I think it's a great idea for them.
I'm sure it's going to be pricey for the ones that go, but they were going to go regardless so might as well make it a top-tier environment.
Looks nice. If I were NW I'd want some of that money spent on the roster... but that stadium is a mega upgrade for them.
Great stadium innovations for NWestern.
35,000 seats? I'm hard-pressed to understand how their revenue can compete with the big boys of the conference.
@bucketgetter TV, not butts in the seats produce revenue. Filled smaller stadiums are the future. The new pro stadiums aren't record breaking in capacity just cost.
BEAT PURDUE
@bucketgetter TV, not butts in the seats produce revenue. Filled smaller stadiums are the future. The new pro stadiums aren't record breaking in capacity just cost.
Not sure about that with college football. The media money (in conference) is close to even split right now, and gameday revenue is a big differentiator for athletic depts. Gameday revenue is driven heavily by stadium capacity. Having a big stadium is big advantage.
One thing NW will probably benefit from is revenue from premium seats/suites. This is the NFL stadium angle — smaller capacity more premie seats.
Context: These numbers assume a packed house. So Michigan is raking in $22.7M every Saturday. Compare that to IU at $8.1M and we are losing the financial battle by $14.6M each game day. 8 home games = $116.8M for the season. I don't care how much the tv revenue is, that's still one hell of a big gap.
| School | Stadium Capacity | Ticket Revenue | Parking | Concessions | Estimated Total Gameday Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 107,601 | $17.8M | $2.2M | $2.7M | $22.7M |
| Penn State | 106,572 | $16.5M | $2.3M | $2.7M | $21.5M |
| Ohio State | 102,780 | $15.9M | $2.1M | $2.6M | $20.6M |
| Oregon | 54,000 | $7.6M | $1.1M | $1.4M | $10.1M |
| USC | 77,500 | $10.9M | $1.5M | $1.9M | $14.3M |
| Washington | 70,100 | $9.8M | $1.4M | $1.8M | $13.0M |
| Wisconsin | 76,500 | $10.3M | $1.5M | $1.9M | $13.7M |
| Nebraska | 85,458 | $10.7M | $1.7M | $2.1M | $14.5M |
| Iowa | 69,250 | $8.7M | $1.3M | $1.7M | $11.7M |
| Michigan State | 75,000 | $8.6M | $1.4M | $1.8M | $11.8M |
| UCLA | 89,700 | $8.5M | $1.8M | $2.2M | $12.5M |
| Indiana | 52,600 | $5.8M | $1.0M | $1.3M | $8.1M |
| Illinois | 60,670 | $6.7M | $1.1M | $1.5M | $9.3M |
| Minnesota | 50,800 | $6.1M | $1.0M | $1.2M | $8.3M |
| Maryland | 51,800 | $5.4M | $0.9M | $1.2M | $7.5M |
| Rutgers | 52,400 | $5.2M | $0.9M | $1.2M | $7.3M |
| Purdue | 57,200 | $5.7M | $1.0M | $1.3M | $8.0M |
| Northwestern* | 35,000 | $5.8M | $0.6M | $0.9M | $7.3M |
*Northwestern reflects its new Ryan Field model with a much smaller capacity but significantly higher average ticket prices.
Wow. I guess we will raise our ticket prices a bunch, to pay Cig and staff. 
Purdue's is too high, who would pay actual money to watch them play?
@bucketgetter I'm a little skeptical of the UCLA ticket revenue number unless their average ticket price is like $200, because they don't come close to having a packed house, at least not from what I've seen recently.
@janitor14 Yeah, should have explained these numbers assume a packed house.
Wow. I guess we will raise our ticket prices a bunch, to pay Cig and staff.
Purdue's is too high, who would pay actual money to watch them play?
done
@bucketgetter It does demonstrate that stadium capacity does put a ceiling on revenues. Cig mentioned again today that we can't add capacity fast enough. Gotta be in the works.
@bucketgetter It does demonstrate that stadium capacity does put a ceiling on revenues. Cig mentioned again today that we can't add capacity fast enough. Gotta be in the works.
If jackskip/ordy finds those old renderings they could have a head start on that.