Old Dominion Univ.'s Board of Visitors on Thursday approved a $55M renovation of Foreman Field that would be ready for the '19 season, the "first step" toward making the 80-year-old stadium a "30,000-seat, all-the-bells-and-whistles- facility," according to David Teel of the Hampton Roads DAILY PRESS. But Thursday's vote covers "only a modest," 10% expansion to 22,130 (Hampton Roads DAILY PRESS, 6/10). In Virginia, Harry Minium in a front-page piece reports ODU's COO David Harnage told the board that the stadium could "eventually be expanded to 30,000 seats, if ticket demand calls for it." After the presentation, ODU officials said that the cost of building all 30,000 seats now would be $124.7M, a price that they "can’t yet afford." There is, as yet, "no finance plan for" the $69.7M expansion and "no timeline." The plan "calls for demolishing the east and west sides of the stadium and replacing the antiquated seating there with about 15,500 new chair-back seats." The expansion "won’t add any luxury suites -- Foreman Field’s 27 luxury suites have been sold out since the school started playing football -- but will add 176 loge seats" (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 6/10).
