FORT WORTH - Amon G. Carter Stadium (45,000)

[JJG]

TCU Horned Frogs

College
1x Champion:
1938


Tenant: TCU Horned Frogs football


"The Carter" is one of the biggest landmarks in Southwest Fort Worth. Opened in 1930, this stadium has seen the likes of Slingin' Sammy Baugh, Davy O' Brien, and Ladanian Tomlinson, a switch from grass, to turf, and back to grass, and even a successful New Year's Eve College Bowl Game. This stadium is showing it's age, but it is also going through a $75 million renovation and possible expansion, thanks in part to the renaissance the TCU football program over the past 11 years.

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Stadium concourse with arches
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This place has an old school overhang with poles right in front of the seats. That will go away when the renovation comes....
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Some old seats (sorry, it's kinda blurry)
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Visitor's side with TCU's redtop roof campus and Fort Worth skyline in the background.
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The steep 2nd deck
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To give you an idea of how high you are on this part of the stadium.....
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Fort Worth skyline and near west side from the top row.
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The Justin Athletic Center from the concourse
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The workout facility
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Scoreboard (LED, not up)
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M&M Athletic Complex with offices
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Plaques of some of TCU's history

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Bowl Games
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Championships
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Dedication to Amon Cater
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Erection Plaque
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1930's Art Deco carvings in the facade.

The first one shows a golfer, basketball player, and (what I believe is a) tennis player, and the second shows a baseball player, track runner, and football player.

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Visitor's entrance, with posters of Sammy Baugh, Davey O'Brien, Jim Swink, Randy White, and L.T.
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Can't wait for the 2010 season.....
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And here's what's coming within the next 5 years....



Goodbye from Frog Alley
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[Jim856796]

Originally Posted by JJG

This place has an old school overhang with poles right in front of the seats. That will go away when the renovation comes....
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How is that seating section gonna disappear during the renovations?

[JJG]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

How is that seating section gonna disappear during the renovations?

The entire second deck and pressbox will be replaced....

[KingmanIII]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

How is that seating section gonna disappear during the renovations?

Originally Posted by JJG

The entire second deck and pressbox will be replaced....

Yeah, they've determined it would be cheaper to rebuild the entire stadium from the ground-up.

[KingmanIII]

More renderings of the renovations:

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[JJG]

My mouth is watering.... even though the home side stands look a little weird.

This is supposed to make it "The Camden Yards of College Football" when finished.

[1772]

I like the expansion plans to keep up with the old arcitechture! Good one!

[ph80uk]

Shouldn't this be in proposed??

[JJG]

Originally Posted by ph80uk

Shouldn't this be in proposed??

I don't think so. I mean, these are mainly shots of an existing stadium.

[en1044]

What's the new capacity supposed to be?

[Bobby3]

Wiki says 50k, take that how you will.

[GunnerJacket]

As a fan of the team with the oldest 1A venue and having watched that historic structure become so mistreated and disrespected...*sigh*... I'm all for seeing such venerable grand stadiums being beautifully restored and improved. I know it'd be a costly investment for such a small school but the end result would be something inspiring rather than simply functional. For the sake of football I'd love to see this renovation come to fruition.

[mattec]

Originally Posted by GunnerJacket

As a fan of the team with the oldest 1A venue and having watched that historic structure become so mistreated and disrespected...*sigh*...

Cincinatti?

[JJG]

Originally Posted by GunnerJacket

As a fan of the team with the oldest 1A venue and having watched that historic structure become so mistreated and disrespected...*sigh*... I'm all for seeing such venerable grand stadiums being beautifully restored and improved. I know it'd be a costly investment for such a small school but the end result would be something inspiring rather than simply functional. For the sake of football I'd love to see this renovation come to fruition.

TCU HAS enough money. At least, to get one side done, anyway.

They're just trying to build on more money with donations and rewards for the team's victories and post season appearances to speed up this process. Last year's invite to the Fiesta Bowl was a big plus.

And one thing the city of Fort Worth is good for is restoration. This project is supposed to be (let's say) both a restoration AND renovation. I don't believe they're touching the lower bowl. The facade is supposed to mirror the days when ALL stadiums were art deco. Good thing too, because that's one of this city's main styles of architecture.

This plan would be done in phases, of course. The first phase is to knock down the second tier and pressbox, then renovating the home side, interior and exterior, and adding a remodeled 2nd tier with a few more boxes and better design (because the current second tier does seem a little too steep). The second phase would be to work on the visitor's side, interior and exterior. And later on, adding more seats and video boards to the south side.

All this is scheduled to begin as early as the end of next season and last for about 4-7 years, give or take.....

[GunnerJacket]

Originally Posted by mattec

Cincinatti?

My beloved Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Grant Field, now Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field, predates Nippert by 3 years, with the order being something like this:

1903 - Harvard Stadium
1913 - Yale Bowl
1913 - Grant Field
1916 - Nippert

Recent renovations to modernize amenities and increase capacity greatly compromised the architecture. No convenient way to marry preservation standards with modern building standards, so rather than over-invest the way TCU would be doing GT opted for cheap because the Institute has money ($1.4B in endowments, etc) but the athletic association is cash poor.

Enough GT, though. Let's celebrate the vision of the folks in Fort Worth.

[KingmanIII]

Originally Posted by ph80uk

Shouldn't this be in proposed??

The $108 million in funding for the west side (the larger stand) has already been secured.

Now all they need to do is raise another $75 million or so over the next couple of years for the east side.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by KingmanIII

The $108 million in funding for the west side (the larger stand) has already been secured.

Now all they need to do is raise another $75 million or so over the next couple of years for the east side.

Oh, I'm sure they've got at least half of it. It will be grand when finished.


Here's an old postcard pic I found from probably the 50's of the stadium.

[dfwabel]

My biggest problem with the project is that the team rarely sells out games even when the entire student body can get into games for free. The DFW market is saturated with football, but people do not go to TCU or SMU games like the did back in the days of the Southwest Conference. I understand the need for more luxury seating as well as the school's plan to increase enrollment to over 10K, but adding six thousand more seats seems too much.

FYI, TCU traditionally has all funding in place before starting projects. Their new Student Center and Rec Center were the first two projects which they borrowed money to build.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by dfwabel

My biggest problem with the project is that the team rarely sells out games even when the entire student body can get into games for free. The DFW market is saturated with football, but people do not go to TCU or SMU games like the did back in the days of the Southwest Conference. I understand the need for more luxury seating as well as the school's plan to increase enrollment to over 10K, but adding six thousand more seats seems too much.

FYI, TCU traditionally has all funding in place before starting projects. Their new Student Center and Rec Center were the first two projects which they borrowed money to build.

With the way the team is winning and recruiting, I have a feeling that's gonna start changing. Also, the plan isn't to add to capacity right away. In fact, there could be a slight reduction of seating for the time being. The capacity additions wont come until a couple years after the main plan is done.

And I knew that about TCU. This school likes to be secure in funding before starting any big projects. But after last season's big boost and presumably this season, the renovation should be on schedule.

[KingmanIII]

Originally Posted by dfwabel

My biggest problem with the project is that the team rarely sells out games even when the entire student body can get into games for free. The DFW market is saturated with football, but people do not go to TCU or SMU games like the did back in the days of the Southwest Conference. I understand the need for more luxury seating as well as the school's plan to increase enrollment to over 10K, but adding six thousand more seats seems too much.

More fans would show up if TCU got an invite to the Big 12, and a newer, larger facility would help.

It would also attract more blue-chip recruits and help keep Gary Patterson in Fort Worth, even though he's adamantly declared in the past he doesn't feel like moving again (he's already turned down Minnesota and his alma-mater, Kansas State).