*What if* - Hypothetical new stadium ideas

[HeluCopter29]

I would like the following to be in the new stadium:

Fans
DC Location
Free bear
Fans
Roof
Fans
Rally Towels every game.
Free bear

[DC9]

I would like the following to be in the new stadium:

Fans
DC Location
Free bear
Fans
Roof
Fans
Rally Towels every game.
Free bear

A free bear? Where would you keep it during the game?

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I think it's inevitable that prices will go up. I think the way the league is headed, you will either have pay per view games or tickets will be so expensive that they'll be a comodity and a "once a year or so" type thing for families.

Oh, the Danny builds a new stadium is the day ticket prices double. If he built a stadium with less than 50,000 seats, it would be nothing but club seats and the ticket prices would quadruple.

[HTTR F Dallas]

You have some pretty cool ideas there. I like the idea of making the outside of the stadium to look like a monument.. also like the location idea, but I dont know if there is enough land over there.

A 70k stadium at the RFK grounds or near the new Nationals park would be pretty sweet. I want to say we're near 80k now and I think 10k less would be perfect, espeically if we're ever good again. I was never for a dome, but after going to the Superdome this year and hearing how loud it gets in there, I wouldn't oppose it, but would probably rather a stadium with a retractable roof like AZ.

I thought the lease was up in 2027. is that wrong? 15 more years?

[earl]

1. Has to be in dc
2. Has to be metro accessible ( big factor for superbowl bid)
3. 65- 70k
4. Natural grass retractable roof
5. Maximize accoustics and have the steepet sloping stands in the league. Build up not out so it feels like ur on top of th field. All should help with noise.

Most importantly the tailgate!!....

Because its in dc parking will be limited, but should promote metro use. Limited parking should be sold priority to season ticket holdrs and not many cash lots. This will make the smaller parking lot almost exclusive to serious regular tailgaters.

Everyone else will be encouraged to go to numerous bars just outside the stadium. Imagine a strip of bars sorrounding the stadium with no cars. Open container is allowed. A french quarter if u will around our stadium. Bands, televisions, food the works. And since its on stadium property this is a a great opportunity for dan to make his money back off lost revenues from smller stadium and less parking cha ching$$$ id also prefer the corporate branding to be done here instead of in the stadium as much is possible. Furthermore fans without tickets would flock there to tailgate and watch the game. I envision the best and most convenient tailgate and post gme party in the league. Hoards of people in packed bars and courtyards just a stones throw away from the game. A home playoff game might have 70k in the stands and an additional 50k in the bars just outside and just as loud.

Thats where i'd start

[SwampEm]

How much does everybody like paying for PSL's?

[Cliffmark1]

If/when theres a new stadium -- I think it will be like 55k plus 15-20k in "premium seats"/club level that cash stays with the Redskins and is not subject to profit sharing.

[Laxpunk2006]

Below, is a picture of Doughboy Stadium at Fort Benning, GA. I've spent many a morning running up and down the stadium steps and vomiting along the sides of them, lol. Good times. If you have ever seen the movie "We were Soldiers," this is where Mel Gibson gave his speech to the families of the unit that was about to deploy. The reason I posted this... is because it's beautiful on the outside. I'd love for our stadium to look like this. Arches/pillars, with unit patches from every unit that deployed during WWI above each arch. Instead of unit patches, we put a picture of a member of our ring of fame, and their names, with a plaque for each one that will tell the story of their Redskins greatness. This will make it a DC landmark and a place that people will want to go and visit year round. It has to look classic and classy. Nothing modern... it has to fit in with the rest of the monument schemes. I think this would be top shelf.

I'm not a fan of the "Retro-Modern" stadium style you're referring to. It was successful in Baltimore but it fit the context of the city as part of a much larger urban development program. If you want to create an icon for the city it needs to be site and context specific. If anything it would make more sense to build it in a classical style with marble cladding if you want to reference the city's monuments. I however would not suggest that.

I'd personally go the opposite route and build something modern that is conceptually linked to the site. Create a place that residents of D.C. want to visit and utilize on non-game days. Creating an emotional connection with the city is the best way to create a landmark and an icon in my opinion.

Oh, the Danny builds a new stadium is the day ticket prices double. If he built a stadium with less than 50,000 seats, it would be nothing but club seats and the ticket prices would quadruple.

Well the majority of stadiums are publicly subsidized so you may not end up paying for it via PSL but local fans will be paying for it one way or another.


I'm currently a graduate Architecture student proposing a thesis on stadium design so I plan on following this thread closely to see what kind of things fans are looking for. Unfortunately my hypothetical stadium is not for the Washington Redskins. =(

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I'm not a fan of the "Retro-Modern" stadium style you're referring to. It was successful in Baltimore but it fit the context of the city as part of a much larger urban development program. If you want to create an icon for the city it needs to be site and context specific. If anything it would make more sense to build it in a classical style with marble cladding if you want to reference the city's monuments. I however would not suggest that.

I'd personally go the opposite route and build something modern that is conceptually linked to the site. Create a place that residents of D.C. want to visit and utilize on non-game days. Creating an emotional connection with the city is the best way to create a landmark and an icon in my opinion.



Well the majority of stadiums are publicly subsidized so you may not end up paying for it via PSL but local fans will be paying for it one way or another.


I'm currently a graduate Architecture student proposing a thesis on stadium design so I plan on following this thread closely to see what kind of things fans are looking for. Unfortunately my hypothetical stadium is not for the Washington Redskins. =(

Football stadiums are tough because they are so utilitarian and because they all must have the same basic centerpoint. You can a million different things with a baseball stadium, because you can literally change the play dimensions. An NFL stadium must have a 40*120 yard field right smack dab in the middle of it. I'm too lazy to research this, but I would bet money that the NFL dictates how far seats must be from the sidelines and access to tunnels to locker rooms and things like that.

There is little opportunity for whimsy here.

The other issue with a football stadium is scale. Again, a baseball stadium can have less than 45,000 seats and be wildly profitable. A Stadium for the Skins needs at least 65,000 seats to justify its existence and if Danny wants a Super Bowl, it will need to get to 80,000 seats.

Now, you are talking about a rectangle that needs 70K to 80K seats around it. The onyl thing you can really do at that point is a massive cereal bowl or a massive shoebox. All the flourishes have to be on the edges.

The issue specific to DC is location. You simply aren't going to build anything "downtown" and DC simply is not that large a landmass. I guess the RFK stadium location is a good spot in DC, though I don't think you would have much room for parking after building a modern football stadium there.

Reliant Stadium in Houston is in a complex that still houses the decrepit and abandoned Astrodome. What blows me away every time I go there is how tiny the Astrodome is in comparison to Reliant Stadium. The Astrodome was this monstrosity in the 70s and now it looks like a garage next to a modern stadium. I imagine you can't just plop a new stadium in RFK's footprint.

Are there any other feasible locations inside the district?

[skins island connection]

Reliant Stadium in Houston is in a complex that still houses the decrepit and abandoned Astrodome. What blows me away every time I go there is how tiny the Astrodome is in comparison to Reliant Stadium. The Astrodome was this monstrosity in the 70s and now it looks like a garage next to a modern stadium. I imagine you can't just plop a new stadium in RFK's footprint.

Are there any other feasible locations inside the district?[/QUOTE]

Yea, the Astrodome was a friggin state when I was a kid, but now its more like an ant hill, comparatively speaking.

Regarding other locations, just don't ask Grimm; we'd be playing along the west coast..

[MLSKINS]

Not in favor of building a new stadium in DC. It's a nightmare getting there, and some parts of the DC are just rough.

Would love to see a new stadium either in Columbia or Laurel. Or, upgrading the current stadium.

It's so much wrong in this post

First of all, it is much harder getting to FedEx Field than it would be to get to RFK Stadium. The Stadium-Armory Station alone would cut a good chunk of traffic. The fact that it is a two-line station (Orange and Blue) makes it even better.

As far as DC being "rough", the same could be said for Laurel and Columbia (Especially Laurel) But nobody will put a stadium in those "rough areas". Shoot, National's Park is in my neighborhood. I would definitely say that is a "rough" neighborhood, but I rarely hear people complain about it being in that area.

The stadium definitely needs to go where the old RFK stadium is. That is the only place in DC that will be able to handle that. Also, throw me in with the ones who want a lower capicity stadium. A retractable roof and field.....

Speaking of stadium names, I had a dream that Fed Ex Field was renamed to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium at FedEx Field. I like it.

[Laxpunk2006]

Football stadiums are tough because they are so utilitarian and because they all must have the same basic centerpoint. You can a million different things with a baseball stadium, because you can literally change the play dimensions. An NFL stadium must have a 40*120 yard field right smack dab in the middle of it. I'm too lazy to research this, but I would bet money that the NFL dictates how far seats must be from the sidelines and access to tunnels to locker rooms and things like that.

There is little opportunity for whimsy here.

The other issue with a football stadium is scale. Again, a baseball stadium can have less than 45,000 seats and be wildly profitable. A Stadium for the Skins needs at least 65,000 seats to justify its existence and if Danny wants a Super Bowl, it will need to get to 80,000 seats.

Now, you are talking about a rectangle that needs 70K to 80K seats around it. The onyl thing you can really do at that point is a massive cereal bowl or a massive shoebox. All the flourishes have to be on the edges.

The issue specific to DC is location. You simply aren't going to build anything "downtown" and DC simply is not that large a landmass. I guess the RFK stadium location is a good spot in DC, though I don't think you would have much room for parking after building a modern football stadium there.

Reliant Stadium in Houston is in a complex that still houses the decrepit and abandoned Astrodome. What blows me away every time I go there is how tiny the Astrodome is in comparison to Reliant Stadium. The Astrodome was this monstrosity in the 70s and now it looks like a garage next to a modern stadium. I imagine you can't just plop a new stadium in RFK's footprint.

Are there any other feasible locations inside the district?

An NFL field obviously requires a regulation 100 yard field but so do Soccer Stadiums and there is still quite a variance in design. There is plenty you can do with the design it just becomes a matter of priorities. Maximum capacity or design? What's the budget?

70-80k seats may be necessary for a SB bid. I'm not sure but it seems reasonable. It doesn't necessarily need to be true for the economic feasibility of a stadium however. The ticket sales are a small slice of revenue in comparison to current broadcasting deals. The business model for NFL teams has changed quite a bit and I would not be surprised to see stadiums begin shrinking over the next 20-30 years. Just look at how many stadiums have needed to remove or cover seating to avoid black outs.

A downtown location would likely be more reliant on mass transit such as a metro or even light rail. This could mean major infrastructural adjustments to the city as well. Tailgating is a big part of football culture but it isn't a necessity for stadium design. There are precedents for doing without direct parking.

The architecture firm Populous would be a good place to start for those curious what can be done in stadium design. They do quite a bit of Professional and even National/Olympic stadia around the world.

[RFKFedEx]

There is no better site in the DC area than the RFK location. Plenty of land. Two Metro lines within a few blocks and plenty of room for parking.

[MAATopDogg]

I’d like to have a stadium like Lucas Oil Field with a retractable roof seating around 90,000 with an indoor/outdoor grass field. It would be a multi-stadium as well for Super bowl, Concerts, Olympic events, Motor cross, Wrestling Events, and College Football (Bowl Games). DC is the ideal place but you have to consider not only the land to house the stadium but the parking. I think at one point we wanted to hold the Olympics here in DC but FEDEX field is just too far from the action so the idea was scraped. The location I was looking at was in crime ridden SW Washington were those old abandon warehouses and homes could be knocked down. I would also build a few hotels around the stadium like Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Sheraton...etc. Possibly put a shopping mall there a few years after the Stadium is built.

[romank]

.. Snyder and the rest of the skins organzation did'nt think things threw before they built the stadium.!!

Dan Snyder had nothing to do with building the stadium nor location of it. That was a JKC thing