New Football Stadium

[Nighthawk]

So what do you think about the possible new 50,000 seat stadium that would be built on the Chili Greens golf course. It would be a joint venture between UNO and the Nighthawks and would be ready for the first year of Division 1 football for UNO.

[nebugeater]

So what do you think about the possible new 50,000 seat stadium that would be built on the Chili Greens golf course. It would be a joint venture between UNO and the Nighthawks and would be ready for the first year of Division 1 football for UNO.

Probably getting a bit ahead of ourselves here.  The NH have played exactly one game.  UNO has not made an official move to D1.  That being the case there is no problem with planning ahead but lets see where things are a little down the road.  If all things fall into place then I am sure it will be supported.... by some.

[Big E]

Not gonna happen.

The largest average 1-AA attendance in 2009 was Montana at 24,417, with a stadium that officially holds 25,200... and that fan base is bat-|expletive| looney for the Grizzlies.

Yale draws 21K plus in a stadium that holds over 64K.  The second largest 1-AA stadium I could find was Harvard at just shy of 31K.  By my count, only two other schools (Delaware and Appalachian State) draw more than 20K for their games, and don't fill their stadiums.

That's not to say that UNO isn't going 1-AA.  Count me in the group that calls it a near-term inevitability.  But there's not going to be a 50K seat stadium for a pro league in it's second year (with 6 home games?) and a 1-AA team that doesn't exist yet.  Plus, where are you going to find 50K people to go to a 1-AA game on a Saturday when the Huskers are playing on TV every week?  Hope no one minds 8K people in a 50K seat stadium, or playing on a lot of Tuesday nights.

All that being said, I'd be willing to take wagers on the expansion of Caniglia on UNO's campus.  They can go pretty much any direction except west and get to 15K relatively easily.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Horrible location.

Yes, Caniglia could and should be filled in as a bowl. It would be the perfect sized "small" D-1 stadium, nestled right on campus with Elmwood Park in the background.

That would also be a great place for the Nighthawks to play.

[almighty_tuna]

That would also be a great place for the Nighthawks to play.

For sure.  Because we *definitely* want to limit accessibility for fans and drive up ticket costs.

[Big E]

Oops... I left off that I thought it would make sense for UNO to play at Ameritrade if they didn't want to do the on-campus expansion.

I would assume streetcar access to UNO in that timeframe, as well, which might alleviate some of Adam's concerns (although I don't see the Nighthawks ever playing there).

[almighty_tuna]

I would assume streetcar access to UNO in that timeframe, as well, which might alleviate some of Adam's concerns (although I don't see the Nighthawks ever playing there).

No. It just doesn't make sense to my why one would stick a UFL team in a 15k capacity D1AA stadium over TD Ameritrade's >25,000 seats and better accommodations.  By limit accessibility I wasn't referring to being able to get to the stadium, I was referring to the lack of seating capacity.  

Let me put this in terms most can understand: I think it's a great idea to move the Huskers to Seacrest Field and fill in that south hill along "A" Street with bleachers instead of adding an expensive suite box onto East Stadium.

[Big E]

Oh, yeah, an African swallow, maybe.  But not a European swallow.  That's my point.

It would be silly for the Nighthawks to play in anything smaller than TD Ameritrade.  It would be silly to build anything bigger for UNO.

Maybe Creighton could get a football team and draw 50K...

[Guest]

Why not just expand Caniglia to ~25,000.

[Big E]

Physically difficult to do without knocking down the field house AND the parking structure.

I think you could add in the endzones and build east over the parking structure and get to 15K without too much demo.  

Granted, I'm just eyeballing the area via Google maps...

[Guest]

They could always take out the track as well and put a new grandstand up on the east side. Between that and new seating in the ends, the capacity could at least be 20,000.

[S33]

Because, in an effort to expand seating capacity and update facilities, nobody has ever demolished a bleacher, field house, or moved parking further from the stadium.

[Big E]

There's costs associated with demo.  I thought maybe they'd want to save a few bucks and not do it if not necessary.

I don't know what the magic number is in there, but I'm sure they could be creative and get near 25K without having to knock down anything but endzone trees.  I'm guessing the magic number is closer to 15K.

[iamjacobm]

If UNO expanded I would hope they would take the bleachers out anyways and replace it with concrete like a real stadium.  And a horseshoe is what the school is looking at.  Trev Alberts has a plan in place for the stadium to stay on campus.  

And yes a 50,000 seat stadium would be about about 20,000 too big for the Nighthawks.  3 NFL teams didn't even average 50,000 for the 2009 season.  That big would just be the O Royals all over again.

[nebugeater]

The Omaha Nighthawks can always go 50 miles down the road and play in the 80,000 seat stadium that has open dates.    :;):

[nativeomahan]

There is no way in heck Omaha is going to see a 30,000 football stadium, much less a 50,000 seat stadium, in the next 20 years.  

I agree that Ameritrade is not a proper venue for football.  The trend for many years has been for football and baseball to be played in stadiums designed for their specific sport.  The layouts are very different, plus football just tears up the expensive turf that needs to be in pristine condition for baseball.

[erik2]

The Omaha Nighthawks can always go 50 miles down the road and play in the 80,000 seat stadium that has open dates.    :;):

I agree.. This league is moving fast and if a joint venture between UNO and the nighthawks cannot complete this task, the team would be better to move to Lincoln into Memorial Stadium.

Lincoln is just a few thousand people from surpassing Green Bay in size (metropolitan area) and people in Omaha wouldn't mind driving to Lincoln to watch them play (like the Huskers).

[2Adam29]

and people in Omaha wouldn't mind driving to Lincoln to watch them play (like the Huskers).

this is where you are VERY wrong. If I was willing to drive 60 miles to see a football game, I'd attend the Husker games rather than watch them on TV. If the Nighthawks moved to Lincoln, it would do two very bad things.

#1: It would ruin the convenience of the game in town
#2: It wouldn't be "OMAHA'S" team anymore.

Sorry, this is just my opinion, but I think you can kill the Nighthawks by moving them outside of Omaha city limits.

[Big E]

Based on my observations Friday and anecdotes I've heard since, there may be a teensy chance they don't draw that well on Lincoln's campus without the beer flowing in the stadium...

I'll amend my "not gonna happen" stance to allow for the possibility that the UFL might take off and become a defacto AAA for the NFL (plus I forgot about the pending strike, which opens a window).  But the only football specific stadium you're going to see built in Omaha is going to have to be an off-campus (for alcohol sales) joint venture of some sort between the city/state, UNO and the Nighthawks.

If that doesn't happen, expect to see UNO expand to 10-15K on campus (assuming a move to 1-AA) with the occasional game at Ameritrade.

And I'll qualify all of this by saying this is what I believe make sense - which isn't exactly the first criteria for building stadiums around here.

[joeglow]

Based on my observations Friday and anecdotes I've heard since, there may be a teensy chance they don't draw that well on Lincoln's campus without the beer flowing in the stadium...

I'll amend my "not gonna happen" stance to allow for the possibility that the UFL might take off and become a defacto AAA for the NFL (plus I forgot about the pending strike, which opens a window).  But the only football specific stadium you're going to see built in Omaha is going to have to be an off-campus (for alcohol sales) joint venture of some sort between the city/state, UNO and the Nighthawks.

If that doesn't happen, expect to see UNO expand to 10-15K on campus (assuming a move to 1-AA) with the occasional game at Ameritrade.

And I'll qualify all of this by saying this is what I believe make sense - which isn't exactly the first criteria for building stadiums around here.

That is EXACTLY what I thought when I heard this.  Any joint venture would HAVE to be off campus.

[Mr. Cox]

I'll prepare to duck a few punches after suggesting this, but what about a stadium in Millard?  Could serve several purposes:

Nighthawks
Big games for UNO
Games between the three Millard Schools
State Championship Games (Memorial Stadium is WAY too big)

[iamjacobm]

I'll prepare to duck a few punches after suggesting this, but what about a stadium in Millard?  Could serve several purposes:

Nighthawks
Big games for UNO
Games between the three Millard Schools
State Championship Games (Memorial Stadium is WAY too big)

Nebraska high school football doesn't need huge stadiums though.  The biggest attendance ever was like 14,500 and that was 50 years ago so I don't think high school games need to really be weighed into a new stadium discussion.

Also the NSAA doesn't like having state championships in Omaha the rest of the state hates it.

Millard would work if it was easy to get to like interstate access.

UNO probably wouldn't play big games off campus b/c it would kind of kill the atmosphere of the big game.

[nebugeater]

MAybe out by the new Royals ( New name pending) stadium along 370?

[S33]

In an effort to put this one to rest, I will say that there is no chance in he-ll that any initiative will be introduced to build ANY stadium for the Omaha nighthawks anytime time soon, let alone a large stadium.

The Nighthawks will have to demonstrate, on a consistent basis, a dedicated fan base, decent food/drink and etc. sales revenues in TD Ameritrade and, most of all, the UFL will have to be recognized as a permanent presence as a professional football league expanding and growing in popularity. There would also have to be more than 6 home games a year.

Now, if we look to history to settle this argument, knockoff and/or any expansion league apart from the primary professional sport league is doomed to fail. I'm glad to see Omaha initially embracing the nighthawks and all the excitement that has come from it, but the masses tend to get bored, especially when it's not an NFL team. If any team has a chance to make it out of the current 6, it's most likely Omaha, but I sure as shyt would not make a wager for the league.

As for UNO, the stadium is just fine regardless of whether they move to D1-AA or not. I don't think the attendance is going to grow just because UNO is playing SDSU and Illinois State rather than NW Missouri St. and UN Kearney.

[Big E]

Or Trev Alberts could just hire someone as head coach that could build them their own stadium out-of-pocket:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/w ... aska.asst/

[Coyote]

Shatel: UFL team stadium talk premature

Don Igo, director of operations for your Omaha Nighthawks, emphatically denies that the Nighthawks are desiring a new football stadium for the Chili Greens area. On Monday, Igo told me that he never told anyone the Nighthawks had plans to build a stadium.

“Apparently two guys who were at the meeting were talking about it, and someone heard it. I never said it. The only thing I've said is, ‘We can all dream, right?' Just like I can dream about living in Malibu one day. We are playing in TD Ameritrade Park, and that's it. We can't wait to play there.''

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Glad to know the director of operations for "our" Omaha Nighthawks wishes he lived in Malibu.  :?

[thenewguy]

1) Omaha couldn't support a 50k seat stadium.  Population could, fan base could not.
2) No alcohol (at a university stadium) would hurt ticket sales.  Not something you want to mess with in a league that is still in its infancy...especially when they were running out of beer in areas of the stadium.  Take that away, and i'm sure you lose a significant portion of ticket sales.
3) TD Ameritrade, while not specifically designed for football, will do just fine.  Rosenblatt was fine for watching a game (though, not as good as a true football configuration), and TDA will only make it better.  They will have facilities to handle long lines to the restrooms, they will have wider concourses so trips to get food/bathroom will only about take as long as it takes to get through a line...and not add to it by having to wade through 'traffic'.  And, there is more available parking than the existing situation.  

And there are way more bars to hit up to celebrate awesome come-from-behind wins

[Guest]

With the Nighthawks only playing 4 games you don't build a stadium with them in mind.  Omaha's doing well but still losing money, let's see if this league is still around in a few years.  History is not kind to minor league football and Omaha is the only team drawing over 15k.

Greg

[almighty_tuna]

Glad to know the director of operations for "our" Omaha Nighthawks wishes he lived in Malibu.  :?

Kind of like how you live in Albany...  :?

[TechnicalDisaster]

Glad to know the director of operations for "our" Omaha Nighthawks wishes he lived in Malibu.  :?

Kind of like how you live in Albany...  :?

So much win!

[riceweb]

With the Nighthawks only playing 4 games you don't build a stadium with them in mind.  Omaha's doing well but still losing money, let's see if this league is still around in a few years.  History is not kind to minor league football and Omaha is the only team drawing over 15k.

Greg

Not true... Sacramento nearly sold out their first game with 20k fans (21k available).

Las Vegas is the only real weak spot in the league, but it's an important market for the league in the long run, as it's one of the largest US markets without big-time pro sports. It could represent a significant TV market in future years.

[Big E]

I always hear people talking about the untapped sport market of Las Vegas.  Even the PAC 10/12 is considering putting their conference championship game there.  

But in reality it has been hit by the housing market worse than any city other than perhaps Detroit and it is the most transient city in the country other than perhaps DC, and it's in the middle of |expletive| nowhere.

I can't imagine why a franchisee of any sport would want to try to develop a fan base in that type of market.

What am I missing?  Are they assuming Vegas is enough of a destination for all of the other teams' potential fans?

[Brad]

But in reality it has been hit by the housing market worse than any city other than perhaps Detroit and it is the most transient city in the country other than perhaps DC, and it's in the middle of |expletive| nowhere.

I can't imagine why a franchisee of any sport would want to try to develop a fan base in that type of market.

What am I missing?

Could it be worse than the Tampa Bay Rays who clinched a spot in the post season last night in front of 12,000 fans...

[Big E]

I said sport, not baseball.  

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Glad to know the director of operations for "our" Omaha Nighthawks wishes he lived in Malibu.  :?

Kind of like how you live in Albany...  :?

'Cause I could have stayed in Omaha and gotten a Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning, let alone specializing in transportation...  :roll:

[S33]

'Cause I could have stayed in Omaha and gotten a Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning, let alone specializing in transportation...  :roll:

You waited this long and spent how much money to learn this? After Lego's and Hot-Tracks, I was pretty much an expert.  :D

[almighty_tuna]

Glad to know the director of operations for "our" Omaha Nighthawks wishes he lived in Malibu.  :?

Kind of like how you live in Albany...  :?

'Cause I could have stayed in Omaha and gotten a Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning, let alone specializing in transportation...  :roll:

Well I don't see anyone wearing a Malibu Nighthawks jersey either.  

Point is, he gave a metaphorical example that you're taking out of context and blowing out of proportion.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

I don't think I've blown anything out of proportion, just pointed out that it was an unfortunate metaphor given his position.

[OmahaJaysCU]

I don't think I've blown anything out of proportion, just pointed out that it was an unfortunate metaphor given his position.

Boy you don't like giving people the benefit of the doubt do you?