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  • Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

    Lenoir-Rhyne Announces Renovation to Moretz Stadium Seating

    There is a lot of positive spin in this article but it is a terrible shame for LR. If they had to move this quickly it would seem to indicate that the structural integrity was so bad that it left them with no choice. I hope that whatever comes in the future will have the same charm as what they have today. It truly is one of the best game day venues in the entire nation. And I've seen more than a few.

  • #2
    Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

    Chuck,
    Thanks for the article. I appreciate it. The article doesn't really say if the demo and temporary seating will be there in time for the first game but I think by omission, it implies that there will be no issue. It said they will use this year to evaluate "other upgrades". I hope they put in new toilette facilities. I can't speak for the women's side but the mens' are old and pretty primitive and remind me of some oval dirt tracks I've been to. It would be nice to have an entrance and exit to aid in the flow through them.

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    • #3
      Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

      Here is a good news report on it.

      https://www.wbtv.com/2019/07/08/leno...oved-replaced/

      I hope they can make it in time for the start of the season. The contractor estimated 300 truck loads to remove all the debris as the stands are demolished. Then they have to erect the temporary seats. If weather cooperates, hopefully they can get it all done in time for opener. But I am sure they are already looking at contingencies because that is a tight timeline.

      I wonder about 2020 as well. They are saying they plan to have a rebuilt stadium ready for next fall but if they are going to make it, they must be a lot further along with plans than they are letting on. It takes time to get designs, surveys, permits, contracts approved and lined up, etc. Even if all the funding has already been raised and approved (has it?) a year is not a lot of time to pull it off unless they have been planning for this happen. I'm hoping for the best because LR is going to have a great football team and their home game environment is as good as it gets in D2.

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      • #4
        Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

        I haven't been to Hickory this summer, but following some social media posts from people on campus, it looks like the demolition is progressing very well. The goal was to have that done by the end of July and looks like they are on schedule.

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        • #5
          Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

          Well the news about Moretz stadium needing to be demolished really didn't come as a big surprise.

          https://www.wbtv.com/2019/07/08/leno...oved-replaced/

          The last couple of games I attended there, the condition of the stands etc came up in conversations. One guy sitting near us who was attending a game there for the first time described it as looking pretty much like an old, way over sized, underfunded, high school stadium, which has seen better days decades ago.

          I hope the new stadium is built to accommodate the actual attendance, and not the exaggerated box score numbers which appear to be off by as much as 40%. Unlike other schools, this ongoing exaggeration has been explained in the past as including a lot of tickets allocated and pre-sold, combined with game day sales, which equates to not really reflecting the actual number of people attending the game.

          I also hope the new stadium includes updated restrooms facilities and better concession stands to accommodate the fans. I look forward in seeing what develops there.

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          • #6
            Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

            I would agree that a lot of schools inflate attendance numbers. I have seen that many, many times, especially in my days of covering the PSAC. But I would also say I have seen Moretz packed quite a few times, even during the more recent losing seasons. Support in Hickory is very good and rebuilding with similar capacity to the existing stadium would not be out of line. And yes, its not really surprising. The whole structure has been in rough shape for several years.

            The latest updates I have seen show that the demo and removal of the home side is nearly complete. The press box will stay in place for this year.

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            • #7
              Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

              Originally posted by Chuck Bitner View Post
              I would agree that a lot of schools inflate attendance numbers. I have seen that many, many times, especially in my days of covering the PSAC. But I would also say I have seen Moretz packed quite a few times, even during the more recent losing seasons. Support in Hickory is very good and rebuilding with similar capacity to the existing stadium would not be out of line.
              .
              Anyway you look at it when you see over a thousand empty seats at a home game, that's a lot, and when you see at least a few thousand empty seats at many of their home games, well you may need a smaller stadium. In the past several years, LR has only had 1 game where there were only around a thousand empty seats at one of their home games, and nothing listed on their attendance reports where they have actually had a packed stadium, or close to it. This is based on their own often inflated reported numbers, which are easy to locate.

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              • #8
                Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

                I would say just one LR home game attendance would equal three or more CN home games attendance. We have more fans in our endzone than CN has in there stands. Lots of fans stand along the rails as we call it and our game day experience has been ranked as the second best venue in all of D2. Colorado Pueblo was first. This was according to ESPN. Our new home side stadium will be very similar to what was there before. We just built a D1 quality sports performance complex that is 13 thousand square feet and is better than some ACC schools I was told. LR is a first class university and the future there is very great in all aspects of enrollment and quality education. OUR FOOTBALL TEAM HAD A 3.1 OVERALL GRADE POINT AVERAGE. We just completed a huge fund raising event for the Sports complex and Bears Club which is now fully funded with over 3.5 million dollars. Our alumni base is very strong as noted on game day in the tailgate areas and in the giving back to the university. Endowment is third in the State only behind UNC and Duke. Our new sports complex also has a barber shop, outdoor pool table and several other exciting features that sets the bar very high for our conference.

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                • #9
                  Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

                  Originally posted by Bearhof View Post
                  I would say just one LR home game attendance would equal three or more CN home games attendance. We have more fans in our endzone than CN has in there stands. Lots of fans stand along the rails as we call it and our game day experience has been ranked as the second best venue in all of D2. Colorado Pueblo was first. This was according to ESPN. Our new home side stadium will be very similar to what was there before. We just built a D1 quality sports performance complex that is 13 thousand square feet and is better than some ACC schools I was told. LR is a first class university and the future there is very great in all aspects of enrollment and quality education. OUR FOOTBALL TEAM HAD A 3.1 OVERALL GRADE POINT AVERAGE. We just completed a huge fund raising event for the Sports complex and Bears Club which is now fully funded with over 3.5 million dollars. Our alumni base is very strong as noted on game day in the tailgate areas and in the giving back to the university. Endowment is third in the State only behind UNC and Duke. Our new sports complex also has a barber shop, outdoor pool table and several other exciting features that sets the bar very high for our conference.
                  NC State, Wake Forest, Davidson, and the two you mentioned (UNC/Duke) all have multi-billion dollar endowments.

                  From endowments.com/funds:
                  1. Duke $5.5B
                  2. UNC 2.1B
                  3. Wake Forest 1.1B
                  4. NCSU/Foundations 2.77B
                  5. Davidson 1B
                  6. UNC Greensboro 250M
                  7. East Carolina 219M
                  8. Elon 211M
                  9. Queens 146M
                  10. LRU 113M

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                  • #10
                    Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

                    Originally posted by Bearhof View Post
                    I would say just one LR home game attendance would equal three or more CN home games attendance. We have more fans in our endzone than CN has in there stands.
                    CN attendance is always mediocre because of UT. Students and other folks will stay home or go to the UT game if they are home. When I was a student, I bet 90% of my friends went to UT games even on CN homecoming weekend. LR doesnt have anything to compete with.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

                      Well there are several big university football teams within two and a half hours. App. State is only 45 minutes and Wake Forest is an hour and twenty minutes. Plus Carolina, NCSU and Duck are all less than two and one half hours. Any way I wish the Eagles had better support for it has a storied past to be proud of.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

                        Originally posted by Bearhof View Post
                        Well there are several big university football teams within two and a half hours. App. State is only 45 minutes and Wake Forest is an hour and twenty minutes. Plus Carolina, NCSU and Duck are all less than two and one half hours. Any way I wish the Eagles had better support for it has a storied past to be proud of.
                        I think that's just it... There are several. NC folks can grow up on a lot of different big schools, and don't have the "all in" support in the way UT folks do. UT is the only "big university" in TN (East TN at least). Also, it's ONLY 30 minutes away, not hours. So with all that it's really easy for the C-N students that remotely grew up on UT to say "yeah let's go to the UT game" as it's the only big school and not far. I hate that they do that. To me, why would you support a school you don't attend over the one you do? Just because you grew up with it? Then why didn't you go to that school instead? I could start to rant more, but I won't...

                        Like you, I wish we had better attendance, though it's not too bad. We do have quite a large seating capacity at Burke-Tarr so even though percentage-wise it looks like we're not as well attended, we still can have pretty good numbers.

                        Also, doesn't Hickory have like 5x the population of Jefferson City?

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                        • #13
                          Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

                          Originally posted by Bearhof View Post
                          Well there are several big university football teams within two and a half hours. App. State is only 45 minutes and Wake Forest is an hour and twenty minutes. Plus Carolina, NCSU and Duck are all less than two and one half hours. Any way I wish the Eagles had better support for it has a storied past to be proud of.
                          I understand your point my friend, but it's not close to being the same thing. UT is half an hour away, and SEC football is a different animal. Heck I grew up watching ACC basketball and even it isnt the same.

                          And I also agree. The problem is CN students go home, go to UT games, or straight up dont go to football games. Heck a majority of the faculty and staff dont go either. Part of that is also people just dont care.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

                            Originally posted by CNC Maniac 1 View Post
                            I think that's just it... There are several. NC folks can grow up on a lot of different big schools, and don't have the "all in" support in the way UT folks do. UT is the only "big university" in TN (East TN at least). Also, it's ONLY 30 minutes away, not hours. So with all that it's really easy for the C-N students that remotely grew up on UT to say "yeah let's go to the UT game" as it's the only big school and not far. I hate that they do that. To me, why would you support a school you don't attend over the one you do? Just because you grew up with it? Then why didn't you go to that school instead? I could start to rant more, but I won't...

                            Like you, I wish we had better attendance, though it's not too bad. We do have quite a large seating capacity at Burke-Tarr so even though percentage-wise it looks like we're not as well attended, we still can have pretty good numbers.

                            Also, doesn't Hickory have like 5x the population of Jefferson City?
                            Hickory is much much bigger than Jefferson. I think 5 times is probably about right.

                            I also agree about the support the school you attend. Being a fan of other schools is fine and all, but you dont have a degree with their name on it.

                            But that also falls on the school IMO.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Major news regarding Moretz Stadium

                              Does anyone have an update on Moretz Stadium? Is the sadium going to be completed by the Sept 7 game vs. St. Augs?
                              Last edited by Kit-Carson; 08-18-2019, 05:11 PM. Reason: fixed spelling

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