This sounds about like what you’d expect.
A couple of readers have asked whether anything will be done before this season to improve the restrooms at Sanford Stadium and better amplify the Redcoat Band during games. One of them, Jay Unger, writes: A couple of questions about the game day experience. First, any hope in my lifetime (I’m 60) for the level 300 bathrooms? They have been abysmal for years — too small, single-door entry. You miss most of a quarter of play just trying to get into and out of one if the need arises. Secondly, any chance we can hear more from the Redcoat Band and less over-volumized canned music this season? Or at minimum, consider the demographics of those who pay the bills in selecting the playlist? Some hip-hop, OK, I get it. But a steady diet of it? Please throw us baby boomers a bone or two. How ’bout mix in a little country and classic rock as well! Other stadiums in the SEC and beyond do that. Why not us? “Baba O’Riley” (aka “out here in the fields, teenage wasteland”) is cool at the beginning but can only carry you so far. Getting back to the playing field and on a more upbeat note, thrilled about Kirby Smart and what he brings to UGA football. Go Dawgs!
I asked the UGA Athletic Association this week whether there was anything to report on either bathroom renovations or sound improvements and the response was … [crickets]. So I’m not too hopeful on either point for this fall.
Maybe they thought Bill was making an Open Records request.
By the way, to his reader who hopes for an expansion to Sanford Stadium taking attendance into six figures: you’re insane, buddy. They can’t handle what they’ve got now.
Get The Picture 
When I was a redcoat we used to play so much on game day that it took me 2 days to recover (trumpet player). Nowadays I wonder if the kids get bored, and I’m sure they are significantly frustrated being silenced by all that canned music coming from million dollar speakers/sound systems.
I guess this is my “get off my lawn” post for the week…
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My level of contribution falls into get ignored level by ADGM. It is not just 300 level, 100 is just as bad rest room wise . Crowded, wet, and stinking. The deafening rap crapbrings out the ear plugs also.
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I am constantly told by fans around me that the rap garbage is not intended for me (white, male, middle age). I understand and accept that but I wonder who it is intended for?
I’m told it is for “the recruits”. I hope we have not sunk so low as a football program that we have to rely on playing a recruit’s favorite songs to lure him to Athens. While I don’t follow recruiting closely, I can honestly say I have never heard a recruit say he picked a school because he really liked the music they play on the sound system during the game. Maybe playing a decent opponent would be a better option for impressing recruits?
I’ve also been told it is for the students. I can say without reservation, this is not true. My daughter is a recent UGA grad and she and her friends have commented many times about how they prefer to hear the band more than piped in music. The students go to the games to watch a football game. If they want to dance and listen to music, they have plenty of options in Athens outside of Sanford stadium.
This aural assault began after the 2013 Clemson game at Clemson. McGarity came back and commented on how much he liked the way Clemson used piped in music in their games and wanted to do more of that in Athens. Copying anything from a program with unbridled hubris that thinks busing your team from one end of the stadium to the other so they can pet a rock that has nothing to do with their campus or even their state as they run down a hill is a great idea seems like the height of foolishness.
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“I hope we have not sunk so low as a football program that we have to rely on playing a recruit’s favorite songs to lure him to Athens.”
Who fired our sketch artist?
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Not sure that your daughter and her friends is a sample size that accurately depicts the whole student body. I graduated in ’10, and me and all my people wanted more piped in rap. We all lost our minds when they played Soulja Boi during the 07 Auburn blackout. That was probably the best game experience I have ever had, and all we did was beat the #18 team in the country. Music makes the environment, and the band is a big part of that. They literally play choker on every 3rd down, and it gets everyone fired up. Are ya’ll looking for full songs during the game?
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I think the Soulja Boy days were a good balance. Having a few piped in tunes can help the atmosphere, especially if the music is something most of the fans can tolerate. I don’t care about full songs by the band during the game, but the band playing on third down or between plays is much better than 15 seconds of “shake that stanky leg” at ear splitting volume.
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Doing the stanky leg to Soldier Boy is the best Patriot musical. I am going to play it and make everybody show their stanky leg when I declare martial law in the classiest Inauguration Speech ever. It’s got a good beat and even Verne and Gary can dance to it.
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Can we just find a better mix between the band and the piped in music? Without a major renovation, NOTHING is going to change the bathroom situation, just please keep them clean. The concession situation is still atrocious and seems to get worse every season. You miss a quarter of play to go to the restroom or get a drink. Like lake, I’m not in the contribution class that the AA gives a damn about, so I guess complaining about the spectator experience is just tilting at windmills.
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Sad to see the Bootin’ Teuton passed away. Peter Rajecki was the first in a long string of good kickers we had, including Alan “The Avondale Automatic” Leavitt, Rex Robinson and Kevin Butler. DGD.
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Wasn’t Kim Braswell the “Avondale Automatic?” After all, he was from Avondale High School. Alan Leavitt was from Florida. I never recall him being referred to as “Avondale” anything.
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Damn, you’re right!. And boo to me for forgetting Braswell.
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Bathrooms have been an issue for decades and nothing has been accomplished, beginning to wonder if there are just insurmountable obstacles based on the original plan. Too many ADs have heard that complaint and have been unable to resolve the issues. Seems hard to believe in the 21st century but plumbing issues in a structure that large can be a large hill to climb.
But let’s be clear, there is nothing difficult about fixing the music problem, it is totally under the control of McDummy.
Fact: UGA has a large, accomplished band on hand every home game.
Fact: College game day tradition involves band music.
Fact: NFL games only have access recorded music.
Fact: UGA is a college and not in the NFL
Fact: You will never please all fans with any recorded music chosen
Fact: Blasting the volume does not make the music more acceptable
Fact: McDummy fails again, and again, and again…..
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Sounds like this fan is…Ungry for a change.
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As one of the posters here, eethomas, stated just above, without major renovations the restroom ordeal isn’t going to change. Thus, there’s no sense continuing to complain about it, and you’re better off adapting accordingly. The complaints somewhat remind me of relatives of mine, who have a tradition of visiting Disney World every other year on Memorial Day weekend, in which they then come back and bitch and moan about how brutal the traffic/crowds/prices were. I mean, come on — what did you expect?
Our (wife and I) routine involves stopping our alcohol consumption approx. 1- 1/2 hours before game time, drinking a good bit of water, then using the restroom several times as we make our way down to the stadium (including one last time as soon as we enter the stadium). Over the last 7-8 years or so, I can only think of one time were either of us had to use the restroom, and yea the experience sucked. Other than that, we have a good time without having to worry about a thing. Maybe we both have insane bladders or something, but I doubt it.
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…As one of the best posters here…
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I guess we should just all fall in line and follow suit. Can you get ADGM to send out a memo to all season ticket holders to your infallible pre-game routine? Thaaaaaaanks
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*To follow your infallible
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Just stating my routine given the disastrous bathroom situation over many years — nothing more or less. If you know going in that trying to get to the restrooms during the game will be akin to getting through Shinjuku Station at 5 pm, you might want to rethink your strategy a bit instead of bellyaching about something that isn’t easily solvable.
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Thank you for the kind words, sir. I appreciate your insights as well, 3&G.
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Re the music, we are pretty much going to do what our rivals do….that is just the way it is.
On the restrooms, the stadium was originally designed to top out around 60k, they are going to be crowded…the point above is valid, obviously there are a few major issues or a remodeling would have been done.
Expansion? WTF? Nutball idea.
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These are common laments with every SEC and ACC fan base.
We should all keep in mind that restrooms don’t make money (yet).
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I got a win/win solution: the AD should sell these to fans (branded with UGA colors/logo of course):
https://www.stadiumpal.com/product/stadium-pal-kit/
The restrooms will be empty, and the fans will never have to leave their seats! Oh, I’m certain everyone here will go with the XL condom catheter size, which begs the question — what would Ludicris request? (Stadium Pal might want to rebrand “XL” as “Magnum size”)
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Ed Zachery…just don’t wait until the end of a quarter to take a leak.
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In London they have pay restrooms in Harrod’s and probably other places that are nicer than the free ones. New revenue stream?
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I pity you folks if the AD reads these comments.
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The only solution to the bathroom problem is to lower the humidity. At the ASU game, I had to go but was delaying the trip to that piss/humid dank pit that was their bathrooms. Lo and behold, after about 30 minutes in 20% humidity (if that), I no longer had to go. Nature is a wonderful thing.
My recurring nightmare (it’s never happened yet) is having to “drop the chalupa” at Sanford Stadium (or any large, drunken gathering). I think I’d just leave instead.
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You know one thing that would cause the restroom/concession problems on the 300 level to get fixed pretty damn fast? Fading ticket sales and attendance.
I love hearing all of the excuses about why it can’t be improved. We heard similar shit for 20 years about why an indoor practice facility was impossible.
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I would love for them to pull about 10-15k seats out of the stadium, put actual seats in the lower bowl and charge be 10-15% more for tickets.
that would help a lot of problems.
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This. If poor restroom quality and concessions mean so much, vote with your feet and stay home. Everything else is just noise.
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The bathrooms are a mess, but agree they could be tough to fix.
The concessions need to be improved and I am sure that is possible.
The music/noise isnt really a concern to me. I wear ear plugs to every game anyway.
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Where’s Jeremy Pruitt when we need someone to step forward and bitch loudly about facilities? Of course McG hated Pruitt. He exposed him for the POS AD that he is.
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Why spend a fortune remodeling bathrooms in an old concrete stadium that you are only going to use 6-8 times a year? I’m with 3rd and Grantham, make a personal plan.
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I don’t know who is in charge of the music at Georgia, but when I was there in the late oughts they played way too much 80’s music and it made no sense. They’ve really scaled back over the past 5 years which is a huge relief to me. I’ve never understood how Phil Collins, the Who, and what I’m pretty sure is a Nickelback remix of the Elton John song Saturday made it into the pregame playlist. It’s not that they’re bad songs (Well, Saturday is a bad song IMO), they just don’t seem to mix with football. I’ve been attending Georgia games since before I can remember and I don’t think they’ve always played that music, so if it’s not tradition then what’s the point? The oldest millennials are the youngest people who get chills from “In the air tonight”, the rest of us barely know who Phil Collins is, and the only reason we know he is a drummer is because of some Buzzfeed article. In general, AC/DC doesn’t do much for anyone born after 1985.
I’ve always felt that the music should be for the students, recruits, and to get the players pumped up. The rest of us have had our time in section 110.If they want to throw in some old country or southern rock before pregame, during the post game or perhaps half time to keep the old folks happy then have at it, just as long as it’s not the mind numbing music of Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and other such hacks. I wouldn’t mind hearing the redcoats play more in game (I believe the song “Hey Baby” has been a staple for a while), but then again I’m the type of guy who is rarely entertained by any halftime performance, and would probably be more interested to see an up and coming artist perform insetad.
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I’ve always felt that the music should be for the students, recruits, and to get the players pumped up. The rest of us have had our time in section 110.
This is precisely correct.
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The music deal is so disappointing. There are few opportunities to hear a live marching band these days, and I really enjoy it. We have a great band who put in a lot of work. I say let them play. The fans can hear loud, irritating recorded music any time they want.
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Man, if only there were other places to hear good, live music in Athens…..
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If only I lived in Athens…
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i visited Knoxville for the first time last season. I was impressed at how they piped the band music around that old decrepit stadium. We can and should do better.
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I’m surprised McDooty (sic) hasn’t come up with a “fastpass” type of plan where you pay extra for faster bathroom access. That would alleviate the bathroom problem for some while increasing the reserve fund;-)
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It’s called Club Level.
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https://twitter.com/Rschooley/status/733721528798322688
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Yeah, but club level seats are limited, McGoofy needs a way to take more money from the masses;-)
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The music doesn’t bother me any. I love the Redcoats and love to hear them play “Bad Leory brown” and “Paint it Black” and “Kashmir” during big drives and defensive stops, but I also enjoy the piped in music and its effect on the players and the crowd. Personally, I could stand to hear a bit more Georgia-centric lyrics in the songs (play something by the Allmans or Zac Brown or even Outkast. That being said, they do play a lot of GA and ATL based rappers which I appreciate).
My biggest gripe is just the overall appearance of Sanford. For as much time as I’ve spent making fun of Auburn and Tennessee fans for their ugly exteriors (Neyland = erector set), I have to admit that they’ve both undergone some really nice beautification projects both in the concourses and in the facades of the stadiums. Sanford is literally in the heart of the UGA campus and yet the 600 addition has looked like an unfinished construction project since it was put up back in 2003. The Reed Alley project was a really nice start but that’s all it was: a start. Can we please pretend to give a damn about the appearance of the place? Maybe clean up the immediate areas around the stadium (under the bridge and behind the east endzone, perhaps?)?
Of course, this all harkens to my feelings on the UGA campus in general; there are many parts of the campus that are just a joy to walk through… until you walk into parts that are just kind of shitty. For example, new Tate and the Miller Learning Center are really nice buildings with nice landscaping around them… and then you get to old Tate and the mid-80’s plaza and the dingy bus stop before walking into the concrete skeleton outside of Sanford.
Is it asking too much to renovate the areas of campus that are most visible to the rest of the world?
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I think Sanford looks really good, from the outside. Once you get inside, that’s where it looks really rough. Of course, a great deal of the problem is; the original South side lower level is approx. 90 years old and the concourses on the North and South sides were designed to move approx. 55,000 people in and out. Due to the location in a natural valley and the necessity of securing the stadium against unpaid entry with perimeter fencing, almost all fans must enter and leave through only three areas; the field level under the bridge, the Reed Plaza/Memorial Hall gate and onto Field St on the South side which is narrow road sandwiched between class buildings and the stadium. There is very little access or discharge capability on the East side of the stadium due to East Campus Rd, the locker rooms and the railroad tracks. Sanford is very much landlocked in the middle of campus, when 55,000 people were filing in and out, there was no real problem. Now, with almost double that number and people wanting to tailgate up to the last minute before kickoff and try and be in their seats for kickoff, there is no way to move people faster.
I agree the 600 level looks bad. Again, the only options for adding seating were/are; build on top of the 300 level or enclose the West end zone. Enclosing the West end zone would, in my opinion, ruin part of what makes attending a game at Sanford so special, being able to see out the end of the stadium up the hill. Adding on top of the 300 level requires the steel framework to hold up that level and that steel really detracts from the exterior appearance. I’d be fine if they tore it off but that isn’t going to happen.
The restrooms are a problem with no solution. There is no real surplus of unused space in the stadium that could be used to expand existing or create new restroom facilities. Again, other than the East end expansion in the early 80s, where some restrooms were added, the rest of the stadium had restroom facilities designed to accommodate approx. 55,000 people. I don’t really care about adding more bathrooms but I would like to see the ones we have kept clean and dry and not look like something from a concentration camp.
Regarding the general appearance of campus. I don’t have any real issue with how the campus looks. The campus is a collection of buildings built over the last 200+ years and, while every square foot is not perfect, I think the university does a good job of keeping the place presentable. The old Tate Center isn’t beautiful, but it’s not overtly ugly. The bus stop would be easy enough to update.
Sanford is used about 10 days a year counting football games, G Day and graduations. Pouring millions into it in order to dress up marginal areas that are seldom seen doesn’t make sense on any level. Our stadium is consistently ranked as one of the most beautiful on campus stadiums in the country (I’m sure that’s from an exterior perspective only) so someone thinks it looks nice. My friends from other schools generally comment on how much they like our stadium, at least until they have to go to the bathroom.
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“Sanford is used about 10 days a year counting football games, G Day and graduations.”
Which is absurd, in my opinion. They should be holding a big Spring and Summer concert in Sanford every year (similair to how LSU has the Bayou Country Superfest in Tiger Stadium and Florida does the Gator Growl in Ben Hill Girffin). I’d love to see them partner with Athfest and expand the music venues to include Sanford, Stegeman, and/or Ramsey Concert Hall to attract more people to town and, thereby, gain more exposure for the smaller local bands and more Summer revenue for the downtown shops and restaurants.
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I hope the people complaining on here are also sending these complaints to BM, with your name included. If you don’t care enough to do that, why should anyone else care?
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I have done that specifically related to the hell that is concessions at Sanford.
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