Colorado State Univ. President Tony Frank on Friday "will recommend that the school build a new stadium on campus" when he meets with the school's BOG, according to Kelly Lyell of the Ft. Collins COLORADOAN. Frank in an e-mail wrote in addition to football, the venue would have "other uses that are part and parcel of campus life." His recommendation "calls for the university to issue the full" $195M in revenue bonds "to pay for construction, with donations that have been pledged toward the project used to cover the debt-service payments." Frank said that he will have Icon Venue Group President & CEO Tim Romani, whose firm "commissioned the study by Conventions Sports and Leisure that produced the revenue projections, discuss those findings" at Friday's meeting (Ft. Collins COLORADOAN, 11/30). In Denver, Terry Frei reported Frank "had determined that remaining at Hughes Stadium, either with short-term fixes or a long-term commitment and massive expenditures under a 'Hughes 2050' plan, wasn't a viable or financially sound option." Frank said that it "might be possible for the university to stick with the full-scale project" -- estimated to cost $220M -- rather than "scale back in a 'phased' approach, with an estimated original price tag" of $195M (DENVER POST, 11/30).
BOULDER DASH: In Denver, Patrick Saunders notes the Univ. of Colorado's $143M "state-of-the art athletic complex is under construction, with a completion date set for August." The project "includes a multipurpose indoor practice facility, as well as refurbishment of the Dal Ward Athletics Center." The 120,000-square-foot practice facility "will include a 100-yard, artificial turf football field and a six-lane, 300-meter track" (DENVER POST, 12/1).
DEVILS' ADVOCATE: The Durham HERALD-SUN wrote work on Duke Univ.'s campus that began Friday night and will continue until the beginning of the '16 season "will literally reshape venerable Wallace Wade Stadium and the landscape around it." The result "will be a venue whose stature catches up with the reinvigorated stature of the football team itself." The field "will be lowered so 6,500 new seats can be added behind both bench areas." The Finch-Yeager building, the sports medicine center that "does awkward game-day duty to house entertainment suites and the press box, is coming down." Replacing it will be a five-story, 90,000-square-foot tower that "will include 21 luxury suites to better entertain visitors and to court potential donors" (Durham HERALD-SUN, 11/29).
