Buffalo Bulls home stadium

[DeepPass]

Why can't one of the largest Universities in the MAC Division build a decent football stadium?  The current stadium was built in 1990-93 for the first World University games in the US.  It was used for track & field events and soccer. Originally it seated 15,000 people then was increased to a capacity of 30,000.

 

The seats are too far from the football field.  It's got  a COLD feel when sitting in the stands. A vast majority of the fans in the seats are students.  Non-Student football fans are turned off by the seating arrangements.  Ticket prices are very, very reasonable compared to a Bills game. Average attendance is 12,000 to 14,000.

 

Can't they build a new, true football stadium with a decent seating design that can draw fans outside the student body?  GO BULLS!

[That's No Moon]

1 hour ago, DeepPass said:

Can't they build a new, true football stadium with a decent seating design that can draw fans outside the student body?  GO BULLS!

Donors usually foot the bill for big chunks of that stuff.  They pay, you get, but yes you are right the stadium and facilities in general are a problem for growth of the programs.

[Buffalo716]

38 minutes ago, That's No Moon said:

Donors usually foot the bill for big chunks of that stuff.  They pay, you get, but yes you are right the stadium and facilities in general are a problem for growth of the programs.

They literally have a brand new Field House that is top the line for Mac standards

 

Their football budget is always towards the top of the Mac 

 

They just don't have the stadium but that's because nobody wants to pay for it.. like including the school

 

UB consistently has players at the top of the award lists for the Mac and all Mac teams so they don't struggle recruiting compared to other teams 

 

They struggle keeping coaches

Edited 23 hours ago by Buffalo716

[That's No Moon]

9 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

They literally have a brand new Field House that is top the line for Mac standards

 

Their football budget is always towards the top of the Mac 

 

They just don't have the stadium but that's because nobody wants to pay for it.. like including the school

I meant the basketball arena, not the field house, but yeah this is why they don't have a stadium.  They haven't asked the boosters to buy them one. Either that or the boosters haven't ponied up.

 

It's difficult to do at a school that doesn't really have a lot of football tradition. There aren't a bunch of wealthy alumni with fond football memories who want to fund the program to be a winner.  The other reality is that mid-major programs are going to struggle in the coming years as the gap between the haves and have nots grows.  If you get a very good player, it's going to be very, very hard to keep them. Khalil Mack never spends his full career in Amherst in the current world. Nobody in the MAC will ever have a top QB for more than 1 year. Stuff like that. An argument can be made to actually disinvest in football and drop back to FCS where you could be more successful.  The MAC TV contract probably funds enough (for now) to prevent that from happening, but sports networks are struggling. As the Big10 and SEC eat up more and more money there will be less for the lower end conferences.

 

As for coaches? They'll never be able to keep a good one. Schools like UB are where lower end Big10, SEC, ACC, and Big12 schools look for up and coming coaches. Those coaches will always take the opportunity when it comes because it's more money and the path to the top. Same thing with basketball. UB was never ever going to be able to keep Bobby Hurley for longer than they had him.

Edited 23 hours ago by That's No Moon

[Mike in Horseheads]

Theres a brand new one in OP that I'm sure the Bills would love to have them play at.

[Buffalo716]

13 minutes ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

Theres a brand new one in OP that I'm sure the Bills would love to have them play at.

considering it's on natural grass and it gets beat up easier they're not having UB play on it often

 

The Ralph has been hosting sectional playoff games for decades and I don't even know if they will do that anymore cuz it takes place in late October.. where they play like six high school championship games there 

 

The new stadium with real grass can't handle that

Edited 22 hours ago by Buffalo716

[DeepPass]

1 hour ago, Buffalo716 said:

considering it's on natural grass and it gets beat up easier they're not having UB play on it often

 

The Ralph has been hosting sectional playoff games for decades and I don't even know if they will do that anymore cuz it takes place in late October.. where they play like six high school championship games there 

 

The new stadium with real grass can't handle that

You are right about the grass at the new stadium.  I don't care how special it is or the heating under it to melt snow it's eventually going to be a problem in our weather.  And, I don't think the "roof" is going to be much help with 30 mph winds and snow/rain!  The entire new stadium doesn't fit with Buffalo weather and Buffalo's fans!

Edited 20 hours ago by DeepPass

[May Day 10]

I agree that the stadium is a problem.  I like UB and the MAC, but attending games is not a good experience.  OP sums it up.

[gonzo1105]

All the improvements that you have seen came under Leipolds administration as coach there. I'm not sure just how much fans realized he accomplished off the field as the coach. He first got all the coaches offices and meeting rooms updated and decals put all throughout the facility including a showcase of trophies and the different helmets that they use. 

 

Then the next step was they completely overhauled the locker rooms to make them as state of the art that a MAC locker room could be with amenities like massage chairs, televisions etc.

 

Then they created a nutrition room in the facility that wasn't anything huge but they didn't even have one. They made it into a nice small place that players could go and pick up their food and relax before practice started or after getting treatment.

 

Then came the indoor fieldhouse that was completed just as he was walking out the door to go to Kansas.

 

Additional facilities that were planned in place was the complete redoing of the weightroom which to be honest was just a shack and getting it up to par with the rest of the league and connecting it to the indoor field house. 

 

Then the next project was supposed to be the scoreboard completely replaced. 

 

This was all started by Leipold and Allen Greene the former AD when they both were there. I bet if both were there this would have already been accomplished but changing AD's and coaches probably slowed that up.

 

Just an FYI, I never heard anything about renovating the whole stadium or building a new one outside of people murmuring the possibility of a new stadium at the intramural field which no one took seriously. 

 

Now Leipold is doing the same thing with Goff at Kansas. 

[Buffalo716]

17 minutes ago, gonzo1105 said:

All the improvements that you have seen came under Leipolds administration as coach there. I'm not sure just how much fans realized he accomplished off the field as the coach. He first got all the coaches offices and meeting rooms updated and decals put all throughout the facility including a showcase of trophies and the different helmets that they use. 

 

Then the next step was they completely overhauled the locker rooms to make them as state of the art that a MAC locker room could be with amenities like massage chairs, televisions etc.

 

Then they created a nutrition room in the facility that wasn't anything huge but they didn't even have one. They made it into a nice small place that players could go and pick up their food and relax before practice started or after getting treatment.

 

Then came the indoor fieldhouse that was completed just as he was walking out the door to go to Kansas.

 

Additional facilities that were planned in place was the complete redoing of the weightroom which to be honest was just a shack and getting it up to par with the rest of the league and connecting it to the indoor field house. 

 

Then the next project was supposed to be the scoreboard completely replaced. 

 

This was all started by Leipold and Allen Greene the former AD when they both were there. I bet if both were there this would have already been accomplished but changing AD's and coaches probably slowed that up.

 

Just an FYI, I never heard anything about renovating the whole stadium or building a new one outside of people murmuring the possibility of a new stadium at the intramural field which no one took seriously. 

 

Now Leipold is doing the same thing with Goff at Kansas. 

 

Lance was tremendous for the school but the Mac is the starting block of legendary coaches.. plenty come out of the mac they don't stay 

 

Ub football budget is always typically at the top of the Mac though.. they also have the largest pipeline of Mac schools 

 

Stadium is not good, but I don't go to UB football games since 99 cuz the atmosphere.. I go to watch local division one football 

 

It's a good academic School, they have been putting kids into the league... They have cool jerseys

 

Program is not even 30 years old.. 10 years it's going to be even better