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Notre Dame Stadium, maybe the most renowned college football facility in the
nation, now qualifies as one of the most up to date as well, thanks to a major
addition and renovations that boosted its capacity to more than 80,000 beginning
with the 1997 campaign.
The '96 campaign proved to be the final one in which the customary 59,075
fans gathered for Irish home games. Nearly two years worth of additions and
improvements to the yellow-bricked arena were part of a $50 million expansion
project that added more than 21,000 seats beginning with the '97 season.
The current capacity of Notre Dame Stadium is 80,795, a figure that was
modified in 2001 from 80,232. In 1997, the figure was 80,225 which was based on
computerized seating projections made prior to the completion of the
construction of the new seating area.
Notre Dame's football team completed its '95 home schedule Nov. 4 against
Navy - and by the following Monday groundbreaking ceremonies had been held and
work had begun on the 21-month construction project that was completed Aug. 1,
1997.
Elements of the construction included:
All field seating and the first three rows in the permanent stands were
eliminated to improve sight lines.
A new natural-grass field and a new drainage system were put in place.
Two new scoreboards were erected on the north and south ends of the Stadium.
A Jim and Marilyn Fitzgerald Family Sports and Communications Center, a new
three-tier press box with views of both the field and the campus, was
constructed on the west side - with seating for 330 media in the main portion of
the press box, three television broadcast booths, five radio broadcast booths
and an overall increase in square footage almost four times the original space.
New landscaping created a park-like setting on the periphery of the Stadium.
The lockerrooms for both Notre Dame and the visiting team more than doubled
in size - with the Irish locker area also serving as a permanent area used by
Irish players all year long for both games and practices. In addition, a new,
expanded training room was constructed adjacent to the lockerroom.
Lights were installed in each corner of the Stadium bowl and on top of the
press box in time for use in the final month of the '96 season.
Material for the project included 240,000 concrete blocks, 700,000 new
bricks, 500 cubic yards of mortar, 25,000 cubic yards of cast-in-place concrete,
five miles of new handrails and guardrails - and eight and a half miles of
redwood seating.
More than 3,500 sheets of drawings were used to build the project.
Eleven new openings, for a total of 31, were cut into the old Stadium brick
exterior to allow fans to connect the old and new lower concourse areas.
The lettering at the north and south canopy as well as the interlocking ND
logo at the top of the press box west face are gold laminate.
Within the design of the entry gates, fans may notice the diagonal stripes
of the end zone, hash marks and a football.
All existing urinals were refinished as part of the renovation, and there
are approximately two-and-a-half times more new women's toilets.
Each of the approximately 44,000 old seating brackets was sandblasted and
recoated with an epoxy primer.
Glazed brick was salvaged and reused in the expanded varsity locker area.
Notre Dame players continue to enter the field down a set of stairs past the
"Play Like A Champion" sign, but stairs to the visiting locker room have been
eliminated, with the top of the processional tunnel ramp now serving as the
visiting team entrance.
Casteel Construction Corp. of South Bend was the general contractor for the
project. Ellerbe Becket, Inc., of Kansas City, Mo., was the architect.
The expanded Notre Dame Stadium was dedicated on the weekend of Notre Dame's
1997 season-opening game against Georgia Tech, with events including a three-day
open house, a first-ever pep rally in the Stadium the evening prior to the first
game (more than 35,000 fans attended), plus a Saturday morning rededication
breakfast followed by a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. Every former Notre Dame
football player was offered the opportunity to purchase tickets for the Georgia
Tech game and prior to the game the '97 Irish team ran through a tunnel of those
former players in attendance (those practices continue for the first home game
every season).
Other elements of the weekend included a specially-designed rededication
logo, a commemorative video and coffee-table book detailing the construction
project and an official flip coin for the game against Georgia Tech. The
official game program included a 24-page reproduction of the 1930 dedication
game program and a 16-page color insert highlighting the expansion.
The Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame approved the plan to
expand the facility on May 6, 1994. The action of the Trustees culminated a long
and comprehensive review within the University of the feasibility and
desirability of stadium expansion.
Notre Dame footbal tickets
The project was financed primarily by the November 1994 issuance of $53
million in tax-exempt, fixed-rate bonds. The bonds were sold in 26 states and
the District of Columbia, with more than 20 percent sold to retail buyers and
almost 80 percent to institutional buyers.
The incremental revenues from the expansion will exceed the debt service on
the bonds by $47 million over the next 30 years, allowing the project not only
to pay for itself, but also to generate $47 million for academic and student
life needs.
Stadium expansion was the subject of one of 43 recommendations submitted to
the Trustees in May of 1993 by Notre Dame's president, Rev. Edward A. Malloy,
C.S.C., in his final report of the Colloquy for the Year 2000. The Colloquy was
a University-wide self-study carried out by committees composed of faculty,
students and staff.
Father Malloy's report specified the conditions addressed by the approved
expansion plan with regards to financing and use of stadium revenues, as well as
matters of aesthetics, logistics, community relations and communications. The
plan approved by the Board of Trustees addressed each of those issues.
Impetus for the Stadium addition came in September 1991 when the national
board of directors of the Notre Dame Alumni Association adopted a resolution
encouraging the University to study the feasibility of expanding the Stadium.
Notre Dame Stadium, at 59,075, previously ranked 44th in seating capacity
among the 107 Division I-A football facilities.
With capacity increased to 80,795, it now ranks 15th - with Notre Dame
ranking eighth nationally in attendance in 1997, 11th in '98, 10th in '99, 13th
in 2000 and 14th in 2001. Notre Dame's average per-game increase of 21,150 fans
in '97 ranked second nationally and helped contribute to record attendance
figures of 36.9 million in '97 for all of college football, including 27.5
million for Division I-A games.
Alumni are the major beneficiaries of the expansion, with about 16,000 of the
21,000 new seats allocated to Notre Dame graduates, with access primarily
through the lottery. Increased access to tickets also is in place for University
benefactors, the parents of Notre Dame students and University employees.
Full-time University support staff now enjoy the same access to tickets as
faculty and administrators. Ticket allotments for alumni clubs and class
"mini-reunions" also have increased.
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