On Thursday in Helena, the state Board of Regents gave the University of Montana the go-ahead for a 2,000-seat expansion on the east side of Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The work will be completed in time for the 2008 football season.
The expansion, set to begin after the 2007 season concludes, will cost $5.5 million and include 500 club seats. Jim O'Day, UM's director of athletics, said a tier of seats will be added above the existing suites, stretching between the 20-yard lines.
The UM athletic department's bottom line will be affected, but in a good way, O'Day said. This expansion, coupled with the 2003 expansion of 4,004 seats behind the north end zone, means more money.
“It should be a $1.5 (million) to $1.6 million revenue piece for athletics,” O'Day said, “which is important, given the ever-increasing costs in scholarships, travel and fees we have to have to compete at this level.”
The Griz have won or shared the last 14 Big Sky Conference football titles, and were unbeaten in league last fall on the way to a 12-2 record. They went 8-1 at home, including a nationally televised Football Championship Subdivision semifinal loss to Massachusetts.
Tickets have been tough to come by at times for Washington-Grizzly Stadium, where the Griz drew an average of 22,600 fans in 2006. The listed capacity is 23,183.
Meanwhile, several of the original suites are up for renewal and remodeling. Those will be more expensive, and club seats that could go for up to $1,250 per season are another option for fans.
“The administrators at UM are confident the demand is there for the number of types of seats (proposed),” UM President George Dennison told the Associated Press.
The seed money for the latest project will come from a $10 increase per semester in student activity fees, contributions from the Bookstore at the University of Montana and dining services.
Meanwhile, by the end of the 2007 season, the north end zone expansion will have paid for itself and start building a surplus.
“There's probably going to be a couple hundred thousand dollars that we'll start to see next year,” O'Day said. Seed money aside, the west expansion will pay for itself in five years.
Two members of the state Board of Regents voted against the proposal, and chairwoman Lynn Morrison-Hamilton questioned whether the project couldn't be completed without raising student fees, which stand at $36 per semester.
Bob Duringer, UM vice president for administration and finance, said no. The payoff is that the students will get an additional 750 seats for games.
“I think that is a fair price for them to get 750 seats for perpetuity,” Duringer said.
Another selling point is that by the end of the fiscal year, June 30, UM's athletic department will have paid off the $1 million deficit accrued in 2003.
The proposal does not address an already cramped parking situation on game days.
“Parking will continue to be a problem,” O'Day said. “But at this point we're still not in too bad of shape. It is always a concern here, but there are the park-and-rides and the shuttles.”
There are other concerns for Montana's athletic department. The north end zone expansion will begin bringing in around $600,000 per season once it is paid for, O'Day said, and he'd like to hold that in reserve to address other projects.
“We have to start looking at some needs in our department,” he said. “The football locker room. Our academic center needs more space. We could use more space in our weight room. Eventually, the turf (the SprinTurf inside the stadium) is going to have to be replaced.
“These are very expensive items.”
The expansion should make them feasible, O'Day said.
“This takes us away from relying on institutional support,” he said. “A lot of programs rely heavily on their institutions for financial support.
“Because of our success and because we continue to generate new revenue sources, we're able to refrain from having to go to Main Hall, asking for more money.”
Reporter Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 523-5247 or at fneighbor@missoulian.com
The view from above
Click here to see what the view will be like from the top row of the new seats at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The stadium suites in the foreground will be under the front of the new section.
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