Spartan Stadium — Attraction in East Lansing

Spartan Stadium has a great atmosphere and a wonderful fan experience AS LONG AS YOU ARE AT YOUR SEATS INSIDE THE STADIUM BOWL. The Woodshed is a classic and I love it dearly, but they have a LOT to improve on, including the following:

-Bathrooms: almost as bad as a prison bathroom, especially if you're talking about the upper concourse. The fact that there are still troughs in a stadium in 2023 is beyond me. At minimum, they should upgrade the bathrooms by removing troughs and replacing with urinals/more stalls & completely redoing the upper level bathrooms (seriously, I think I would rather use a prison toilet).

-Concourses: Since the stadium has open ends that do not keep out wind and cold, going to the concourse to warm up during a late November game makes no difference in how cold you are. PLEASE ENCLOSE THE CONCOURSES SO WE CAN STAY WARM. And while they're at it, they should make the concourse look more appealing, with it now existing as a dark, depressing alley that is usually crowded with people waiting for the bathrooms or for their hot chocolate. The hot chocolate is probably a fan's best source of warmth, along with the hand dryers from the bathroom (a sober fan, at least).

-Exterior/Aesthetics: The open concrete on the front of the south end is so outdated and makes the stadium look old and uninspiring. It hasn't changed since they upgraded the stadium in 1955, but it wouldn't take too much to enclose the open concrete at the front of the stadium. Furthermore, the east side of the stadium looks horrendous, with zigzagging ramps that are reminiscent of a multi-purpose stadium that should've been demolished 20 years ago. The rusted beams and concrete that builds up to the upper deck are an eyesore, and will hopefully be renovated soon. With the new STEM building now located on the east side of the stadium, I hope MSU will reface this side and make it look more appealing.

-Concessions: I believe the stadium is slated to get renovated concessions in the coming years, but my goodness they are bad. Don't get me wrong, I love a good melting moment, hot chocolate, or hot combo (as a student). But, for a Big Ten stadium, the concessions here are nothing short of embarrassing. It reminds me of Joe Louis Arena's concessions before its demolition, but worse. Luckily, they added beer to their drink options - a smart move considering the team's performance this year has given MSU fans every reason to increase their alcohol consumption. I am looking forward to seeing how they will increase/adjust their beer selection in the coming years.

-Stadium Operations: As a student attending a game when the team is playing well, the stadium's setup of admitting students into the game is HORRENDOUS. For starters, students can only enter the stadium through ONE GATE. With a student section that comprises roughly 1/6 of a 75,000-seat stadium (~13,000 students), I don't understand why students are only allowed to enter at Gate B at the south endzone. This side is already crowded with tailgates in the Spartan Stadium parking lot, which forces them to corral students using roped off lines that sometimes extend all the way to the street and even around the west side of the stadium and/or STEM building. This is an operational flaw that could be corrected by opening another gate for student admission or by allowing students to enter at any gate, while requiring them to provide a student ID to obtain a wristband if their ticket is classified as a "Student General Admission" ticket. The current operation is a disorganized mess that blocks foot traffic and disrupts the flow of fans into the stadium. Even if you show up early, you may not get into the stadium in time for kickoff, as the student gates are mostly staffed by older volunteers that are not fast and capable enough to get students into the stadium in a timely manner.

Final Comment: With Mel Tucker's recent firing, MSU will still have some donated money to work with. I can only hope they take a fan-sided approach and renovate this...

Great stadium! Had a major issue!!!! I took a group of 12, to a Illinois vs MSU game. All 12 of my guy's were supposed to be considered as recruits on a visit. We get there at the gates had to wait outside for 1hr, to an event we were told to be 2 hrs early to to attend all of the things on the itinerary. Finally will call tells us to come up and ask for all there names, to be provided our name badges and tickets. Come to find out we only received tickets to get into to the game. But we were originally supposed to be set up and provided credentials and welcomed with open arms to the staff and coaches. They didn't provide any of my men with there name badges. We were supposed to get there early to eat dinner, then have a tour of the football facilities. They tell us that we were not allow to go on the tour. Because apparently coach Dantonio, said from previous recruiting visit they had to many recruits on the field, and the field was to crowded. However I thinking I never received any calls from any of the coaches that I had previously spoken with earlier in the week. No one mentioned to me, that plans had changed and this was the new itinerary. So my guy's are all thinking we were good to go without any hiccups. Get inside the stadium, I'm talking to the staff telling them what's going on and how we are supposed to be with the group of recruits of our visit. Right as I say that all the other recruits come out door and walked right passed us about 75 guys or so. Not to mention they just got out of eating the dinner, that were we supposed to attending, and told to be there 2hrs early for. We were all starving and waiting outside in the cold freezing. There was still one hour before the game actually started. So we just went to our seats. All my young men were upset because I have took them all on previous visits with me before and never went through any of this. Long story short We never got to go on the tour, eat or on the field. Probably one of the worst experiences I have ever had. So upset my guy's had to experience this. Be...

I've had issues with Spartan Stadium previously but last night's opener was all the confirmation I needed that MSU either doesn't care about the football team or doesn't care about the fans. I went to two games last year and the season opener this year. Let me start with this statement, "MSU has 9 months to prepare for opening kickoff." This is how they did. We walk in the stadium 40 minutes before kickoff and head straight to the taco bar. They didn't have anything but shells and meat. No toppings, cheese, lettuce, nothing, and we're missing most of what was on the board for sale. At end of first quarter head to nacho hut upstairs. Same thing, missing almost everything and no beer. All the staff I encountered was hating life, they were untrained, told me they hadn't even passed background checks, were massively understaffed, and one kid was going out of his way to void tips so customers wouldn't scream at him. Why wouldn't MSU have their stadium stocked up? Why wouldn't they discount items that were missing half their stuff. And for the love of God WHY DONT THEIR TVS HAVE THE GAME ON WHEN YOURE WAITING IN LONG BACKED UP LINES?! MSU sucks. I hope they lose for the next 50 years. They don't care about the fans and now I don't care about...