Colorado State will play its first football game at its new stadium on Saturday against Oregon State, giving CSU an on-campus venue for the "first time in nearly 50 years," according to Don Muret of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Design highlights of the $220M Colorado State Stadium include the New Belgium Porch, a 1,200-capacity standing room space in the north end that is a $400 "add-on for season-ticket holders." The porch has "two bars and three levels of drink rails." The field-level club is "named for the local Orthopedic & Spine Center of the Rockies." It is "situated at midfield on the west side, behind the home bench." CSU players will "pass through the indoor lounge on their way to and from the field, similar to the setups at the stadiums" of the Vikings, Cowboys and 49ers. CSU AD Joe Parker said that all premium seat inventory "sold out" by October '16, two months ahead of schedule. The 23 suites are "priced at $35,000 and $45,000 a year, depending on the number of seats." The 148 indoor club seats "cost $2,300 a person, and the 821 outdoor clubs seats are $1,500 a person." The 43 loge boxes, "distributed in groups of four and six seats, cost $12,000 and $16,000 a year." Parker said that all premium seats "were sold in three-, five- and seven-year contracts," generating $3M a year to "help pay debt service on the stadium." The school is in "search of a naming-rights partner in tandem with Campus+, a division of Learfield, the school’s multimedia rights holder." Parker does not "expect to get a deal done this football season" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/21 issue).
SONNY SIDE UP: In Denver, Kyle Fredrickson reported as part of its sponsorship with the stadium’s northside porch, New Belgium "teamed with CSU in paying tribute" to former CSU coach Sonny Lubick "with a bronzed man in platform shoes, bell bottoms, and suit jacket riding atop a penny-farthing bicycle." Its creators, Ft. Collins-based Joseph Studios, in conjunction with New Belgium’s internal design team, "took a molding of Lubick’s face for the statue, and then mostly covered it with a fearsome Rams head mask that snarls beneath the soft glow of human eyes." Parker: "Everyone is going to have their opinion of art, right?" (DENVERPOST.com, 8/20).
COME TO COLORADO: In Ft. Collins, Michael Roley reported CSU "plans to make use" of the stadium by "hosting a number of non-football events." As of July 20, more than 100 events had been "booked at the new stadium." The events range from "wedding receptions to actual weddings to staff retreats and meetings in the stadium's board room." Parker said, "It is a multi-purpose stadium and it was intentionally designed that way." The events are "rented out in five-hour windows with a wide-range of locations within the stadium." But events for big-name acts will "not be taking place in the new stadium, at least not yet." An agreement between CSU and the city of Ft. Collins "prohibits major events to be hosted at the stadium during its first two years of operation." A major event is "considered to a ticketed event with an expected crowd of more than 12,000 people." The agreement "limits the number of events in the subsequent years after the first two to one event in the third year, two during the fourth and three in the fifth" (COLORADOAN.com, 8/21).
