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Design of Bridger Field House

tsywake

tsywake

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We know that renovations are planned in the future to the locker rooms in Bridger, which will switch the home and visitor locker room locations. Why were they flipped in the original design?

Do any other locker room layouts require teams to cross each other entering and leaving the field of play?
 
tsywake said:
We know that renovations are planned in the future to the locker rooms in Bridger, which will switch the home and visitor locker room locations. Why were they flipped in the original design?

Do any other locker room layouts require teams to cross each other entering and leaving the field of play?
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Bank of America Stadium does for NFL games. I'm guessing the Panthers did it so the visiting team would be on the hot, unshaded sideline during early season games. Not sure if that is the same for Wake's stadium design.
 
I’ve always wondered this.

Also always wondered why Wake’s baseball stadiums (Gene Hooks and The Couch) had/have the home team dugout along the third base side vs the first base side. I grew up with the home team always on the first base side but I understand this varies by region/area.
 
As I recall, the original Bridger Field House had the home locker room on the Wake side and then it was switched when it was expanded in the late 1990's.
 
LilburnDeac said:
As I recall, the original Bridger Field House had the home locker room on the Wake side and then it was switched when it was expanded in the late 1990's.
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Correct. I never could understand why it was switched. Sounds like something Wellman would dream up.
 
uncaboref said:
Bank of America Stadium does for NFL games. I'm guessing the Panthers did it so the visiting team would be on the hot, unshaded sideline during early season games. Not sure if that is the same for Wake's stadium design.
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Bridger locker rooms were flipped when renovations happened in 1996. That renovation upgraded locker rooms and added a lot of the game attendee facilities and the Museum/hall of Fame/Trophy Case.

With Clawson's bowl successes, they need more trophy cases. So, put a bigger, nicer locker room underneath them.

ETA: the NCAA is encouraging facility designs that keep thr two teams separate during all of the game. Engineering to try and avoid situations like happened in some B1G games at Michigan. Teams share a tunnel to their respective locker rooms at halftime and post game.
 
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I've heard in the past that the current home locker room was larger, and that is the reason the rooms were flipped. I wonder why they didn't think about that during the design process and update the blueprints prior to construction or if there is another structural reason for it.
 
I know Lambeau has the players criss-cross from locker rooms to sidelines. Seems like it might be common.
 
tsywake said:
I've heard in the past that the current home locker room was larger, and that is the reason the rooms were flipped. I wonder why they didn't think about that during the design process and update the blueprints prior to construction or if there is another structural reason for it.
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I know, at one time, there was some discussion of expanding out the locker rooms either to the North or on either side (east/west) to increase footprint. I don't know if it became an engineering issue, cost or both as to why never executed.
Seems like that was also discussed back in the 90's. There were some preliminary sketches because they tried to hit my dad (now deceased) up for a sizeable donation. I think I might still have the sketches somewhere in a box.
 
TheAbster said:
I know, at one time, there was some discussion of expanding out the locker rooms either to the North or on either side (east/west) to increase footprint. I don't know if it became an engineering issue, cost or both as to why never executed.
Seems like that was also discussed back in the 90's. There were some preliminary sketches because they tried to hit my dad (now deceased) up for a sizeable donation. I think I might still have the sketches somewhere in a box.
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I remember those plans. I think it was a future phase after the press box replacement project. Seems like there was also a planned phase to do some major work to make the parking lots more fan/tailgating friendly -- adding trees, more grass and green space etc. IIRC those ideas came about after our first trip to Ole Miss and the Grove.
 
SCDeac said:
I remember those plans. I think it was a future phase after the press box replacement project. Seems like there was also a planned phase to do some major work to make the parking lots more fan/tailgating friendly -- adding trees, more grass and green space etc. IIRC those ideas came about after our first trip to Ole Miss and the Grove.
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That is correct; seems like I recall seeing drawings showing what the parking lots would look like with additional greenspace/islands for tailgating.
Also maybe 10 years ago there was a major donor who was going to foot most of the bill to put chairbacks on the entire "home" side, or maybe even the whole stadium. Those plans were "officially" mentioned as part of overall facility upgrades, but a donor's name was not included so obviously was not set in stone. Don't know what happened to kill the project.
 
The 1996 renovation was done somewhat on the cheap. It was easier to remove the smaller east side locket room and build a new larger Wake locker room there and also renovate the larger west locker room into a visitor locker room. Ticket operations also got some new space on the north side of the building. The added footprint was turned into added facilities for game attendees on the upper floor.
 
I was under the impression that the recession in 2007-2009 upended a lot of the plans for better tailgating, developing Deacon Blvd, etc. I think a lot of that stuff never got back on track and was basically jettisoned. I was there for the Clemson game last fall and that whole area still looks about as bleak as it did 25 years ago, maybe worse.
 
inspectah said:
I was under the impression that the recession in 2007-2009 upended a lot of the plans for better tailgating, developing Deacon Blvd, etc. I think a lot of that stuff never got back on track and was basically jettisoned. I was there for the Clemson game last fall and that whole area still looks about as bleak as it did 25 years ago, maybe worse.
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Yes there was a multi-phase plan in place for lots of renovations and improvements to the football stadium, parking and ancillary facilities. Wake was trying to make the most of football success that included the first conference championship in over 40 years.The McCreary Tower got built, other stadium upgrades were done and then the financial crash happened. The phases that hadn't been started were put on hold. Some are still on hold. Some have been scrapped. Some new plans have been made. We will see which ones draw funding.
 
uncaboref said:
Bank of America Stadium does for NFL games. I'm guessing the Panthers did it so the visiting team would be on the hot, unshaded sideline during early season games. Not sure if that is the same for Wake's stadium design.
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I would assume so. As a recent student I will tell you sitting on that sideline in August and September day games is brutal. Sunburn special.
 
NJDeac’22 said:
I would assume so. As a recent student I will tell you sitting on that sideline in August and September day games is brutal. Sunburn special.
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I still willingly sit on that side. My season tix have always been there. I’ll take the 1-2 hot games for the comfortable games in October when the other side is cold.
 
That's by design too. Visitors and 18-22 drunk Wake students are way better to put there as opposed to the season ticket holders who donate and will be very vocal about anything that goes wrong.
 
Deacsfan27 said:
That's by design too. Visitors and 18-22 drunk Wake students are way better to put there as opposed to the season ticket holders who donate and will be very vocal about anything that goes wrong.
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I’m a season ticket holder on that side! In fact, I wish more people would do the same.
 
I'm also on the east side. Started sitting there with young alum tickets and now I've been on that side for 16 years. It's fun to give hell to the opposing team
 
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