Field turf from the cost and speed of play perspective.
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New turf at CU?
- Thread starter NashBuff
- Start date
Bush league. We might as well be using it for Bar Mitzvahs as well.
Actually, I know for a fact that they've hosted Bar Mitzvahs on the club level before and I know people who have had their wedding receptions up there too. It's a legit event space. As for the field though, I'm firmly in the grass camp. Turf sucks and it's HOT. It's very unpleasant to be on the the summer/early fall.
4thGenBuff
Well-Known Member
One huge advantage of turf is that you can actually use the field for events other than football. Don't get me wrong I LOVE FOOTBALL, but CU loses money every year from lost opportunities. Getting concerts planned at CU back when I was in Program Council always ran into one big log jam, the grass. We would get something rolling on a big show only to find that we really required a venue bigger than Coors or Mackey. Tharp rarely allowed us to use Folsom. He was basically required to work with us some, so he would give windows of time when students were not in town. Obviously, that was the equivalent of an outright ban. When I was there we ended up getting Folsom approved once (Dave Matthews). Dave Matthews was effectively the result of Program Council having an extremely awesome director, that year who knew how to wiggle through the bureaucracy. Folsom is very awesome concert venue and I could see the AD making a substantial amount of extra cash just from events in the Spring by making the switch to Turf. I don't think anyone understands the amount of events each year that fall through because of that damn grass. It is substantial. The extra money stream for this could very well pay for other upgrades. I have actually had this conversation with Chuck Morris of Clearchannel (Also PC @ CU alum) the numbers he throws out that could be made from switch are big.
COOL tip - Go to the 4th floor of the UMC to the Program Council offices and if its open ask to see the pictures from the Fleet Wood Mac concert at Folsom from 1977. I believe the concert had Fleet Wood Mac and Bob Seger and tickets were vastly oversold. Folsom has never again been that full as on that day (Even after upgrades). A 60k+ crowd came. The pictures from that event are amazing to look at. People are watching the show from window sills. Plus the pictures of Stevie Nicks coming out of her trailer in a lace outfit are worth checking out. This is back when Stevie was hot.
Turf and Beer two longtime wants of mine.
COOL tip - Go to the 4th floor of the UMC to the Program Council offices and if its open ask to see the pictures from the Fleet Wood Mac concert at Folsom from 1977. I believe the concert had Fleet Wood Mac and Bob Seger and tickets were vastly oversold. Folsom has never again been that full as on that day (Even after upgrades). A 60k+ crowd came. The pictures from that event are amazing to look at. People are watching the show from window sills. Plus the pictures of Stevie Nicks coming out of her trailer in a lace outfit are worth checking out. This is back when Stevie was hot.
Turf and Beer two longtime wants of mine.
Serious rep awaits those pics. How much money are we talking about per year? Hopefully enough to move the needle.
Keep the grass!
SuperiorBuff
Well-Known Member
It's Folsom ****ing Field! It is sacred! Nothing should ever happen there that is not football related, save graduation.
4thGenBuff
Well-Known Member
Once large concert:
One concert ticket sales
40k x $55 = 2.2m
People will also spend an additional 15 on merchandise or food (Or 25 more if we had beer).
40k x $15 = .6m
Top line revenue 2.6 million. That money gets cut up a lot of ways but keep in mind PC runs on annual budget of about a 100k a year. They don't get much from this. The band, and promoter will each get a cut, but the biggest cut goes to the venue.
Do 3 successful shows a year and Embree's buy out is erased.
In the Program Council offices you will see how many huge shows their were prior to the grass. It was INSANE. Besides one other plus to turf is that you can make PC into a friend instead of an enemy. PC was one of the (No the biggest) politically powerful forces on campus when I was there, I can tell you I know multiple years of the Tri Execs, and they did essentially what we told them to. The student government at CU has more power than at any other university and they tend to be run by either hardcore progressives or by the greeks. PC was HIGHLY influential with BOTH groups. The grass from a political stand point was stupid on an epic LEVEL because it turned the biggest, most powerful student group in the country against the AD. It also fouled up relations with some of our coolest and most influential alumni.
EPIC FAIL- Barnett could still be coaching if their was turf on the freaking field. The woman's resource center was right next door to the PC office and it often requires support to get its funding. That is how big of a political blunder the grass was.
Bring back the turf.
One concert ticket sales
40k x $55 = 2.2m
People will also spend an additional 15 on merchandise or food (Or 25 more if we had beer).
40k x $15 = .6m
Top line revenue 2.6 million. That money gets cut up a lot of ways but keep in mind PC runs on annual budget of about a 100k a year. They don't get much from this. The band, and promoter will each get a cut, but the biggest cut goes to the venue.
Do 3 successful shows a year and Embree's buy out is erased.
In the Program Council offices you will see how many huge shows their were prior to the grass. It was INSANE. Besides one other plus to turf is that you can make PC into a friend instead of an enemy. PC was one of the (No the biggest) politically powerful forces on campus when I was there, I can tell you I know multiple years of the Tri Execs, and they did essentially what we told them to. The student government at CU has more power than at any other university and they tend to be run by either hardcore progressives or by the greeks. PC was HIGHLY influential with BOTH groups. The grass from a political stand point was stupid on an epic LEVEL because it turned the biggest, most powerful student group in the country against the AD. It also fouled up relations with some of our coolest and most influential alumni.
EPIC FAIL- Barnett could still be coaching if their was turf on the freaking field. The woman's resource center was right next door to the PC office and it often requires support to get its funding. That is how big of a political blunder the grass was.
Bring back the turf.
4thGenBuff
Well-Known Member
I laugh when people say the university is against athletics.
It would take very little, very very very little for the AD to become the most influential political force on campus. They don't do simple outreach to groups powerful groups on campus. They just come across as an elephant in a china shop and tend to make enemies where they could easily make friends.
One of the biggest pet project of multiple Tri Execs (Including Joe Neguese who I believe is running for election on campus) is SORCE. Which is basically is a group designed to keep minority groups on campus happy and increase diversity on campus. When you listen to Mac talk is this not already inline with a major undercurrent at the AD already?
How hard would it be for a few minority coach/ga/player to attend their events and stump for them some. The Tri Execs would be elated to have that kind of support. EASY EASY EASY a few hours a year and you have made powerful allies.
http://www.colorado.edu/SORCE/events.html
I could write the blueprint for taking over CU's political structure in about an hour. Step one would be Get rid of the freaking grass!
It would take very little, very very very little for the AD to become the most influential political force on campus. They don't do simple outreach to groups powerful groups on campus. They just come across as an elephant in a china shop and tend to make enemies where they could easily make friends.
One of the biggest pet project of multiple Tri Execs (Including Joe Neguese who I believe is running for election on campus) is SORCE. Which is basically is a group designed to keep minority groups on campus happy and increase diversity on campus. When you listen to Mac talk is this not already inline with a major undercurrent at the AD already?
How hard would it be for a few minority coach/ga/player to attend their events and stump for them some. The Tri Execs would be elated to have that kind of support. EASY EASY EASY a few hours a year and you have made powerful allies.
http://www.colorado.edu/SORCE/events.html
I could write the blueprint for taking over CU's political structure in about an hour. Step one would be Get rid of the freaking grass!
Sorry BuffUp, I meant the hot Stevie Nicks pics.
4thGenBuff
Well-Known Member
You may need to ask to go into the business manager of program council's office, I'll ask next time at campus and scan them.
4thGenBuff
Well-Known Member
Phil Lobel I am sure has his own pictures. Time to get him and Barry Fey on Allbuffs now those guys can tell stories.
NashBuff
CSU Knob-Slobberer
After reading 4thGenBuff's posts, I have to wonder if not having turf put us in the situation we are in football right now. Would we have already had an indoor practice facility by now if we had turf instead of grass all those years? We could be paying coaches at least three million per year if not more.
Not going to FieldTurf in the early 2000s appears to have really cost us big time. Time to go back to turf...hopefully that is in Jones' contract if he comes here.
Not going to FieldTurf in the early 2000s appears to have really cost us big time. Time to go back to turf...hopefully that is in Jones' contract if he comes here.
Something like this with the dark lines being black and the lighter ones grey would look great, IMO. Would also be unique.
Something like this with the dark lines being black and the lighter ones grey would look great, IMO. Would also be unique.
That looks like a high school field. Keep the grass.
77buff
Well-Known Member
Actually it would save just a little money. The new turf has to be raked because of the rubber particles in it. It has to be replaced after a few years or it get's ripped in places and has to be patched. If blood spots it, figure out for yourself the bio cleanup. In short it's a royal pain in the @$$.
77buff
Well-Known Member
You got to be kidding, that looks like stripped $#!T on a stick. Grass forever!Something like this with the dark lines being black and the lighter ones grey would look great, IMO. Would also be unique.
If you're gonna change, do something memorable. I, too, prefer real grass, but I think Field Turf is a smarter alternative due to all the reasons stated above.
4thGenBuff
Well-Known Member
Can someone educate me on the reasons for having grass? It is not historical at CU. My best memories at CU football games involved the turf field. Is it purely due to health of players? From my perspective moving to turf is a no brainer but I'm sure I am missing something.
NashBuff
CSU Knob-Slobberer
I remember CU having too many injuries in the last couple of seasons under Neushiel before the switch to grass. That was before FieldTurf first appeared at Nebraska. Had we waited a little longer, we probably would have gone with FieldTurf.
Old school turf was really hard on players. Lots of knee/ankle injuries (foot sticks in turf, body keeps moving) and it was really hard when you landed on it. Field Turf is much more like grass.