Stadiums I've Been To For CFB Games: Vanderbilt Stadium

by Nico2.0 on Jun 25, 2009 12:17 PM CDT in Road Trip Comment 11 comments

Last row of the stadium and still a great seat

Vanderbilt Stadium (website)
Vanderbilt Commodores (website)
Nashville, Tennessee
Capacity: 39,790

I've only been there once, for Alabama's 24-10 win over the 'Dores in 2007. It was a bit of an ordeal getting there for me. My car broke down on the way and after I did a roadside repair which greatly delayed me, my air conditioner broke. Needless to say, a 4+ hour car ride with no A/C in early September was kind of brutal.

Our fans completely took the place over (see below.) It felt like a tiny, quaint version of BDS that day. Any time they started a cheer, we'd just drown it out instantly. The stadium is super easy to get in and out of both on foot as well as traffic-wise...and that's always a major plus when thinking about leaving places like Athens or Tuscaloosa after a game. Anyway, I had a seat on the last row of the stadium and it still felt like I was right on top of the action.

There's no real tailgating to speak of there (I saw very few tents) and even the vendors outside of the stadium were selling Alabama gear at a rate of about 10-1 to Vandy gear. Not one of football's "hallowed grounds" by any means and nowhere you're going to go out of your way to check out if your team's not involved, but given my proximity to it, I'd definitely go see Alabama play there again....plus it's in Nashville, which is always a good time.

What's this about it being a road game?

494 miles round trip with no A/C in September...the things we do for our team

0 recs | Comment 11 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Nashville Native

Nashville’s a great place, although I’m a little biased as a resident. Tickets to Vandy games are easy to get, and I try to make it to a couple as I live about a mile from the stadium and will go as long as Bama isn’t playing at the same time. I went to the Vandy/USC game last year, on the Thursday night opening game of the season, which was great. Also went to the Vandy/Florida game too, which was horrible. It was weird being there as a Bama fan, as it was late in the year and the Bama Florida Championship matchup wasn’t set yet but pretty much inevitable.

Tons of bars and stuff to do in Nashville too. Its not the greatest stadium with the greatest football atmosphere, but its a city with things other than the university, which a lot of places like Tuscaloosa, Athens, Oxford, etc. can’t claim.

by Bobby Briggs on Jun 25, 2009 12:39 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

FYI

Do not park in the parking deck. That place was a nightmare to get out of.

by JR01 on Jun 25, 2009 1:48 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I parked at some nearby church...

….and they were only asking for donations, which weren’t even mandatory. I gave ’em $5.00 and they even offered me hamburgers and hotdogs.

RollBamaRoll.com

by Nico2.0 on Jun 25, 2009 2:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks - I'll have to remember that for next time.

by JR01 on Jun 25, 2009 4:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

In the first picture

In the top left corner, that empty space is the Student Section. What little tailgating by the students that occurs (in the Field of Dreams, may it rest in peace) typically is more fun than the football game. At least I didn’t make many games before halftime (if we were winning, close), and I only made a point of going to the Vandy-Ole Miss game (b/c that was an SEC game we could win). Plus, I hate ole miss with a passion. anyway.

But lets not disparage Vandy students. A lot of us are descendants of traditional SEC families, and there is a small contingent of die hards who tried to reproduce what we experienced at Bama and other places there in Nashville.

by Go Hide in the V-berth on Jun 25, 2009 2:50 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I

remember this game because my wife (fiance at the time) and I were having lunch (during the game) with the pastor who was going to marry us. It was Saban’s first SEC game as ‘Bama coach. We met the pastor for the first time that day and he wanted to talk to us, get to know us etc… We sat in a place where I had to look over the shoulder, just past his head to see a TV that had the game on. He wasn’t the least bit concerned with the game so I figured maybe he just wasn’t a football fan. I pretended I had to go to the bathroom several times so I could catch what little of it I could. Towards the end of the meal he mentions that all of his kids went to Auburn. Now realizing that the reason he didn’t care was because he was an Auburn fan, I punched him in the face, slung his plate off the table and walked out. Just kidding…maybe.

"A demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." -H. L. Mencken

by Bens4vcobra on Jun 25, 2009 3:21 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Half of Vandy's season ticket packages

are sold to Nashville residents who are fans of other SEC schools playing at Vandy that year.

by EZ on Jun 25, 2009 3:43 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Yep

A buddy of mine bought one just for the UA game.

by JR01 on Jun 25, 2009 4:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I went to a

bunch of Vandy games during the 6 years i lived there. Saw them play Alabama twice, and UK every year. (my dad is a big UK fan). Id say i went to 5 games a year.

Back then the seating was terrible. I know all stadiums use bleachers but these were like the prototypes of the first ever built…..the only good thing was that the games were never sold out so you never were mashed in like at BDS.

the field was also astro and it made the stadium look smaller and well…crappier…with the new real or fake grass the new field looks 100 times better…

Tailgating was also non existence and i echo the parking problems.

I did enjoy the cheap tickets and the polite vandy fans. I never met one i didn’t like and none were delusional like barners or vols…

id give it about 6 out of 10 on game experience.

‘When you build a house and you make it hurricane-proof by putting certain kinds of windows in it, and use cement instead of stick construction and all that kind of stuff, you’re getting prepared for what? A hurricane that may or may never every come." ’We’re going to have 12 hurricanes next year, we know they’re coming.’
- Coach Nick Saban

by bammer on Jun 25, 2009 5:37 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Vandy has weird aisles

they aren’t straight. The area i sa in had aisles with this zig zag so it was more line a “z” than an “l” made for a huge bottle neck getting in and out of the sections.

"Jay Jacobs can't go to the bathroom without Bobby Lowder's permission" - Paul Finebaum

by GumptownTiger on Jun 25, 2009 5:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs