A quick stadium tour of the Big East

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, June 12, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

College Football
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Earlier this spring, Big East members Rutgers and Connecticut had a similar experience with Notre Dame, but with quite different results.

In both cases, the Irish wanted to set up a six game home-and-away series -- except that under their proposal, the Big East schools' "home" games would actually be held at larger, NFL-sized facilities.

Specifically, Notre Dame wanted its games with Rutgers played at the Meadowlands, the Connecticut series either in New Jersey or Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., home of the New England Patriots.

Rutgers said no. UConn said yes.

This exchange did, however, raise the question of whether the Big East, in terms of stadiums, was still too small-time to engage the giants of the college football world.

The answer is ... kind of.

Cincinnati's Nippert Field seats 35,092; Louisville Papa John's Stadium 42,000; UConn's Rentschler Field 40,000; West Virginia's Mountaineer Field 60,000; Rutgers Stadium 41,500; Heinz Field (home of the Pitt Panthers as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers) 64,450; South Florida's Raymond James Stadium 65,000 (more about that later); and the Carrier Dome in Syracuse 49,250.

Contrast that to the Atlantic Coast Conference, the league against which the Big East is most likely to compete for high school talent. True, Wake Forest only has 31,500 seats, Duke 33,000 and the Boston College facility 44,000. After that, though, it jumps to 55,000 (Georgia Tech); 60,000 (North Carolina, North Carolina State and Virginia); 65,000 (Virginia Tech); 62,000 (Maryland), 76,000 (Miami); 80,000 (Clemson); and 82,000 (Florida State).

And make no mistake, size does matter to a blue-chip prospect.

On the other hand, a mid-sized stadium with every seat filled seems more impressive than a half-empty concrete behemoth. Mark Brazinski, Rutgers' most recent commitment for 2009, recalled this visit to Rutgers Stadium, "I was at the South Florida game," he said, "and I didn't sit down the whole time. My voice was completely gone. Having an atmosphere like that is amazing."

Conversely, the Carrier Dome used to be the noisiest, most boisterous house of horrors in the country for visiting football teams -- until the Orange program went off the rails. Now, the boos echo through a facility that's half empty.

Raymond James and Papa John's are "designer" stadiums that offer amenities beyond mere seating capacity. The former offers a Pirate Village for family entertainment, the latter has all chairback seating (the only stadium in the country to offer that universal level of comfort).

Until last year, South Florida used only the lower level of Raymond James, allowing for 44,441 fans. This season, however, home games will be expanded to seat what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers do when they play there, around 65,000.

The league's oldest stadium is UC's Nippert, built in 1916. Mountaineer Field is 48 years old. Cincinnati and Rutgers both plan upgrades within the next year to increase capacity.

But, in the case of Rutgers and Notre Dame, not soon enough.

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