Crowd noise at Gillette: the final word

[Tunescribe]

I'm a Patriots season ticket holder of 13 years and have been to other NFL stadiums where it gets so loud you have to cover your ears. I can say unequivocally that Gillette, unfortunately, was NOT PROPERLY DESIGNED to contain crowd noise. This was a fundamental oversight by the Krafts when they built the place. Fans in the 300 level are essentially taken out of the game because they're so far from the field and separated from the second deck by two levels of luxury suites/club seating. For them it's like shouting into a void. Add the open-ended north end zone, the open-view concourses and "skylight" areas between the red club seating and the 200-level mezzanine, and you have a unique situation where noise "evaporates." Also, there is no second tier above the end zones to help hold sound in. You have a HUGE gulf between 100-level sideline seats and the 300-level sideline seats WHEN THE RED CLUB SEATS ARE NOT FILLED, which often occurs especially during cold-weather games and the second half of most games. So, most of the sound must come from the lower bowl and the mezzanine corners. I'd say that's rouughly about 60-65 percent stadium capacity. It's a pretty building designed for multiple uses and -- let's face it -- a seriously flawed football stadium. My biggest gripe is the design accommodation for soccer, which resulted in too much space between the football field and the stands.

OK, so what can be done about this? Well, with a 50,000-person waiting list, perhaps the Krafts can make a bold move and fill in some of the "gaps" by adding more seats, especially in the north end zone and the unnecessary skylight gaps. Perhaps they also can do something about motivating club seat people to actually sit in their seats and watch the freakin' game. Beyond that, I don't know what else is possible. Barring some sort of radical reconstruction option that would relocate the luxury suites, those in the 300 level will forever feel marooned in the stratosphere and separated from the rest of the action. THAT is the largest component of missing crowd noise.

From the start, I was a proponent of PSLs, which ultimately would have kept ticket prices down after the initial PSL fee outlay. This would have given PSL holders a valuable asset that appreciates over time, better than money in the bank. It also would have allowed them to re-sell their tickets anytime to anyone, and possibly would have enabled some of the more passionate fans of lesser means to attend games.

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

Eh, when Kraft was having his self-funded stadium designed he didn't place a priority on noise. He prioritized luxury suites and aestetics. I can't say I blame the guy.

Has anyone associated with the Patriots ever said that noise was a consideration when building the stadium? Why should we hold Kraft to our standard whe he's spending his money on a stadium for his teams? As long as no one in the Pats front office complains about lack of noise then I don't see an issue. I guarantee they knew what they were doing and were willing to accept a non-loud stadium.

 

[patsfan55]

tunescribe,

ive been thinking the same thing since the first day gillette opened
ive never been a big fan of an open feeling

ive always loved the closed feeling
look at all those huge college stadiums that get sooo loud
all closed

and ive been saying for a while id like to see some seats added in to close it off and to get some of us waiting list members some seats

 

[Tunescribe]

Eh, when Kraft was having his self-funded stadium designed he didn't place a priority on noise. He prioritized luxury suites and aestetics. I can't say I blame the guy.

Has anyone associated with the Patriots ever said that noise was a consideration when building the stadium? Why should we hold Kraft to our standard whe he's spending his money on a stadium for his teams? As long as no one in the Pats front office complains about lack of noise then I don't see an issue. I guarantee they knew what they were doing and were willing to accept a non-loud stadium.

You might be right; if so, the Krafts did their football team a disservice. When the players complain, it's a problem, and I can tell you firsthand that loud stadiums do, indeed, work to the home team's advantage. I'd like to see this question put to Jonathan Kraft directly.

I can tell you, though, that it's the building and not the fans. At the Meadowlands against the Jets a few weeks ago about a third of the stadium emptied when we were up 24-7. At the end of the game that place was LOUD, and that included the same type of white-collar yuppie fans people complain about having taken over Gillette.

 

[CTPatsFan]

Ditto, Tune. The crowd will never be able to overcome the (poor) acoustical aspects of the stadium on a sustained basis. But they/we are an easy target because of the lack of perceived noise and the intricacies of engineering for sound just doesn't cross most peoples' minds.

Closing in the north endzone would go a ways to helping keep some of the noise in, but like you said, the upper levels are so far up and back from the field it will never be one of "those places" that teams hate to come into.

This will only be the final word until the next media story or post about the lack of crowd noise