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Tuesday, 05 December 2006 |
Athletics enhancement plan leaves students out
As the Appalachian State University football team continues its march through the 2006 Division I Football Championship playoffs, the team, school and community are becoming more widely known.
The attention brings more people to watch the Mountaineers play, which increases the size of crowds at the game.
This creates less room for fans, especially Appalachian State students.
The Appalachian believes the new athletic enhancement plan is ignoring
a growing need to increase the amount of general admission seating at
Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Director of Design and Construction Dr. Clyde D. Robbins said, as the
plan stands now, demolition of the stadium press box will begin after
this season ends. A new seven-story box seating section will be added
in the demolition’s wake. However, no additional general admission
seats will be added, only the addition of new Chancellor, press and
coach boxes.
Earlier this year, Athletics Director Charlie Cobb said there are no
immediate plans to increase seating at Kidd Brewer Stadium to avoid the
appearance of empty seats.
There would need to be a consistency in ticket demand before seats were added to the stadium, he said.
Kidd Brewer Stadium, in the eight home games this season, averaged
20,859 fans. While the stadium only holds 16,650 fans. The other fans
have had to either sit on the grass in front of the scoreboard or stand.
The situation was the same last year, as Kidd Brewer averaged nearly 140 percent capacity during the regular season.
Obviously, there is a consistent ticket demand.
Why then, is the construction of new box seats more important than the addition of more general admission sections?
This is a growing problem, as students have to race to games earlier
and earlier to make sure they can sit in the student section.
Another plan in addition to the seven-story box seating section is the creation of new concessions and bathrooms.
The Appalachian considers this commendable, but feels it is still neglecting a bigger issue of general seating space.
Increasing general admission seating is something that should be
considered to help make game day more enjoyable for everyone, including
students.
The university has already opened a new gate into Kidd Brewer that helped ease the flow of game-day traffic.
Why not create more seats to help the congestion of the student section?
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