Monday.
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Welp…tough one for the Illini (especially without Bret) but Miss TCR got to come work the game with me, so I’m calling that a win 
Plus all I REALLY want is to beat Northwestern next weekend. Shoutout @MerchCzar as always. One more week to go.
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I was wondering if youd be there this week. Not an exciting game to watch…
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Oh it was a SILLY game…lots of weird plays and calls but overall a fun time (especially since Illinois covered the spread 
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Outkicked the coverage i see 
Lucky!
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For 2 and a half years
Just gotta convince her to play more golf now…
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What did you think of Kinnick? I’m biased, but I think it’s a very underrated college football experience. Might need the @TCRBrad rankings of Big Ten stadiums at the end of the year.
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You asked for it…
I’ll start by saying that it’s a “Cathedral of the Big Ten”. I haven’t been on field at OSU, Mich or PSU yet…but I know Michigan is just a bowl, and OSU and PSU just keep building things on top of things (with OSU having a better surrounding area). For as old as the stadium is, it’s got one of the best “tradition/classic feels” of any building I’ve seen or been in.
Kinnick’s location is both a blessing and a curse. You get a REALLY intimate feel with the neighborhood to the South, the hospital east, parking building/indoor track north and train tracks west of the stadium. But what comes with intimacy is a TOUGH logistic setup for parking lots and tailgating.
Hawkins is a NIGHTMARE to get in or out of, which is fitting for how the rest of the stadium is set up.
Concourse renovations over the past 5/7 years helped, but being stuck within the confines of Hawkins and Melrose means you can only expand areas for fans to move around “so much”. The fact that the seating bowl only has one set of tunnels to enter/exit from also means you stand in line…a LOT. This backs up traffic into the already small concourses (especially under the East stands) and it makes moving around during the game a frustrating and time-consuming process.
However, I LOVE the fact that the concourse is one main circle and you can see down onto the field from the southwest and southeast terraces. The field being sunk under the concourse level is a beautiful design in stadiums and I wish that was the standard for everyone. I am a sucker for being able to do a “full lap” around the seating bowl which has always been a complaint about Kinnick - but that new North endzone being an open concourse makes a trip around the stadium MUCH better than before.
Which while we’re here…that North endzone is GORGEOUS. Aspirational. They integrated that section perfectly into the design and feel of the stadium. Since it’s pitched quite steeply, it becomes the loudest part of Kinnick by a considerable amount. Can’t wait to see their work when they renovate the South side for the band and students.
Inside the seating bowl, I’d argue that there’s not a more intimidating setup in all of college sports.
It’s ONLY 70k people, but the proximity of the stands to the field + the…uh…let’s call it “very passionate” fanbase (both happy and mad) makes it a LOUD building to play in. The whole place just feels like it’s “on top” of you - especially with that new North endzone. Michigan State actually has stands that are the same distance from the field as Kinnick, but the field is about 8/9ft below the first row. In Kinnick, it’s only 5/6ft below - so fans can literally spill out of the stands and onto the field/bench during gameday (we saw 3 fall out of the stands on Saturday). The shorter first row gives Kinnick more of a feeling like fans are breathing down your neck, whereas MSU makes you feel like fans are towering “over” you. Edge to Kinnick in my book.
Overall - it’s honestly the loudest and most passionate crowd I’ve been lucky enough to experience.
It’s as good as advertised, and a must visit building for ANY fan of college football.
EDIT: I consider myself to be the luckiest man in the Big Ten to get to experience this for “work”
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I really just wanted to know if you liked “The Wave” or not.
Just kidding, wonderful summary, and I agree with everything you listed.
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I’ll take a swing…
- Camp Randall (Wisconsin). Extreme homer bias. Don’t care, game day experience for a big time opponent is elite. However, I wish the students would show up for kick, tough scene seeing the student section 1/3 full most starts. Also, Jump Around is so fun, but Build Me Up Buttercup is underrated
- The Shoe (OSU). So. freaking. loud. With an upper deck 3/4 of the way around the stadium it feels like all 108K people are on top of the field. Excellent tailgate setup as well.
- Kinnick (Iowa). @TCRBrad nailed most everything about it. Once saw a Hawkeye fan vomit at least a gallon of liquid during the national anthem and kept his hand on his heart like a true American
- Happy Valley (Penn St). Hell of a hard place to get to, but so worth it. Stadium sits in the middle of a huge field and there is tailgating in every direction. Whiteout is awesome to see, but driving 10 hours back to Madison after getting our ass kicked was #notgreatbob
- Big House (Michigan): Very cool to have an ‘est’ experience (in this case, bigg-est). Tailgating on the golf course is great. Big ‘Rose Bowl in the midwest’ vibes. Lowkey quiet.
- Memorial Stadium (Nebraska). Passionate fanbase, but almost too polite. Balloon thing is fine, I guess. Probably a better experience if they were, you know, good at football.
~intermission~ - Ryan Field (Northwestern). Fun place for a small stadium. Not a bad seat in the house. Close to Chicago.
8/9/10/11: Indiana (its fine.), MSU (kinda crappy), Purdue (Straight up mean fans, at least when I was there.), Illinois (old, and not in a charming way)
~huge gap~
12/13: Rutgers (off campus, soulless), Maryland (nothingburger)
NR: TCF Bank Stadium (Gophs). Have not been. Looks cool. Metrodome was fun (but a dump)
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I have only been to games at Wisconsin, OSU, MSU, Michigan, and Northwestern. Wisconsin and OSU are in a completely different stratosphere in terms of environment than the rest. I imagine PSU is probably up there with them.
Between the two I probably say Wisconsin for best vibe and OSU for loudest/most intense stadium. The upper deck is so steep it feels like you are hanging over the field.
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Hottest take I have:
“The Wave” is cute and building the hospital over the East stands was a good idea…but at some point they’re going to renovate that side and block most of the hospital in order to bring in 5k more seats and the associated revenue.
EDIT: I REALLY hope they don’t and only stick to fixing the concourse/add more tunnels to get into the seating bowl. Kinnick really only “works” as a 70k seat building, just like Ross-Ade works as a 40/50k building and Ryan Field only really works as a 30/40k building.
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TCF is cool, but kind of generic in my opinion. Also, as a guy living in Minnesota, as a Hawkeye fan, I think most Gopher (and Vikings) fans suck.
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If I’m talking about OVERALL experience (fans, food, views, value, logistics, traditions, surrounding area)? TCF/Huntington Bank is the best in the West, and a favorite for best in conference.
TCF Bank is a nice stadium and one of the if not the newest in the Big 10. It’s comparatively tiny, like half the capacity of The Big House, so there’s an intimate feel there. Good location with great views of sunset over downtown Minneapolis, but a pain in the ass to get in and out of to be sure. The Metrodome was cool simply because it sucked so much. TCF is way better in almost every measurable way, except no trough toilets which I’m still a fan of for some idiotic reason. Also it’ll be renamed at some point because TCF Bank no longer exists, so that could be interesting.
Edit: Huntington? The fuq is that
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I think most Gopher (and Vikings) fans suck.
Explain.
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The North endzone renovation actually made the capacity about 1000 less than it was before. I think anything Kinnik does from here out will not increase capacity, but add more club level seats and make it a little nicer to be in. They have had a hard time selling out the last few years as it is.
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Iowa doesn’t like Minnesota, Minnesota doesn’t like Wisconsin, Wisconsin doesn’t like Iowa.
Illinois and Nebraska are “rebuilding” and are too depressed right now to really “hate” anyone.
Purdue gets overlooked by everyone, but then throws to David Bell and beats you.
Northwestern is the C-Suite. Hashtag Jim Delany.
I don’t disagree, but that’s not what he said. If you’re gonna throw grenades [preferred noun] at the fans and not just the team, I’m gonna need an explanation