(04-08-2014 05:18 PM)CajunAmos Wrote:  

(04-08-2014 03:12 PM)pjc1979 Wrote:  

(04-08-2014 09:57 AM)sham84 Wrote:  I saw Paulsons Camera Feed and wanted to add ours as well. Construction is coming a long nicely and hopefully all will go well and everything will be ready for the Southern game.

http://ragincajuns.com/sports/2013/5/3/f...y_cam.aspx

Congratulations, forgive me for being unenlightened, but can you give me a synopsis of what upgrades are going to occur?

I'm sure there are previous threads about this, but here's a short synopsis.

This is part of the first phase of the overall master plan for athletics. Phase 1 includes bowling the south end zone to increase seating. It includes new concession/bathroom areas on top of the end zone as well as a new scoreboard. This was in preparation for the removal of the top deck/press box/suites from the west side of the stadium in phase 2 when they'll lose seating. As stated earlier, it will be completed by the start of the next season. There are two other constructions that are part of phase 1.

The first is the construction of an athletic performance center, a 65000 square foot facility that will be attached to the existing indoor practice facility, and will house a new state of the are weight room, training tables, football locker rooms, and offices for football coaches and support staff. It is scheduled to start construction within the next month and is expected to be ready for the start of the 2015 season. Once completed, it will allow for the removal of the current building just outside the south end zone housing the current locker room/weight room/coaches offices. That will also allow the expansion of the visiting team locker room.

The second is a new 21000 square foot soccer & track facility, which will house separate team locker rooms, coaches offices, ticketing, concessions, rest rooms, and a team store.

I think the total for phase 1 was about $20M. The second phase was going to be about $75M (I think) and included the major overhaul of the football stadium (new top deck, suites, press area, club area, offices, gift shop, study halls, etc) and a completely new main grandstand for baseball (new press area, suites, a slight increase in seating with much more area covered, new lighting, a concourse to connect the main grandstand wtih the 1st/3rd base bleachers, restrooms, concessions, etc). They are working on the funding for the second phase right now.

That was perfect, thank you for updating me. The more of these upgrades our teams can do the more competitive we're going to be against other G5 teams. It will bode well for our conference's future. Do you think Phase II will occur in the near future or is it one those down the road projects?