Syracuse’s plan to “weaponize the dome” is officially underway, but athletic director Bryan Blair says fans shouldn’t expect the full makeover all at once.
Speaking Thursday at ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, Blair said the school will announce changes to the football gameday experience at the JMA Wireless Dome in August. The first-year athletic director, who officially replaced John Wildhack on July 1, described the effort as a three-year initiative built around improving the atmosphere inside the building.
For this fall, Syracuse will introduce some new elements on football game days while also studying what kind of technology upgrades the dome will need down the road. Blair made clear he sees the enclosed venue as a major advantage.
“We need to have something for everybody in that dome,” Blair said. “We need to make sure that we generate the most revenue that we can because that’s name of the game right now.
“When you’ve got an enclosed atmosphere, we can control what you smell, what you see, what you hear. Every single aspect. And that’s going to be a multi-year process to really dig into what it is we need from a technology standpoint and an infrastructure standpoint.”
Blair has already been on the road studying how other programs and pro venues handle entertainment. In a public newsletter to Syracuse fans, he said he had started touring athletic facilities around the country, looking for ideas that could translate to Central New York.
He didn’t name specific changes coming next year, but he did say pyrotechnics have become a standard part of the gameday experience in sports. He also noted that Syracuse chancellor Mike Haynie likes the idea of a dunk tank, something Blair had previously installed at Toledo.
“I just think it adds a ‘wow factor,’ ” Blair said. “Mystique.
In the indoor environment you think about those night games going full dark and what that flame looks like as the team runs out and the energy. You combine that with the right music, the right tones, the right video assets.
“I think you can create a mixture that’s pretty good. We want to think outside the box on some of the things that we do and really get creative.”
The process, Blair said, won’t be perfect from the jump. He plans to work with chief facilities officer Pete Sala as Syracuse tests ideas, learns from missteps and keeps pushing toward what he called the ultimate fan experience.
“I need to give our team the permission to try things,” Blair said. “Experiment, take some calculated risks, learn from them and grow from them.
I think a lot of what we try and see over the first year, there’s going to be some trial and error; and that needs to be okay for us to get to where we want to go. We’re going to have to bump our head a couple times.”
Blair also wants to reshape the scene around the stadium, including tailgating. He said he’s considering adding a DJ and other live music options to create more of a festival feel, alongside Syracuse’s marching band. He’s also looking at ways to refine the Quad Walk.
One of the few concrete details he offered was that Syracuse’s marching band will wear new commemorative uniforms this season as it celebrates its 150th year.
Because Blair didn’t arrive at Syracuse until the spring, he said he still needs to experience football and basketball at the JMA Dome himself before fully understanding what the building can become. Even so, he made it clear that investment will be part of the equation.
“The reality is the individuals and organizations that do it the best ask their fan base often what they want to see,” Blair said. “It’s not terribly complicated. I don’t know what historically has been done in that vein, but we’re going to assemble a lot of focus groups and ask people.”
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