October 6, 2012
Camp Randall Stadium (Capacity: 80,321)
Madison, WI
Wisconsin Badgers vs Illinois Fighting Illini
Final Score: 31 – 14
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While attending the National Weather Association conference in Madison, I planned to arrive a few days early to check out some stadiums. Both stops were at the University of Wisconsin with football first. The public school is known for its high research activity and is considered a very good university. Over 40,000 students attend and there are a staggering 130 majors. The huge, sprawling campus is right in downtown Madison, which is the capitol of Wisconsin and located in the south-central part of the state. It is a unique, mid-sized city as the center is on an isthmus, a narrow strip of land between Lakes Mendota and Monona. Much of the region’s passion lies with Badgers football, a program that has won 13 Big Ten Titles (though no National Championships). After a long history of brief success followed by mediocre periods, UW has done very well recently thanks in large part to former Head Coach (and current AD) Barry Alvarez. They have been to 14 bowl games in the last 15 years and are recently coming off back to back conference championships. Sitting on a historical site is Camp Randall Stadium, home since 1917 and part of an amazing stadium experience.
Prestige Ranking: 5 out of 5
Location
Madison is one of the best college towns around (though technically it is a city) and the bar/food scene has a lot to do with making it so great. The center of the city includes the capitol building and a few history/art museums. Saturday Mornings feature a popular Farmers Market, which surrounds the square. Tons of awesome bars and restaurants are all over and most include plenty of local beers on tap. Capital Square and State Street, which connects UW and downtown, are the main hotspots. On Campus, highlights feature the Geology Museum and Memorial Union, which is a scenic hangout on the lake. Camp Randall is located on the Southeast part of campus, near the Engineering portion of UW. Though not as hopping as other parts of Madison, Regent and Monroe Street feature a few places to eat and drink. On the west side, the stadium bumps up to a neighborhood which gives it a homey feel that is felt throughout the experience.
Location Ranking: 8.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
To get to the game, I took the Bucky Bus, which proved to be an extremely frustrating venture. The bus picks up those at downtown parking garages and shuttles fans to the game, but the problem with our bus driver was that he waited for people at each stop for 15 minutes! So, what should have been a quick 15-minute shuttle to the game, turned into a 50-minute bus ride, when I wanted to get there early. Stadium parking is virtually impossible as lots are reserved for those with permits. There are just two small lots on campus (with a shuttle), otherwise, the several multi-level garages downtown are the best option and then take the bus. It can be challenging to navigate the roads of Madison (which are quite full on game day) as there are several one-way streets and some funky intersections. Plus, the area is a good 8 miles or so from the interstates (90, 94 and 39) as city and suburban roads must be used to get into Madison.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 2.5 out of 8
Exterior
What is unique about the site upon which the stadium sits is that it is a former training ground for Union troops during the Civil War. All throughout the grounds are several markers and historical points that display this information. Most notably is the famous stone arch that sits over a walkway leading into the complex. Just a really great job overall marking the significance of the area. After the war, Camp Randall was turned over to the University where various athletic fields eventually gave way to the stadium being built in the early 1900s. It’s hard to actually see the exterior as there are several buildings attached to the stadium (UW Field House, a Sports Center and the McClain Athletic Facility). Two views of the structure can be seen and the main one is at Gate 1, which has a small, iron “Camp Randall” gate above the entrance. Aside from the towering walkway ramps, this is deceptive as fans are looking at Kellner Hall, which is an athletic administration building. The west side of the stadium along the road features a more traditional look and is full of concrete. A couple of stadium name logos appear in a few places on the stadium.
Exterior Ranking: 7 out of 10
Concourse
It took me awhile to get my bearings around the stadium and having a feel for where I was and where certain sections were presented a bit of a challenge. Partially going around a section of the stadium on the lowest level is a concourse that features the team store, Bucky’s Locker Room, along with Badger Alley (more on that in Displays). The main middle concourse is traditional with several food stands and there is even a walkway above the east sideline seats, along with food stands. However, this is tight and well before the majority of the crowd arrives, it gets quite congested. Adding to the issues are that walkways aren’t in one uninterrupted loop around the stadium. Lastly, the upper bowl on the west side of the stadium has a separate concourse. All of these become ridiculously crowded at halftime with very long bathroom lines. In fact, during the 20-minute intermission, I was unable to make it down from the upper-level to the other side of the stadium because of how jammed the concourses were.
Concourse Ranking: 2 out of 5
Food
Food offerings didn’t display a ton of options. Wisconsin-staple Brats were featured, along with several soft chocolate chip cookie stands (too small and expensive). On a cold day, it was good to see chili and hot chocolate on the menu. There were also many candy offerings.
Food Ranking: 4 out of 8
Interior
Like many older big-time stadiums, Camp Randall has undergone several renovations (the most elaborate coming between 2001-2005), leaving the current version in decent form. The lower deck is in the shape of a football, which is nice as it gives the seating bowl a slight angle towards the field. Seating is consistent most of the way, the exception being the South end zone, where open tunnels and end zone buildings make the seating more disjointed and uneven. There is an upper-deck, which is on the west sidelines, with a two-level press box cutting into the top portion of this deck. Sightlines are really good, even from the top of the upper deck (where I was). Comfort on the other hand isn’t great as silver bleachers aren’t the best to begin with. The added issue is how tight the rows and seats themselves are. I was squished and the only good thing about that was body heat helped keep me warm on this cold day. Note that a lot of the red you see in the pictures comes from temporary chairbacks set up by season seat holders. The stadium is enclosed, but there are peaks of surrounding sights (especially from the top rows in the upper deck) like the capitol building, parts of campus and the fall foliage. Though not many get to enjoy what could be good scenery, the inside view is decent enough, especially with the old, beautiful UW Field House hovering over the end zone seats. On the other sideline, is a three-level complex full of glass windows that house luxury suites, clubs and football offices.
Interior Ranking: 9.5 out of 14
Scoreboard
The red scoreboard blends in nicely with the stadium and it takes up a large portion of the south end zone. It is a rather busy board though with too many ads filling the sides and top. The bottom portion features the basic football game information. A more detailed graphics screen on the left side is reserved for in-game stats, while the right side has a clear video screen. Towards the top center is the stadium logo. On the other end, there are a couple of corner scoreboards that do have a video. Ribbon LED graphics are located on the sides of the stadium.
Scoreboard Ranking: 3 out of 4
Displays
In addition to all the historical markers surrounding the facility, there are many other great displays and my favorite was also outside of the stadium. The Camp Randall Memorial is on the exterior of the sports center and this eye-pleasing brick memorial features the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. Simple plaques recognize each member with a complete set of highlights that the athlete achieved both as a Badger and in their career. It is very classy all the way around. The next series of honors is just past Gate 1, where two full-sized statues honor Barry Alvarez and Pat Richter. Further inside is Badger Alley, a concourse where the walls are full of murals complete with a Badger History that includes everything important about the football program. Definitely worth a walk through. Inside, a nice cover up to the only visible winding walkway is a large banner that displays all of Wisconsin’s Bowl appearances. Each wall on the suite side of the stadium has a set of honors. The top is reserved for the team’s six retired numbers. The middle features Big 10 Championships, while the last row gives the year of the school’s Rose Bowl appearances.
Displays Ranking: 6 out of 6
Cost
Tickets are very hard to come by and the Badgers recently implemented a staggered structure of pricing based on opponent. Single game seats are $45, $55 or $65, no matter where you sit in the stadium. I’ve seen this before, but it seems crazy to me that my last row in the stadium seat, cost the same as one in the lower deck at the mid field. Regardless, these prices aren’t bad as they are well cheaper than prices at other Big Ten heavyweight schools. Parking was reasonable too as the few single game lots are $15, while the Bucky Bus ($5) and City Parking ($5-$10) combo was good too. My program cost $7, while I thought the concessions were on the higher priced tier, mainly because of the pricing early seen. A hot dog was $3.50, water was $4 and the biggest rip-off were “Barbie’s Chocolate Chip Cookies” which provided 3 medium-sized cookies for $6.
Cost Ranking: 6 out of 8
Fan Support
Fan support is tremendous with Camp Randall near or at capacity every game. The Badgers are year in and year out, top 16 in attendance nationally, topped only by schools with bigger stadiums. Given that this is the only FBS school in Wisconsin, they get the full support of the state. It was a bit disappointing to see it take a quarter for the student section to fill up as they were slow to arrive. There were still two sections left empty, but regardless, a huge amount of students make up the entire east end zone. Other fans were all there mostly on-time with every seat filled and the majority decked out in their red Wisconsin apparel.
Fan Support Ranking: 8 out of 8
Atmosphere
Attending a game at Camp Randall in a sea of red is a terrific experience that is enhanced by a couple of traditions. The first (and the one I was really looking forward to), was “Jump Around”. At the end of the third quarter and after the scoreboard’s cartoon race between student sections, House of Pain comes on and the place goes nuts. All students jump up and down with the rest of the fans mildly joining in. I wasn’t sure if I was shivering from the cold or if the stadium really was bouncing, but it was awesome. The other big Camp Randall tradition is the 5th Quarter, where the very talented UW Marching Band plays for 20 minutes after the game. They played “On Wisconsin”, “Varsity” and “You’ve Said it All”, along with other new and old favorites. Not many stayed for it, but I did and was glad to have stuck around as the performance was impressive. As for the game atmosphere, it was very good. Though not a deafening or even an overly loud stadium, the place did get going during the key moments. Gauging from my nearby sections, fans stood mainly just for scores and really big plays (maybe it was the cold). Students are certainly quite loud and organized with their cheering chants and motions. One thing I noticed was how joyful and festive the place was as there were a few songs that everybody sang together, most notably “Build me up, Buttercup”.
Atmosphere Ranking: 12 out of 14
Other Stuff
Bucky Badger is the school’s mascot and he is quite popular at the games. Along with doing pushups after touchdowns, winter hats donning that famous badger mascot face can be seen on girls and kids everywhere…Before the game, the school hosts Badgerville, which is located on the practice field near the stadium. It’s a nice spot to hang out with food and games…..Paul Bunyan’s Axe is awarded to the winner of the Wisconsin-Minnesota game each year, a rivalry that has the most games in FBS…..Camp Randall Stadium is the fifth oldest in this classification of Division I.
Game
It was a sluggish start for both schools as the first half was mostly ugly. Illinois took a 7-0 lead and finally late in the second quarter, the fans had reason to get excited as James White got some nice blocks on a screen pass and went 66 yards to tie the game. In the third, Wisconsin used a big play to set up a leading field goal and then after a shanked Illinois punt, the Badgers took control with a touchdown to go up 17-7. The Badger offensive line dominated in the fourth and RB Montee Ball was exceptional as he juked and jived to a pair of touchdowns, leaving him just nine shy of the NCAA record. Wisconsin went on to win 31-14 and Ball finished with 116 yards rushing. Jared Abbrederis had 7 catches for 117 yards and a TD.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
