round basis, like weekends. It's infuriating when you have to wait in line for 10 minutes because they don't open more lines - but they choose not to for a variety of reasons I'm sure. My point, they could be used, our added seats at Kbs right now, would not be needed except 1 game, I think the money could be used for other things.

[Rekdiver]

Let's face it guys we have to tap into many new fans PLUS there is a very big group of 30 somethings GS I know who haven t been to a game nor share the same passion we do. Only a bandwagon will get these people up here. ALSO tv and streaming hurts a lot also. I do believe a couple more years of D-1 exposure will get us a much needed attendance boost from people living within 100 miles and a big thanks to Wake and Miami for helping!!!!

[8993]

An easy-ish solution to all of this would be what I did below and it wouldn't cost as much as a complete regrade of the entire stadium. By removing the track (or at least covering it during football season with turf), regrading the hill seats further down and closer to the field, and extending the temporary seats to stretch the length of the endzone, we would add a minimum of 5,000 seats, allowing us to attract some bigger schools that are looking for that minimum 30,000 capacity. This also would help to avoid seeing any addition aluminum in the fall, as we wouldn't be adding any additional seats to the visitor's side.

[asu66]

There is no visitor's side!

[sixtoes9134]

That's pretty cool looking and easily doable. I still personally envision horse-shoeing in the grass hill.

[bigdaddyg]

An easy-ish solution to all of this would be what I did below and it wouldn't cost as much as a complete regrade of the entire stadium. By removing the track (or at least covering it during football season with turf), regrading the hill seats further down and closer to the field, and extending the temporary seats to stretch the length of the endzone, we would add a minimum of 5,000 seats, allowing us to attract some bigger schools that are looking for that minimum 30,000 capacity. This also would help to avoid seeing any addition aluminum in the fall, as we wouldn't be adding any additional seats to the visitor's side.

That's pretty much what I would do. Cover the track, put in 5k temporary seats on the field house end and we are at 30k without much capital expensed. Once football is over we still have the track. Maybe down the road as demand increases and revenue goes up we go permanent and remove the track. Too easy.

[Saint3333]

I like the idea of moving the field towards the west side and redoing the lower east side.

[MtnDevil95]

Another relatively inexpensive option for 1 game expansion scenarios would be to extend upward the temporary bleachers behind the end zone. Go across the width of the field as 8993 suggests, and also add higher rows. I don't know if they could be doubled going up without covering the crappy scoreboard on the top of the field house, but that thing desperately needs to be replaced anyway. A new one could be mounted higher to accommodate expanding the end zone bleachers with the option of adding 10,000 seats and getting KBS over 35,000 seats plus GA.