Came down about 20 minutes ago
The screen itself has been down for a couple of weeks. The support structure is what came down today, to be rebuilt closer to the field as part of the new NEZ.
Yea I knew the video panels had been removed a week or so back, but to me the demolition that happened today was the scoreboard. That’s what was the visual footprint of the video screen. At 10:14 it was still up, at 10:28 it was laying over as a pile of rubble. Would have loved to have watched it come crashing down.
Any idea on what to expect to see in the NEZ next season? I know the expansion isn’t expected to be completed until 2018.
If you look at the artist’s renderings of the north end zone seating, the scoreboard will be basically on top of everything else, so they’ll have to be pretty much completed with at least the infrastructure skeleton by late summer to even think about putting a scoreboard back up on that end for next year. What I think they’ll do for next year is install the south end zone scoreboard. That will mean a scoreboard on only one end but that’s all we’ve ever had anyway. The south end zone folks may have to do with out a video screen for a season. I sit mid field on the east side, so it won’t affect me, I’ll just look to my left instead of to my right. I guess they may have a plan for a scoreboard on the north end next season, but it looks like it would really be in the way of the other construction.
As the photo above shows, the game day dressing room (and everything else down there) is completely gone. They will need to have something in place for that by September. They will also need to have the new support in place for the Pigscreen, unless the plan is to put one atop the SEZ instead for 2017. I think they can get the supports up for the NEZ screen pretty quickly and then build the rest of the Broyles Center around it.
I’m thinking they might have the lower level of this artwork done for 2017, which would include the dressing room and a few premium seats in front of it. And the concourse connecting west and east, for which they have already done some excavating. But it will be very interesting to watch the construction cam over the winter and spring.
I didn’t realize how complete the destruction would be. I thought they’d keep some parts of the Broyles Center structure & remodel it a bit. This is a complete start-over.
At $160 million it better be a complete start over. :o
I’m anxious to see what we’re getting, but remember, it’s a whole lot more than changes to the NEZ. There are improvements throughout the stadium. Having sat on the lower west side for the first time since the 2000 expansion, I’d either forgotten or didn’t realize how congested the concourses are under there. No room to go to concessions, restrooms, anything. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that part of the stadium is due for an improvement in this particular overhaul.
LOL!! It’s been a very long time since that north end has been this open. I would have loved to been there yesterday when the support structure for the board came down. I can’t wait until it is completed. Finally I can walk around the stadium. Go Hogs!!!
The west side folks have the advantage of being in the shade during early season games, but as an east side season ticket holder for over 30 years, I can tell you we have way better amenities as far as plenty of room underneath, more restrooms, and more concession areas. I walked around before a game a couple of years ago, you can get to the west side by walking through the south end zone corridor, and was surprised just how compressed the home side is.
I think part of the rationale for extending the concourse around the north end is to give west-siders a little more room to spread out. Ditto with the elevators to move people upstairs more expeditiously, getting them off the lower concourse. As far as creating more room, the only way that’s happening is to move Razorback Road. Don’t hold your breath on that one…
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Great find! That’s awesome
Today’s update. Snow on the field, the northwest support tower also toppled.
It is a whole lot more than the NEZ. But you are right, there is nothing that they can do to add more room to the concourse on the West side. There is simply no place to go. And considering that someday Razorback road will become 4 lanes, it doesn’t seem that there is any room to expand. I believe the hope is that with expansion elsewhere, there will be fewer people in that concourse.