150 Million Dollar Green "Bounce House" for the price of 300 Million??

[bull2bull]

Disclaimer: Have been Bulls Club football donor since 1995 (they were taking donations two years before football games actually started) and only want the best for USF.

UCF - 2007 - $73.9 Million 45K Seating

FAU - 2010 - $70 Million 30K Seating

USF - 2027 - $300 Million 35K Seating (assuming $40 million is being used for the TGH center for athletic excellence)

Only difference in the design and look between these (+FIU) that I can tell from our renderings, is that we are going to have some green and heard we may put a thin layer of concrete on the stands like FSU has done.

The thought all these years was that it would be best to do it right or don't do it at all and not put the same erector set steel beam structure that every high school stadium (along with FIU, FAU and UCF) in Florida has done for the last 30 years. 

Why was "no erector set steel support structure" not the first design rule given to Populous? (translation: no bounce house)

 

Exhibit A (FAU Stadium)

You will notice that our rendering shows the same type of steel support beams going down into the middle of those buildings.

It is a horrible look for the $70 million that it costs FAU 13 years ago but it is inconceivable that we are doing the same for $300 million!  

 

Exhibit B: (UCF Stadium - "Bounce House")

Renderings revealed on Tuesday show the same design (steel beam support structure)

Expect to have similar corrosion issues over time.

 

From the renderings shown:

Both North (blimp view) and South (practice field view) stands show steel support structure.

Fact 1: This is a bounce house and will feel unstable just like UCFs.

Fact 2: This will have corrosion problems just like UCFs 10 years down the road.

Fact 3: Reluctance of donors/corporations to give as much as they could when they see the renderings of something that should cost no more than $150-200 million actually cost $300 million.

Fact 4: Renderings show a stadium (even if you tripled the cost of FAU and UCF for inflation) that should not cost more than $200 million. Was the design to bury a $100 million worth of gold at midfield to come up with the $300 million total.

I have been in FIU, FAU and UCF stadiums enough times to know that we don't want that same thing.

Those of us going to the Boca Bowl in two weeks should take note walking into and under that Stadium of what we are going to get three years from now at four times the cost. Only hope is that our USF folks approving the stadium design come up with the same conclusion: "300 million for this, get populous on the phone".

Is this why contractor was fired?

Were the renderings correct?...pretty sure graphic designer would not replace concrete structure with steel support just to get drawings out.

Mike Weatherford said we don't want a Bounce House, we want something better.........well the renderings show a Bounce House, plain and simple.......very disappointing.....correct it before it is too late or we will have to keep putting lipstick on the pig for twenty years like UCF is doing now.

Edited December 7, 2023 by bull2bull

[Gatorbull325]

I assume there are many ways to decoratively cover up beams right? Some just cover it up better or differently than others. The UF stadium has beams, they just built floors around it. Based on this design, maybe they are saving some money. As a project Manager, that is always a win. B/c there are always externalities you can't control and now they have a cushion in their budget. We don't know if it's still $300Mil. 

[Triple B]

28 minutes ago, bull2bull said:

Mike Weatherford said we don't want a Bounce House, we want something better.........well the renderings show a Bounce House, plain and simple.......very disappointing.....correct it before it is too late or we will have to keep putting lipstick on the pig for twenty years like UCF is doing now

Not an engineer or anything but I assume they have to keep putting lipstick on it because it was a piece of **** design/construction job. Did all stadiums built like this have the bounce effect and lipstick jobs having to be done on them? We weren't getting a mini-RayJay .....

[USF_Bullsharks]

52 minutes ago, bull2bull said:

Disclaimer: Have been Bulls Club football donor since 1995 (they were taking donations two years before football games actually started) and only want the best for USF.

UCF - 2007 - $73.9 Million 45K Seating

FAU - 2010 - $70 Million 30K Seating

Luckily "fact" and "accurate" are two different things, because I'm pretty sure the above are the only factually accurate statements in the original post. 

[BULLSHTR]

The renderings are a big disappointment for how much money we are spending. Not sure why everyone is fellating Populous. All of the designs in their portfolio look like weird soccer stadiums.

I would vote we go back to the drawing board and ditch Populous too.

[bull2bull]

37 minutes ago, Gatorbull325 said:

I assume there are many ways to decoratively cover up beams right? Some just cover it up better or differently than others. The UF stadium has beams, they just built floors around it. Based on this design, maybe they are saving some money. As a project Manager, that is always a win. B/c there are always externalities you can't control and now they have a cushion in their budget. We don't know if it's still $300Mil. 

Are you thinking about FSU which is steel structure with layer of cement or is there some part of Ben Hill Griffin expansion or press box area I have never seen? As you can see in pic, most major areas are built with reinforced concrete. Fun fact, Raymond James did not do circular ramps like here and in Hard Rock Stadium because they were like double the cost of what was actually built (rectangle back and forth).

Was not expecting a Ben Hill Griffin for $300 million (it would likely cost triple that to build) but for only 35K seats I would expect something like a mini-rayjay.

[86atlbull]

It's going to be precast concrete not like the aluminum bleacher at UCF... 

“Some of the best athletic departments in the country have great facilities spread out, maybe even a couple of miles away,” Kelly said. “USF’s, for forevermore, will be all concise, efficient and at an elite level.”

He said the precast concrete design would increase stability and safety. Kelly told the board it also allows for a 10,000 to 12,000-seat expansion.

 

USF unveils stadium renderings, announces construction delay - St Pete Catalyst

STPETECATALYST.COM

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University of South Florida officials announced Tuesday that an on-campus stadium will no longer open in 2026; however, they did release long-awaited renderings. USF...

 

[BULLSHTR]

If they are going to delay it, then they may as well start the design process over. This is hot garbage.

[bull2bull]

12 minutes ago, 86atlbull said:

It's going to be precast concrete not like the aluminum bleacher at UCF... 

“Some of the best athletic departments in the country have great facilities spread out, maybe even a couple of miles away,” Kelly said. “USF’s, for forevermore, will be all concise, efficient and at an elite level.”

He said the precast concrete design would increase stability and safety. Kelly told the board it also allows for a 10,000 to 12,000-seat expansion.

 

USF unveils stadium renderings, announces construction delay - St Pete Catalyst

STPETECATALYST.COM

---

University of South Florida officials announced Tuesday that an on-campus stadium will no longer open in 2026; however, they did release long-awaited renderings. USF...

 

Understood  on Tuesday that there would be concrete layer on the stands but if you are going to put that much weight on the steel was it that much more to do concrete support as well. Assume our design is the Stadia image....design should be the @LAFC image......was it really $20, 30, 50 million more to do it right?

[bullstampede9922]

Looking at the renderings again, it could be the home and away sides that are reinforced concrete and the end zones are steel supported bleachers which could then be removed and replaced when capacity is increased.  The added capacity would be end zone seating and the seating similar to what's above the tunnels on each side of the end zones at RayJay.  If the two end zones were originally concrete, it would be much more expensive to replace / upgrade when they increase capacity.  Just a guess, like everyone else on here....