Looking at the stadium webcam...am I the only one that doesn't see the permanent benchbacks that are supposed to be in sections adjacent to ESP?

Are they yet to be installed?

ReasonableBear;841923036 said:

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Looking at the stadium webcam...am I the only one that doesn't see the permanent benchbacks that are supposed to be in sections adjacent to ESP?

Are they yet to be installed?

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I can assure you that the benchback seats are there: the webcam doesn't really do a good job of showing them.

ESP seats (chairbacks) are rather obvious. To either side you'll see what looks like bench seats (gold color) with vertical lines (a lighter color). Those vertical lines are the supports for the benchbacks. The benchbacks are the same gold color as the benches, so it doesn't appear that they are there. But they are, indeed, there.

This picture posted a couple of days ago helps show the benchbacks.

http://bearinsider.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2396&d=1344726688

jabes;841923625 said:

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This picture posted a couple of days ago helps show the benchbacks.

http://bearinsider.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2396&d=1344726688

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Am I missing something? I don't see backs on the benches in the photo...

MSaviolives;841923631 said:

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Am I missing something? I don't see backs on the benches in the photo...

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they are there look harder

MSaviolives;841923631 said:

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Am I missing something? I don't see backs on the benches in the photo...

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What you think are two rows of benches are actually a bench and the bench back.

jabes;841923625 said:

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This picture posted a couple of days ago helps show the benchbacks.

http://bearinsider.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2396&d=1344726688

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SiniCal;841923644 said:

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but a pointer will be helpful.

Find the wheelchair platform next to the vomitory.

Allow your eyes to move to the left of the platform and the stairs that rise to the aisle. Follow the stairs up to the aisle and little more to the left, to the nech in the next section.

Do you notice how the bench color next to the aisle looks darker than it does as your eye moves further to the left? The darker portion is the front of the bench. The lighter portion is the benchback of the bench in front.

MSaviolives;841923631 said:

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Am I missing something? I don't see backs on the benches in the photo...

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There are two almost the same but slightly different shades of gold at the bench level. One is the bench back and the other is the, uh, bench!

I think what is throwing people off is that the benchback is so short (small). The rendition shown online when we were selecting tickets showed a chairback that was about 6-9 inches tall. These look about 3 inches.

Californication;841923651 said:

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I think what is throwing people off is that the benchback is so short (small). The rendition shown online when we were selecting tickets showed a chairback that was about 6-9 inches tall. These look about 3 inches.

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Exactly. I was expecting two back supports that combined would be up to 12 inches tall.

What we have now barely doesn't even look adequate. I figured that the vertical pieces holding up the back supports would be much less prominent.

Lets see what they are like when we get there. I can't imagine 3 inches. If so, might not be worth the cost.

...still being on the East side I have a very hard time understanding why they did not put chairs with backs on every seat there, except maybe the end zones.

No NFL stadium would dare do this and yet in college we are supposed to sit there with no support for 4 hours and some guys knees in your back. I wonder if you can still rent them?

However, this issue and the fact that the games are all over the place now in terms of times, and the fact that I live 90 miles away, and I am above a certain age where my back isn't what it was has driven me away from attending games.

Thursday evening in the cold and damp with no chair back and porta-potties on my old side and a drive that gets me home at 1:00 AM....sorry, Cal will have to do something to get me back.

:headbang

Zooming into that picture, it looks the benchbacks are installed and they do look very thin. The worker sitting down on the bench is a good reference point. There are two shades of yellow in the picture. The lighter yellow bands are the benchbacks and are attached to the top of the white posts. The darker yellow is the seat bench. You can see the worker's knees behind the shiny yellow benchback.

My seats are in the benchback section so I hope they offer decent back support and block out the limbs from the row behind me. Perhaps in reality they are not as thin as they appear in this picture. They certainly won't be anything like the chairbacks which will completely block out one row behind.

oskidunker;841923698 said:

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Lets see what they are like when we get there. I can't imagine 3 inches. If so, might not be worth the cost.

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English isn't easy for me, sorry, but please try to dig thru the following for the trick of it..

Hypothetical 3" raised backrests is just a visual illusion. The eye is confusing a lower row's riser as a seat, and the higher row's seat as a backrest.

Focus strictly on the TOP row and it's much easier to tell the difference between seats and (nicely placed) rests.

#go,bears.

We will always have this battle because, let's face it, the Whiner-to-Fanatic ratio is very high relative to other schools.

Thanks for the better pic. Looks a little taller in the back that what I originally thought, not that I care all that much over in Section T.

BearsLair72;841923701 said:

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...still being on the East side I have a very hard time understanding why they did not put chairs with backs on every seat there, except maybe the end zones.

No NFL stadium would dare do this and yet in college we are supposed to sit there with no support for 4 hours and some guys knees in your back. I wonder if you can still rent them?

However, this issue and the fact that the games are all over the place now in terms of times, and the fact that I live 90 miles away, and I am above a certain age where my back isn't what it was has driven me away from attending games.

Thursday evening in the cold and damp with no chair back and porta-potties on my old side and a drive that gets me home at 1:00 AM....sorry, Cal will have to do something to get me back.

:headbang

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There was plenty of benchback seating supply available during the selection process. Not sure what you're complaining about.

oskidunker;841923698 said:

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Lets see what they are like when we get there. I can't imagine 3 inches. If so, might not be worth the cost.

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When we went to the Vegas bowl a few years ago we were looking forward to the bench backs in that band box of a stadium. At the game though we found the angle of the back was uncomfortable unless you wanted to sit back and observe as opposed to getting into game and cheering. And we know how much cheering happens on the West side. Hence, after 17 years in EE we moved over to U. Cheaper, sunnier and I'm sure, move 'alive'.

BearsLair72;841923701 said:

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Outside of the porta-potties...still being on the East side I have a very hard time understanding why they did not put chairs with backs on every seat there, except maybe the end zones.

No NFL stadium would dare do this and yet in college we are supposed to sit there with no support for 4 hours and some guys knees in your back. I wonder if you can still rent them?

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BL72, anyone can rent one of those portable seats that latch to the bench for $5 a game.

But if you're wondering why there are no benchbacks on the east side, it's easy: you'd have to reduce capacity to do it. And you'd reduce capacity by about 20% in the affected sections: for every 5 rows that you have now, you'd end up with 4 rows. That means you lose 1 row in 5, or 20%.

The rows as they are now are simply too narrow to allow benchbacks. You'd have to widen the rows. Maybe you could widen it only 4" and only lose 1 row in every 6, but you'd still lose 16.7% of seating capacity in the affected sections. So, unless you're going to expand the stadium footprint, or build an upper deck, you're not going to get back the capacity lost to creature comforts.

FiatSlug;841923770 said:

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But if you're wondering why there are no benchbacks on the east side, it's easy: you'd have to reduce capacity to do it. And you'd reduce capacity by about 20% in the affected sections: for every 5 rows that you have now, you'd end up with 4 rows. That means you lose 1 row in 5, or 20%.

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We had a choice of Sec EE bench backs on the 10 or Sec T on the 30. We chose the comforts, many people chose Sec T, which tells me the benefit of the bench back is not enough to raise prices to cover the reduction in seats needed in the full stadium.

It's possible if the East Side is completely redone in the future some additional sections will get bench backs--excluding the end zones and students. That is only possible if they redo the concrete to widen the rows.

The Granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, I believe has hardly any seats with back support.

I'm glad that they left just plain benches for most of the stadium. I don't want to reduce capacity and I'm fine sitting on a bench for 4 hours. Compared to positions I've been ordered to sit in for various hazing rituals over my years, it's actually quite comfortable.

jabes;841924010 said:

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We had a choice of Sec EE bench backs on the 10 or Sec T on the 30. We chose the comforts, many people chose Sec T, which tells me the benefit of the bench back is not enough to raise prices to cover the reduction in seats needed in the full stadium.

It's possible if the East Side is completely redone in the future some additional sections will get bench backs--excluding the end zones and students. That is only possible if they redo the concrete to widen the rows.

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See you in section EE! We're in row 11, can't wait to experience the more spacious seating! The only thing I'm mildly concerned about is the lack of fellow crazy fans around us. We're class of 2006 and 2007, so that might be below the average age in the section.

#1, I didn't realize the capacity issues
#2, I was curious if they were going to continue the seat back rental program
#3: Many things go into having season tickets (versus a game or two which i always do) and this is one of them, but not the only one. The biggest reason for me has been the changes in start times and the season extension into December and being 90 miles away, which raises the costs and also makes it difficult when we do Thursday or Friday night games. And yes, at my age, sitting in Memorial in early December at night in the rain is not a fun thing....did that for USC and decided I'll go to the day games in September and October, thank you. When you get older, you young cubs, you will get it also

FiatSlug;841923770 said:

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BL72, anyone can rent one of those portable seats that latch to the bench for $5 a game.

But if you're wondering why there are no benchbacks on the east side, it's easy: you'd have to reduce capacity to do it. And you'd reduce capacity by about 20% in the affected sections: for every 5 rows that you have now, you'd end up with 4 rows. That means you lose 1 row in 5, or 20%.

The rows as they are now are simply too narrow to allow benchbacks. You'd have to widen the rows. Maybe you could widen it only 4" and only lose 1 row in every 6, but you'd still lose 16.7% of seating capacity in the affected sections. So, unless you're going to expand the stadium footprint, or build an upper deck, you're not going to get back the capacity lost to creature comforts.

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CaliforniaEternal;841923759 said:

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There was plenty of benchback seating supply available during the selection process. Not sure what you're complaining about.

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When were you picking? I choose my seats on the morning of the 5th day so roughly 2200 people picked before me. There was almost nothing left for bench back at that time. Scattered seats and some of the bottom rows. That was it.

CaliforniaEternal;841924124 said:

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See you in section EE! We're in row 11, can't wait to experience the more spacious seating! The only thing I'm mildly concerned about is the lack of fellow crazy fans around us. We're class of 2006 and 2007, so that might be below the average age in the section.

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I may be at the average age, but I'm below average in maturity so I'm hoping EE has a little spark. We are in Row 21 just below the wheelchair platform hoping we can stand without blocking anyone -- that is when our aging backs don't need to recline on the spiffy new benchbacks!

jabes;841924206 said:

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I may be at the average age, but I'm below average in maturity so I'm hoping EE has a little spark. We are in Row 21 just below the wheelchair platform hoping we can stand without blocking anyone -- that is when our aging backs don't need to recline on the spiffy new benchbacks!

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Awesome, between the two of us it sounds like the maturity factor in EE is dropping considerably.

ninetyfourbear;841924205 said:

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When were you picking? I choose my seats on the morning of the 5th day so roughly 2200 people picked before me. There was almost nothing left for bench back at that time. Scattered seats and some of the bottom rows. That was it.

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My selection time was on April 9th, a full week into the process. There were a decent number of seats remaining in the $200 donation sections in EE and I. Most of the higher up seats were taken, but almost all seats rows 1-15 were available. I prefer sitting closer to the action, so that was perfect for me. I remember checking close to April 30th, and there were still a handful of benchback seats, although they were in the first or second rows. With the field lowered I anticipate that even the 1st row will have great views.

CaliforniaEternal;841924124 said:

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See you in section EE! We're in row 11, can't wait to experience the more spacious seating! The only thing I'm mildly concerned about is the lack of fellow crazy fans around us. We're class of 2006 and 2007, so that might be below the average age in the section.

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By about 25 years ...