"There were no hard built-in concessions stands and there were no restrooms available there," Wirkus says. The old seating section offered a place to sit and not much else, with no restrooms and little in the way of concessions beyond a portable beverage stand. New fan amenities will likewise be worth the wait. Visiting team fans were spread out over upper corners of the lower bowl and the upper deck. According to Tim Hickman, Mizzou's deputy athletics director and CFO, patrons who qualified for the promotional family plan (two adults, at least three children) and wished to keep purchasing it were given a few options in other areas of the stadium. Memorial Stadium temporarily surrendered approximately 10,000 seats when the old south end zone stands were removed, including general seating, a family section and the visiting team's spectator seats. ![]() The most jarring result of a construction project like Missouri's is the temporary loss of seating inventory. In 2019, the new south end zone will serve as the operational hub of the Missouri football program, while offering expanded game-day experience options for fans. "One game you have a few pieces sticking out of the ground, and then two games later you're like, 'Wow, we have two levels and it spans almost the entire space.' It's been very interesting to watch it take shape." "Now with the steel going up, you can see the transformation in front of you," says Tony Wirkus, Mizzou's director of event management, referring to the south end zone project. "You want to ensure the fans are having the best possible experience, even when they're coming to a game during construction." "There's a lot of conversation around how you message this to your fans, how you explain to them what the project is going to be, what the benefit is going to be in the long run and why you need to do the project," Radecic says. Whatever impact construction will have on stadium entry points, parking availability and stadium traffic routes - auto and pedestrian - needs to be determined and communicated with football ticket-holders as early as possible through a mix of web alerts, email and regular mail. Next comes multiple meetings with university leaders, athletics officials and contractors regarding site logistics. Initial design begins a year earlier, with months of discussions about project scope and cost. ![]() ![]() But a complete tear-down and replacement of entire seating sections, including upgrades to fan and player amenities, is likely to start mere days after a season's final home game and span 20 or more months, with the following year's full playing season landing squarely within that timeline. ![]() Some stadium renovations - remodeling of luxury suites or expansion of guest services within a concourse, for example - can be completed within a single off-season. "How long before the season starts do they start to communicate the changes that are going to be taking place?" "We work with the builder and the athletic department on what types of visual information they want to put up and when," says Radecic. The south end zone stands were gone this season, but much of Mizzou’s pregame ritual remained.Īthletic departments planning a major stadium renovation must take a good look at how best to communicate the future benefits of such a project while controlling the disruption it's going to cause on game day. "It's just the optics of it," Radecic says. Not that the crane's enormous steel arm is likely to block a punt or a field goal attempt if left unchecked. During most weekdays, the crane is integral to the assembly of a structure that by fall 2019 will serve as the Tigers' football headquarters - featuring updated locker spaces, athletic training facilities and a weight room tucked underneath a variety of premium seating options.
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