Get Your Credit Cards Out, (but not in Ithaca)
Every Ivy school has now released its ticket information for the 2007 season, except Cornell. That's shocking, since Yale is usually the laggard, but it's so nice in Ithaca in the summer that I'm willing to give the folks up there a pass for taking it easy.
Here are the links for ticket info for all the teams that have it ready, (note, all prices mentioned below are for season tickets):
Wien Stadium at Baker Field (CREDIT: Columbia Athletics)
COLUMBIA
$90 season tickets for chairback seats, $45 season tickets for molded seats and regular bleachers.
Jake's Take on Wien Stadium seating: The chairback seats are, in a word, awesome. You get great sight lines, and if you sit up high, you also get to see the beautiful views of the Harlem and Hudson river, the Hudson River Bridge, and the Metro North tracks that curve impossibly around Marble Hill. For $18 per game with the season ticket discount, it's a good deal.
The molded seats offer a little more comfort than bleachers, and if you are... ahem, concerned with "bottom comfort," you might want to grab them now.
The bleacher seats can be fun for those who want to sit closer to the field, the student sections, and the band.
Brown Stadium
Brown
$90 for reserved chairback seats, $75 general admission, $50 general admission for alumni, $30 general admission for faculty/staff.
Jake's Take on Brown Stadium: Keep in mind that the Bears have six home games, so the chairbacks are basically going for $15 a game if you buy the season tickets.
There are things I do and don't like about Brown Stadium. I like the fact that it's right in a residential neighborhood within view of pretty houses, synagogues, churches, etc.
I don't like the somewhat uncomfortable seats, (although I've never sat in the chairbacks, and I assume they're fine), and the inevitable chillier weather that comes into play in the latter stages of many games. The press box was pretty Spartan too, as I recall, but I haven't been in it since 1991 and I'm guessing some improvements have been made.
Memorial Field will look different after renovations are complete this month
Dartmouth
$35 for adults, $27 for staff, $15 for youths 14 and under.
(NOTE: I know there are some chairback seats being installed this summer, but I'm not sure how they will be priced).
Jake's Take on Memorial Field: People often think of rural scenes when they think of Ivy League schools, but Dartmouth and Cornell are the only truly rural-area Ivies, (Princeton is a suburb, sorry), and Memorial Field exudes the the rural settings where modern football really took shape. City snobs may not like it, but I am very much looking forward to a pastoral weekend in Hanover this October when the Lions take on the Big Green on the 20th.
Harvard Stadium is a classic venue
Harvard
$75 for the general public, $50 for staff, $50 for recent alumni, $30 for Crimson "kids club" 8th grade and younger.
Jake's Take on Harvard Stadium: This is my favorite road venue, period. I love the neo-classical design, especially the concrete columns. The ivy-covered sections of the stadium are also perfect. I don't love how the new field house they built at the open end of the horseshoe blocks much of the view of the Charles River, and the concrete bleacher seating can make things a little chilly on your butt after a while, but these are mere quibbles.
Franklin Field is very, very large
Penn
$80 for chairback seats, $60 for general admission.
Jake's Take on Franklin Field: I love the architecture, and the fact that you can walk to this stadium from the Amtrak station. There's a lot of non-Ivy history here too, as Franklin Field served as the home of the Philadelphia Eagles for many years and was the site of the Eagles NFL Championship game win over the Green Bay Packers in 1960.
A big problem with Franklin Field is that it is just too big. I know Yale Bowl is technically bigger with about five thousand more seats, but the Bowl doesn't seem to be a empty as Franklin Field does even with similar crowd sizes. The echo factor at most Penn games is a little spooky. And when the rescue helicopters land on the hospital next door, it gets positively creepy.
Princeton Stadium
Princeton
$25 for all season tickets.
Jake's Take on Princeton Stadium: I wonder how many schools have so much money that they could build a $45 million stadium and not even have to sell off naming rights to a big donor. Princeton may be the only school in America with that luxury. Sure Harvard and Yale have bigger endowments, but Princeton has fewer costs by far than those urban university with the medical and law schools and the huge liabilities that go along with them.
Next to Harvard Stadium, Princeton's new home, (it debuted in 1998), is my favorite road Ivy venue. It's just so... nice. And they've gone out of their way to make it kid-friendly and cheap, (you get a free program with your ticket). I'm convinced that anyone who slams this place is just suffering from serious envy.
To many fans, Yale Bowl is THE home of Ivy football
Yale
$90 for preferred West side seating, $85 for preferred East side seating, $30 general admission.
Jake's Take on Yale Bowl: First off, remember you can call it "Yale Bowl," or "The Bowl," but not "The Yale Bowl." Got it?
The Bowl is a classic venue, and at 64,000+ seats, it's the biggest venue in the Ivies. It's really in a beautiful setting, and the renovations they're doing on the structure are coming along nicely. Sitting on the East side "road" seats, can be pretty tough on sunny days, and I highly recommend you try avoid the sun when you can. Otherwise, enjoy!
... and for those out-of-town Columbia games at Patriot League teams
Jack Coffey Field is hard to find, but worth it
Fordham
$75 for loge seats, $50 general admission.
Jake's Take on Jack Coffey Field: Getting to Fordham's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx is really easier said than done. Not because of traffic, but because the directions are tough and it's easy to miss key turns, etc. Don't worry, in the week leading up to the opener at Fordham I will provide "idiot-proof" directions to Jack Coffey Field.
But I do love the beautiful Fordham campus and while Jack Coffey Field is small and not the most comfortable place to watch a game, it has its charms.
Lafayette has created an absolute showplace in Fisher Stadium
Lafayette
$90 season tickets, $65 for senior citizens over 65, and $50 for kids 13 and under.
Jake's Take on Fisher Stadium: I've never actually been to Lafayette, but the pictures and videos I've seen of the renovated facility look absolutely amazing. This is going to be a very tough road game for the Lions, but at least they and their fans will be comfortable.
posted by Jake @ 9:27:00 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Jake, the last time we went to Lafayette, the last away game, the concrete on the visitors' side was literally crumbling and most of the wooden benches were rotting. And there were so many exposed, rusty nails that there was a serious risk for getting blood poisoning. So let's hope the rehab supposedly done to the stadium was truly comprehensive. The stadium does have good sightlines, and the spotless restrooms are in Lafayette's gym, are not pits of horror as my ladyfriend and daughter insist remains the case at Wien.
There's free parking on neighborhood streets, but not enough of it at "big" games. (Which Columbia really isn't compared to the annual battle with Lehigh.) Few places save a big deli to eat at in the general area, too. (Just like Baker Field in that respect.) But it's a nice, easy ride from the NYC area on 78, and you can also take your kids to the Crayola center in downtown Easton (most of which has seen much better days).
Regards,
Richard Szathmary
Richard:
Thanks for that great info on Lafayette. Do we have the best comments section or what?
I was at our last game at Lafayette. The town is really a dump, and parking is not convenient. If we had some information in advance on parking, that would help. As for Fordham, the stadium is not even up to high school standards (bleachers on one side, for example), and parking is also a problem. But we need to get out the crowd for both games!
Why can't one call it "The Yale Bowl?"
You can call it what you like... I'm just trying to protect my readers from some inevitable snobbery.
Jake, when are you going to give us your projected two deep going into camp? It seems as if the OL is pretty well set at the tackle and center positions, with some question marks at guard and two starters at TE. Likewise, we seem pretty well set at one WR, at QB, RB and FB. On the defensive side we seem set with one DE, at least three LBs,one spur and at least two DBs. Otherwise, I am not sure, although we obviously have some great overall talent in the LB and DB/spur ranks.
Fairly easy to tell the two-deep on the offensive line from looking at the current team roster since so few players are returning. Mike Partain and Evan Sanford are the only two centers. Mike Brune and Ralph DeBernardo are the projected starters at tackle with Ed Salter, Stefan Savic and Will Lipovsky behind them. Juniors Nathan Walcker, Gene Kaskiew and Rick Ingold are the three guards listed on the roster. John Seiler, who I believe played center last year,is designated as an "OL" which probably translates into offensive guard given that Partain and Sanford seem set at center. Incoming freshmen usually are not factored into the depth chart at any position although there is a good chance some of the new offensive linemen will break into the two-deep at some point in the season. Plenty of opportunities for all!
I'd like to at least wait for a week of training camp to go by before I project two-deeps. But i do plan to ask Coach Wilson at the coaches newsconference this Monday about which positions are most up for grabs and which freshmen are most likely to make an impact. I don't expect a very detailed answer, as Wilson wisely keeps lots of things closer to the vest, but you never know.
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