East Carolina AD Jeff Compher on Saturday "unfurled his plans to renovate" Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium's south side with a "focus on a new press box but with a particular aim toward redesigning the seating in the grandstand to offer fans unique game days in Greenville," according to Nathan Summers of the Greenville DAILY REFLECTOR. Compher said that the $55M project is "targeted for completion" in time for the '18 season. Compher: "It's something that offers five premium opportunities, and we're off to a great start." Summers noted the project "will center on the construction of a tower that will house a new press level and a club level and lounge." Also, an 8,000-square-foot field-level club "will be built adjacent to the west end zone, offering a new view of game action." Compher said that the athletic department "must raise" a total of $15M in philanthropic funds, with the rest of the $55M cost "being paid out through the selling of the five new premium plans to be offered." Currently, $10M "has been committed in the first 50 days of the project." The "concept of the five new options -- premium parking, loge boxes, field-level club seats, suites and additional Pirate Club seating out of the sun on the south side -- was the product of a survey sent to ECU donors and season ticket holders at the earliest stage of the project." The last major stadium upgrade came in '10 with a 7,000-seat expansion in the east end zone and the "addition of 10,200 purple chairback seats to replace existing bleachers inside the 35-yard lines on both sides of the venue." Construction "is set to begin following the final home football game" of the '17 season (Greenville DAILY REFLECTOR, 4/17).
BOILERPLATE LANGUAGE: In Indiana, Sam King noted Purdue on Friday "hosted its groundbreaking" for the $60M Football Performance Complex, an expansion of the Mollenkopf Athletic Center that "will be completed" in August '17 (Lafayette JOURNAL & COURIER, 4/17).
