As an occasional visitor, I love the stadium, and the fact it's on campus. Tailgating is much better than it ever was at City Stadium, and I love getting there early and walking around campus. It's should also be a real positive to take prospective recruits around campus, and to show off our other football-related facilities, on game days. City Stadium was a dump, parking was a challenge, and the drive back to campus was often harrowing unless one had a DD, which wasn't in vogue in my era.
I said at the time Robins Stadium was built that keeping the track would absolutely kill the atmosphere and I was right (not bragging here, many others said the same thing). The seats are just too far away from the field. Why Miller did not listen more to concerns on that issue (which were many), or why Clawson did not insist on the track being removed, is beyond me.
We could not control the capacity of the stadium, our hands were tied by NIMBY politics. But we could control the layout, and keeping the track was terrible decision that has had a negative impact for more than a decade. Miller has to wear that one.
In a perfect world, we would relocate the track, and re-site the field and Refectory-side grandstand closer to College Road.. Engineering-wise, it's easily possible to move structures of that size relatively intact, and the Refectory grandstand would be an easier move.
That would also create ample room for some sort of indoor practice center/permanent football locker room on the Boatwright Drive end of the Refectory, with an expanded Law School parking lot.
The demise of the fraternity system has decimated student attendance. Almost everyone (40-45) in my house went to the games together at City Stadium; probably half took dates. Multiply that by 11, and you've got about 700-800 active/engaged fans, in addition to the many other non-affiliated students who attended. We probably have about 1/7 of that now.
Plus you would have awesome pregame/postgame parties at the lodges, and a great opportunity for alumni to engage 5-6 times a year. Alums from my frat still have a good pregame tailgater every week; it would be great to be able to have it at our lodge (if it was still standing). And you'd get a better turnout from current Greeks. I'm shocked the remaining houses are ghost towns on football Saturdays when they should be rocking.
I have no idea where a new track could be located. But as far as non-personnel moves go, that should be priority 1 in restoring Richmond football to national FCS prominence.
