23 Comments
Feb 28, 2023Liked by Mike Vernon

I’d say the football stadium should be first priority. Take care of the things that need to be done but I think we need to really think through any legit changes to the seating and interior. I’m ok with new lighting, video boards and such but I’m sorta worried about the corners going away. Would really like to see what the plan is there. Those seats are almost always for the folks that can’t make it typically and I’d hate for that to be lost. With the recent changes in the student section size, I worry about the intimidation factor.

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I completely agree with the corners. I've thought that as well. Again, I'm not sure exactly where they landed... but you hope crowd factor was included. I guess a corporate area with a bar in one corner could help the other 3 corners get filled?

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As for football, both are happening. You can't neglect one for the other.

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Feb 28, 2023Liked by Mike Vernon

I like the proposals, sounds great and it’s about time

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Kind of think so as well.

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Feb 28, 2023Liked by Mike Vernon

Is there any talk about changing the way the bleacher seats are setup. The amount of space they give each person is really small and it makes every row EXTREMELY tight. The seat space on the bleachers needs to be expanded some how.

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Haven't heard that. You can't reduce capacity much here.

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Feb 28, 2023Liked by Mike Vernon

Concourse/bathroom updates sorely needed. AC seems like a modernization baseline as well. Question: would they/why aren’t they considering changing seating to have true court side seats? Kind of bizarre to see other schools, not nearly as prestigious, with NBA-style court side seats while KU has its best seats situated behind a plastic desk

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I agree with that. I could see this being part of the "premium" seating that I keep hearing about.

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Have you heard anything about changes in student seating?

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This is my primary concern. Wealthy donors don't make the home court atmosphere intimidating so much as an engaged student section does. We've seen reductions in student seating in the past decade that were wildly unpopular with students when they pack their section every game.

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I should probably look into this... at some point you've got to stop taking student seats away. I have some thoughts on how to show the change over the years.. will give it a go, maybe after the renovations are fully announced in Early March.

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I love the idea of showing the change in the student section over time! I remember being a student and sitting in sections that are no longer available to current students.

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Are they doing anything to make sure seating can hold up in case the Fieldhouse goes over capacity? As a fan I loved seeing AFH packed against K-State but also worried about some of the stands not being able to support it

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Pretty sure the majority do stands are steel. The lower bench seating is fine and newer. The upper corners are a bit dated but fine as well.

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Gotta think everything is OK/up to code here.

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Concourse changes along with a better sound system are fine, but the purpose of going to AFH is to watch & cheer for the Hawks. Don’t mess with anything on the inside of the tunnels. As a fan who remembers the dirt track around the court, batting cages & gymnastic equipment in the upper level, I’d say eliminating those are upgrade enough. Long live tradition!!

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Love Allen Fieldhouse but it needs to be done. I don't want to see much of the seating taken away though. Video boards in the corners would be nice. I could barely read the video board before I got lasik lol.

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Sounds like there’s more than enough money for a Snoop Dogg residency

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Is the roof being raised a serious possibility for this upcoming announcement?

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Sorry - let me clarify - I included that to show how in-depth and broad these explorations are. I'd be surprised with a change like this, but I do think it was discussed at one point.

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Does this mean we’ll say goodbye to the 16,300 capacity?

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They could probably keep 16.3 even with a change to the corners.

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