How Would Rams Fans Upgrade The Edward Jones Dome?

by Ryan Van Bibber on Feb 2, 2012 4:30 PM CST in Edward Jones Dome Lease

Dilip Vishwanat - Getty Images

How would fans polish this, er, fix up the Edward Jones Dome?

The CVC made their pitch for fixing up the Edward Jones Dome on Wednesday. With a $124 million price tag attached to the plan, they delivered it to the St. Louis Rams for their consideration, the first step in what could be a lengthy negotiation over the future of the Dome and the city's professional football team.

Early reviews of the plan are mixed. The CVC certainly got marked down in the attention to details category, using a picture of Marc Bulger and leaving in the sea of empty red seats.

Related: Be sure to read this take on the Dome situation from nextSTL.

For fans, I'm wondering what about the CVC proposal represents a significant upgrade. Sorry, an extra beer garden and the "geek lounge" don't qualify as perks for the fan experience.

For the Rams, the biggest boost would appear to be additional suites and more club seats, at the expense of cheaper seats. Obviously, that means more ticket revenue for the team, but enough to justify their 52 percent share of the costs?

It's clear the CVC went through a limited input process, mostly looking at other facilities rather than talking to the people that actually use the place. If product design companies went with that approach, the digital age would still be a few generations away.

So let me ask you this, as fans, the people who actually use the facility, what kind of upgrades would you like to see to the Dome? Give this some thought. Think about every aspect of the experience. For instance, tailgating around the Dome isn't the experience it is at other stadiums. Is that adequately addressed?

Another question to ask, what about these renovations would lure other events, like Super Bowls, Final Fours, and the other sort of premier events the Rams have said they want the facility to hold?

Obviously the biggest improvement will be fielding a winning team. The Rams have certainly indicated their willingness to do that by hiring Jeff Fisher.

After the jump, highlights of the plan and read the CVC proposal in its entirety.

Ok, to spur your thinking, here are the major upgrades included in the CVC proposal:

A 96-feet video score board
Removal of side panels to allow for more natural light
The addition of secondary building across Broadway featuring a beer garden and a tech lounge and connecting to the main Dome structure via walkway
Closing Broadway on game days to allow for more tailgating area
An additional 1,500 club seats, more suites

That's really it, $124 million worth of mostly underwhelming improvements. Think of it as a starting point, though I wonder what happens when the Rams come back with a bigger plan.

Here's a complete copy of the proposal.

St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission Stadium Renovation Proposal to the Rams

Poll

What do you think of the CVC proposal for the Edward Jones Dome?

A good start

272 votes

The perfect plan

15 votes

Not even close

191 votes

478 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | 136 comments

Comments

Id install a new set of recievers

Or at least a hand transplant station and a cage to hold Larry Fitzgerald and Cruz while we steal their hands

King Sam Rules! - February 2, 2012 via mobile reply

the only

complaint I have about the ed is the lack of jumbotron visible from all angles. I’m nearly blind so I could never see stats or time left or anything along that line. I’m not one who complains about the lack of added features the stadium has. I’m there to watch the rams and nothing else.

iplaythedrums - February 2, 2012 via mobile reply

Here you go...

howie43 - February 2, 2012 reply

There is one very important thing to remember when talking about stadium upgrades.

The CVC is not trying to please the fans, they are trying to please Kroenke. So while these upgrades may seem underwhelming to fans, the additional luxury suits are something that will please Kroenke. The improvements will focus on making the EJD a better money making machine, rather than improving the experience. Notice how they don’t mention the red seats and sound system, the two biggest complaints I’ve seen on here.

wustl_chiefs_fan - February 2, 2012 reply

Ok first off

Didn’t I do this post in the fan post section, I think mine was about a new stadium? but let me start off by saying as a graphic designer who has put together production proposals and branding redesigns for corporate clients, the CVC should be ashamed of what they presented to the Rams. Using photos of the Kansas City Cheifs concession stands? Using a photoshopped image of an apple store to represent the “Geek Suite”? are they serious? If they would have just went to the local art school and asked a group of digital art students to put it together they would have done a 10x better job. No 3D models with detail of what the building across the street would look like, no architectural vision on what they feel the bridge should look like. If I was Stan I would have laughed and walked out, the guy is worth 4 billion dollars and they come at him with something that looks like it was made in power point. I have a lot of pride in the Rams and the fact that the accents on the page are red when the Rams are blue and Gold? IDC if the CVC has set colors they use but this is sad. It seems the CVC were lazy and didn’t give this much thought. Maybe its because they know they would not accept it so they just threw something together.

miketrap3 - February 2, 2012 reply

Great points!

Douglas M - February 2, 2012 reply

AND!!!

Is the CVC serious with the photo of bulger? This presentation clearly was prepared years ago when Bulger was still on the team? I don’t know maybe I am just a stickler for details and being in the advertising and marketing capital of the world we don’t really leave anything to chance. People in my office would get fired for producing something of this quality. I can point out at least 20 more flaws in the overall look of this proposal and I didn’t even look at it that hard. It may seem like I am picking apart the look of the thing and not the substance but if the city wanted to keep the team this initial proposal should have done something to impress the Kronk. Not showing up with something that Billy from Kinkos made. No offense to Billy obviously.

miketrap3 - February 2, 2012 reply

It's beyond sad that they hink their proposal was anywhere near professional

Douglas M - February 2, 2012 reply

Its unreal

I am stunned, so un-professional I can’t wait to show this to my boss hahaha

miketrap3 - February 2, 2012 reply

How can this image not sway Stan? lol

Douglas M - February 2, 2012 reply

Are those 6" TV's part of the upgrade?

Or is that what the stadium is already blessed with?

DCRamFan - February 2, 2012 reply

I think it's blessed with it

sergey606 - February 2, 2012 reply

It's part of "new HDTVs throughout...", which cracks me up. My Computer monitor for editing is that big! lol

Douglas M - February 2, 2012 reply

So the left is the Tech Lounge.

Not really a lounge just a corner with a couple of tv’s (the one furthest left doesn’t work. We’ve been meaning to call a guy for that) and on the left is the beer garden. No actual beer just pictures of beer. That is our proposal.

RAMpage28 - February 2, 2012 reply

LMAO! rec'd!!!!

Douglas M - February 2, 2012 reply

the pictures make you thirsty enough

that the ‘garden’ doubles as a restroom, apparently

DCRamFan - February 2, 2012 reply

The smell of urinals while you watch HDTV... Who could resist that!

Actually, I think RAMpage said his house is like… never mind… :-)

Douglas M - February 2, 2012 reply

Yeah I said my house is like.... never mind... :-)

FUCKIN EXACT QUOTE!!!!!!!!!!

RAMpage28 - February 2, 2012 reply

lol

Douglas M - February 2, 2012 reply

Caption Entry:

Punxsutawney Phil came out this morning, saw this, dropped a deuce, and went right back in his stump

DCRamFan - February 2, 2012 reply

Winner! You get an autographed copy of the proposal

Douglas M - February 2, 2012 reply

Reject that prize!

RAMpage28 - February 2, 2012 reply

good

Im out of Charmin

DCRamFan - February 2, 2012 reply

I know what you mean

This proposal wasn’t even designed in PowerPoint. How can it possibly be professional ; )

Sggladden - February 2, 2012 reply

Hopefully Stan got a better copy. lol

jmo53 - February 3, 2012 via Android app reply

I didn't really look at it until I read your comment, but you're 100% right.

Just from a presentation aspect, this is embarrassing. I’m sure there are plenty of kids here at Wash U that would be willing and able to design some stuff for them that would look better than this.

Although Arrowhead’s concessions are pretty good.

wustl_chiefs_fan - February 2, 2012 reply

Right???

Its crazy hahah They easily could have taken that photo and in 20 minutes swapped out some of the colors to make an example of what it would look like blue and gold. it took me 4 months of constantly looking for a job to finally get hired and work on stuff like that and this is what they showed for a 200 million dollar proposal? if they would have given me 2 grand and a case of bud heavy I would have done it for them.

miketrap3 - February 2, 2012 reply

It seems like both sides are out of touch.

Remember when the Rams made that video on how to cheer at football games? It’s like they’re having a “who can embarrass the fanbase more?” competition. I mean, at the very least paint those red seats blue.

wustl_chiefs_fan - February 2, 2012 reply

Etch-A-Sketch

The CVC was going to use Etch-A-Sketch but they couldn’t find a big enough screen for the presentation.

Mister T - February 2, 2012 reply

The only thing wrong with the Ram Rules was...

They needed to have Chuck Norris do the reading. Then people would have been too afraid to not cheer loud!

Sggladden - February 2, 2012 reply

If we’re all honest, nobody loves the Dome. No one will ever be able to make it into a great or legendary stadium. Only a new well-designed stadium could do that.
But right now it’s acceptable, although with improvements it could be raised to a ‘decent’!
For ideas: I like the big Screen the current set up is horrible, more natural light is a great start and tailgate areas sound okay (although they don’t really fill me with glee).
Basic things I would love are a way better sound system, better or more entrances to cut down the bottleneck off Washington and better merch shops.
Oh and two OLBs please.

gianthand - February 2, 2012 reply

What could possibly be wrong with the place?

I havn’t seen it and I hate domes but the thing was just built in 1995. Incredibly, I read, there are only 10 older stadiums in the NFL. That is just rediculous.
After 16 years I can see the need for new seats and scoreboards but the rest should still be fine. I think that teams constant demands for new stadiums and or upgrades have just plain gotten out of hand.

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