John Canzano interviewed Rob Mullens, and I was surprised to hear that expanding Autzen by 10-12,000 is probably NOT in our future?

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JC: Saturday’s football game against Indiana will be sold out. It feels like you could use 5,000 more seats or maybe some upgraded club or suites that you could upsell. It feels like there’s some money out there for the University of Oregon to recoup. Where do you stand on the expansion of Autzen Stadium or some upgrades?

RM: "We love Autzen Stadium. It is a tremendous home-field advantage and tremendous experience, and it’ll be sold out on Saturday. And trending very close to being sold-out for the rest of the year. We’ll have standing-room-only tickets on Saturday. So it’ll be packed, it’ll be loud.

That’s something we are always studying. We’re in the middle of a significant facility project right now. I can see out my window in our new indoor football practice facility. And then once we get through that, obviously, we’ll start (looking at it).

We’re always thinking about Autzen, and now we have this new $20.5 million line item (revenue sharing) and the financial pressures of ‘What can we do?’ to increase our base and fund third-party NIL to our student athletes.

The formula has changed a little bit. Football generates 80 percent of the revenue here. Autzen is our economic engine. And obviously, we want to make sure that we’re staying at the forefront with our fan experience in Autzen, particularly as we’re having success."

JC: Could you ever imagine building a new stadium? Or would it always be, what could you do to Autzen?

RM: "It would always be, what can you do to Autzen? It’s a special place, and we want to make sure that we continue to have that huge home-field advantage that it presents to itself. There are some limitations because of the number of parking spaces and traffic, just the road infrastructure. That’s one of the things that I thought you captured well (in your reporting from Penn State). When you look out at Penn State and you just see tailgating forever, the amount of parking in proximity to the stadium is pretty impressive.

JC: If you had unlimited seats, how many could you sell for Saturday’s game against Indiana?

RM: Yeah. The thing that’s always complicated with that is, obviously, we’re a top five football program in a top-10 matchup. But you always want to make sure that you have the number that’s right. That you’re packed and you keep the atmosphere. But I don’t think you ever want to overbuild.

When it’s rolling, yeah, sure. There probably is some left on the table. But I think for us, with the road infrastructure, the parking, as we look at it and deliver the experience that we want to deliver, there may be a few more thousand (seats) there, but I don’t think it’s significant."

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I could not bring you the whole interview, but Mullens expressed concern with making the budget these days considering the new additional cost of NIL, and the cost of providing the resources to create outside NIL to athletes. I sense things are tighter and tougher than being discussed, and I am surprised about Autzen, since I thought we could sell another 10,000 seats for Big-10 games for most of the season.

Another thing to consider is how many more Duck fans are you going to bring in vs opposing fans. As a small population state, we’re likely close to maxed out on OBD fans but would easily bring in several thousand more opposing fans negating our raucous advantage.

Getting to 70,000 would be awesome, but is that even feasible or wanted in Eugene?

Parking for 10k more? Would 10k more come from PDX to watch? Would prices go up or down?

3 minutes ago, WTD25 said:

Getting to 70,000 would be awesome, but is that even feasible or wanted in Eugene?

Parking for 10k more? Would 10k more come from PDX to watch? Would prices go up or down?

I think it is clear....Mullens would not expand by 10K. A few thousand more--perhaps. He will want to leverage more suites and high-end opportunities which don't take much space, but generate revenue.

I think 60K is tops, probably from 54K to 57K, and standing room...

4 hours ago, WTD25 said:

Parking for 10k more? Would 10k more come from PDX to watch? Would prices go up or down?

The only way I could see a major expansion like 10k more seats is if there is some high speed rail on the I-5 corridor.

I've only been to a few games but the 2.5 hour drive there and 3-4 hour drive home is a lot after 4-6 hours in Eugene.

I know many season ticket holders from Portland do it every week we are home but I know I couldn't. The driving and the parking is exhausting.

But high speed rail that gets you there in maybe an hour and not having to worry about driving or, in many cases more stressful, parking would change things.

The Eugene area is also maxed out in terms of lodging.

Then to complicate every expansion.... Afding more seats and this people has a massive impact on the city and freeway but it's only 7-8 days a year! So acquiring more parking just doesn't make they much sense.

And how quickly do they get a return on that investment? It's Oregon, they'd get a positive return but how many years?

It's certainly short term costs vs long term income and college football is changing so fast right now i would imagine that taking the risk of expanding Autzen might be a bit too much at this moment.

Essentially anything that goes on around Autzen would be subject to City approval due to traffic arteries, transit, infrastructure, police resources, etc. Given the political climate in Eugene, no one should ever assume anything relative to what city planners would recommend and what the council would approve.

https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/2023/01/24/eugene-uo-university-oregon-autzen-alton-baker-park-science-center/69833009007/

I definitely see an upgrade to suites, restrooms, and concessions on the north side. Construction costs to add significant seating would be expensive.

$90 million was spent on the last expansion in 2002, adding around 12,000 seats. Getting the money and approval for further improvements will take awhile.

All season ticket holders on the north side would be thrilled with just better restrooms.

I think coming up with the extra $20.5 million each year to pay the athletes is a real deal.

And we don't want a different stadium.

60K including standing room will have to do.

I personally love being at the games, but my old body can't stand and scream for 4 quarters, so I let younger bods take my place and I watch from my comfy recliner on my lil 60" lcd.

The athletic department pays attention to demographic trends. Oregon population grew by less than 1/2 of 1% in the last year. And, that was all age groups combined, all ethnicities combined.

So, how many "new" fans might find their way to Autzen? What would make them fans?

What is the renewal rate on season tickets? What is the pace of replacement with new ticket buyers to ones who "age out," or move away, or who prefer the economics and convenience of watching from home?

Aside from restrooms, concessions and wi-fi what will attract new fans, and retain old ones, given similar W-L records as the recent past? Offering alcohol to seating areas can both attract and detract for attendance.

I suspect the AD's plans are more data driven than emotionally driven? And, that is why speculation about expansion is relatively modest.

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From an East coast Duck fan. If I was living in Portland, I'd be looking for tickets and driving down to Eugene several times a season.

I wouldn't want to have anything that would mess with the atmosphere at Autzen but I'm pretty sure more tickets could be sold if there were more seats.

As to parking. That is a concern, but Duck fans are resourceful. I would drive to Eugene and ride carpool with local friends, I'd take a taxi or bus.

Sounds like current projects would push any expansion off for a few years anyway.

19 hours ago, David Marsh said:

I've only been to a few games but the 2.5 hour drive there and 3-4 hour drive home is a lot after 4-6 hours in Eugene.

I thought the drive from Portland to Eugene was bad until I went to State College, PA. My goodness is that place in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE and they only have 2-3 hotels in town.

Penn State somehow manages to pack the stadium with 100K+ (111K for the Oregon game) and reports 90K+ season ticket holders. I don’t understand. It seems to defy natural laws - like gravity.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by OregonDucks

All the former Beaver fans are going to need places to sit. 😆