Upper Deck

Well, if were going into details..........I wouldnt mind if they gave the fans the privalage of viewing full jumbotrons. But thats more of an improvement in fan appreciation than facilities.

Back in 2005 when us "sunshine pumpers" said..."stick with Gundy he's going to win the conference then take us to a BCS game and win it" people laughed and said it would never happen. Guess what? it did.
Back in the early 90's when then AD Terry Don Phyllips said we should build a state of the art stadium or at least improve Lewis Field. People laughed and said we don't have any money. Guess what? We now have BPS.
Holder built Karsten Creek on basically his own willpower and drive to raise the funds.
Sutton basically caused GIA to be expanded...(yeah I know we need to work on refilling it)
Both Karsten and GIA happened prior to us "having any money."

Bottom line, if we at Oklahoma State want to do something and put our minds to it...we get it done...it might not happen overnight but money will be raised when the time comes and the need arrises...and IMHO, the time will come and we will have an upper deck that will be done in a way that will only enhance what we already have.

No, in Rack's world...all things are possible with desire and hard work... if you don't have any dreams you will never make them a reality.

I think you're forgetting how much money we spent on BPS compared to all other sports facilities prior. I forget what the numbers were but I'm trying to remember something like 20 million TOTAL before BPS. It's not that we don't have the money. We are EXTREMELY in debt. Alot of things need improvement before an upper deck. Allie P, the track, soccer field. Video boards in BPS and GIA. Not saying we couldn't fill it with ALOT cheaper ticket prices, making it family only zone, etc. But dream on.

A full 60,000 seat stadium is a million times better than an 80,000 seat stadium with only 70,000 people in it.

Limiting supply creates a greater demand which jacks up the price which is good for our athletic program.

Oh and this has been discussed about 30 times this year alone.

I'm pretty sure the upper deck will be put in next year and five years from now there will be an upper upper deck. Next year we will also have ribbon boards and a new jumbo tron the size of the one in the Dallas cowboys stadium that will be suspended by a fleet of blackhawk helicopters. In the east corners of the stadium there will be two giant moon bounces to further better the gameday experience. Bullet will be fazed out and replaced with 1000 ferrets with bells on their neck, pistol Pete will upgrade to a 40mm cannon. And finally starting next year OSU will contract out Lil John to say "YEAH!" every time the ball is kicked off. Money of course is no object and this will be done within a few short years.

To be honest, I think we need to endorse in our other sports before adding on to football stadium. A.) For us to get a upper deck, we need to max out EVERY football, not just key football games. B.) I think the school is more concerned about the student per room issue and parking issues on campus.

Huh? What is this "poor season" thing of which you speak?

I'm not in disagreement with you and know that other things should take priority at this point in time. We all want to get the other things inished that we have started and raise some more money. Bottom line, I don't think we are going to end up without the things we need moving forward.

You are so funny...ha ha

I doubt the upper deck would add that many seats especially if we don't need them. I was thinking 70,000 total seats or so...so 10,000 more when and IF we need them.

I don't see the point to an upper deck unless I adds 20,000 more. A 10,000 seat would be puny looking and pointless. And cost entirely too much money.

Phase 4, which would be the upper deck, would add approximately 15K seats. This would MAX the capacity of BPS to around 75K. If Terry Don Phillips and Birdwell had not already started upgrading Lewis Field, it would have been torn down under Holder. Holder didn't like the idea that expansion of Lewis field would be locked at 75K, but it was too late as they were already in the process of upgrading the North side when he took over. Holder saw the facilities improvement of the BIG12 south as an arms race. Texas was building a 100K seat stadium, and that meant A&M and OU would upgrade to a 100K stadium too. If all those schools had a 100K seat stadium, then OSU needed one. This of course became impossible as we were financially committed to the upgrade. The point eventually became moot.
Phase 4 will have two large circular ramps to provide access, and they will be in the NW and SW corners of the exterior plaza of the WEZ. Phase 4 is, as of now, a conceptual design only. Last I knew, it wasn't on the pecking order of upgrades and new facilities in the Athletic Village. Im no longer working on or with the project, so I cant speak for what is happening at present. Most likely though, things have changed 100 times since I last worked on it.

I wasnt going after anyone i was just really really really bored at work

Just me, but I can't go the ribbon boards. College sports have enough show business about them as it is. Leave the ribbon boards in Norman where they belong.

Rack, I tend to think of myself as someone who can quickly and easily understand someone's perspective, even if I disagree with it... however... I can't understand how you can justify expanding a stadium we've never been able to fill. We had the best season this program has ever had last year, and I DO expect more to come... but it took schools like UT and OU decades of success and tradition to build their monstrosities.

Be patient, and thankful that you're here and paying attention to watch OSU decades of success and tradition unfold. =)

Just for grins, here are some sketches from around 2000.



and


I do remember Terry Don on many occasions saying if he had it his way, he would just tear down the stadium and start over, but at our pre-Boone donation levels, that just wasn't feasible.

GIA is an awesome place and as they say, if it ain't broke.............. Lets enjoy where we are at and if we have a few years of sell outs, then lets talk. I would rather have a great full stadium than a bigger 3/4 bigger stadium.