The Jimmy Haslam Thread

[Benway]

I HATE that stadium. I wouldn't go upper bowl if you paid me.

 

[The Oi]

I HATE that stadium. I wouldn't go upper bowl if you paid me.

I’ll pay you.

 

[southernflyer]

My biggest complaint about CBS is how small the concourses are. One game we made the mistake of entering the southeast entrance, but our tickets were closer to the southwest corner of the stadium. It took us almost 15 minutes of just shuffling our feet in a mob of people to basically get 100 yards. It is so crammed, and like half of the concourse is taken up by people in line for concessions and fourth is taken up by people waiting in line for the team store.

Everything else about it seems fine to me though. Definitely nothing special, but it gets the job done.

Living near Daytona during the time, Daytona International Speedway had many of the same issues with foot traffic for 100,000+ people. They rebuilt the front stretch exterior to expand the outer walkways and front grandstands while taking out the rear grandstands. Last time I was there after the renovations it was much easier to walk around and enter/exit. I imagine it could be done to CBS on either the northern/southern end, but other updates would be added to make it a full upgrade/refurb.

 

[Benway]

I’ll pay you.

Hmm.

OK.

 

[buzzdog]

My season tickets are in the 500 level at about the 30 yard line. Even with the new video boards we have to have to worst stadium in the league when it comes to the data visuals. It's very hard to see the score and down distance. The graphic is smaller than the names of the players in the ring of honor. The concessions are extremely dated. It feels like a stadium on Madden 2000 that was new in Madden 2000. A real Playstation 2 created stadium vibe.

It has the really old standard style seating with one lower bowl, one middle bowl, and an upper level. The sight lines are not great unless you're sitting between the 30 and the 50.

It's one thing to be an outdoor stadium but it's another to be an outdoor stadium up north on the lakefront. The design of the stadium is simply not ideal for inclement weather and no, playing football in shitty weather is not something that fans should brag about.

Now on to the in stadium entertainment. They're trying too hard to be entertaining if that makes sense. Too many games and people shouting at you to get you to participate. They do a terrible job of playing off the dawg pound. You'd have no idea that the dawg pound was even part of our teams history because they don't capitalize on it. They even added "luxury" seats to the dawg pound which probably puts the nail in the coffin there.

I think an easy comp for getting an idea on how shitty CBS is would be going to a Cavs game at RMFH. The experience in RMFH is really fun. The entertainment, atmosphere, audio, and visuals are very well put together. I know it's a basketball game compared to a football game but when you compare some of the same things CBS misses the mark on almost all of them. Parking for a Cavs game is easier and faster. CBS is a decent walk for the majority of fans. You're looking at maybe 2 miles of total walking time easily.

The in game entertainment is much smoother at Cavs games. Ahmad is never trying too hard to get his point across or keep you entertained. Steph Floss is not suited for in game entertainment at a football stadium. He's way too loud and he doesn't have a voice for radio which is much easier to listen to when you're on loud speakers surrounded by 60,000 people in an open air outdoor stadium.

At RMFH no matter where you sit it's very easy to look for a find information about the game. Quarter, fouls, score, timeouts, stats. It's very hard to see the timeouts, score, down and distance, quarter, and even basic stats at CBS. The visual for the timeouts and the score is so small that you have to focus too hard to see it and you'll miss the action on the field.

At RMFH the stats for all 10 players on the court are always in the corners on the boards if not on the main jumbotron. You can easily see how many assist Garland has or points Spida has. If you wanted to see Okoro's shooting percentage it's right there and the graphic is larger than the actual score graphic at CBS.

At CBS it's way too hard to see player stats. You won't know how many rushing yards Nick Chubb has or how many carries he has until after he attempts a rush. Why aren't the offensive stats always on display when the offense is on the field? I can't tell you how many times we'll be at the game and it will be midway through the 3rd quarter before most fans actually see the stats. Now me personally, I'm following the game on Twitter and RCF while I'm at the game so I already know this information but the majority of fans at the game are relying on the in stadium visuals and they are lacking.

*Coupe quick hits

No cheerleaders means they have to find more ways for filler for entertainment. Even if they don't have cheerleaders this team could really use a scream team or dance team.

CBS concession food is the worst in the league and I don't need to go to every stadium to make that declaration.

The design of the concourse makes getting those nasty concession the absolute worst.

They try too hard to play off of the whole rock and roll theme. The truth is if they really want to play off of the home of rock and roll theme then they need an indoor stadium. Nobody is going to a rock concert outside in anything less than 70 degrees. Personally I think the team is having an identity crisis. I think they try to play off the dawg pound theme in a way that almost feels like they are being bullied into doing it by the older traditional fans. I don't think they really like the dawg pound identity and I think they prefer the rock and roll theme. Problem is that the dawg pound theme works really well in an outdoor stadium and the rock and roll theme is tailor made for a dome so here we are.

Thanks for the excellent summary based on your real life experience. In far less visits but comparing to some other NFL stadiums I've attended I thought the sight lines at CBS are pretty decent due to how steep the seats are, bringing them closer to the field than some other stadiums where the higher you go the tinier the field gets. For example I recall sitting in the lower rows of the upper bowl at around the 35 yard line, and from there it was an excellent view, kind of like watching an all-22 film.

But you're right about all the scoreboards, graphics, etc. being horrible compared to other venues. And although there were some decent replay screens the quality and timing of replays really sucked. They showed stuff that wasn't relevant to the important action on the field, and it seems they spent too much time on crowd shots, etc. and I felt like if I missed an important play there was less than a 50/50 chance I'd get to see it again on the replay screen. It left me thinking I was better off watching from home in many ways.

The other thing you mentioned that has baffled me from day one (I remember being around Cleveland when the stadium was under construction and it even baffled me then)... The fact that they made zero attempt to close off the wind coming off the lake was mind numbingly stupid. Even being an open air stadium, they could and should have bowled off the corners which would have done a lot to cut down on the frigid winds coming off the lake. The design also creates a huge wind tunnel effect coming through the lake side concourses and out to the field, which exacerbates the unpredictable swirling effects of the winds. Why they didn't just seal off the whole lake side of the stadium against the winds off Lake Erie makes no sense. If I were designing upgrades to the current stadium that would be a part of it, and even if a dome isn't possible they could block the wind off the lake and maybe even add additional wind screening around the top of the stadium. Cold is one thing, wind chill is another and they could reduce the wind chill by a bunch.

 

[The Oi]

Hmm.

OK.

I knew it.

 

[MGMT]

I want to see a stadium with limited seati g but the rows are just on top of each other a la opera balconies. Maybe you go several stories with it; make tuxedoes mandatory within the building for spectators.

We always talk about how the NFL will sell no matter what but I have interests in putting that to the test in the most bizarre circumstances.

 

[Hurl Bruce]

I want to see a stadium with limited stadium but the rows are just on top of each other a la opera balconies. Maybe you go several stories with it; make tuxedoes mandatory within the building for spectators.

We always talk about how the NFL will sell no matter what but I have interests in putting that to the test in the most bizarre circumstances.

Eyes Wide Shut style where you have to have a password to get in.

Also orgies.

Edit: I've seen lots of Browns fans. Nobody wants to see/participate in that orgy.

 

[macbdog]

Eyes Wide Shut style where you have to have a password to get in.

Also orgies.

Edit: I've seen lots of Browns fans. Nobody wants to see/participate in that orgy.

Even if the Boob Elf is involved?

 

[FrontPageNews]

I want to see a stadium with limited stadium but the rows are just on top of each other a la opera balconies. Maybe you go several stories with it; make tuxedoes mandatory within the building for spectators.

We always talk about how the NFL will sell no matter what but I have interests in putting that to the test in the most bizarre circumstances.

Lawn seating only. No levels. Just flat land.

 

[Soda]

@Soda

I’ve missed us.

Anywho, the Medina Browns has a nice ring to it.

 

[Huber.]

I’ve missed us.

Anywho, the Medina Browns has a nice ring to it.

Foosball Club Manchester or Bristol is Dee's big picture

 

[Deezus]

I’ve missed us.

Anywho, the Medina Browns has a nice ring to it.

Haha. I had to tag you. Hope you are well, buddy!

 

[camakazee]

State Farm Stadium is easily the worst stadium in the entire league.

It’s newer. It’s fucking lame. The amenities are terrible. The retractable roof for afternoon east coast games (so 1 our time) soaks half of the entire stadium in direct sunlight for at least a half. And, mind you, when you sit upper deck you… can’t really see the field because of the glare. Love wearing sunglasses inside.

I took my Cardinals family to CBS, we sat lower bowl, and they were amazed on how much better it was.

Definitely not the worst. Visited for the first time for the Super Bowl and came away thinking it’s a solid venue. I’d put it above some other NFL venues I’ve attended like Bank of America and TIAA Bank as well as the Georgia Dome before they blew up that monstrosity. I’ve never been to FedEx Field but it’s almost always polled as the worst NFL stadium among fans.

 

[Huber.]

Let's do a little quick and dirty math.

A brand new stadium is gonna cost *at least* $2 BILLION dollars to build. The majority of that will be funded by the taxpayers.

Let's round up and say a Taylor Swift concert would bring in $50M in revenue.

$50 million is only 2.5% of $2 billion. You're still *checks notes* 97.5% short of making your money back. And it's not like Taylor Swift would run the revenue once a month. She'd run it once and then never again. And that's if she's even still touring in 2030 by the time this friggin stadium is built.

Not to mention stadiums cost a SHITLOAD of money to upkeep. The Vikings stadium, which only opened in 2016, already needs $280 million in maintenance over the next decade.

Stadiums *never* make their money back. It's one of the single biggest fallacies out there.

Al Bayt Stadium cost less than 1 billion. The Browns don't need the fanciest and biggest with all the bells and whistles. They need seats, a field and a roof.