Florida Atlantic Univ. "inaugurated its new stadium on Saturday afternoon with a big crowd " for its game against Western Kentucky Univ., and the stadium “looked great,” according to Dave Hyde of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. The new facility was “magnificent.” Hyde: “It was impressive. Imposing, even.” There were “traffic jams around the stadium to signify its importance and tailgate parties in the parking lots.” Saturday's announced crowd of 29,104 fans “didn't sell out the place.” FAU President Mary Jane Saunders said, "I think a 30,000-seat stadium is the right number to start with. You can fill in the corners and get to 40,000. You can fill out the tier on the top and get to 60,000” (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 10/16). In West Palm Beach, Tom D’Angelo wrote even a “beautiful new stadium couldn't mask the ugliness of the Florida Atlantic football program.” The team “sucked all the energy out of a near-sellout crowd that came to celebrate the opening of a $70-million, tropical-themed facility with an embarrassing 20-0 loss.” The game fell short of a sellout, but the "atmosphere was electric" (PALM BEACH POST, 10/16). Also in West Palm Beach, Dave George wrote the new stadium “rocks” and it was “sized just right at 30,000 seats.” FAU AD Craig Angelos said, "We've never had this many people at an event in Florida Atlantic's history of 50 years.” The stadium, with “its tiki bar and its oceanview VIP suites and its massive end-zone video screen, is a little slice of paradise.” The school also unveiled a “new 10-foot statue” of football coach Howard Schnellenberger in a stadium walkway with his “arms crossed, defiant.” The facility cost $70M to build, and “magically it went from groundbreaking to completion in just one year” (PALM BEACH POST, 10/16). D’Angelo wrote with the “exception of the product on the field, the day was nearly flawless for FAU.” Drawing fans to see “an impressive, state-of-the art mid-major stadium once is not difficult,” but having them “return to see a team stumble all over itself will take one heck of a selling job” (PALM BEACHPOST.com, 10/16).
