tim94501;532893 said:
I really don't get that. I your dropping almost half a billion into the stadium why not put seats everywhere?
And cost: cost to purchase finished seats and cost to install.
Chairs (taken to mean seats with full backs and armrests) take up more space left-to-right (aka elbow room) and front-to-back (legroom) than do bench seats with or without backrests.
For instance, there are three levels of seats in the ESP section:
University Club - 22 inches wide by 36 inches deep (cushioned seats)
Stadium Club - 20 inches wide by 33 inches deep (padded seats)
Field Level Club - 19 inches wide by 33 inches deep (chairback seats)
These seats occupy varying amounts of space. But if you're talking about the rebuilt areas outside of the ESP sections, the benches have 30 inches of legroom and are probably allocated 18 inches of elbow room per person.
Bench seat areas, therefore, are allocated 3.75 square feet, where the ESP seats vary from:
4.35 sq. ft. (Field Level) to
4.58 sq. ft. (Stadium Club) to
5.50 sq. ft (University Club)
Even if we assume that benches are replaced with chairs roughly equivalent to Field Level seats while keeping the same 30 inch legroom, you'd lose about 5.26% of capacity in those areas where bench seats are intended. And the cost per person would be much more than simple aluminum bench seats with backrests.
It isn't worth it.