There is a website dedicated to it with a lot more pictures and some information, but in all honesty there are only a handful of things I care about....in order:
- Make it as L-O-U-D! as possible
- Don't mess with the student section - location or number of student seats
- Where will my season tickets end up being?
- Will construction be coordinated where I don't lose my season tickets for some duration of time during the actual construction process?
Make it Loud
Clearly, this was on their checklist. The stadium will seat 102,500 fans, making it both the largest in the state of Texas and the largest in the SEC. They will close in the south endzone and are putting canopies above the East and West stands to help keep the sound in. They are also bringing seats closer to the field and lowering the playing surface to help keep the noise in. It's going to be so friggin' awesome.
Student Section
They are keeping the students on the West side of the stadium, which I wasn't sure they would do. As a student I always loved that I got an opportunity to watch games from between the 40s on the second deck - those same seats on the Former Student side would never be available to me.
They could have easily taken those seats from the students, sold them to alum, and moved the students to the top of the Zone....but they didn't and for that I am thankful.
Our student body is a HUGE part of what makes Kyle Field so special and I think if they tarnished that they'd lose more in atmosphere than they could buy with the revenue they would make from ticket premiums.
Here is one detail that they hit out of the ballpark. There will be 12 empty seats in the student section in honor of the 12 students who lost their lives in the '99 Bonfire tragedy. Always Remember.
Where Will I Sit?
My current seats aren't spectacular by any stretch of the imagination - frankly, as long as I am in then I'm happy. Looking at the pictures the area where my seats are now, they will still exist post-reno.
My expectation is that I will have to move to worse seats at a higher price than I'm currently paying because I won't be able to afford where I am currently. There is also a very, very strong likely hood of a PSL (Personal Seat License) that will have to be purchased, so that is going to be a large chunk of cash up front. Again though, I'm happy to just be in the stadium.
Still, I'm really curious, more so to see how they handle the re-allotment for seats in more premium areas.
There are some season ticket holders who have donated a tremendous amount of money for a really long time (through the good times and bad times) and have had the same seats for decades. It would be really sad if someone could come in out of nowhere and outbid them for their seats.
Obviously, the guy in Row 30 Seat 4 isn't going to be in Row 30 Seat 4 anymore because that seat isn't going to be in the same location on the field - but I would expect them to be able to give everyone the option to buy their seat within the same 5 or 10 yard markers. Or I would hope they could.
Season ticket holders got an email this afternoon that touched very delicately on this topic:
Due to the scope of this project, we must completely reseat Kyle Field for the 2015 season. This is necessary to generate the required funding for the project and to ensure that we provide fair and equitable access to all seating options for current season ticket holders, as well as individuals seeking to support the program and acquire seats for the first time. We will release complete information on the reseating process and ticket pricing on June 4, 2013. Extensive consideration has been given to the needs and seating requirements of our current season ticket holders. This will continue to be one of our top priorities.Obviously, this isn't just on my mind - it's on the minds of those who donate a heckuva lot more than I do.
Like it says, June 4th should be the day that answers some questions - the entire stadium seating chart will be released along with ticket prices. You know that the prices are going to jump significantly if they're giving us 2 years to digest it.
The 2015 seats will go on sale on August 6th, 2014
During Construction
One of my biggest fear during all of the speculation over the last couple of years leading up to this was the thought that I might get squeezed out for a year or two while this thing gets built. That went for whether they moved all our home games off-site (Reliant Stadium/Alamodome/Cowboy Stadium) or if they played in it while it was being renovated.
Of course, that's pretty short-sighted - but I don't want to miss any of the excitement over our new conference affiliation.....but also because we're finally good.
Here is the schedule we received in the email that was sent out:
• Phase 1 – November 2013
o Demolition of first deck on the east side
o Construction of the first deck on the east side
o Construction of south end zone
• Phase 2 – November 2014
o Demolition of the west side
o Finish the construction of the south end zone
o Construction of the west side
• Grand Opening – 2015 football season
Our last home game in 2013 is November 9th against Mississippi State and I imagine that on Sunday November 10th the crews are scheduled to start work. Since they won't start work on the west side of the stadium until after 2014 and it's supposed to open in 2015 it looks like I'm safe.
Wait, that is just TWO years of construction? WOW. Everything that I had read prior to this was that it would be a three year project.
Here is the video the school released explaining a lot of the above. It got me all pumped up.
One more thing, as if we need any additional off-season excitement tomorrow (Thursday) the SEC/ESPN are announcing the new conference TV deal. I'm really anxious to see how many zeros are in the payouts.
It's a good time to be an Aggie!
