P.J. Fleck says his goal is to expand TCF Bank Stadium to 85,000 seats in 3 years!

BleedGopher

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per Shama:

You have to give P.J. Fleck credit for ambition and vision. The new Gophers football coach hasn’t even completed the team’s spring practice schedule, but last Friday night he was talking about expanding the seating capacity of TCF Bank Stadium.

The dynamic 36-year-old arrived in Minneapolis January 6 after four years as head coach at Western Michigan, and he started pointing the program toward eventual Big Ten and (yes) even national championships. On Friday evening he stood in front of a packed room at the DoubleTree Hotel in St. Louis Park and spoke about creating a lot more ticket buyers at TCF Bank Stadium.

“You see, we have 55,000 seats in our stadium, but my plan already three years down the road is to expand it to 85,000,” Fleck told an audience of high school and youth football coaches.

Fleck wants to grow his program’s budget and referenced a “certain rival” who has $40 million more in budget than the Gophers. How to catch up?

“(Add) 30,000 more seats,” Fleck said. “But to be able to do that we have to connect people who don’t even like football.”

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Go Gophers!!
 

#WhyNotUs

If fans buy in to his giving and serving culture he can get this program blowing up!! Let's do this.
 

Cute.


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I don't care what level of success we have here, I want to build real demand before we even think about adding on a little bit, let alone going to 85,000. That's more than Camp Randall isn't it?
 



Should be Rose Bowl champions by then, I don't see why not!
 






Cool! That will keep ticket prices down. Can't complain. [emoji41]
 







Should be plenty of cheap tickets for me on stubhub then! And lots of room for Badger/Hawkeye/Cornhusker fans.


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Well hopefully he'll be able to raise funds for the new training centers. If we he can't do that, doubt that the addition will be put in place.
 

I tend to be one of the most optimistic Gopher fans around, and I have entered into a squabble or two with other Gopher "fans" that are infected with the old Minnesota disease called "We can't have nice things" or "We're never going to be good enough."

With that being said, suggesting stadium expansion beyond its stated maximum within 3 years makes me trust other Fleck statements/claims less.

I have a dream that one day the Gophers are consistent B1G contenders and even occasionally compete for national championships. I wouldn't be a fan if I didn't think these things were possible, someday.

But, I don't think I will see stadium expansion in my lifetime. In three years? Even if the Gophers win the next three B1G championships in a row, and throw in a national championship - I don't see expansion in three years.

Let's just get better, fill the seats we have, and go from there.
 

He gets us a trip to the Rose Bowl, and I am ready to believe anything.
 

Dream B1G


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I tend to be one of the most optimistic Gopher fans around, and I have entered into a squabble or two with other Gopher "fans" that are infected with the old Minnesota disease called "We can't have nice things" or "We're never going to be good enough."

With that being said, suggesting stadium expansion beyond its stated maximum within 3 years makes me trust other Fleck statements/claims less.

I have a dream that one day the Gophers are consistent B1G contenders and even occasionally compete for national championships. I wouldn't be a fan if I didn't think these things were possible, someday.

But, I don't think I will see stadium expansion in my lifetime. In three years? Even if the Gophers win the next three B1G championships in a row, and throw in a national championship - I don't see expansion in three years.

Let's just get better, fill the seats we have, and go from there.

How do we close a $40MM funding gap? The most logical answer is sell more tickets. Nothing wrong with doing a little monkey math for the purposes of the conversation it came from.

Whether he believes he'll have the seats or not, I can't comment, but if he wants more in his budget, we'll need sell more tickets. Even if we expand to 85K and sell out, there is no guarantee that money will go to the football program as incremental funds.
 

Supply and demand. Before the Gophers can think about expanding the current stadium, they need to show demand by a string of sellouts, and developing a significant waiting list for season tickets.

If, let's say, the Gophs go 3 years in a row with all home games sold out, and if they have a waiting list of - let's say - at least 5,000 people - ideally 10,000 - who are on a list to buy season tickets - then I could see them going forward with plans for expansion.

Personally, I would shoot for an expansion to maybe 75,000 tops.

Look, I'm a Gopher fan, but I'm also a realist. I just can't see this fan base selling out non-conference games, unless they're playing a big-time opponent like a Notre Dame or USC. Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska - yeah, those could be sellouts. But Purdue or Indiana - not so much.
 

If TCF held 85,000, it would mean there are more Gopher fans than Vikings fans. Ponder that as a reality.
Now look at the fact that football attendance has been dropping nationally and consider whether the Twin Cities and Minnesota will buck the trend.
 

I thought we were supposed to be horrible for the next 3 years while our guys learn culture and get older?
 


Interesting statistic.....

Minnesota averaged 43,813 last year. The year before Barry Alvarez took over, Wisconsin averaged 41,734 fans. Only four years in, that was up to 71,506.

Doesn't take long to make a big jump.
 

Remember that TCF Stadium was designed for 10,000 seat incremental add on. Maybe not all at once, but why not dream big.
 

Dream B1G


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Remember that TCF Stadium was designed for 10,000 seat incremental add on. Maybe not all at once, but why not dream big.

I am a Gopher Homer. I dream a lot of big things for this team. Wins, Championships, Rose Bowls, etc. Expanding our stadium capacity from 55K to 85K doesn't even make the list. Why should it?


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Makes sense - if every home game opponent is Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, or NDSU.
 

I am going to assume it was taken out of context. Maybe he meant start plans in 3 years.....
 

I am a Gopher Homer. I dream a lot of big things for this team. Wins, Championships, Rose Bowls, etc. Expanding our stadium capacity from 55K to 85K doesn't even make the list. Why should it?

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If you dream of those things, I don't see why you wouldn't dream of expanding the capacity. I've thought about it alot. If we start to see significant improvement in wins on the field, beating our rivals, I'd imagine there would be an increase in demand for tickets. The 85 number can be argued, but the idea of needing to expand capacity if the team is having as much success as PJ expects it to is not too far-fetched imo.
 




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