OT: Kyle Field Expanding to 102,500 Capacity

Submitted by MichGoBlue858 on

Texas A&M is adding about 20,000 seats to become the third largest stadium in college football, trailing only Michigan and Penn State. Kyle Field is already known for being extremely loud, so Texas A&M has a very good chance to have the best home field advantage in college football. Its been a good year for them: Moving to the SEC, beating Alabama, Heisman winning QB, now this. They also have a great recruiting class coming in. Texas can't be too happy right now. 

Links:  http://kylefield.com/

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9233122/texas-aggies-approve-plans-seat-more-100000-sec-largest-stadium

LSAClassOf2000

May 1st, 2013 at 8:52 PM ^

KHOU had its own story on television apparently. Here's the (LINK)

The price tag involves rather a lot of work beyond the addition of seats - it is an extensive renovation. G. Rollie White Coliseum will be torn down in the process and the expanded stadium will have its field moved 18 feet south of its present location, per the story. Some concept images are in the accompanying video. 

gwkrlghl

May 1st, 2013 at 9:04 PM ^

thinking that it was a desperate move to get out of Texas' shadow and they'd just be stomped in the SEC, but they've surprised me.

Benefitted greatly by Manziel's rise to fame, they really have stepped out of Texas' shadow. I feel like they have an identity other than "The Second Most Popular School in Texas"

Shorty the Bea…

May 1st, 2013 at 9:32 PM ^

A&M opens the video on their website by describing how each university has a moment that defines its existence or sees it fall.  They then state that the defining moment in the history of Texas A&M University is the remodel of their football stadium.  They have fully embraced the culture of the SEC..

An Angelo's Addict

May 1st, 2013 at 9:38 PM ^

Has anyone from Michigan athletics ever addressed the idea of another stadium ever expanding to seat more than the Big House? Would we then expand to make sure we continue to have the most in the country? 

willirwin1778

May 2nd, 2013 at 10:01 AM ^

How would we start working towards that expansion?  Do we wrap around the brick colliseum to cover the north and south end zones, or do we do an outdoor seating vertical end zone expansion similar to what they are doing with Lambeau this year in their S. end zone?  

I do like the idea of getting closer to a solid 140,00.  

 

BlueAggie

May 1st, 2013 at 9:49 PM ^

I'm a little bit dubious about the wisdom of this. A couple of years ago, they couldn't fill the seats they had. Now they're adding more. While I think that A&M will be better at football through the 10's than they were in the 00's (Fran!) this still feels like extrapolating on a transient to me.

UMxWolverines

May 1st, 2013 at 9:49 PM ^

I think the most impressive thing is that they get 30,000 students per game. And they all sit between the endzones, not in the corner or endzone. 

BlueAggie

May 1st, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^

Haha, just giving you a hard time. I don't actually have a chicken preference. I'd rather hit Fuego or Fargo's (!!!) or Koppe Bridge or even The Chicken (not for the chicken, for beer and burgers). Jeez, I miss the BCS food scene. Has to be one of the most underrated food towns in the country.

I think the Sodalaks in Snook is no more, which is a real tragedy. My advisor used to drive potential grad students out there for lunch. It's about a 15 minute drive further and further into the country, and it was fun to watch them get more and more confused about where we were going. Then we'd get there and old man Sodalak (RIP) would be sitting at the first table by the door chain smoking. We never got any of those grad students to join us, but it was always a hoot.

Clarence Beeks

May 1st, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^

I know you were. I absolutely agree with you on the food scene. There was a place we went that had some of the best wings I've ever had. Can't remember the name, but it was where Mike Sherman did his radio show. Really unexpected.



That's a damn shame about Sodolak's, if true. It's been about two years since we were last there. That experience must have been priceless with those grad prospects. That is a real strange drive out their, especially if you are trying to find it the first time with a GPS (something which I swear is not possible).



BlueAggie

May 2nd, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^

That sounds like Wings&More.

Although the Sodalak's in Snook was the best, and I think the only one that did deep fried bacon, they still have the Czech-Tex Steakhouse in Bryan. Come to think of it, I could really go for a good chicken fried steak.

Edit: looks like I was confused. The CS location went under, but Snook and Bryan are still open. Another place to visit next time I'm in town.

BlueRecruitFan

May 2nd, 2013 at 2:02 PM ^

Gosh, I love the arrogance of some Michigan fans.  You realize Southerners can make fun of Michigan too, right?  I mean Ann Arbor is located between the wonderful towns of Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.  Wow.  I mean, those two cities are the most attractive, awesome, and desirable cities to visit and live in.  I guess we can also throw Flint in and hey, 2 of the top 5 murder capitals of the US all within an hour drive!  Note: In response to MSUDad's comments about Lubbock and College station... don't know why my comment was pushed down here.

uminks

May 1st, 2013 at 11:07 PM ^

TAM was suppose to expand their stadium to 120K and become the largest stadium in the NCAA. I'm glad they deiced to only go up to 102K. TN may try to pass Michigan again, but I think Michigan will always expand if necessary to keep its lead as the largest football stadium.

tbeindit

May 2nd, 2013 at 8:32 AM ^

I'm just happy Texas A&M will finally have enough space for their massive amount of oversigned recruits when they come to games.

Heinous Wagner

May 2nd, 2013 at 8:51 AM ^

Yes, they have a little brother complex, but you would too if you had an entire classification of jokes aimed at you. I'm referring to the "Aggie joke" humor subgenre, which I didn't know about until living in Texas. Example: What's the best thing to ever come out of College Station? Highway 6. Did you hear about the Aggie whose dog kept getting hurt while chasing parked cars? The Sparties have no idea how bad it could really get.

MichiganAggie

May 2nd, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^

A&M fans use LOUD VOICES and Kyle Field as it is is incredibly loud. Add 20k more fans and reshape the stadium to funnel more noise back on the field is going to result in some unpleasant times for the opposing team's QB.

backtoblu

May 4th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^

Dang..  Looks amazing but they better keep it up in the SEC or that'll be a whole lot of empty seats.  If they can keep going they way they are, more power to them, but that's a really expensive gamble on the future of their program.