I don't like to do anything "half-ass" since I am a perfectionist in some areas of my life, especially when it comes to things like math and science. And so I decided to find some good aerial photos of the speedway and do some measuring of distances to calculate things much more precisely. And it is MUCH uglier than I realized previously, for anyone who would be sitting in either endzone!!!
To begin with, the straight sections of the track are 650 feet long (217 yards rounded off). Since a football field is 120 yards long, the straight sections of the track are 97 yards longer than the length of the football field. If the field is centered in the middle of the stadium, this means that the back line of each endzone would be 48.5 yards closer to the middle of the stadium than the points where the straight sections of the track end.
I also took measurements in all four "corners" of the track, to calculate an average for the distance that the track curves away from the center of the stadium. These measurements were necessary to calculate the distance that the first row of the endzone seats (in the center of the endzone) would be away from the field.
And here are the UGLY results.
I was surprisingly accurate with my previous estimate when I said the width of the area available for the football field would be at least 200 yards (based on the curves being 910 feet long (303 yards). It turned out to be 207 yards wide according to my measurements. So if you subtract the width of the field (54 yards, I think), that gives you 153 yards for the two sidelines.
So that means that if you were sitting on the first row of the stands on the 50 yard line, you would be 76.5 yards from the NEAREST sideline. But it would actually be further than that, because the stands don't come all the way down to the edge of the track, especially on one side of the track.
And as I pointed out previously, you would want to sit higher up than usual, because of the long distance you would be away from the field, to make sure you have some semblance of depth perception and to see over all the players and coaches on the sideline. So in actuality, you would probably be about 100 yards from the NEAREST sideline.
And the endzone seats would be MUCH worse! Based on my measurements and calculations, the first row of the endzone seats (in the center) would be about 157 yards from the NEAREST part of the field! And when you add the length of the field, those seats would be 277 yards from the farthest end of the field (the back line of the far endzone)!!! And people sitting higher up would be further away than that.
I cannot conceive of trying to follow the football from more than 250 yards away! I'm sorry UTAD and Bruton Smith, but this venue would be a DEBACLE/FIASCO for watching a football game. And there is no argument to the contrary that can be made effectively, IMO, even though I am sure UTAD will do their best to try, when they are trying to sell tickets.