Old Mountaineer Field should have never been demolished.

[JohnnyDrama388]

The location was perfect and iconic. Built into the campus with some nice backdrop scenery.

The university could have found other space to build the buildings that were built on its grave. I get chills thinking of what could have been.

 

[oceantide83]

 

[WVpride304]

They should have just built upper decks and kept it. Many other college stadiums are on heart of campus.

 

[eerswvu]

It was falling down.

 

[Keyser76]

There was no room for parking goofball.

 

[leftackle70]

Beautiful site without question. Loved the Old stadium but Parking nightmare especially with 30K more seats added....

I'm struck with the fact about all beautiful football stadiums. 6 times a year we are there. SIX to make most of the AD budget. I Love athletics. But you have to admit we have left priority of education somewhat in the shadows in all this.... And WVU is not even the worse culprit.

Just thinkin out loud.

 

[Muskets]

While I can't agree that it should still stand, it would have been nice to have left one of the towers at the open end standing and renovate it into some kind of memorial/shrine/museum. I've seen other campuses that have done something similar.

I've got a lot of great memories from that place.

 

[WVpride304]

Biggest issue with sports is the wasted spending on facilities to the extent of 30-50 millions going to weight rooms. Coaches salary have become out of control too. Keep the old stadiums and have a good enough weight room. Forget the sky box luxury suites. It’s out of control. College and pro needs to stop building new stadiums so much, especially pro. College needs to keep some tradition.

 

[Muskets]

Biggest issue with sports is the wasted spending on facilities to the extent of 30-50 millions going to weight rooms. Coaches salary have become out of control too. Keep the old stadiums and have a good enough weight room. Forget the sky box luxury suites. It’s out of control. College and pro needs to stop building new stadiums so much, especially pro. College needs to keep some tradition.

Frankly, I agree. But that train left the station long ago. I blame Notre Dame and Knute Rockne. As I have said in another recent thread, College athletics should be about the development and recreation of student athletes.

It's us that have created this monster. If we would just quit watching for our enjoyment, the money wouldn't be there for the mess we are talking about here.

But, that's not going to happen. I love my Mountaineers as much as my #$%* neighbor loves his irish. So we're going to watch them, and root for them, and spend money doing so. The money has to go somewhere. At least it's all not just lining the pockets of the powerful few. At least some of it goes to creature comforts and entertainment for those of us spending what we can.

 

[eerdoc]

The location was perfect and iconic. Built into the campus with some nice backdrop scenery.

The university could have found other space to build the buildings that were built on its grave. I get chills thinking of what could have been.

Really?
A nice stadium for its time especially when auto travel and traffic were of lesser concern. Fans attending games have grown significantly, number of required parking spots near the stadium is so much greater, stadium comfort and able to generate revenue is so far from where it was when that location was viable. I see no way the necessary growth could have been accomplished at the old location.

 

[Shirley Knott]

Really?
A nice stadium for its time especially when auto travel and traffic were of lesser concern. Fans attending games have grown significantly, number of required parking spots near the stadium is so much greater, stadium comfort and able to generate revenue is so far from where it was when that location was viable. I see no way the necessary growth could have been accomplished at the old location.

If they reduced spending on facilities and salaries as suggested by pride304 you wouldn't need all those parking spots, They could just return to intramural sports...

 

[1duluth1]

Posted these before... but since we are on the topic... my pics from Mountaineer Field... taken by a 12-year-old in 1978.

 

[Muskets]

Hey, I think I see me.

 

[WVUFanForever]

Is the op suggesting that WVU should have left a depilated stadium rotting in the middle of campus?

If he is just talking about the location, there is no way a new stadium would have fit in that location, and as others said, parking was a nightmare in 1975, let alone what a mess it would be now.

 

[leftackle70]

Wish I could have played there! Great memories!

 

[Woody in Helvetia]

The project at the time was to add 10000 more seats with a second deck on one side. The biggest advantage for the new stadium was that it could be expanded to 70 or 80K. Old Mountaineer Field would could not have been expanded much further than the 45K that was proposed in 1978.

 

[Muskets]

The project at the time was to add 10000 more seats with a second deck on one side. The biggest advantage for the new stadium was that it could be expanded to 70 or 80K. Old Mountaineer Field would could not have been expanded much further than the 45K that was proposed in 1978.

Would have been perfect if we wanted to continue playing Villanova and Richmond.

 

[MD Mountaineer]

Posted these before... but since we are on the topic... my pics from Mountaineer Field... taken by a 12-year-old in 1978.

I still have one of those styrofoam hats, lol. I do wish I had taken a piece of the old bleachers from there.

 

[dogeered_again]

The location was perfect and iconic. Built into the campus with some nice backdrop scenery.

The university could have found other space to build the buildings that were built on its grave. I get chills thinking of what could have been.

I passed out in between those seats and hoped the place wouldn't fall down before someone found me. Embarrased our then Governor with a sign that was quickly pulled down. Something about "Beat Off the Lions"!

 

[dogeered_again]

I passed out in between those seats and hoped the place wouldn't fall down before someone found me. Embarrased our then Governor with a sign that was quickly pulled down. Something about "Beat Off the Lions"!

As I recall, Arch More was our Governor and the sign depicted a rather graphic depiction of some masturbation actions. Funny at the time, but not so now.Beat Off! Penn State game.