So how big of a stadium could we fill?

[SDK46]

With all the talk this year and others about turning tickets shortages...how large of a stadium could be financially viable?

I'd say....85K.

Since seats are fixed costs, if we had a full capacity of 85K and had a couple of games at 70K attendance, instead of 85K, we'd still be ahead.

 

[Ahawkalypse]

to play devils advocate, of course they would say the cost of adding those seats wouldnt pay for itself. In pure ticket sales it might not but you have to take into consideration the money donated and publicity generated. I personally would love to see it expanded. Maybe by closing off the couple corners of the stadium besides the student section. That should add a few thousand seats. otherwise i dont see them going any higher and that is more than ok with me, but otherwise the cost to just close off the couple ends shouldnt be too high.

 

[bws258]

75000

 

[CAARHawk]

I think the appropriate size would be 80,000. That doesn't mean Iowa would fill the seats for every game, but it would put the Iowa in the Big Stadium market. The difference between 80,000 and 100,000 just is not that great.

I would fill in the sections in the South Endzone and Square the corners in the North Endzone to close in the stadium more. The North Endzone will have to be redone eventually.

 

[JonDMiller]

I dont think they would ever consider increasing capacity, nor should they, until they encounter this problem for at least 10 years in a row...and even then, it's debatable. I think its about right where it is.

 

[switch351]

I just heard on the radio on the way to work that the U of I currently has twice as many season ticket applications as seats available.

 

[cuinknk]

I think it's better to turn people away than to have games with 10,000+ empty seats, especially for recruiting.

 

[Palpatine]

I think it's better to turn people away than to have games with 10,000+ empty seats, especially for recruiting.

This.

btw expect ticket prices to skyrocket after this season. Gotta love supply and demand curves.



But the OP has a good question: just how big of a stadium could (not should) we fill? Think what could happen if ISU declines (especially if it ends up in the MWC!), Iowa keeps winning, Illinois keeps losing, etc. Anybody up for that high-speed passenger rail service between Chicago and Iowa City?

Nebraska has a huge stadium--Iowa fans could probably fill one about the same size.

 

[Igothawked]

I think the appropriate size would be 80,000. That doesn't mean Iowa would fill the seats for every game, but it would put the Iowa in the Big Stadium market. The difference between 80,000 and 100,000 just is not that great.

I would fill in the sections in the South Endzone and Square the corners in the North Endzone to close in the stadium more. The North Endzone will have to be redone eventually.

I would love to fill in the endzones and have the extra seats, it would also man that I would for sure get season tickets. But they are making so much money now and they can continue to brag about selllouts.
However I will disagree that the difference between 80,000 and 100,000 is great. I've been to Camp Randall (Roughly 85,000) and The Shoe (Roughly 105,000), there is a night and day difference. The amount of people at a game in Columbus is simply mind boggling. They also have wider seats than they do in Kinnick. Which would mean they could easily cram another 5000-10,000 plus in that place if they wanted to.
Also to add to the OP, 75,000-80,000 would probably be a reasonable expectation of what we could fill.

 

[hwkwyld]

This is an unfair question based on this season. Home games against ISU, tOSU, Wiskey, MSU and PSU make for great Home Games. Couple that with the expectations of this years team and I think Kinnick could easily sell 100K tickets.

Previous/future seasons not so much. If Iowa fields an average team and has home games against Minny, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers I don't think they University sells 100K tickets.

It will be interesting to see how many of the new applications keep their seasons tickets beyond 2010

 

[DuffMan]

I think the appropriate size would be 80,000. That doesn't mean Iowa would fill the seats for every game, but it would put the Iowa in the Big Stadium market. The difference between 80,000 and 100,000 just is not that great.

.

The difference between 80 and 100k is great. It's 20k. That's twice as big as the difference between 70.5k and 80k.

 

[GhostofBTT]

It is probably not a good idea to make long term, expensive plans based on one year of unprecidented success. Could we fill an 80,000 seat stadium? Probably. Would we always fill an 80,000 seat stadium? Probably rarely.

Unles 10 win seasons become the norm, which history has shown will probably not be the case, a large expansion would be foolish. Once we settle back down to 8-4, we would have a bunch of empty seats and a bunch of less valuable tickets.

 

[AcctHawk99]

I agree partially with Jon. I think part of the reason for the huge increase is the quality and quantity of good home games this year which obviously won't happen again with expansion looming. However, if this continues for 5 years they will look at expanding capacity. If there's signs that more money could be made by increasing capacity (and with expansion throwing some extra $ in the pot) I don't think the U would hesitate to start something in motion.

 

[hoffahawk]

on a regular basis- 75,000.

All I know scalpers will be having a field day this year outside Kinnick.

 

[theboat]

Its not the size of the stadium that matters, its what you do when you are in there that is important.

 

[Saginawbay]

I think on a regular basis 70-75 is right number for Iowa fans, and any bigger and we lose what makes Kinnick great a full house if we get in the 80-90 range just not enough population to support in Iowa. Everyone always compares Neb but lets not forget they do not have another BCS team taking fans as well.

 

[CAARHawk]

The difference between 80 and 100k is great. It's 20k. That's twice as big as the difference between 70.5k and 80k.

I should have been more clear with what I meant. Going to 80,000 would put Iowa in league with ND, Nebby, OU, TAMU, and the power programs in the SEC. Sure there are a handful of mammoth stadiums in college football, the barrier between big stadiums and the rest seems to be about 80,000 seats.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I know we've allegedly had a lot of "sellouts" but ever since the student section got moved into the crappy seats in the corner of the endzone, there have been quite a few empty seats up there during most games. Until we actually fill Kinnick every game for at least 5 years, any talk of stadium expansion is premature. I don't doubt there are games, like OSU, Michigan and ISU where we could fill the stadium, but there would be a lot of empty seats for run of the mill Indiana, Purdue, MSU, NU, Western Michigan, etc. games.

 

[gohawkz]

The difference between 80 and 100k is great. It's 20k. That's twice as big as the difference between 70.5k and 80k.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought 20k is a lot of people. Seems like a lot to me. I wouldn't have enough chairs if I invited them all to my house..

 

[CAARHawk]

Glad I'm not the only one who thought 20k is a lot of people. Seems like a lot to me. I wouldn't have enough chairs if I invited them all to my house..

Again, my comment was more about perception of big stadiums and small stadiums. 80,000 seems to the threshold of large stadiums and puts Iowa in league with OU, Florida, Alabama, Nebby, ND, TAMU, etc.

While there is a larger difference in total seats between 80,000 and 100,000. There is a larger difference in perspective from the schools with 80,000 seats and fewer than 80,000. 80,000 puts you with the big boys.