The Univ. of Missouri System Board of Curators on Friday "unanimously voted to approve" the $98M expansion of Memorial Stadium’s south end zone, according to O'Neill & Berry of the Columbia MISSOURIAN. MU AD Jim Sterk said that the school has already raised $40M to "fund the project, the most in school history." The rest will be "paid through bonds on future ticket revenues and a small contribution from the Campus Infrastructure Fund." Construction for the new football facility, overseen by architectural firm Populous, will begin this year and is "expected to be ready" for the '19 football season. The three-story, 141,000-square-foot structure will "replace the general admission seats" built in '77 with "16 suites and associated support spaces, about 1,500 premium seats and 1,300 new outdoor general admission seats." After the changes, the stadium "will be able to hold around 65,000 fans." It will feature a "new team locker room for both training and game-day use; a football training facility; a weight room; coaching offices and team meeting rooms; public and recruiting reception areas; and equipment storage." New kitchen and dining space is "planned to serve premium seating venues as well as team dining functions." Sterk said that the seating capacity will drop from the current "71,168 to the estimated 65,000 -- and around 61,000 next season while construction is in progress." Sterk: "It’s a revenue generator because we can turn some of the cheaper seats into higher demand seats, and we have high demand in the premium seating area" (Columbia MISSOURIAN, 8/26).
CRACKS IN THE SYSTEM: In California, Robert Kuwada noted Fresno State is "on track with its plans to renovate Bulldog Stadium." However, "unexplained cracks in the seating areas and walkways on that east side could delay the start of the renovation for a year or longer, which would push a grand reopening" past the '19 season-opener to '20 or perhaps even ’21. The cracking on the east side of the stadium "will have no impact" on the '17 football season. The athletics department is "expecting within the next few weeks final designs" from architectural and engineering firm Aecom (FRESNO BEE, 8/27).