Hopp Stadium in Ripon, Wisconsin is home to the Ripon Redhawks of the Division 3 Midwest Conference. This 2,000 seat stadium plays host not just to the football program, but also both soccer programs too. It is one of the newest D3 stadiums, as it opened just three years ago in 2023. I had the opportunity to attend a game here in this town in central Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the result was a 31 point loss for the Redhawks, which was a massive downside. However, how did Hopp Stadium fare? Let's find out below!
Amenities:
So.. no regular food stand but a food truck was there. The bathrooms were clean and the whole stadium was super clean. The staff were also super nice, so the amenities are sort of there, but no main food stand is a very interesting choice. 3 out of 5.
Atmosphere:
You definitely could easily feel for the Ripon fans, after a 31-0 loss on this day, because there were several opportunities for the Redhawks to score and make this a game but nothing was done. It was a bunch who wanted to have something to cheer about, but there was a palpable frustration throughout. Unfortunately on this day, this dampened the atmosphere. There was emotion though, so I will give it a 1.5 out of 5.
Location:
Ripon is in central-ish Wisconsin, but with a population of under 8 thousand, it's going to rely on the college a lot. Hopp Stadium is smack dab in the middle of the campus which makes this a solid plus. It is also not terribly far from the main town center, but again it is a small town that won't be incredibly lively. The on-campus stadium part does help this score pretty solidly and will help the students have a Saturday afternoon watching ball for a couple of hours. 3.5 out of 5.
Price/Quality:
It's less than 10 for a ticket and it was free to park near the stadium. Those are the plus sides. The food was way too expensive overall and lacked the quality to make it worth the price. At best, it was above average. With that, its a 3 out of 5 with the ticket/parking being cheap making this as high of a score as it is.
Review:
One of the newest stadiums on the board, Hopp Stadium does have some things to work out. Mainly, if they got a food stand of their own it might help. The food truck was far too expensive for middle of the road quality. I feel a lot of this rating would have been better if the atmosphere was better, but you have to rate on the days you go, and unfortunately for the Redhawks, they get rated on a rather tough day. Will say, this would be a stadium I would like to review again in a couple of years if able. For now, that 11 will stay.
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