Stadium Central

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicates that teams are having a difficult time selling all the luxury suites in stadiums and arenas because of their high cost, changing tax laws, and their lack of novelty. A number of arenas and stadiums are actually ripping out luxury suites to create a club section where fans sit in conventional seats but have access to amenities that are typical of luxury suites. The Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox are among the teams to move in this direction. Other options that are being pursued by teams are luxury lounges that are tucked within a stadium that are available to customers whose seats are closer to the action in the general seating bowl. Driving these changes are the fact that luxury suites can cost several hundred thousand dollars to lease per season, and companies are starting to question their effectiveness in wooing clients. Additionally, recent tax laws are creating the possibility that executives who use the suites may have to pay taxes on those benefits. The novelty has also worn off, so clients are not as impressed when getting the chance to sit in luxury suites because of the prevalence of them throughout the country. While there will likely be a place for luxury suites, these profit centers that have justified construction of new stadiums across the country may no longer be seen as the best options for customers seeking a high-class trip to an event.

On a recent trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I had the pleasure of visiting 3 different college football stadiums. After picking up a car at DFW, my first destination was Denton, TX, home of the University of North Texas. The trip of approximately 30 miles north on I-35E went through the suburbs of Dallas until reaching Denton. The stadium was situated adjacent to the highway, allowing for easy access. Here is my review of this stadium while it is fresh in my mind. It should be said that the day was rather cold and windy, so I hope that I can objectively judge this stadium despite the less-than-idyllic conditions.


Fouts Field, University of North Texas
Visual Appeal:3
Fan Friendly: 4
Settings and Surroundings: 2
Quirks: 3
Blend of Classic and Modern: 3
Total: 15

Fouts Field is the home of the Mean Green from the University of North Texas. The stadium was constructed in 1951 and had a capacity of 20,000 until 1994, when stands were placed behind both end zones to increase capacity to 30,000. The original stands were comprised of single tiers behind each sideline. The new addition encloses the stadium nicely. A rather small and dated press box sits behind the home teams's sideline. An artificial turf field keeps the playing surface quite green, and a nice scoreboard provides fans a clear view of the action. Fouts Field provides a functional arena for the Mean Green without providing any exciting visual features.
One of the major drawbacks of Fouts Field is the fact that it is home to the Mean Green track teams as well as the football team. Hence, a running track surrounds the field and creates a significant distance between the fans and the players. It does have a rather clean appearance, though.
As mentioned, the stadium sits next to the highway on the edge of the North Texas campus. Surrounded by a parking lot on the side away from the highway, the setting may provide for some decent tailgating to those able to park in that lot. No other distinguishing features can be said about the setting.
The stadium is a rather basic design that lacks any real quirks. The presence of the endzone seats does do a nice job of surrounding the field with seats. Because of its small size, it is imagined that just about any seat in the house will give a good view of the action.
All in all, the stadium definitely feels a bit dated. The simple construction taken in the 1950's has not been changed much. The addition of seats behind the end zones blend in well, but mostly because of the lack of architectural detail in either the old or the new sections. A small section of chairbacks ranks as the "luxury" section.
While this review may seem harsh, I was actually impressed with this stadium considering the limitations that are present with schools in the Sun Belt Conference. The presence of stands around the entire field could create a festive environment for a football game in Denton.

An interesting article was posted on Bloomberg.com about the renovations being done to Dolphins Stadium in an attempt to modernize the venue and bring more revenue to the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins will spend about $250 million to renovate the stadium, contrasting with the more than $1 billion price tag that is expected for new stadiums in New Jersey (for the Jets and Giants) and in Dallas. Dolphins Stadium, built in 1987 at a cost of $115 million, was designed originally (perhaps by accident) so that a completely new stadium is not needed at this time. It already had luxury features that the team could utilize to boost its revenue, such as club level seats and suites. Other stadiums, however, do not have this structure in place. The recent renovation of Soldier Field, in which the stadium was effectively rebuilt, actually cost $600 million, essentially the cost of a new stadium. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City is also renovating their stadium at a much lower cost than a brand new stadium will run. Will this trend take hold? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suggests that there aren't many stadiums left that can simply be renovated as opposed to starting from scratch. And of course, the fact that a 20 year old stadium requires renovations is amazing!