AStack75 said:
Tunescribe....you know me and you know my drunk ***** will yell all night. But I've been in my nosebleeds for 3 years now and it has been relatively silent those 3 years. I don't buy into this "red seat" silence thing that everyone is saying. In my eyes, it is a matter of complacency. I've been to a game in Seattle vs. a division rival (the 49ers) and Seattle's fans were on their feet and yelling the entire game. This doesn't happen here. We've developed a sense of entitlement much like Yankees fans have. Normally, any Colts game, you can expect everyone to be yelling our ***e$ off. Not this past game. It took a Sprint commercial to make us start yelling. Gillette Stadium is horrible as far as crowd noise goes and it's all about the people in the seats and not the acoustics of the stadium.
I think that if a fan feels separated from the action he/she is less motivated to get involved. That would seem to explain the people in my section standing up and yelling when Indy had the ball and folks in the nosebleeds sitting on their hands. You have to admit that the nosebleeds in places like Giants Stadium are much closer to the field than at Gillette. Below is my post from the other thread re., Gillette's acoustics and the stands' proximity to the field. Fan attitude might be a minor factor, but I think it has much more to do with the building.
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.
The design, IMO is the biggest factor plus the wine and cheese crowd in the club/luxury seats and the upper deck is reall so far away from the field.
