Time to expand Oklahoma Memorial Stadium?

[ou48A]

Holy cats!

Another $300 to $400 million?? That's a ton of money considering they've spent $125 million just on the stadium over the last 10 years (doesn't include practice facility, Headington Hall, etc.).

To put that into perspective, OSU spent $260 million for their entire stadium project.

Actually I think the total figure for all OU football stadium improvements under Joe C prior to this has been somewhere close to $180 million.....?

I hope OU has some big donors.
An OU official who I talked to this weekend at length, told me that OU would kick off a formal fund raising campaign this June or July.

[ou48A]

By comparison Baylor is building an entire new stadium from scratch for about 250 million.
Regents Approve Construction of Baylor Stadium - Baylor Bears Official Athletic Site - BaylorBears.com.

[ou48A]

A nice thing for OU is that if the demand is ever there for future expansion a north end zone upper deck could put OU's stadium well beyond the 100,000 mark.

[Pete]

If they are going to spend another $300+million it would have to include something like completely replacing the west upper deck. The entire east structure including the club level and suites was only $50 million.

[Snowman]

By comparison Baylor is building an entire new stadium from scratch for about 250 million.
Regents Approve Construction of Baylor Stadium - Baylor Bears Official Athletic Site - BaylorBears.com.

Reminds me of references to stadiums as an island in a sea of parking lots, from two sides it will look a bit like an actual island, with it being built on the other side of the river from everything else on campus it pretty much is too.

[SoonerDave]

No question in my mind that the lion's share of the expansion cost will be due to the new pressbox construction. You've got demo of the existing structure plus entirely new construction that will span the entire west deck. There's also the question of how they plan to handle the rake difference between the sidelines and the south endzone, which could imply some structural changes to the current s. endzone structure.

Aside from the press box and the eye candy of having a bowled-in stadium, I think the lion's share of this $300M expansion is going under the hood. Heck, you could conceivably put in semi-permanent temporary bleacher structures ala the Cotton Bowl to fill in the corners on the cheap if you wanted.

Will be great fun to watch it all unfold, see how the details in reality match up with the report.

[Laramie]

Great news about the stadium expansion. This should move me up on that waiting list of 15,000.

"Oklahoma City looks oh-so pretty... ...as I get my kicks on Route 66." --Nat King Cole.

[warreng88]

It funny, Dean Blevins tweeted, "Latest info on renovations at OU's Memorial Stadium that I brought you first last night. #OU #sooners #moreseating." First? Really? Pretty sure we were talking about this a couple of months ago...

[Pete]

I'm beginning to think this is all getting confused..

Last February, Joe Castiglione was interviewed saying they had just commenced a study to look at the long-term stadium plan, as well as virtually all the other athletic facilities.

Every May the Board of Regents meets to review and update their list of capital projects, both in progress and proposed. As of last May, there were only minor athletic facilities on the list (like the OU Boathouse).

Now, their 2014 meeting is approaching (May 8th or 9th) and Dean puts out this cryptic information. To date, there hasn't even been a fundraising plan announced... Last time OU did something like this there was a huge PR campaign and the whole thing lasted several years.

I suspect they are going to the Regents with a conceptual plan and then will kick off the fundraising.

And I'm sure a big chunk of the $300+ million will be used for other athletic facilities, like a major re-do of Loyd Noble.

[SoonerDave]

I'm beginning to think this is all getting confused..

Last February, Joe Castiglione was interviewed saying they had just commenced a study to look at the long-term stadium plan, as well as virtually all the other athletic facilities.

Every May the Board of Regents meets to review and update their list of capital projects, both in progress and proposed. As of last May, there were only minor athletic facilities on the list (like the OU Boathouse).

Now, their 2014 meeting is approaching (May 8th or 9th) and Dean puts out this cryptic information. To date, there hasn't even been a fundraising plan announced... Last time OU did something like this there was a huge PR campaign and the whole thing lasted several years.

I suspect they are going to the Regents with a conceptual plan and then will kick off the fundraising.

And I'm sure a big chunk of the $300+ million will be used for other athletic facilities, like a major re-do of Loyd Noble.

I dunno, Pete. The peculiar logistics of the kind of work they're supposedly going to do to OMS (particularly in terms of the west press box) will make that project much more expensive than just an expansion. Back in '03, when they built the new east decks, they had virtually zero demo to do - there was nothing there except Jenkins Avenue that they just had to move east a bit. Not so with the pressbox; one of the reasons that project got delayed as much as it has (even beyond the financial meltdown) is because of the logistical difficulties and consequent expense of doing all the demolition of the existing pressbox plus all the construction on the new superstructure for its replacement. If its true that it will span the entire west deck, and I've heard nothing different about that amid the various forms of speculation, then that's a pretty big structural change to the west side as well. The presence of the parking garage makes the project much more complicated logistically, combined with the fact you've got to be careful how much heavy equipment you can put inside the stadium without damaging the playing surface.

And as I noted before, they may also be undertaking some similar structural changes to the south endzone. They've got to deal with the rake differences somehow (and there are numerous notions how that will be accomplished), but no matter which one you take it's not a simple as a straight-up build, I don't believe. The most extreme notion I heard was to RAZE the south endzone structure and rebuild the entire thing from scratch - but then you've got to dismantle and store that mammoth scoreboard before you can do that.

Mind you, I don't have any special insight on any of this, just some speculation based on watching the place get amended several times since I was a kid. All this is to say that the kind of expansion being discussed could easily get really expensive really quickly simply by virtue of the unique logistics around the stadium as it sits right now, making it unique among other comparable projects like OSU's stadium reno or Baylor's new facility build.

Now, if this ends up being a Dean Blevins red herring, and its all a re-hash of info we've heard before, then who knows what will happen. I personally think the general plans have been in place for some time, and the Joe C. announcement you mention is simply the "public face" of the, ahem, "process" to explore how the stadium could be rebuilt, when in reality that's long-since been decided. I suspect the regents know exactly what's going to happen, and already have much of the funding "unofficially" in place. I remember Joe C talking about the press box project when the economy melted down, and the prospective donors dried up, and he was adamant that "We would not undertake a project that wouldn't be fiscally sound," and I think that was an implicit concession to the idea that their funding sources simply dried up as the economy tanked.

[Urbanized]

Also you would have to deal with the Switzer Center and team offices/workout facilities, which represent tens of millions in existing infrastructure. The disruption would be extreme. I've never understood the issue with the rake anyway. You can continue/bowl the ends from either the O.G. stadium or the south end zone without actually CONNECTING to the other. You might have small pie-wedged gaps left to preserve sight lines, but it will essentially be a bowled stadium.

I'm not crazy about expansion though. Even with the addition of the outdoor concourse area last time the stadium expanded, the additional bodies made it almost impassable at times underneath the stadium and on ramps, and it definitely made it more difficult to get anything approaching face on a regular basis when reselling. I'm not looking to scalp, but I would like to recapture face value when I have extras, as I do nearly every game. Another expansion and I'd probably just as well lay the extras on the ground outside the stadium.

[SoonerDave]

Also you would have to deal with the Switzer Center and team offices/workout facilities, which represent tens of millions in existing infrastructure. The disruption would be extreme. I've never understood the issue with the rake anyway. You can continue/bowl the ends from either the O.G. stadium or the south end zone without actually CONNECTING to the other. You might have small pie-wedged gaps left to preserve sight lines, but it will essentially be a bowled stadium.

I'm not crazy about expansion though. Even with the addition of the outdoor concourse area last time the stadium expanded, the additional bodies made it almost impassable at times underneath the stadium and on ramps, and it definitely made it more difficult to get anything approaching face on a regular basis when reselling. I'm not looking to scalp, but I would like to recapture face value when I have extras, as I do nearly every game. Another expansion and I'd probably just as well lay the extras on the ground outside the stadium.

That's why I think there was no emphasis on expansion except that which was essentially incidental to whatever changes they made. That is, the old STEP program that built the west deck in 1974 was specifically to enlarge the stadium by about 10K seats, but the renovations this time are to add new internal team amenities that I believe will incidentally lead to more seating. Expanding in that vein isn't their primary objective.

And selling tickets on game day has been a losing proposition down there for close to thirty years or more. When my mom lost interest in going to the games, she used to try to have me sell her tickets, but I could never get anything for them, and I had better student seats (they were reserved back then), so she let them go. I've never had OU season tickets since then, and have always had my choice of tix outside the stadium on game day and paid over face one time - Nebraska 2000.

[adaniel]

An increase in capacity of 6K is definitely on the high end of what can be absorbed by the current market, but probably doable in the long run. The record for a crowd (I think) was 89K for the 2012 OU-Notre Dame game, which is still above the proposed new capacity.

I do worry about when we play the Iowa States and North Texases. Even now there are vast swaths of empty seats even though they are official sellouts.

[SoonerDave]

An increase in capacity of 6K is definitely on the high end of what can be absorbed by the current market, but probably doable in the long run. The record for a crowd (I think) was 89K for the 2012 OU-Notre Dame game, which is still above the proposed new capacity.

I do worry about when we play the Iowa States and North Texases. Even now there are vast swaths of empty seats even though they are official sellouts.

Yeah I think we've obviously had some generous supporters that have bought up excess tickets to keep that "sellout" streak alive, especially when there are huge chunks of empty seats (student section in particular) in the stadium. That November Iowa State game a couple of years back that was played in conditions not too departed from the Antarctic was clearly one of those games...and I remember back in 03 as my son and I looked for tickets around the stadium for the season opener, two guys with official OU nametag/ID badges came along, one carrying a big glassine envelope filled with tickets asked me "Hey, looking for tickets? How many do you need," and I said "two.." and he stuck two tickets in my hand. He started to walk off, and I asked him "hey, wait, how much?" and he said "free, enjoy the game." Couldn't believe that one

I'm guessing they have a short-list of donors/sponsors who can be contacted to buy up blocks of unsold tickets so many minutes/hours before a game so as to avoid any risk of losing the sellout streak. I also think the ebbing student enthusiasm has started to "stick in the craw" of some ticketholders that they should start reducing student ticket allotments if they're not going to use them.

[kevin lee]

I'm trying to figure out how a $300 million dollar project is only going to take 9 months to finish?

[BG918]

I'm trying to figure out how a $300 million dollar project is only going to take 9 months to finish?

They could maybe do the press box and suites, but no way they do the south end zone and interior upgrades in that timeframe. This is more like a 2-3 year project if it is indeed $350-400 million.

[Pete]

It took 2 full years just to add the east upper deck for $50 million.

[Just the facts]

By comparison Baylor is building an entire new stadium from scratch for about 250 million.
Regents Approve Construction of Baylor Stadium - Baylor Bears Official Athletic Site - BaylorBears.com.

I suggested OU just build a new stadium across the street for a fraction of the cost of expansion and you would of thought I was suggesting we throw kittens through a wood chipper.

[Just the facts]

I'm trying to figure out how a $300 million dollar project is only going to take 9 months to finish?

The higher price is the result of the faster pace.

[Rover]

I'm trying to figure out how a $300 million dollar project is only going to take 9 months to finish?

Texas aggies are doing a $450 million one in the off season. It can be done.

[Money Shot]

I wish they would construct a 6 story parking garage in the track parking lot with some of that 300 million.

[traxx]

No question in my mind that the lion's share of the expansion cost will be due to the new pressbox construction. You've got demo of the existing structure plus entirely new construction that will span the entire west deck. There's also the question of how they plan to handle the rake difference between the sidelines and the south endzone, which could imply some structural changes to the current s. endzone structure.

Aside from the press box and the eye candy of having a bowled-in stadium, I think the lion's share of this $300M expansion is going under the hood. Heck, you could conceivably put in semi-permanent temporary bleacher structures ala the Cotton Bowl to fill in the corners on the cheap if you wanted.

Will be great fun to watch it all unfold, see how the details in reality match up with the report.

Agree.

People bringing up that Baylor is building a stadium from scratch for less doesn't take into account that it is more difficult to add on and retrofit a 90+ year old stadium than to build a new one. They've known they've needed to upgrade the pressbox for some time now. The reason they've put it off is because of the logistical nightmare that it's going to be. When they put the new parking structure in place, they made it much more difficult to get equipment, cranes and trucks in there to re-do the pressbox.

[SoonerDave]

Agree.

People bringing up that Baylor is building a stadium from scratch for less doesn't take into account that it is more difficult to add on and retrofit a 90+ year old stadium than to build a new one. They've known they've needed to upgrade the pressbox for some time now. The reason they've put it off is because of the logistical nightmare that it's going to be. When they put the new parking structure in place, they made it much more difficult to get equipment, cranes and trucks in there to re-do the pressbox.

Bingo. What kills me is that they built that parking garage knowing full well that they were going to have to do something significant to the pressbox in just a few years. It's not like that project was a sudden surprise to everyone at OU - I've heard stories for some time (years) that it's become a bit of a lipstick-on-a-pig place, which is sad, because when it opened up I recall it being considered one of the best press facilities in the country....forty years ago

[SoonerDave]

I suggested OU just build a new stadium across the street for a fraction of the cost of expansion and you would of thought I was suggesting we throw kittens through a wood chipper.

Bit of an apples-to-pudding comparison. Baylor is building a 45K seat facility, whereas OU has already invested enough to host just over 86K, and the rumored upgrades will push that up to 88-90K. OMS, as it sits, doesn't have an "across the street" to visit - facilities - many very new - exist in all directions. And then there's the question/cost of what you do with the existing place - to say nothing of the fact you've sunk $125M in the last ten years to bring it up to top-tier current standards, which would be wasted.

[bluedogok]

Baylor is also a "green field" build, nothing existing to work around and add complexity or compromises.