I’m a 'Skins fan, so I admit to finding this particularly amusing. I mean, really, I don’t understand the point of a giant TV like that. If I’m paying at least $75 for a seat, I’m watching the field and only looking at the jumbotron for replays. However, if what LonghornDave said is true, it is the leagues fault. Either way, I suspect if it starts to get hit on a fairly regular basis (maybe every couple games or so), I suspect the league will have to interject and reconsider the minimum height of objects over the field.
However, I have to wonder that, if it can be raised and lowered, how quickly can it be done? Is it like openning a roof where it takes a at least 20-30 minutes for most fields? If it’s something that can be done fairly quickly, could they have it lower for most plays and then raise it 5-10’ in a punting situation?
It’s not like this is even a new issue. There were problems with the video screens at the Superdome years ago. Think Oakland punter Ray Guy actually hit the screens during a game, and then they raised them.
How about those ‘Party Passes’? For only $30 you can watch from the standing-room only area.
That is…if you are the first ones there to get a rail-spot, and never have to go to the bathroom. Otherwise you’ve spent $30 to watch the TV (or the back of someone’s head)
As for the jumbo-jumbo-tron, I’m waiting for Fox to give a few footballs with trackers in them to Mat McBriar and ask him to hit the jumbo-tron. I want to see what kind of arcs are required to hit it. As Jerry says, you have to be kicking for hang-time - not distance, to hit it.
I’m guessing that 85 feet was good enough when the hanging scoreboard is a relatively compact square over the fifty yard line…this thing hangs over most of the playing field which might account for the fact that it seems to attract punts more than the one at the Superdome or the big barn in Indy.
Well, there’s also the associated infrastructure improvements that the city is shelling out for. Besides the cost, there’s all of the torn-up roads that we’ve been having to deal with over the past two years, even well away from the stadium itself. I shouldn’t complain, though–my neighboorhood got a huge new sewer! :rolleyes:
OK, I really shouldn’t complain because I voted ‘yes’ on the referendum for it, so it’s partly my own fault. And a lot of those roads, sewers, water & electricity delivery systems, etc. really did need work pretty desperately, and this gave the city an excuse to put some serious work into them. We’ll see–ten years down the road, this may look like a huge win for Arlington and the Cowboys. Especially if they give up and raise the stupid video screen.
According to the announcers, the official rule is that if a ball hits the thing, the clock is reset and the play is done over from the same spot. So it should have no effect (other than psychologically).
Can have a pretty big effect on the gunners—guys that sprint downfield to cover the punt return. Especially late in a game, when they’re already tired. I could see the coverage team getting winded after 2-3 do-overs, then they finally get a kick that does not hit the screen, and the receivng team breaks a big return because the coverage guys are a step or two slower than usual…
Well, my neighborhood itself didn’t really need a big new sewer. But the stadium & the expected development around it did, so we got one anyway–the expanded waste pipes ended up running a couple of blocks from my house. Right underneath Collins Avenue, which was completely torn up and rebuilt from scratch for over a mile of its length in order to do that sewer construction.
It was hell driving anywhere generally north or west from my block for well over a year, and I was cursing Jerry Jones and my stupid ‘yes’ vote every day for a while. But I do have to admit that some really beat-up Arlington roads (Collins, Arkansas, Abrams, and Randol Mill leap to mind) got badly-needed repairs and upgrades out of the stadium tax. Also, both I-30 and Texas 360 are getting some extra lanes and improved interchanges in the vicinity of the Arlington entertainment corridor that will make it possible to get to games on game day, but will also make weekday commutes through there much less of a hassle. Both of those highways can be nightmarish in rush hour–especially 360. (When I don’t work from home, I make a note of the Rangers schedule; if they have a home game, I make sure to skip 360 on my evening commute & take side streets instead. Or now, the new 161 tollway extension that just opened up. I live about two miles from both the Ballpark and Cowboy Stadium, and my company’s office is about fifteen miles directly on the other side. Trying to take 360 south around the start or end time of a Rangers game is pretty hopeless, even when they’re not fighting for a playoff spot.)
Supposedly, the interchange between I-30 and 360 itself is slated for a redesign as part of the stadium support infrastructure. I hope that’s true–that is the worst piece of traffic engineering I’ve ever seen*. There aren’t ramps directly between the two highways–you have to exit the one onto Six Flags drive (which is an access road for both stadiums and [surprise!] Six Flags), then go through one or two stoplights before turning onto an entrance ramp for the other. And these aren’t lightly-used highways; I-30 is the primary corridor between Dallas and Fort Worth, while 360 leads to the south entrance of DFW International. If this stadium project drives somebody to build an actual interchange of some kind there where they cross, the stadium was worth every penny, even if the Cowboys never win another game.
God. I worked at Six Flags and I grew to loathe the traffic around there. The 30/360 interchange is an abomination and forget about taking 360 home in the afternoon. Solid both ways.
Chris Mortenson was on Mike & Mike this morning and pointed out something interesting: that during the construction of Lucas Oil Stadium, Colts GM Bill Polian had workers put a metal beam 90 feet up where the scoreboard was supposed to go, and then sent Hunter Smith (who was then the Colts’ punter) out there and said, “see if you hit that”.
And, of course, he did, about a dozen times. Hence the side-mounted scoreboard at Lucas Oil Stadium.
My advice is to reserve judgment and see how you feel around Thanksgiving. As someone who lived about the same kind of distance from Texas Stadium as you now live from the new stadium, I’m betting you get pretty sick of it pretty quick. I was thrilled when I heard they were moving, although I felt sorry for Arlington residents. The “Ooh shiny!” of having a major sports team wears off once you’re stuck in traffic and you’re not even going to the game. I will say that you seem to have learned from Irving’s mistake and made sure you weren’t on the hook for scope creep or maintenance. That’s good, although why in the hell that site was approved I don’t know. Parking there is an unholy mess and heaven help you come Superbowl time.
I wonder how much influence Six Flags had over that design. It seems the freeways were designed to make you get off and drive past their entrance. It was convenient in my youth when we went there a lot, but these days when I’m going to the ballpark or convention center, it’s not so convenient. Something like a mixmaster would be far more appropriate for that interchange.
