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Why Not Joe Albi? (let's not derail it)

mtgriz

mtgriz

Well-known member
DONOR
From Wiki: Joe Albi Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Spokane, Washington. The field was changed a decade later to infilled FieldTurf in 2006. The stadium has a current seating capacity of 28,646.

A few just off the top of my head:

1. Eastern Washington is an excellent team. They really don't need the red carpet gimmick any longer.

2. More fans of Eastern Washington could enjoy the game in person. Even if they allowed 5,000 Griz tickets they would still have a significant home field advantage fan-wise.

3. Would help generate more excitement for EWU football in the greater Spokane area, a strategy that presupposes EWU does want to grow their following.

I know it's not going to happen as logistically it's not practical in this short timeframe. Add your own ideas but please let's make this a worthwhile thread. I'd especially like to hear from the EWU folks on this.
 
It's mostly about access to students. While it's a safe bet that more students would go to the games if they were there now than did back in the 80's and 90's, I think it'd be a smaller number that attends games on campus now.

The other piece of this is that playing games out at old Joe Albi is part of the reason that EWU is in the predicament they are in now with Roos Field and not having an adequate on-campus facility in terms of seating capacity and just general appeal. If they had invested in old Woodward Field some 20 years ago instead of continuing to play games in Spokane we'd probably have a better on-campus venue now. The real solution is to continue to upgrade/expand the on-campus venue. Nobody really wants to play out at Joe Albi again...but if it comes down to the University's hand being forced, they'd probably do it. I'm not a fan of the idea.
 
I honestly don't understand why they don't play every game there. I think it makes a ton of sense.
 
I should clarify...the premise of the thread is that EWU has a contingency plan, for a high interest game such as this, to move the game to Joe Albi.

I think on-campus football is almost always preferable.
 
If I was an EWU fan or player, my feeling would be NO.

College football belongs on campus. And it isn't EWU's job to get a bigger venue so more of the opposing teams fans can come.
 
EWURanger29 said:
It's mostly about access to students. While it's a safe bet that more students would go to the games if they were there now than did back in the 80's and 90's, I think it'd be a smaller number that attends games on campus now.

The other piece of this is that playing games out at old Joe Albi is part of the reason that EWU is in the predicament they are in now with Roos Field and not having an adequate on-campus facility in terms of seating capacity and just general appeal. If they had invested in old Woodward Field some 20 years ago instead of continuing to play games in Spokane we'd probably have a better on-campus venue now. The real solution is to continue to upgrade/expand the on-campus venue. Nobody really wants to play out at Joe Albi again...but if it comes down to the University's hand being forced, they'd probably do it. I'm not a fan of the idea.
Click to expand...

The first upgrade, should be the removal of the red grass.
 
EWURanger29 said:
It's mostly about access to students. While it's a safe bet that more students would go to the games if they were there now than did back in the 80's and 90's, I think it'd be a smaller number that attends games on campus now.

The other piece of this is that playing games out at old Joe Albi is part of the reason that EWU is in the predicament they are in now with Roos Field and not having an adequate on-campus facility in terms of seating capacity and just general appeal. If they had invested in old Woodward Field some 20 years ago instead of continuing to play games in Spokane we'd probably have a better on-campus venue now. The real solution is to continue to upgrade/expand the on-campus venue. Nobody really wants to play out at Joe Albi again...but if it comes down to the University's hand being forced, they'd probably do it. I'm not a fan of the idea.
Click to expand...

I get what you're saying about students, but you could bus them in like the Rose Bowl. It's not like there are a lot of students at home games now. I bet 8 out of 10 would still go. Why not upgrade Albi instead of building something from scratch? It's a great venue in a better area, and could easily be expanded if EWU ever moved up, etc. EWU could slap some boxes in and build a rad locker room complex for a fraction of the price of the Gotwood Project, right?
 
mtgriz said:
I should clarify...the premise of the thread is that EWU has a contingency plan, for a high interest game such as this, to move the game to Joe Albi.

I think on-campus football is almost always preferable.
Click to expand...

Got it. My bad.
I wish they would, but they won't.
 
mtgriz said:
I should clarify...the premise of the thread is that EWU has a contingency plan, for a high interest game such as this, to move the game to Joe Albi.

I think on-campus football is almost always preferable.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong. Albi is an infinitely better venue, IMO, so I won't argue that. I attended many games there when I was younger and always thought it was a pretty good place to watch a game...especially when they instituted the Beer Garden that overlooked the west end zone.

And now that EWU actually has a decent following in the area, it would probably sellout for a game like UM...and UM will obviously travel well and has a solid alumni base in the area. People have discussed this on our board as well in the past. I just don't see it happening under the current AD due to the reasons I posted above...unless something happens in the future and our hand is forced to play in Spokane if the on campus venue doesn't get expanded rapidly enough. To be honest, we don't need a stadium the size of Joe Albi at this point, because there isn't as much of a demand for FCS football in Spokane as there is in Missoula. The numbers are increasing year by year, but we're not going to draw the kind of crowds like you guys do in Missoula playing FCS football. So, a roughly 16-17 seat on-campus venue would be ideal for EWU, as it would accommodate the crowds we get now and give us a little room to grow for the future. Maybe we can strike up a deal with Spokane Parks and Recreation and transplant Albi to Cheney. :lol:
 
The real question might be, why wasn't Washington State University or Eastern Washington University established in Spokane in the first place? Instead they were placed in Podunk towns in the middle of nowhere.
 
Most of the students at EWU commute from Spokane anyway, so I'm not sure I buy the "more students attend on campus" gig.
 
Fahque said:
The real question might be, why wasn't Washington State University or Eastern Washington University established in Spokane in the first place? Instead they were placed in Podunk towns in the middle of nowhere.
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Had to look it up. Pretty interesting:

Eastern Washington University was established in 1882 by a $10,000 grant from expressman Benjamin Pierce Cheney, and was originally known as Benjamin P. Cheney Academy to honor its founder. In 1889 the school was renamed State Normal School and in 1937 to Eastern Washington College of Education. The campus grew quickly in size following World War II. The school became Eastern Washington State College. During this era, Eastern added various graduate and undergraduate degree programs. In 1977, the school's name was changed for the final time to Eastern Washington University by the Washington State Legislature.



Washington State College was established by the Washington Legislature on March 28, 1890, less than five months after statehood. The institution was one of the land-grant colleges created under the 1862 federal Morrill Act signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. The federal land grants for the new institution included 90,000 acres (360 km2) of federal land for an agricultural college and 100,000 acres (400 km2) for a school of science.[9]

After an extended search for a location, the state's new land-grant college opened in Pullman on January 13, 1892. The year 1897 saw the first graduating class of seven men and women.[10] The school changed names from Washington Agricultural College and School of Science to State College of Washington in 1905, commonly called "Washington State College," and then to Washington State University 55 years ago in 1959.
 
CDAGRIZ said:
Most of the students at EWU commute from Spokane anyway, so I'm not sure I buy the "more students attend on campus" gig.
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That used to be true. When I attended EWU most of the students did commute from Spokane. Today however the majority of the 13,000 students live on campus or in apartments in Cheney.
 
EWU Grad 82 said:
CDAGRIZ said:
Most of the students at EWU commute from Spokane anyway, so I'm not sure I buy the "more students attend on campus" gig.
Click to expand...

That used to be true. When I attended EWU most of the students did commute from Spokane. Today however the majority of the 13,000 students live on campus or in apartments in Cheney.
Click to expand...


Hmm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheney,_Washington#Economy

"Once a booming railroad town and county seat, Cheney is a bedroom community to the city of Spokane. Many people who live in Cheney work and shop in Spokane, while over half of the student population at Eastern Washington University commutes to classes in Cheney daily."

They don't cite a source, I'll give you that.
 
I live in Spokane, my ex wife attends EWU, as do many of our friends, so I speak from a position of experience.

EWU could put the Griz game in Joe Albi every other year, easily. Spokane is starting to get behind that team (finally) and there could be 25k in that stadium easily.

It's safe to say that over half of EWU's students commute from Spokane. Cheney is a little shit hole of a town, with virtually nothing for students to do. Anyone with 2 shekels to rub together gets the hell out of Cheney as soon as possible.
 
FireGriz said:
I live in Spokane, my ex wife attends EWU, as do many of our friends, so I speak from a position of experience.

EWU could put the Griz game in Joe Albi every other year, easily. Spokane is starting to get behind that team (finally) and there could be 25k in that stadium easily.

It's safe to say that over half of EWU's students commute from Spokane. Cheney is a little shit hole of a town, with virtually nothing for students to do. Anyone with 2 shekels to rub together gets the hell out of Cheney as soon as possible.
Click to expand...


I've been wondering the same thing. Haven't UM/EWU games been played there before?
 
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