Stanford Univ. on Thursday "unveiled the football team's sparkling new" football facility, which has "everything from a new locker room to coaches' offices to lounges for players past and present," according to Antonio Gonzalez
of the AP. The new $21M addition of the Arrillaga Family Sports Center also will "provide services to other teams." Stanford Associate AD/Dir of Football Operations Matt Doyle said that he "toured about 50 other major collegiate facilities for ideas." One of the "unique aspects of Stanford's 27,000-square foot addition features: 110 lockers for current players as well as a secondary locker area where Stanford's NFL and other former athletes can return in the offseason." Football coach David Shaw said that he "wanted the team's new home to feel like a Hall of Fame honoring the past and to remind everybody who enters the facility to see 'how we got here.'" There also is the Andrew Luck Auditorium, a 136-person "theatre-style meeting room named after" the Stanford alum and Colts QB. Doyle said that Luck "made a donation to the project but did not ask for any recognition." He added that the auditorium's name was "given after a private donation from someone else." The locker room is "bordered by an equipment room, study lounge ... and player lounge paying tribute to Stanford's current NFL players." Located above the locker room are "offices for coaches and support staff, reception lounges, three conference and staff rooms and eight team meeting rooms." Meanwhile, the bottom level has an "expanded weight room and an athletic training center that includes work room for the program's concussion study program, treatment centers and whirlpools." Renovations will "continue in the building, including for the weight room and other programs and administrative areas, over the next six months or so" (
AP, 10/3).
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS: Arizona State Univ. on Thursday announced that it will "demolish the north end zone upper deck at Sun Devil Stadium following the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in late December." FOX SPORTS ARIZONA reported the project is "not tied to ASU's greater Sun Devil Stadium renovation plans, which still have no set timetable." The demolition of the upper-level seating, which includes sections 220-228, "will reduce the stadium's capacity by approximately 5,700 seats, from 71,706 to roughly 66,000" (FOXSPORTSARIZONA.com, 10/3).
FIT FOR A QUEEN: Univ. of Cincinnati AD Whit Babcock on Thursday said that proposed additions to the school's Nippert Stadium "are a step closer to reality following the release of new renderings and floor plans" for the expansion. In Cincinnati, Tom Groeschen noted the renovation "focuses on both the east and west side of the stadium and will increase the stadium’s capacity to approximately 40,000." On the west side, a new press box structure "will be built, adding suites, scholarship club seats and loge boxes/patio suites." The west concourse also will be "renovated, including concession stands and restrooms." Changes on the east side feature "expanded concessions and restroom offerings, including the building of skywalks to connect the upper deck with the gameday plaza on O’Varsity Way" (CINCINNATI.com, 10/3).
