Hens at UVA 2026

[dchen]

Give me UVA, Wake, and Colorado on the road vs. Bryant, NC A&T, and Sacred Heart at home any day. Time to spread our wings and leave the dreck that is FCS behind. I do agree we need to get stadium capacity up to 25k or more as soon as possible. Also totally agree that any expansion project should be done in a way that would make future expansion more feasible leveraging the existing facilities footprint. CUSA can’t get here soon enough!!!

Filling 25,000 seats, 7,000 over current capacity, seems daunting.

[Baltimore Hen]

personally I disagree with the pundits who say that we must prove our strength in FBS before adding capacity. It's thinking small, which I get is the way the small wonder state thinks, but when Georgia Southern made the move to the Sun Belt, they IMMEDIATELY added 6,000 seats going into their first season. not only that, they got the students to pay for it....

Construction to expand the North stands of the stadium began in the summer of 2013. The expansion included more than 6,000 additional seats with on-grade seating expanded by approximately 1,500 new seats and 4,500 added with the construction of a mid-deck. The student-fee-funded, $10 million expansion project was completed in May of 2014. Georgia Southern students voted to pay a $25 fee for stadium expansion in 2012.

[topstraight]

personally I disagree with the pundits who say that we must prove our strength in FBS before adding capacity. It's thinking small, which I get is the way the small wonder state thinks, but when Georgia Southern made the move to the Sun Belt, they IMMEDIATELY added 6,000 seats going into their first season. not only that, they got the students to pay for it....

Construction to expand the North stands of the stadium began in the summer of 2013. The expansion included more than 6,000 additional seats with on-grade seating expanded by approximately 1,500 new seats and 4,500 added with the construction of a mid-deck. The student-fee-funded, $10 million expansion project was completed in May of 2014. Georgia Southern students voted to pay a $25 fee for stadium expansion in 2012.

Yes--other states and schools have different abilities/methods to get revenue.

In many places--- THE State school often gets direct grants or appropriations for athletic construction--either matching grants OR a direct amount from the state government.

Other forms of revenue:

--student fees

--Naming rights (this has worked at WKU)

--City or County Backed Bonds


Any of these or some combination is how things get financed in most G5 situations.

[topstraight]

Respectfully disagree with the Poster above who said you will Never host a P5 in FB.

While rare--it Can be done.

Liberty and ODU have had P5 schools on their home fields recently.

WKU has hosted INDIANA Twice and Vanderbilt once. Also played UK at a neutral site (Titans stadium-Nashville) And also played Louisville in Nashville at the same site.

ARMY and NAVY have also played AT WKU several times.

[hensfan40yrs]

Naming rights (this has worked at WKU) ...... Nestle Stadium @ Tubby Raymond Field

[Hens69]

You can bet that funding for Bridgeforth Stadium was the result of Northern Virginia "big bucks" finding its way down to Harrisonburg. The money for our expansion project is there, its just a matter of developing a strategy and going after it.

[jd of de]

You can bet that funding for Bridgeforth Stadium was the result of Northern Virginia "big bucks" finding its way down to Harrisonburg. The money for our expansion project is there, its just a matter of developing a strategy and going after it.

Funding for Bridgeforth was the result of a bond issued and backed by the state of Virginia, mandated by Virginia law, and the big bucks raised by JMU was only $6m.

[Caribbean Hen]

Pop Quiz with no answer key because I’ve been gone to long and don’t have answers

Delaware population center is in New Castle County and sports interest is centered on Philadelphia pro teams much more than college football?

True or False

Delaware is the second smallest state and the smallest part of the second smallest state is the area between Wilmington in Newark?

True or False

Almost nobody, other than UD alums, living outside the second smallest state cares about Delaware Blue Hen football and radio and TV waves are blocked at the border from entering surrounding states? Basically Delaware sports falls on deaf ears outside of Delaware?

True or False

If Delaware could just get attendance back after expansion to somewhere around 20 to 22,000, it would be considered a success? 25,000 would be considered a dream come true?

True or False

[bluehens2005]

Pop Quiz with no answer key because I’ve been gone to long and don’t have answers

Delaware population center is in New Castle County and sports interest is centered on Philadelphia pro teams much more than college football?

True or False

Delaware is the second smallest state and the smallest part of the second smallest state is the area between Wilmington in Newark?

True or False

Almost nobody, other than UD alums, living outside the second smallest state cares about Delaware Blue Hen football and radio and TV waves are blocked at the border from entering surrounding states? Basically Delaware sports falls on deaf ears outside of Delaware?

True or False

If Delaware could just get attendance back after expansion to somewhere around 20 to 22,000, it would be considered a success? 25,000 would be considered a dream come true?

True or False

True, ? True, true,true!

[InvestedHenFan]

True! Only "quality wins" will bring fans- In Carty we trust

[Big R]

personally I disagree with the pundits who say that we must prove our strength in FBS before adding capacity. It's thinking small, which I get is the way the small wonder state thinks, but when Georgia Southern made the move to the Sun Belt, they IMMEDIATELY added 6,000 seats going into their first season. not only that, they got the students to pay for it....

Construction to expand the North stands of the stadium began in the summer of 2013. The expansion included more than 6,000 additional seats with on-grade seating expanded by approximately 1,500 new seats and 4,500 added with the construction of a mid-deck. The student-fee-funded, $10 million expansion project was completed in May of 2014. Georgia Southern students voted to pay a $25 fee for stadium expansion in 2012.

Funding and attendance, although somewhat intertwined, are not always linear.

GA Southern may have increased their capacity to 25,000 at Paulson Stadium, but over the 5-year period from 2017-2022, they only averaged around 17,000. So, I think they still have a ways to go to justify the cost. Having said that, they did experience 4% growth over that five-year period, and in 2023 (not shown in the linked table) it appears that their attendance suddenly jumped to nearly 21,500, so perhaps they’ll get there eventually.

https://www.d1ticker.com/2022-fbs-attendance-trends/