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At the same time, Hyman's plan may have included more premium seats (more armchairs, more space for suite / club areas, etc). That thought process certainty has some merit . Now, his condescension about our past attendance was smug to our fan base and lacked an understanding of the demographics of our university.
I understand the suites factoring in, but I still don't see where our AD gets a total attendance number of 95,000 in a huge expansion/renovation project. We got over 90,000 in Kyle for the Nebraska game in 2010 towards the end of the Sherman era. In 2012 we have the SEC, Sumlin, Manziel, the Heisman, increasing enrollment, expanding alumni base, etc. I just don't see where an AD comes up with 95,000. Our average attendance in 2014 was 105,123 (according to the NCAA website), so it has already been proven 95,000 was a stupid number. Hyman is not an advocate for Texas A&M.
Can't speak for Hyman's reasons, but it's not a stupid number, for a number of reasons. First, so many folks have complained about the design of the south endzone exterior (exposed steel rather than a faade as on the other three sides) and that was a direct result of going for a large capacity. If you took off the top 10 rows of the South Zone, it could have looked like the other 3 sides of the stadium. Second, excess capacity if the bain of season ticket sales. We may or may not sell the place out on a regular basis--that remains to be seen. It's not crazy to worry about excess capacity. Third, we don't have the parking to accommodate the increased capacity--season ticket holders at the end of the priority points ladder didn't even get a chance to purchase parking. Finally, if you believe the attendance figures from last year were legitimate, you probably need a trip to the optometrist--those numbers were based upon students drawing thousands of extra tickets, above the normal student allotment, and for most games. a lot of those tickets weren't drawn. They certainly weren't sold to ticket purchasers.
Having said all that, Hyman's argument against larger capacity was his usual condescending self, so let's get back to bashing Hyman.