Tom Garfinkel – September 1, 2016
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Thursday, September 1, 2016
President & CEO Tom Garfinkel
(On whether work was done on the stadium up until today) – “There’s a lot of preparation to get the first game open, regardless of whether there’s a renovation or not, whether it’s pumping water out of the parking lots. We had a couple of minor snafus earlier today that had to get addressed. We have some soda lines on the 300 level that weren’t working, so we switched to packaged soda up there for $4. Just some things like that. Some of those things could have happened whether there was a renovation or not. That’s usual stuff. It’s definitely exciting to be here and have all the fans here.”
(On whether a lot of amenities were in the stadium last season) – “A lot of them. This phase (with) the shade canopy was certainly the big thing we worked on this offseason. It’s really incredible when you think about the amount of steel that was lifted and the number of pieces, the number of bolts. There were 600,000 bolts that had to be bolted in and all of these pieces of steel lifted. Again, it’s because of Steve Ross’ commitment not only financially, but to be personally invested every day – the phone calls, to driving it to conclusion. We had over 600 workers here, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for eight months. That’s what it took to get it done.”
(On when the 24-hour shifts ended for the workers) – “Just up until maybe a week ago. It’s not completely done. We’ll have some “pardon our dust” signs up on the video boards for people. You’ll notice that the ETFE – which is the translucent material that lets the light through, but not the heat – is on the south side and the east side. It’s not on the west side or the north side yet. That still has yet to go in. There’s some paneling on the outside of the roofing that still needs to go up. But that’s mostly aesthetic in nature. The structural elements of the roof are all in place and have been now for a couple of weeks, as you know. There will be some ongoing work and as we get to September 25, it’ll be all done.”
(On feedback regarding the modernization of the stadium) – “The feedback has been incredible from fans. It’s really fun seeing the players and the coaches get here, because a lot of them haven’t seen it yet. And having played here or coached here in the past, they’re just kind of blown away, like, ‘This feels like a totally different building.’ So that’s been a lot of fun and obviously seeing the fans’ reaction to it. It’ll be a lot of fun, again, on the 25th when it’s a 1 o’clock game and the fans are sitting in the shade and more comfortable than they had been in the past.”
(On how the stadium handled rain this week) – “It handled the rain fine. There’s a very sophisticated drainage system in the roof up there that basically takes the water down to the eight super columns and then out through the drainage system and then out into the canals. There’s still some of what they call flash work that goes on, sealing work that goes on with some of the ETFE in those things. So, if we got significant rain tonight we’d probably have some drips and things. But fortunately it doesn’t look like it’s going to rain, and we should be fine. But in terms of the roof structure itself, there’s also a big aperture in the middle, so depending on if the wind’s blowing, it’s not designed to keep everybody 100 percent dry from the rain. It’ll keep the upper deck and the 200 level completely dry, but some of the 100 level – depending on the direction of the wind – would get wet from the rain even when it’s done. But it’s all in place and ready to go.”
(On the field) – “The field is in amazing shape. I think the new paspalum (grass) is really incredible. I don’t know if you had a chance to be down there on the grass and actually put your hands on it and feel it. Next time you’re at camp, one of the fields is bermuda and one is paspalum. You can get down there and kind of dig your finger in bermuda and make a divot. You can’t do it in the paspalum. I think it’ll last longer aesthetically. The bermuda’s a fine grass, but this is more durable, aesthetically better, a little softer. So, the field is incredible.”
(On his most memorable exchange with a fan tonight) – “To be honest, I’ve been wandering around talking to you guys tonight, doing some other things. I haven’t had a chance to really interact with fans other than on Twitter so far today, but I’ll definitely get up in the stands and talk to a bunch of fans. I had a couple of memorable exchanges with coaches (and) talking to them about what they see and players. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a credit to Steve (Ross), again, and his vision and his commitment to get to this point at all.”
(On his most memorable exchange with a coach today) – “(Defensive Coordinator) Vance Joseph was just kind of standing there in awe when I was standing on the field talking to him for a little while. This is just a totally different place. I think, talking to (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator) Darren Rizzi and ‘Mouf’ (Assistant Special Teams Coach Marwan Maalouf) about sort of the special teams implications, we want to get them out here before that game to get some punts and kicks in so they can feel what the roof looks like and what it’s going to feel like. But all the feedback really has been very positive.”
(On whether the wind will be different within the stadium) – “You know, it’s a great question. In terms of the wind studies that we did prior to it being done, there’s certainly going to be some difference in terms of how the wind moves around. But it’s mainly … The roof sits, as you can see, above the top of the stadium, so the air flow through there and then the air flow through the corners actually creates more air flow at the seat level. On the field, it doesn’t change things a whole lot. The acoustics are very different, so it will be a lot louder. The crowd noise will stay in the bowl a lot more, which was a design, proactive intent on that one. But the wind shouldn’t be too much different.”
