Brandon and The Big (Blue) House; Marquee installation pics
So remember that large amount of paint that was approved by the ADept for Michigan Stadium? And we thought it was to add something to the boxes?
Welllll they're just repainting the bleachers and touching up the stadium exterior.
Also the marquee is put in. I was originally for it but it looks like crapola. Too much going on with Michigan Stadium, Crisler Center and then this big ass marquee in the middle.
It's just too big.
Quotes-
"It's very large," saidMargie Teall, an Ann Arbor councilwoman representing residents that live near Michigan Stadium. "It feels out of scale for the neighborhood it is in. ... It's a huge stadium, so I understand that but I don't know how badly they needed to have it be that big."
Added fellow Ward 4 councilwoman Marcia Higgins: "I am not against digital billboards but I think it also gets defined by the scope and the size and the brightness effect." Higgins said she is worried the board will be a distraction to motorists.
Painting project-
http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-stadium-marquee-and-paint-job-happening-now/
We should actually put it out on I-95 if we want a real impact.
Can I...can I play Tecmo Bowl on it?
If it was Tecmo Super Bowl then Christian Okoye is where it's at
How else are we going to hear about the Mott Children's Hospital Spring Game presented by
ARBY'S CURLY FRIES
/s
I just wish they'd put some brick around it or something. Concrete and steel poles are gross and cheap looking.
so this is pretty much what I expected.
They could've cut tuition by ONE DOLLAR for six million future students. So selfish.
It would be cool if they played the game on it during games. And just turn it a little bit so you could see it from the golf course lot..
A giant TV on the side of a busy road playing football highlights!? What could possibly go wrong?
As an engineer, construction in general (not road work) is super distracting and interesting. In conclusion, nothing should be built, ever.
Not Blue, I thought they would put championship years on the boxes.
I am thinking they are going to use it as a large TV to broadcast highlights, interviews and things like Michigan Replay to create more game day atmosphere around the stadium. Not sure if they could broadcast something like ESPN gameday or the BTN pre game shows...but something like that.
I think people around here (A2) think it is going to just flash the upcoming schedule and a big block M all the time but I really think Brandon has something in mind to enhance the game day experience. DB has done a pretty good job the past few years of improving the overall experience and facilities even when the play on the field wasn't exactly the highlight so I will wait and give him a fair shot.
I do my daily runs right by the stadium and I can tell you that in person the sign is not THAT big... The photos they put on AA.com were shot from a low angle with a wide angle lense. The people of Burns Park and surrounding area like to think they own A2 and will complain just to complain about anything the school or athletic department does.
Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax!
I'm surprised to hear you don't think it's that big. Sure it's not bigger than the scoreboard, but I feel it's pretty big - it's extremely noticable from even the other side of stadium bridge.
There's no way they play highlights on it - too dangerous for motorists, right?
Agree with you on Burns Park people though...
Its tough to tell from the pictures, but the digital bill board is hideous in person, in my opinion. It is remarkably too big and it gets in the way of what is otherwise an amazing view of Michigan Stadium.
I'd be interested in hearing opposing views from anyone that drives by it, but I personally hate it.
And there's no doubt it will be distracting to motorists right by a very busy intersection.
I see the marquee everyday on my drive and it looks like complete crap. Now instead of getting a nice view of the athletic complex as you come over the bridge on Stadium, your eye is drawn to the big glowing eyesore. Plus it blocks the south endzone of the Big House from view.
It's complete overkill for what it accomplishes as well, advertising solely to people driving on Stadium and whatever we use it for during home football games and basketball games. You could have had a pair of ground level signs on either side of the road that would accomplish the same thing without destroying a nice view and looking like ass in the process.
The billboard might also work better if more had been done to incorporate it into the feel of the complex. Crisler looks very nice, the stadium has lovely brick work, but this billboard is just four concrete pilings set at an odd angle relative to all the other architectural lines of the athletic complex. I think at the end of the day it is a bit big and then the fact it is so poorly worked into the rest of the area it ends up appearing as a huge eyesore. Rather than looking like it belongs it, it looks like when we bought the new stadium jumbrotrons, Brandon got a buy 2 get 1 free deal and just kind of tossed the free one up on on Stadium without giving it much thought.
100% agree. From an architectural standpoint, it looks randomly plopped down and is very poorly integrated into the whole. It's what I'd expect given Brandon's background in marketing junk mail and cheap pizza: LOUD, CRASS AND IN YOUR FACE.
Everytime I drove through I'd look at the board and think "Well it's looking pretty bad, but I'll reserve judgement until it is finished." I expected there to be finishes around the pillars and between the pillars and the board, as opposed to exposed steel girders and cable sheathing. Damn thing just ends up looking like we ran out of money halfway through.
I think what rustles my jimmies is one of the good parts of Martin's tenure was there was a clear vision for what the athletic campus would look like and older buildings were systemically being redone to fit that vision. This thing is a step back from that, like you said loud and crass.
but from the standpoint of improving the physical facilties of the athletic campus and getting the finances in order, I cannot imagine anybody doing a better job than he did.
Dave Brandon definitely has a Lowest Common Denominator marketing philosophy.
I don't think we need that. You do that if you're a school like Minnesota or Northwestern and want to show recruits that you've actually had success. At Michigan it's not necessary.
I would like to bring back the "MICHIGAN STADIUM" lettering. That was awesome.
Underneath the concourses, the old lettering has been reinstalled. Nice idea, I think.
There was a time, when even Bill Martin was considering reinstalling lettering on top. I suspect the architects vetoed it. They were right.
And I really, really hate that common stadium meme of putting up names of heroes and championship years on the stadium facing and walls. Nothing says cheap like crappy prefab lettering. It is clutter. No self-respecting architect would ever have anything to do with it. If we wanted our stadium to look like a 7th grader's bedroom, we could always copy The Ohio State University:
Rather than Michigan Stadium it was just a maize stripe that went across the middle of the box with a "block M" in the middle.
Is it unnecessary? How old were current recruits when we won our last title? Two? Same goes for our last Heisman. Our last B1G title? Current recruits have seen more success in our basketball program than our football program. But we don't act like ND fans, do we now?
Any recruit who visits knows how many championships we have. The team recites it at the beginning of every meeting.
Conference championships. They don't mention national.
There's no way to put all that on there without it looking cluttered. Painting the years of 42 Big Ten championships and 11 national champonships takes up a lot of space. I agree that it's a little bland now, but I'll take bland over really busy/cluttered. If they put "Michigan Stadium" or "University of Michigan" up there, I think that'd be okay.
City hall looks great.
I'm so sick of people in Ann Arbor bitching about public art. Move the fuck on. You've won and the 1% for public art program is now defunct. Congrats. It's not like not having that art installation would have saved the jobs of 8 firefighters (or even 1). Move on.
It sounds like you haven't moved on.
Let's stay on-topic and keep the political rants elsewhere.
I couldn't care less. I was stating that the program was cut and there's no need whining about it any more. I wouldn't exactly call that a rant nor political.
I know, I know, unpopular opinion...
The more and more they add things to the stadium, the more I miss the old subterranean bowl. We're approaching Soldier Field levels of having to squint to see the the landmark underneath the new stuff. This digital billboard is awful.
You, and all of the other naysayers are getting posbanged, as you should. And you're exactly right. It is becoming real clutter around the Stadium. All sorts of little walks with named bricks (one has my name on it) and gazebo-things and etc. and etc.
We had real architects, who commanded a real positive and powerful vision for the renovations. Clean and beautiful. Not all of this extra crap.
Speaking of Soldier Field; I think we've got more stuff cluttering our surround, than they do on the Chicago lakefront. I might be okay if Dirk Lohan took over the perimeter area around Michigan Stadium.