Stadium updating/refurbishing

[bozono]

Maintenance and upkeep of Washington Grizzly Stadium has been neglected for several years. Lack of attention to small maintenance items is obvious. There is so much that could be done to improve the looks of our beautiful facility. It’s a shame to see weeds growing around the outside of the stadium near the walkways..No upkeep of the grounds or shrubbery encircling the stadium.Simple things like a fresh coat of maroon paint on the stadium letters etc..
Not sure if the facility Director has the funding to keep the stadium looking nice or is just overlooking the upkeep. Maybe a group of boosters could get together and volunteer to pull weeds,, plant some nice shrubbery, and do some painting and maintenance. We have a beautiful facility. It just needs some TLC. If the university would request some volunteers to work on these projects I would be first in line!

 

[oldngrizzly]

The university made a crap load of money off the playoffs yet the band had to beg for money to go to Frisco. They should be ashamed of their actions .Maybe they will take all the money they get from the concerts and bring in a couple high paid guess speakers like Kamila Harris or sleepy joe. They will call it a meet and greet while the big dipper will be scooping the ice cream.

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

The university made a crap load of money off the playoffs yet the band had to beg for money to go to Frisco. They should be ashamed of their actions .Maybe they will take all the money they get from the concerts and bring in a couple high paid guess speakers like Kamila Harris or sleepy joe. They will call it a meet and greet while the big dipper will be scooping the ice cream.

Did they make a "crap load"?

 

[AKGriz72]

Re-install the “We Are Montana” signage that was missing at the top of the stadium last season.

 

[GoldStandardGriz]

Make the bobcat figurines in the urinals a permanent fixture.

 

[3-7-77]

:twisted:

Re-install the “We Are Montana” signage that was missing at the top of the stadium last season.

Well, evidently there was enough money budgeted to take it down!

Who is in charge of this cluster?

 

[GrizTexas]

Press Box
Rest Rooms
Concourse signage
Concessions
Entry scanners

Just to start a wish list...

Just WHAT is wrong with what is there NOW? Specifically. I really don't to know. Haven't been to a game in 13+ years.

The 'Press' is a shadow of what it once was, and the few that remain can do, whatever it is they do, from a cel phone. Press time, of the Tribune for example, used to be 5PM. NOT gonna get in any Sunday Edition.

If the coaching staff needs more space, TAKE IT! Places have vacated. Sounds more like a scheme to get someone else to pay for somebody's free seats.

Be specific about those other 'need' areas as well. 26,000 fans STILL have 26,000 bladders, and it takes 4hr+ to process food from mouth to anus. Nothing changed. Take a dump BEFORE THE GAME! Plan ahead. Individual responsibility. If someone is too frail for the facilities available, then STAY THE HELL HOME!

Concourse signage? This ain't some NFL stadium. I don't even understand the issue here. See. Go. Use your feet and brain. Maybe I just discovered the problem with that last sentence. :roll:

Glad to know that your 13+ year absence has provided such keen perspective... My option is based on the $hit ton of money I pay to attend the games every year. I BTW enjoy going and feel its well worth it!!!

Upgrades and/or stadium maintenance need to happen as a regular course of business, the game day experience has certainly changed over the last ten/twenty years and to provide what the fan needs requires that some things need updating! WGS has seen increased crowds, more season ticket holders, required heightened security, increased pricing for tickets and concessions, increased cost of maintenance, heightened demand for help, trouble staffing game day events not to mention social pressure to add alcohol sales, seating with added amenities and more seating in general.

So to answer you question:

Press Box (or if you can't handle the name, Coaches box): needs to upgraded for the teams and the game day field experience, actual press facilities need to be in line with top flight facilities especially if we want to call it the "Mecca of FCS" football.
Rest Rooms: need to be more in line with handling 25K then 18K, need some traffic flow upgrade to get people in and out and need game day broadcast audio feeds so half the people using the facilities aren't trying to keep up with the game on their I-phone.
Concourse Signage: Not the NFL but a premium stadium location that should have better location and directional signage and way better branding.
Concessions: Better options and certainly better space for handling the crowds. Better prep area would make for a way better end product.
Entry Scanners: Saying this because the scanners where I go in have had issues numerous times over the last few years, seem to be slow.

Overall IMHO I believe the stadium staff does a fantastic job every game! I can only image how it would be with more to work with...

Feel free to add to the list...

 

[MissoulaMarinerFan]

Press Box
Rest Rooms
Concourse signage
Concessions
Entry scanners

Just to start a wish list...

Just WHAT is wrong with what is there NOW? Specifically. I really don't to know. Haven't been to a game in 13+ years.

The 'Press' is a shadow of what it once was, and the few that remain can do, whatever it is they do, from a cel phone. Press time, of the Tribune for example, used to be 5PM. NOT gonna get in any Sunday Edition.

If the coaching staff needs more space, TAKE IT! Places have vacated. Sounds more like a scheme to get someone else to pay for somebody's free seats.

Be specific about those other 'need' areas as well. 26,000 fans STILL have 26,000 bladders, and it takes 4hr+ to process food from mouth to anus. Nothing changed. Take a dump BEFORE THE GAME! Plan ahead. Individual responsibility. If someone is too frail for the facilities available, then STAY THE HELL HOME!

Concourse signage? This ain't some NFL stadium. I don't even understand the issue here. See. Go. Use your feet and brain. Maybe I just discovered the problem with that last sentence. :roll:

I mentioned some of the issues here re: press box: https://egriz.com/grizboard/viewtopic.php?p=1625491#p1625491

 

[3-7-77]

Specifics is what I asked for, and received. Thank you. I used the 13 year caveat to show my limited point of view. Over that period of time, I would have expected normal wear and tear, which should have been handled in ' Maintenance and Upkeep'(or whatever it's called by the bean counters). I probably would have been aghast if I took in a game last year and saw what has been described.
There has been a lot of water under the bridge since my last game attendance. Just mentioning the names involved would take another paragraph. I will spare you.

 

[griz4life]

Geez. There were chairbacks added last season. Not by favorite, but an upgrade. The Griz locker room is still pretty new and awesome. The food options have been getting better.

I'm not a fan of the increased volume of the sound system, which became painfully loud about half way through last season. I'm going have to start wearing earplugs to the game.

I think the plan has always been to improve the restrooms, and each expansion has included restrooms.

 

[gotgame75]

That doesn't make them right!

"Buried in cellars and storerooms"....they couldn't wait another year....or two? No sense re-hashing the whole F'd up mess, but the IPF still isn't completed. There is a line from 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' where Indy is talking to his father, and says(paraphrasing) "You taught me people that had been dead for 500 years were more important than I was(the present time)."

The museum could have waited a couple of years, while tending to the present(our successful football team, y'know, the one responsible for filling WGS nine times last year, thereby underwriting HOW MUCH of UMs spending(?), and propping up how many businesses(?), and filling the GSA coffers). History is made TODAY.

Question: Just who is this 'Press' that the Press Box' is supposed to serve? Missoulian and Tribune are all but officially dead. Just who are these people who couldn't write their God given wisdom from their paid for seats, or more likely their recliner in front of the TV?

What a bizarre argument. What in the hell does the art museum have to do with the practice facility?

 

[3-7-77]

You must have been asleep during the early IPF continual delays BS, then put off a year, and the museum given a go. Do your own research.

 

[mtgriz]

I'll provide the research. Here is an excerpt from the website on the history of the museum. The successful completion of a stand-alone museum building is over twenty years in the making. A lot of people put in a lot of time and effort (and money) to make it happen. Like the IPF, it is privately funded.

"In 2002, Manuela Well-Off-Man, a German-born scholar with a focus on Native American art, started as curator and served as interim director until Nelson Britt was hired in 2003 with the express purpose of pursuing the construction of a new museum building. Britt died after eight months in the position and Barbara Koostra was named director in 2005.

The collection grew steadily under Koostra who developed an expansion plan with the construction of a new building at its core. Koostra made numerous attempts to build a new facility and also worked to increase professional practices at the museum, pursuing long range planning, revising collections management policies, and creating a Docent program. She hired Brandon Reintjes as curator in 2008 followed by Jeremy Canwell in 2015.

Under Koostra and Canwell, the museum secured the gift of nine paintings from the collection of Senator William A. Clark. This impressive grouping includes a relief sculpture of the Madonna and Child attributed to Italian renaissance sculptor Donatello, a landscape by English artist Thomas Gainsborough, and paintings by baroque artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard and French 19th century artists Jean-Charles Cazin, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Jules Dupré.

In 2018, the MMAC returned to the School of Visual and Media Arts. President Seth Bodnar’s administration prioritized the construction of a new building on the university campus and determined that it would be 100% privately funded. UM Art History and Criticism Professor Dr. H. Rafael Chacón was named Bruce and Suzanne Crocker Director of the MMAC the following year. Having taught art history and criticism in the School of Visual and Media Arts for 25 years, Chacón furthered the museum’s priorities and realigned others by prioritizing students as the museum’s primary constituents, seeking better integration with the university’s academic programs, diversifying the museum staff, globalizing its collections, forging new links across the community and state, and continued prioritizing of fundraising for a new building.

In 2019, a lead gift of $5 million dollars from Terry and Pat Payne catalyzed the construction of the first permanent home for the largest and deepest collection of art in the state. This foundational gift was only the start and inspired the generosity of many other donors, resulting in a $15 million dollar, state-of-the-art facility that opened its doors on the University of Montana campus in September 2023"

 

[p8nted]

"Buried in cellars and storerooms"....they couldn't wait another year....or two? No sense re-hashing the whole F'd up mess, but the IPF still isn't completed. There is a line from 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' where Indy is talking to his father, and says(paraphrasing) "You taught me people that had been dead for 500 years were more important than I was(the present time)."

The museum could have waited a couple of years, while tending to the present(our successful football team, y'know, the one responsible for filling WGS nine times last year, thereby underwriting HOW MUCH of UMs spending(?), and propping up how many businesses(?), and filling the GSA coffers). History is made TODAY.

Question: Just who is this 'Press' that the Press Box' is supposed to serve? Missoulian and Tribune are all but officially dead. Just who are these people who couldn't write their God given wisdom from their paid for seats, or more likely their recliner in front of the TV?

What a bizarre argument. What in the hell does the art museum have to do with the practice facility?

Art Museum probably had some significant donor and alumni money and expectations attached. Yes people give to a university for things besides Football.

 

[GrizGeneral]

The bathrooms are terrible, especially for bigger games. I'm not sure, practically, how you could expand them, but it really needs to happen.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

The restroom complaints always confuse me. Every well-attended game at any stadium I've ever been to has the same exact scene.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

The restroom complaints always confuse me. Every well-attended game at any stadium I've ever been to has the same exact scene.

There is no arguing that point (other stadiums), but the WA Griz stadium's crowd has grown from about 13,000 to 26,000 with no scale-increase in facilities. I quit trying to use restroom and get concessions at the Half Time, because the crowd numbers overwhelm service capacity. & Not to mention the pipes leaking and breakage.

RE: the press box/coaches box, it is as bad as reported and is a detracting factor for getting Nationally-televised game crews.

 

[alabamagrizzly]

The restroom complaints always confuse me. Every well-attended game at any stadium I've ever been to has the same exact scene.

I’m part camel so it doesn’t affect me.

 

[3-7-77]

Art Museum probably had some significant donor and alumni money and expectations attached. Yes people give to a university for things besides Football.

Perhaps the donors and alumni could fund their own web site so they have an appropriate place to tell all the museum fans about whatever it is museum fans crow about.

 

[mthoopsfan]

“The new facility was made possible by the generosity of many donors who gifted and pledged more than $15 million to the UM Foundation for the project, including a contribution of $12.5 million from longtime UM donors Patt and Terry Payne.”