Colorado State Stadium
 |
|
| Location | Fort Collins, Colorado |
|---|---|
| Owner | Colorado State University |
| Operator | Colorado State University |
| Capacity | 41,200 |
| Surface | Artificial |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | September 14, 2015 |
| Opened | August 26, 2017 (scheduled) |
| Construction cost | $220.1 million |
| Architect |
Populous ICON Venue Group |
| General contractor | M. A. Mortenson Co. |
| Tenants | |
| Colorado State Rams football (2017–future) | |
Sonny Lubick Field at Colorado State Stadium is the working name for a stadium under construction at Colorado State University. It is set to open in the 2017 season as the new home of the Colorado State Rams football team, replacing Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, which had been the Rams' home since 1968.
After a nearly 2-year process including cost and financing changes, protests, community outreach, and an inter-governmental agreement with the city of Fort Collins, the $220 million 41,000 capacity on campus multi-purpose stadium began construction in May 2015.
In 2013, the university began raising funds for a ~40,000-seat on-campus facility to replace Hughes Stadium. The project was partially driven by major decreases in state funding for CSU in recent decades. As a result, CSU has been seeking to draw more out-of-state students, whose current tuition is three times that of Colorado residents. CSU president Tony Frank included the new stadium as part of this goal saying "the new facility will help build a winning football team while advancing one of the school's highest priorities: attracting more out-of-state students".
According to The Wall Street Journal,
"Skeptics, including some alumni and faculty, see the project as a boondoggle—especially for a team that plays in a relatively low-profile athletic conference and doesn't sell out its current 32,500-seat stadium off campus. The debate has sparked dueling websites, animated letters to the editor and arguments about the role of sports at a university."
Many community members expressed frustration that they did not feel they were being heard at the CSU Board of Governors meeting when final approval was given. After the vote Board chair, Dorothy Horrell, thanked those making comments for their input and reiterated her feeling that
"the decision to build an on-campus stadium was made after "thoughtful and thorough examination of this issue" that is reflected in the board's records. "As my parents used to tell me, just because I ask a question and didn't get the answer I wanted, it isn't that the question wasn't answered," Horrell said. "And I would just remind us all of that."
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Wikipedia