Beaver Stadium was ALWAYS bigger than Michigan Stadium, but now it'll be official

I just can't tell you how happy this makes me. The Michigan Daily had the story this morning:

"The University has reached a settlement that ends the lawsuit over Michigan Stadium's accessibility to disabled fans - and, for the time being, will end the Big House's reign as the largest football stadium in the country."

But, oh, there's more:

"Because wheelchair-accessible seats take up about 12 times as much space as normal seats, the changes will also drop the stadium's seat capacity from 107,501 to an estimated 106,201 for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. That will make Michigan Stadium the second-largest football stadium in the country after Penn State University's Beaver Stadium, which holds 107,282."

I was fortunate enough to work for the Penn State All-Sports Museum in the Beav'. And I can tell you, one of the first things we told visitors on tours into the stadium was that Michigan Stadium allowed their fans two inches less per bleacher seat. If Penn State was to reduce its bleacher seat space allotment to that of Michigan's, Beaver Stadium's capacity would skyrocket upwards of 126,000. But that's not all:

"Engineering graduate student John Nanry said he thought the Big House "might lose a bit of its personality if it's not the biggest," but added that Penn State's Beaver Stadium already felt bigger because it traps sound better than Michigan Stadium."

Well, there's at least one intelligent human being in Ann Arbor. I've been to two games in Michigan Stadium--2002 and 2005. Although those two losses were the most painful in my enitre tenure with the Blue Band--attending every single home and away game for four years--I was struck by the fact that Michigan Stadium had no spark to it. The crowd noise is funnelled up and out, the view of it from the street is less than spectacular or intimidating, and it's cramped... reeeeally cramped. So Mr. Nanry was absolutely correct, and I applaude him for being honest. Beaver Stadium outshines "The Pig House" any day of the week, and will continue to do so, even after it's $226 million face lift.

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