Purdue's average football attendance at Ross-Ade this season was 51,120GETTY IMAGES
Purdue AD Mike Bobinski does not want to "piecemeal projects over time," and is "ready to tackle one plan to make Ross-Ade Stadium sustainable and profitable for years to come," according to Mike Carmin of the Lafayette JOURNAL & COURIER. A market study "will launch this month seeking input about premium seating and other opportunities in a re-designed Ross-Ade Stadium." That information "will be sent to Populous" to help "formulate the next steps." Bobinski said, “The big question is cost and raising the money to do it. We don’t have a lot of debt capacity at this point [in] time. We’re going to need to raise significant money." Carmin noted as the school "continues to increase its financial commitment to the football program," generating "enough revenue from a stadium that has a capacity of around 57,000 is a daily challenge." Bobinski said the challenge is making the stadium the "most effective, competitive environment, fan experience, etc.," but also making it the "best revenue generating venue it can be" given Purdue's footprint. Bobinski: “It’s never going to be 100,000 seats. You have to have a different model. You go at it differently.” Meanwhile, as far as ticket prices for the '19 season, Bobinski said to not expect anything "crazy in that regard." He said, "We want to be smart about that too. We’re not trying to sticker shock or leverage people in a bad way here, but we do need to progress. We don’t need to average 50,000; we need to average 57,000." Purdue's average attendance this season was 51,120 (Lafayette JOURNAL & COURIER, 12/9).
