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Help a foreigner out? Is it just because it's new?
We're what four years on good tracks there. As much as I'd argue slower bikes would be better for racing & rider safety at the same time, the bigger stadium does seem to help a track for good racing.
But why is it bigger? Are there others that Feld could try and get time for a round?
Cheers, Crush
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It’s so big because it’s the only stadium where the grass field can be rolled completely out of it. So they actually have the grass field outside of the stadium and then roll it into the stadium for football games. Then when they host events like Supercross or Monster trucks it rolls out. It’s also the only closed roof stadium with a grass field because of this. It’s a really cool design.
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I think the floor of the stadium is a little larger because they have a big sliding tray that holds the football grass on it, and that tray moves into the stadium from one side. On that side there is a big door, and because of that there is no permanent seating on that side of the stadium.
So when you look at the track map, you can see in the starting gate area, there is a notch in the stadium that lets them build more track space:
Here's a picture on Wikipedia, where you can see how the grass tray slides in:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/University_of_Phoenix_Stadium_no_field.jpg
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It's a super cool set up was about to go looking for pictures got distracted by pitbits then boom there was a pic in there haha
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Crush wrote:
Help a foreigner out? Is it just because it's new?
We're what four years on good tracks there. As much as I'd argue slower bikes would be better for racing & rider safety at the same time, the bigger stadium does seem to help a track for good racing.
But why is it bigger? Are there others that Feld could try and get time for a round?
Football ? vs ⚾️ stadium is all
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Is there any footage of them moving grass out, would love to see that.
Now a member of the Orange brigade
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Stadium looked about 1/3rd full of SX fans. I think that place is 60k seats? so it looked like 20-30k in there. What happened to all the "sold out crowd" comments from Ralph?
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Attendance looked pretty lackluster last night during the broadcast. a TON of empty seats. Wonder what the attendance numbers were.
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Premix wrote:
Attendance looked pretty lackluster last night during the broadcast. a TON of empty seats. Wonder what the attendance numbers were.
That’s the least attendance I’ve seen. I always sit in the club level and every time it’s been packed, but last night there were empty seats all around me. Ticket prices are too expensive honestly, parking has been abysmal especially wit SX futures, I’m even going to reconsider going next year.
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the las vegas raiders are probably gonna have that moving field too...
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stiksandstones wrote:
Stadium looked about 1/3rd full of SX fans. I think that place is 60k seats? so it looked like 20-30k in there. What happened to all the "sold out crowd" comments from Ralph?
I noticed the same thing regarding the attendance. I haven't been to a SX in a number of years. Used to get the "Tread Head" seats in the upper deck for $10-20. Now they are $50+ for the cheap seats. Much less hassle and much better views watching at home on TV.
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500 Mike wrote:
I noticed the same thing regarding the attendance. I haven't been to a SX in a number of years. Used to get the "Tread Head" seats in the upper deck for $10-20. Now they are $50+ for the cheap seats. Much less hassle and much better views watching at home on TV.
Watching a concert from your couch probably results in a better view and sound too but it's just not the same as being there. Same goes for racing, IMO.
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Very cool! Thanks for the info!
Cheers, Crush
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500 Mike wrote:
I noticed the same thing regarding the attendance. I haven't been to a SX in a number of years. Used to get the "Tread Head" seats in the upper deck for $10-20. Now they are $50+ for the cheap seats. Much less hassle and much better views watching at home on TV.
The tread head seats at AT&T stadium are $25 + $7 in fees so $32. Not trying to be a dick but the prices have gotten better since a few years ago. I think Ticket Master was doing something to more or less scalp the tickets because the prices were crazy for a couple years but they no longer use Ticket Master.
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stiksandstones wrote:
Stadium looked about 1/3rd full of SX fans. I think that place is 60k seats? so it looked like 20-30k in there. What happened to all the "sold out crowd" comments from Ralph?
500 Mike wrote:
I noticed the same thing regarding the attendance. I haven't been to a SX in a number of years. Used to get the "Tread Head" seats in the upper deck for $10-20. Now they are $50+ for the cheap seats. Much less hassle and much better views watching at home on TV.
aeffertz wrote:
Watching a concert from your couch probably results in a better view and sound too but it's just not the same as being there. Same goes for racing, IMO.
You are right, there is something to be said for being there. There was a time when I lived to go to the Mid-Ohio Trans-AMA race as a teenager. Watching on TV was not an option in those days. I am getting old and lazy I suppose. ?
Glad to hear the ticket prices have gotten more reasonable. I did a quick check for the Nashville SX (I think) and didn’t see anything less than $50 or so plus fees but didn’t do an exhaustive search. I am glad folks are still excited to attend.
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The original plan for the Cowboys stadium was to have that moving field also, but the budget was so high from everything else that it got nixed. Can't imagine that another $100 million would have been all that big of a deal!
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stiksandstones wrote:
Stadium looked about 1/3rd full of SX fans. I think that place is 60k seats? so it looked like 20-30k in there. What happened to all the "sold out crowd" comments from Ralph?
I’m with you on this. I heard Baggett’s PR guy say the official attendance was like ~50k but I say there’s no chance. It was half full at most.
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I would wonder how much more expensive that set up is compared to say a retractable roof.. taking maintenance and all that shit into consideration couldn't be too much more..
I'm probably wrong haha
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1) The stadium was built with other purposes in mind - concerts, trade shows, etc. Remember, there are 8 football games played in that stadium a year + playoffs (lol) and a college bowl game. At most, that is 11 football games. That's hard to pay the bills with. So they designed it with extra space so it would be enticing for other events like SX, Monsterjam, trade shows, and concerts. It's a very cool stadium for sure.
2) Attendance was lower than I've seen in the last 10 years. The stadium holds about 60K and it might have been 65-70% full max. I'd guess about 35-40,000 people were there. Phoenix normally has about 50,000 people in attendance.
3) I don't think the lower attendance was due to price. You could get lower level tickets in the north end zone about 20 rows up for $35 plus the fee. That's a damn good deal. I don't know how much the cheap seats were. We were in the front row and our tickets were $65+fees. They were great seats. I'm not complaining about ticket pricing, that's for sure. I don't know why attendance was down to be honest.
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jemcee wrote:
I would wonder how much more expensive that set up is compared to say a retractable roof.. taking maintenance and all that shit into consideration couldn't be too much more..
I'm probably wrong haha
State Farm Stadium (the Glendale stadium) has a retractable roof as well as retractable grass.
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TbonesPop wrote:
1) The stadium was built with other purposes in mind - concerts, trade shows, etc. Remember, there are 8 football games played in that stadium a year + playoffs (lol) and a college bowl game. At most, that is 11 football games. That's hard to pay the bills with. So they designed it with extra space so it would be enticing for other events like SX, Monsterjam, trade shows, and concerts. It's a very cool stadium for sure.
2) Attendance was lower than I've seen in the last 10 years. The stadium holds about 60K and it might have been 65-70% full max. I'd guess about 35-40,000 people were there. Phoenix normally has about 50,000 people in attendance.
3) I don't think the lower attendance was due to price. You could get lower level tickets in the north end zone about 20 rows up for $35 plus the fee. That's a damn good deal. I don't know how much the cheap seats were. We were in the front row and our tickets were $65+fees. They were great seats. I'm not complaining about ticket pricing, that's for sure. I don't know why attendance was down to be honest.
I want to know what would have happened had the Cardinals hosted a playoff game this weekend.
Did they book the SX thinking the Cardinals weren't likely to be a playoff contender this year? That seemed like a safe bet, but there are surprise teams in the NFL every year.
