Photos of new Michigan Track & Lacrosse stadiums

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

There were some grainy low-res photos months ago, but they just came out with some more detailed ones.

Outdoor Track stadium capacity: 500 

Indoor Track stadium capacity: 2,000

Lacrosse stadium capacity: 2,000

 

 

^ Stength and Conditioning center which also houses the indoor rowing facility.

gjking

November 4th, 2015 at 7:09 PM ^

500 people is shameful, how is Michigan supposed to be able to host Big Ten's or Regionals in Outdoor track?

Imagine if Harbaugh had the team doing the Monday Mile and opened it up to the general public to watch. I would expect at least 1,000 people would want to see the Footballers running the mile. 

L'Carpetron Do…

November 5th, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^

Yeah, I have no idea why they would build it so small.  Or at all.  I've said it before - separate facilities for the lacrosse program are totally unnecessary.  

I also don't get why they would spend $ to build a space, but make it so small. The team used to pack more than a thousand into O'baan back in the day and that was during the club days.  The lacrosse program isn't going to attract crowds in the tens of thousands, but they'll get way more than 2K, esp if they get good.  They should've at least modeled it after the soccer/lacrosse stadiums at Duke, UVA, UNC & Princeton which have capacities in the 4-8k range (if the popularity continues to increase, they will  outgrow those facilities and move into the football stadiums).

I also think building more of these facilities all the way down State Street isn't going to get students out to the games.  It's far and it's cold and lots of students don't have cars.  A good friend of mine was on the women's tennis team and I never made it to a single match. Eventhough I could get a lift from her boyfriend, I never went down there.  Two good friends of mine were on the track team and I made it to one event in my four years. That was a little closer to campus but still I was like 'forget it'.  

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

November 5th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^

I don't think 2,000 is too small, at least for now.  They just barely scraped 2,000 for Ohio last year and averaged 1,300 for Big House games.  Maybe 3,000 would've been better, but some of those games didn't even come close to 1,000 people.  To me the dumb thing is jamming the field all the way up against the street so they can't expand on that side.  Nothing wrong with 2,000 if it's easily expandable, but how can they do that now?

As for having their own facilities.....why the heck not?  Personally if I were a recruit, sharing facilities with other teams would be a major drawback.  Bring me to campus, show me the stuff that's ONLY for the lacrosse team, I'd consider that a massive point in favor of that school.  Huge, huge selling point.  I can't be the only one who thinks that.  I doubt I'd be in the minority.

L'Carpetron Do…

November 5th, 2015 at 2:55 PM ^

I don't know, man.  If I'm a recruit trying to decide between places like UVA, UNC and ND, which are all comparable to Michigan in academics and other attributes (lacrosse prowess aside) and Michigan's coach tells me I'll get to play some games in the historic confines of the Big House, I'm sold. Those other teams don't do that.  

Plus, I think what Michigan has is pretty unique - they play early season night games in O'baan and play Saturday games in the spring time in the stadium.

 I mean, we played a game in Illinois' stadium once and I thought that was cool as hell. And of course, that's got nothing on the Big House.

 

 

L'Carpetron Do…

November 5th, 2015 at 3:38 PM ^

Yes, but they're building for the future and the program is relatively new.  Demand should grow, especially as the sport's popularity grows.  And I think the team has the potential to quickly outgrow the facilities that are currently being built for it.  

If they could pull 2,000 vs Ohio State last year, when they were not good, think about what they'll pull when they actually start playing well (the program has been disappointing so far- I'll leave it at that).   

Imagine in ten years*, when a top 5 ranked M team is hosting Fri night/Sat afternoon home games against teams like Syracuse, ND or UVA.  Those games will pull in way more than 2K.  I would rather watch those games in a too-big and cavernous Big House or a too-cramped O'baan rather than an athletic campus annex all the way out on State Street.  

I'm a bit of a stodgy traditionalist, though and I think O'baan is part of the team's legacy which preceeds the varsity program.  And I think the Big House adds an awesome wrinkle that other programs can't possibly match.   So, I fear change.  

But, if they are gonna do it, might as well do it right and with their eye on the future.

*(I think we've all assumed that Michigan will one day reach the same heights as the elites in the sport - but if they don't, then that stadium will probably be just fine hahah)

 

Goddamn, I am bored at work today...

laxalum

November 5th, 2015 at 8:45 AM ^

2000 is definitely on the small side for lacrosse, but I don't know that it's too small for Michigan right now.  Those bigger stadiums are all out east where lacrosse has more of a fan base.  Hopefully they are planning to expand it if crowd sizes here get consistently bigger.

Notre Dame's stadium seats 2500, but they can fit 4500 if they seat people on the berm and bring in temporary bleachers.

Denver's stadium seats 2000 plus standing room areas.

In contrast Homewood Field at Johns Hopkins seats 8500, and Virginia's Klockner Stadium seats 3500 in the grandstands and another 3600 on the hillside.  Ridley at Loyola seats around 6000.

 

L'Carpetron Do…

November 5th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^

I thought it was cool and unique that Michigan plays in the Big House and are one of a few teams that played in their school's  football stadium.  Along with Michigan, I think Syracuse, Maryland and Penn are the only ones that play in (big) football stadiums (yeah teams like Hopkins and G'town and probably some others play in their football facilities but they dont really count...)

 

laxalum

November 5th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^

Cool maybe, but I always hate lacrosse lines over football lines.  Plus, Michigan stadium, as cool as it is, is just too big a space for lacrosse.  Even if they get 10,000 fans, it still would feel empty.

There are others that regularly play in football stadiums.  Ohio State does.  So does Harvard.  I'm sure those programs would all love their own facilities like Michigan is building though.  Huge recruiting sell.

I also wonder about the logistics of sharing anything with football.  I would assume that football has priority 100% of the time, which they should.  That has to be a challenge.  I also assume this new facility will put things like team locker room, coaches office, meeting rooms and stuff like that all in the same place, which has to help in planning daily schedules.

L'Carpetron Do…

November 5th, 2015 at 3:13 PM ^

I don't think the need to fill up the stadium should matter, necessarily.   Those other programs don't fill up their stadiums but they still get decent crowds.  As a fan, I'd rather have too many seats than not enough (plus Michigan has plenty of facilities the team can use without building a new one).

I haven't been to campus in a while, but did they ever build that lacrosse field/facility on Elbel Field?  Or did that fall through?