Even after the renovations I think Commonwealth will be far from deserving a place on that list.
If UK really wanted to get it on the list and make it a destination, they'd need to do the following:
1) Fill it with amped up fans. In some years and for some games, this happens. For a lot of them, especially recently, it hasn't. As long as those upper end zone corners are empty for half of the season, it doesn't belong on these lists.
2) Come up with a good game day tradition or two. The "blue/white" at the start of the 4th quarter would be nice if it took off, but that's a big if - it'll take a better, more engaged crowd (see #1 above) and more games with fans still tuned in during the 4th quarter (not blowouts of MAC teams or 2 TD deficits against Georgia or Florida).
3) Put some paint on it. A stadium in which everything is colored a dull beige from the 1970s, a dull cream color from the 1970s, and dull gray colors from the 1990s and concrete isn't going to cut it. Put blue paint everywhere - on the concrete, on the walls, on the lampposts and curbs and parking spot dividers around the stadium. Seriously - if you're going to paint parking spaces and UK's stadium, why use any color other than UK blue? If you're going to paint gates and fences at UK's stadium, why paint them any color but blue? Why would brown or beige ever be part of the color scheme? Why not spring for some blue paint and put it on, at minimum, every concrete surface that is perpendicular to the ground, such as the front face of every step in the stadium?
4) Tie it together with a consistent theme. The Swamp is done this way - orange and blue paint and that UF font everywhere. Take the same font as the UK logo on the helmet, and use it - in UK blue, and UK white, no other colors - for the big sign that says "Commonwealth Stadium" on the exterior instead of that goofy cartoonish font they put up in 1999 or whenever it was. Use it for the panel that says "Kentucky Wildcats" above the big screen. Use it in the end zones. Use it on the walls between the front row seats and the field. Use it on the pads on the field goals. Put it over the new press box. Make the place consistently look like UK's home field in the same way.
5) Come up with a couple of nice and novel features that are attractive in person and on camera.
5a) How about a nice big fountain, shaped in the UK logo so that game day coverage always features an aerial shot? Put it over near LCC or the Nutter Center or wherever else. Paint the inside of it UK blue. Put a non-slip material in it and let students jump in it after a win, or give life to a new myth that couples who jump in the fountain and kiss before a game will end up married if UK wins later that day. Start a tradition where people toss coins - lots of coins, maybe particularly dollar coins - in it pregame for luck for a win, and use the money for scholarships or a high school football camp. Dye the water UK blue. Just come up with some idea for it that no one else is doing. Give ESPN and CBS some good footage of fans throwing the coins in, students jumping in to celebrate a win, jets of UK blue water up against a nice Kentucky sky, or whatever decide you do with it. Offer something that shows some way in which gameday at UK is different than anywhere else.
5b) How about a nice blue and white elevated walkway over the intersection of Cooper Drive and University Drive, with an upper platform shaped precisely in the UK logo and painted to match, with ramps up and down from each corner? That would put an end to backed-up pedestrians and vehicle traffic on game day, ensure a smooth flow of both, and look very cool, including from the air on game day. It would also be safer. I don't know how much it would cost, but it wouldn't be outrageous, or a terrible price to pay for having unimpeded traffic for cars and pedestrians at that place on game day (or during the school day for that matter), or for even one avoided pedestrian collision.
5c) Put up a nice visual that recruits and TV cameramen will like. How about a hallway lined with one helmet from each Division I-A team that Kentucky has defeated in its history? Not just Georgia, Tennessee, etc., but also Florida State, Penn State, Oklahoma, etc. Put that in the Nutter Center lobby, or inside the stadium, or wherever fans and cameramen might see it.
5d) Someone with a better imagination than I have can come up with better ideas. But it'll take some creativity to get Commonwealth Stadium on any best-of or destination list. Just copying what other colleges do absolutely will not cut it or even come close. Neither will a stadium that just looks like some general purpose stadium that doesn't really belong to a team and is full of neutral colors as a result.
6) They'd better end up with ample parking after the construction and new baseball field or else they'll end up being the butt of jokes instead of on any positive lists.
7) Speaking of jokes, there's no better way to describe the concessions as Commonwealth, and no visitors who write lists of top stadiums is going to consider Commonwealth worthy so long as its concessions are so paltry and glaringly, almost defiantly inefficient. Visitors to Sanford talk about the hedges; visitors to Williams-Brice talk about 2001; visitors to Commonwealth probably talk about how, at halftime, there are only a handful of concession stands, they have lines that stretch all the way across the entire concourse and block everyone trying to get anywhere, they have the poorest offerings you'd find anywhere, with even minor league baseball stadiums in the 1980s offering a better variety, and - including during halftime - half the people behind the counter stand around and talk or otherwise seem to do very little to move the lines along, while the people working the registers take their sweet time as if they're serving breakfast in a nursing home or something.
Anyway, Commonwealth needs a lot of aesthetic changes, better game day offerings, and some creativity to deserve any attention. I don't think the current administration will do much in that regard. New restrooms and (hopefully) improved concessions are a meager start. I don't think they'll do anything to improve its dull appearance inside or out, much less add some new features that stand out or catch the national eye. I'd love to be wrong, but I just don't see it happening anytime soon.
If UK really wanted to get it on the list and make it a destination, they'd need to do the following:
1) Fill it with amped up fans. In some years and for some games, this happens. For a lot of them, especially recently, it hasn't. As long as those upper end zone corners are empty for half of the season, it doesn't belong on these lists.
2) Come up with a good game day tradition or two. The "blue/white" at the start of the 4th quarter would be nice if it took off, but that's a big if - it'll take a better, more engaged crowd (see #1 above) and more games with fans still tuned in during the 4th quarter (not blowouts of MAC teams or 2 TD deficits against Georgia or Florida).
3) Put some paint on it. A stadium in which everything is colored a dull beige from the 1970s, a dull cream color from the 1970s, and dull gray colors from the 1990s and concrete isn't going to cut it. Put blue paint everywhere - on the concrete, on the walls, on the lampposts and curbs and parking spot dividers around the stadium. Seriously - if you're going to paint parking spaces and UK's stadium, why use any color other than UK blue? If you're going to paint gates and fences at UK's stadium, why paint them any color but blue? Why would brown or beige ever be part of the color scheme? Why not spring for some blue paint and put it on, at minimum, every concrete surface that is perpendicular to the ground, such as the front face of every step in the stadium?
4) Tie it together with a consistent theme. The Swamp is done this way - orange and blue paint and that UF font everywhere. Take the same font as the UK logo on the helmet, and use it - in UK blue, and UK white, no other colors - for the big sign that says "Commonwealth Stadium" on the exterior instead of that goofy cartoonish font they put up in 1999 or whenever it was. Use it for the panel that says "Kentucky Wildcats" above the big screen. Use it in the end zones. Use it on the walls between the front row seats and the field. Use it on the pads on the field goals. Put it over the new press box. Make the place consistently look like UK's home field in the same way.
5) Come up with a couple of nice and novel features that are attractive in person and on camera.
5a) How about a nice big fountain, shaped in the UK logo so that game day coverage always features an aerial shot? Put it over near LCC or the Nutter Center or wherever else. Paint the inside of it UK blue. Put a non-slip material in it and let students jump in it after a win, or give life to a new myth that couples who jump in the fountain and kiss before a game will end up married if UK wins later that day. Start a tradition where people toss coins - lots of coins, maybe particularly dollar coins - in it pregame for luck for a win, and use the money for scholarships or a high school football camp. Dye the water UK blue. Just come up with some idea for it that no one else is doing. Give ESPN and CBS some good footage of fans throwing the coins in, students jumping in to celebrate a win, jets of UK blue water up against a nice Kentucky sky, or whatever decide you do with it. Offer something that shows some way in which gameday at UK is different than anywhere else.
5b) How about a nice blue and white elevated walkway over the intersection of Cooper Drive and University Drive, with an upper platform shaped precisely in the UK logo and painted to match, with ramps up and down from each corner? That would put an end to backed-up pedestrians and vehicle traffic on game day, ensure a smooth flow of both, and look very cool, including from the air on game day. It would also be safer. I don't know how much it would cost, but it wouldn't be outrageous, or a terrible price to pay for having unimpeded traffic for cars and pedestrians at that place on game day (or during the school day for that matter), or for even one avoided pedestrian collision.
5c) Put up a nice visual that recruits and TV cameramen will like. How about a hallway lined with one helmet from each Division I-A team that Kentucky has defeated in its history? Not just Georgia, Tennessee, etc., but also Florida State, Penn State, Oklahoma, etc. Put that in the Nutter Center lobby, or inside the stadium, or wherever fans and cameramen might see it.
5d) Someone with a better imagination than I have can come up with better ideas. But it'll take some creativity to get Commonwealth Stadium on any best-of or destination list. Just copying what other colleges do absolutely will not cut it or even come close. Neither will a stadium that just looks like some general purpose stadium that doesn't really belong to a team and is full of neutral colors as a result.
6) They'd better end up with ample parking after the construction and new baseball field or else they'll end up being the butt of jokes instead of on any positive lists.
7) Speaking of jokes, there's no better way to describe the concessions as Commonwealth, and no visitors who write lists of top stadiums is going to consider Commonwealth worthy so long as its concessions are so paltry and glaringly, almost defiantly inefficient. Visitors to Sanford talk about the hedges; visitors to Williams-Brice talk about 2001; visitors to Commonwealth probably talk about how, at halftime, there are only a handful of concession stands, they have lines that stretch all the way across the entire concourse and block everyone trying to get anywhere, they have the poorest offerings you'd find anywhere, with even minor league baseball stadiums in the 1980s offering a better variety, and - including during halftime - half the people behind the counter stand around and talk or otherwise seem to do very little to move the lines along, while the people working the registers take their sweet time as if they're serving breakfast in a nursing home or something.
Anyway, Commonwealth needs a lot of aesthetic changes, better game day offerings, and some creativity to deserve any attention. I don't think the current administration will do much in that regard. New restrooms and (hopefully) improved concessions are a meager start. I don't think they'll do anything to improve its dull appearance inside or out, much less add some new features that stand out or catch the national eye. I'd love to be wrong, but I just don't see it happening anytime soon.
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