Florida to shrink capacity in The Swamp?

Slevin

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Thats the talk from Stricklin at least. It might have been discussed in a seperate thread but I thought this deserves it’s own thread.

What do you guys think? Good? Bad? It would be part of restructuring the bleachers/adding to fan experience, which would add to shrinking overall seats in general.

The Swamp is incredible and unique and one of the loudest home fiele advantages in all of sports. I’m not sure how I feel about being on FSU’s level from a capacity standpoint. It’s something aditional to sell to recruits.

Discuss
 

MidwestChomp

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Make it bigger. I know people don't like the bleachers, but bring a cushion and you're fine.
 

ATXGator

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I guess it depends how much the capacity decreases... If it is 1000 seats then it is probably not going to be a big deal vs. 10,000...

Overall I think you have to make the stadium more comfortable for people or in today's world they will stop coming. You could probably keep the bleachers on the student side since they are supposed to stand sideways and squeeze in as much as possible anyway! If students want to sit then they don't deserve to be there.
 

SCColaGator

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I would go for some of those overhangs you see on professional soccer fields. I know it’s the swamp but damn noon games hurt. Plus it would help keep the sound in
 

Swamp Donkey

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How old are you? I’ve been going since 1990 and there were plenty of places to sit
Dude, we were in the student section (east bleachers), basically turned somewhat sideways (too many people in the rows?) and if you sat down you had a back in front of you and two sweaty asses (afternoon games mostly) on either side of your face.

If you are doing your job, standing and screaming, you won't even notice there are bleachers.
 

Slevin

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Imho, address the problem, don’t run from it. Fan support is lethargic because of poor, unwatchable performance on the field and coaches nobody can relate to. These are Foley’s problems, not ours. Foley seemed to constantly be running from UF’s future, which is true Blue Blood status. He treated our position as a mid major within a major conference with the ability to break through with the right polished gem (ie: Utah and TCU). We should always consider ourselves on the level of Elite. Florida IS the SEC. unarguable. We dominate this conference from head to toe.

Shrinking capacity is a terrible idea. We have the largest capacity in the STATE OF FLORIDA. Of any stadium in any sport. Why would we purposely relinquish this to FSU? The goal is to always stay one step ahead of our rivals, and this would be rolling down the hill in the opposite direction.

We haven’t been competitive. We have barely been watchable. It’s a world wide struggle of product + sellabilty = ?. Everyone has a product, but can you sell it? And to what extent? Florida is a bruised brand. But it’s not unrepairable. Fix the issue, don’t run from it.


Edit: if this makes no sense i’m definitely drunk at lunch right now
 
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Captain Sasquatch

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3.5 hours in a cramped ass stadium is a lot easier to handle if you’re watching a winning team. We go to most every home game, but I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t wear on me, especially when we’re losing.
 

AlexDaGator

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Dude, we were in the student section (east bleachers), basically turned somewhat sideways (too many people in the rows?) and if you sat down you had a back in front of you and two sweaty asses (afternoon games mostly) on either side of your face.

If you are doing your job, standing and screaming, you won't even notice there are bleachers.

Correct.

You generally stood on the concrete in front of your seat. For big games, you stood on your seat. Nobody sat except for halftime when many left for halftime kamikazes or those giant beers at Joe's Deli so there was actually room to sit. When they came back, you had to stand again. Then, of course, you could sit after "We are the Boys" because by then we were up by 30 and the 3rd string QB was handing off to the 4th string RB and people were leaving to get a head start on the postgame festivities.

Swonkey is 100% correct. You had to stand sideways. So many were "snuck in" that you never had a whole seat to yourself. You had about 3/4 of an already narrow seat.

There might have been a little more elbow room at the top of the corners of the stadium but if you were student side from the 10 yard line to the 10 yard line and up to maybe the last 8 rows you were jammed in like sardines.

And you yelled. Everybody yelled. Not just on 3rd down. On every down that they had the ball. After the game your ears would be ringing and you'd be hoarse for days. It was so exhausting. Of course you were out partying all Friday night. Then you went to the game with that merciless sun beating on you, the dehydration, the yelling, and the standing. If you went home after the game, you likely weren't going to make it out that night. Maybe if it was an early game you could shower, nap, and rally. But if it was an afternoon or night game, you had to go straight out. If you went home the exhaustion would catch up to you and you would fall asleep watching some late night west coast matchup.

Alex.
 

Slevin

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Correct.

You generally stood on the concrete in front of your seat. For big games, you stood on your seat. Nobody sat except for halftime when many left for halftime kamikazes or those giant beers at Joe's Deli so there was actually room to sit. When they came back, you had to stand again. Then, of course, you could sit after "We are the Boys" because by then we were up by 30 and the 3rd string QB was handing off to the 4th string RB and people were leaving to get a head start on the postgame festivities.

Swonkey is 100% correct. You had to stand sideways. So many were "snuck in" that you never had a whole seat to yourself. You had about 3/4 of an already narrow seat.

There might have been a little more elbow room at the top of the corners of the stadium but if you were student side from the 10 yard line to the 10 yard line and up to maybe the last 8 rows you were jammed in like sardines.

And you yelled. Everybody yelled. Not just on 3rd down. On every down that they had the ball. After the game your ears would be ringing and you'd be hoarse for days. It was so exhausting. Of course you were out partying all Friday night. Then you went to the game with that merciless sun beating on you, the dehydration, the yelling, and the standing. If you went home after the game, you likely weren't going to make it out that night. Maybe if it was an early game you could shower, nap, and rally. But if it was an afternoon or night game, you had to go straight out. If you went home the exhaustion would catch up to you and you would fall asleep watching some late night west coast matchup.

Alex.
My memory is coming back to me. It’s been awhile.

We always had 4 seats side by side but if you showed up right before kickoff your seats were occupied by nobody extra, just the fact that everyone spilled over from their own seats. We barely fit in and hoped somebody wouldnt show.
 

gatormandan

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I used to go to the games prior to my lumbar surgery. We stood for the majority of the games and left without our voices. My wife said she never knew people could be so loud. I love the swamp especially at night when we were playing other top teams. My hands would always be sore from high fiving everyone within reach after every good play or TD. Good times.
 

GatorJ

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Bring alcohol into the stadiums. Then people would be too drunk to care when we play like shyt.
 

ATXGator

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Correct.

You generally stood on the concrete in front of your seat. For big games, you stood on your seat. Nobody sat except for halftime when many left for halftime kamikazes or those giant beers at Joe's Deli so there was actually room to sit. When they came back, you had to stand again. Then, of course, you could sit after "We are the Boys" because by then we were up by 30 and the 3rd string QB was handing off to the 4th string RB and people were leaving to get a head start on the postgame festivities.

Swonkey is 100% correct. You had to stand sideways. So many were "snuck in" that you never had a whole seat to yourself. You had about 3/4 of an already narrow seat.

There might have been a little more elbow room at the top of the corners of the stadium but if you were student side from the 10 yard line to the 10 yard line and up to maybe the last 8 rows you were jammed in like sardines.

And you yelled. Everybody yelled. Not just on 3rd down. On every down that they had the ball. After the game your ears would be ringing and you'd be hoarse for days. It was so exhausting. Of course you were out partying all Friday night. Then you went to the game with that merciless sun beating on you, the dehydration, the yelling, and the standing. If you went home after the game, you likely weren't going to make it out that night. Maybe if it was an early game you could shower, nap, and rally. But if it was an afternoon or night game, you had to go straight out. If you went home the exhaustion would catch up to you and you would fall asleep watching some late night west coast matchup.

Alex.

This was my experience as a student. You stood on the bleachers and made a ton of noise every game. There was no sitting and when we scored it was basically a big mosh pit with everybody jumping around high fiving and helping each other not fall!
 

ATXGator

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Oh... and one more thing... you didn't take a date to a football game because your section was going to be way too rowdy and you wanted to focus on the game and not the girl.
 

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