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JMU Football Stadium Expansion

TODD

By TODD
in The Tailgate

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Heisenberg

Heisenberg

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Anyone have any additional info? Are they planning to expand the student body, too? This looks great, they must want to join the Big East badly.

Won't be finished til' 2011 I don't think. The student body has been growing significantly . . . especially since 2002 when I began my freshman year. I don't see them going 1A anytime soon . . . unless a major conference realignment occurs. I would rather them stay 1AA than join something like the Sun Belt . . . I guess I could live with the MAC since they sometimes get ESPN games.

This thread will die quickly because of the lack of interest in 1AA but the football program is going in the right direction . . . if only basketball could find a coach to turn the program around. My one biggest regret in college was not attending a school that at least made the NCAA tournament while I went there. :mad:

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Heisenberg

Heisenberg

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I think they are aiming for C-USA within the next decade

ODU just started a football team as well, so JMU will be looking to one up them by getting to D-1

Probably looking more to keep up with ODU's program. If ODU can get a coach that has any recruiting talent AT ALL they should be very competitive from the get go and with all the talent in the Hampton Roads area they will be making a strong case to jump to the next level pretty quickly (decade or so). I think JMU is trying to position themselves to possibly make a jump with a handful of other teams towards a new/realigned conference.

DGreen the parking is definitely a valid concern. I think they have several more garages being built but who knows if it will be enough. I am not looking forward to the empty seats that will result from the expansion though. I've gotten quite accustomed to a packed house when I travel back there.

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Mr. S

Mr. S

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Speaking from personal experience having walked right by the stadium for two years, they need to make sure they accommodate the parking for an expansion as the current parking doesn't cover what they have now.

Well, the parking problem is being worked on. Maybe they could increase the parking deck next to the stadium. However, there is the new parking deck being built right across from the Quad and next to bdubs which will definitely help. Seeing as how that spot is a short 5-7 minute walk to the stadium, that was definitely a good move in terms of stadium expansion. I'm just going to miss all those little houses across the quad as I felt that added to the beauty of the quad.

As for the student body, they have about the same number of undergrads as UVA, UVA just has more grad students. They also do have the space to expand the student body by a few thousand more.

I hope JMU gets I-A once the stadium is complete. I think they are already viewed as one of the larger I-AA markets. Maybe, the stadium will push them in to join a conference like the MAC or Sunbelt.

Does anyone know what will happen to the half track that is still there? Seems like it'd be wasteful to to have all that space on the sidelines.

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nuposse87

nuposse87

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I'm a sophomore there, I'm just wondering why they don't close off the space by the stands at the opposite end from where the team enters. I don't see why they don't add more seats there and fill that void. I'll be out of there when ever its done anyways :(

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THEArmchairQB

THEArmchairQB

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Speaking from personal experience having walked right by the stadium for two years, they need to make sure they accommodate the parking for an expansion as the current parking doesn't cover what they have now.

Eagle and Chandler Hall?

Does anyone know what will happen to the half track that is still there? Seems like it'd be wasteful to to have all that space on the sidelines.

Probably will be gotten rid of. It was just used for students to jog on anyways.

My freshman year was 2004, the year they won the National Title. There has been talk of expanding ever since then.

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Mr. S

Mr. S

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Eagle and Chandler Hall?

Probably will be gotten rid of. It was just used for students to jog on anyways.

My freshman year was 2004, the year they won the National Title. There has been talk of expanding ever since then.

I started in 2002, there were rumors then, including building a new stadium completely on the other side of the interstate since the school has a ton of free space there.

I'm glad the school is opting to expand the current stadium. I kinda figured they would horseshoe it and may even build above the training center in a bit. The training center just looks like it was designed in a way for expansion. The stadium has a lot of character for currently being a 15k seat stadium.

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Prosperity

Prosperity

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Why is that exactly?

Because I think JMU is trying to become a IA school when not enough people care about the team enough to really justify that. Also as a general rule I don't like money going to sports teams, especially when others have to be cut.

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Heisenberg

Heisenberg

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Because I think JMU is trying to become a IA school when almost no one here cares about the team enough to really justify that. Also as a general rule I don't like money going to sports teams, especially when others have to be cut.

Well there is basically no way to have people outside of JMU circles care about football without going 1A . . . so you eventually have to work toward that. JMU is a fast growing, quality academic school in a talent rich region . . . this makes sense with the recent success of the football program and transforming JMU into a nationally recognized name.

The sports teams that were cut were not cut because of the football team . . . that is a common misconception.

To me the expenses make sense in the overall growth of the institution and as an alum I am happy to see this growth taking place.

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THEArmchairQB

THEArmchairQB

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Because I think JMU is trying to become a IA school when not enough people care about the team enough to really justify that. Also as a general rule I don't like money going to sports teams, especially when others have to be cut.

If they become a IA football team A LOT more money will go to football. That will create more money for women's sports which have recently been cut at JMU. The revenue created by advertising by a IA football team will eventually be much greater than the money put into it.

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Brad89

Brad89

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They're definately planning on getting up to 20,000 undergrad, along with a bigger stadiu,. I don't know how I feel about that. I LOVE JMU. I mean, I LOVE it. My favorite part is that it's a large school with a small school feel, and I'd really hate for it to lose that. I chose JMU over VT because I felt like, at VT I would be more of a number and less of a person.

On a side note, they're also building a new baseball complex where Memorial hall is next year - and the Rugby team is getting shafted. As of now, we don't have a field next year.

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Heisenberg

Heisenberg

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Im never going to forget that game where the two mascots attacked each other. God it was priceless. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Are you talking about this year? That was the Coastal Carolina game at it was HILARIOUS. I think our mascot got fired though lol.

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THEArmchairQB

THEArmchairQB

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Are you talking about this year? That was the Coastal Carolina game at it was HILARIOUS. I think our mascot got fired though lol.

Yeah I dropped the link to the youtube video in this thread. I'm pretty sure he lost his job which is a shame because he loved doing it and was a great Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuke Dog

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Mr. S

Mr. S

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ok, I didn't know they want to get to VT size. That's ridiculous. They don't have the size to do that. The campus is relatively small compared to other schools, even UVA is larger, and they are around 20k with grad students.

I think 20k is a good number to be around for a school of that size. The 30k+ VT has would be too much for that area.

As for the expansion to jump to I-A Liberty, it'll just help to get more press and more money. As mentioned, that helps out all of the sporting teams, and the school as a whole.

Otherwise, tell me that big schools like Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, etc... do not rely on football proceeds to fund the rest of the school.

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Prosperity

Prosperity

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ok, I didn't know they want to get to VT size. That's ridiculous. They don't have the size to do that. The campus is relatively small compared to other schools, even UVA is larger, and they are around 20k with grad students.

I think 20k is a good number to be around for a school of that size. The 30k+ VT has would be too much for that area.

As for the expansion to jump to I-A Liberty, it'll just help to get more press and more money. As mentioned, that helps out all of the sporting teams, and the school as a whole.

Otherwise, tell me that big schools like Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, etc... do not rely on football proceeds to fund the rest of the school.

I see those points... I just don't like that JMU is expanding so much. I think 22k is the near term goal and even that is too much. One of the reasons (among many) that I chose JMU over VT was because of the smaller size. I don't want JMU to be known for athletics. Sure athletics brings in more applications, but JMU gets a lot of applications anyway.

Theoretically money can be made from the football program, but I remain skeptical since JMU has quite a long way to go. Maybe I am thinking in too short of a time span.

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