I was just reading the updated campus master plan and was reminded of this discussion in the 2017-18 expectations thread from back in March. Would love to see this level and style of development around the building sooner rather than later. I think it would really address a lot of my concerns about the building being in the middle of nowhere with very few other places to go/things to do on gameday (besides to an open grassy/black asphalt spot in the sun to tailgate), especially if they do include retail/dining type space in the academic buildings surrounding the arena as they indicate in the proposed athletics district plan.

Not that anything would happen soon (or ever if plans change) but its good to see a framework for addressing the past mistakes in the future.

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Currently, Reed Arena is surrounded by over 2,600 parking spaces located in seven surface parking lots. This surface lot area equates to over 30 acres. This large land area is a major opportunity in the long-term to develop up to 1.4M GSF of administration, retail, and dining space and to provide an increase in parking through two proposed structures. The planned buildings lining the existing parking lots will form new internal green spaces that will be ideal for large events and tailgating.

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Also, this is the first I've seen about potentially planning to move volleyball to a new facility in a long while

There is still about 8-10 acres of open space in those diagrams (which is roughly the size of the current tailgating areas at Spence Park and maybe slightly larger than all of Simpson Drill Field for comparisons sake). As far as gameday experience (for football) the main thing is garage parking replacing surface parking (so you'll have to walk and go set up your tailgate rather than sit by your car). However, thats not just a Reed Arena change, almost every surface space all over campus will be replaced by a garage space in the long term.

bobinator said:

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Topher17 said:

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This would absolutely kill football tailgating in the area, would it not?

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Presumably it would just sort of move it around a bit.

Football tailgating will adjust. You can't build out the campus master plan for 6 saturdays every fall.

But putting ANYTHING near Reed Arena would be a massive improvement.

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Completely agree, it was just one of my first thoughts when looking at the plans. I will say however, campus leadership certainly does make a lot of decisions based on 6 Saturdays in the fall rather than the other 46 weeks of the year.

As you said, anything around Reed would be good for asthetics. It would also be great to have some new things available to those of us on West Campus, as we currently have one tiny dining area and not much else.

Also looking at it now, the old softball stadium looks like it has been left as lawn open space in the master plan, so thats another large area that I would assume would be available for tailgating unless that is an athletics field of some kind??

It actually looks like there will be more tailgating space as most of the existing parking lot will be turned to grass areas. Only thing that sucks is having to pack all the crap in instead of being able to drive up and park a trailer. Maybe they will allow it though.

GE said:

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It actually looks like there will be more tailgating space as most of the existing parking lot will be turned to grass areas. Only thing that sucks is having to pack all the crap in instead of being able to drive up and park a trailer. Maybe they will allow it though.

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It seems to work fine over in Spence Park. And there aren't THAT many people that have huge setups that they need to drive in. Some certainly, but it's not like a huge number.

Presumably there will be an area for those kind of setups somewhere.

bobinator said:

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GE said:

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It actually looks like there will be more tailgating space as most of the existing parking lot will be turned to grass areas. Only thing that sucks is having to pack all the crap in instead of being able to drive up and park a trailer. Maybe they will allow it though.

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It seems to work fine over in Spence Park. And there aren't THAT many people that have huge setups that they need to drive in. Some certainly, but it's not like a huge number.

Presumably there will be an area for those kind of setups somewhere.

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We tailgate at Reed currently in one of the grass islands in the parking lot and it's hard to overstate the convenience of being able to park 5 feet away from the tailgate and unload the trailer right where we're setting everything up. We'll adapt to whatever changes come without too much trouble, but it really is convenient currently.

It's definitely an awesome setup at Reed right now for football tailgating, there's no debating that. But like you said, people will adjust if they have to.

I don't think it will "kill' tailgating by any stretch.

Topher17 said:

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bobinator said:

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Eh, not really when it comes to long term stuff like this.

I still think you could help Reed Arena a lot by allowing alcohol sales.

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If Reed sold alcohol, I might actually be able to convince some of my friends to join me at games rather than ocassionally convincing one or two people when it is a big game.

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Reminds me of when I was in school during BCG and early Turgeon days.

That certainly would spruce up that area although parking will be a little more complicated. I think it could make for a very nice tailgate space although people will have to do a little more work to get setup.

But it would make for a more compact, cohesive area that could be pretty fun to hang out in.

Will this ever get built? That's always the question with these plans.

Remind me: does Kyle Field sell beer to general population ticket holders? If not how is alcohol served?

I think it's difficult for the University to justify general population alcohol sales on campus when the vast majority of students aren't legally able to purchase, possess, or consume alcohol. A club structure might work if there were room for it. I get the impression the multi-purpose facility is so lacking in purpose that making money isn't one of its purposes...

greg.w.h said:

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Remind me: does Kyle Field sell beer to general population ticket holders? If not how is alcohol served?

I think it's difficult for the University to justify general population alcohol sales on campus when the vast majority of students aren't legally able to purchase, possess, or consume alcohol. A club structure might work if there were room for it. I get the impression the multi-purpose facility is so lacking in purpose that making money isn't one of its purposes...

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There's enough "club levels" now in Kyle Field that serve alcohol that I imagine it would dwarf the number of people Reed Arena even holds, so it's not very difficult from a logistics standpoint.

Plus don't we live in the future? Can't we just scan ids to verify how old people are?

GE said:

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Topher17 said:

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bobinator said:

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Eh, not really when it comes to long term stuff like this.

I still think you could help Reed Arena a lot by allowing alcohol sales.

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If Reed sold alcohol, I might actually be able to convince some of my friends to join me at games rather than ocassionally convincing one or two people when it is a big game.

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Reminds me of when I was in school during BCG and early Turgeon days.

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Try the Watkins era...now that's when we really needed the booze.

It should have been BYOB during the Watkins days. Hell it probably was, I doubt Reed Arena security was particularly tight back then.

Good for you

My point was that the concept of serving alcohol to improve attendance started in Kyle with the previous luxury suites circa the late 70s. Prior to that I was only aware of Rudder Dining offering such fare and that was when the majority of students could legally drink. (I matriculated in fall of 1979 and was already 18.)

If there is interest creating a club environment to serve in follows the culture of the school. If it happens it happens. The idea that it affects attendance can be countered by other arguments that suggest it might not be that impactful.

Giving away beer during the Watkins era would have been an act of mercy, though...

I'm not sure that it would really affect attendance all that much in and of itself.

More specifically, I don't think there are a significant number of people that will go "oh there's beer now? I'm going to way more games!"

But what I do think it does is improve the game experience. You walk in, you can grab a beer or two and watch the game, and it's an overall more enjoyable experience than games currently are. Thus, you're more likely to come back to games in the future.

It's less about giving people that don't go already a reason to go, and more about getting people that do go to come more often because they enjoy the experience more.

Tried reading through campus plan , but wow it is really long and boring. Anyone know the timeframe? Obviously it's a plan , so it may or may not happen (at least anytime soon). Biggest issue i see would be leaving after a game with basically only parking garages. That would be a cluster. I hope it does not happen in my lifetime because I am only focused on 7 weekends a year cause those are the 7 weekends I spend in College Staion each year - don't care about the other 45 weekends.

There is no timeframe, its more of a framework to guide future decisions on how the campus should grow. Obviously some things in there are already in the works, but others are long term speculation. Generally the stuff you see in the district plans that are very specific by namr (like the softball stadium or the track facility) may already be plannd for the near future but random placeholder buildings are speculative. I dont imagine there will be much happening around Reed until they get around to actually building a new parking garage in the area.

If you tailgate at Reed be prepared to be moved. Once they can charge for that space they will.

12th Man RV lot (Lot R) also appears to be eaten up by some structures.

Calm down hotshot.