VideoOfficial JMUSports.com Information
Timeline
- West Stands (Home side) - Lower Deck
Will begin in Dec. '09 and will be completed before the beginning of the 2010 season. - West Stands (Home side) - Upper Deck
Including press box, club room and suites
Will begin in Dec. '10 and will be completed before the beginning of the 2011 season. - North Stands (Beneath video scoreboard)
Will begin after completion of the West Stands Upper Deck and will be completed before the beginning of the 2011 season (a year ahead of schedule).
Will include new concourses, concessions and restrooms. The press box will be relocated to the West Stands. There will be increased stadium lighting. In addition, club level seats/lounge area and suites will be added to Bridgeforth Stadium.
Seat Approximations
- Existing East stands (student and visitor stands): 5,157
- Total Lower New: Approximately 12,000
- Total Upper New: Approximately 7,000
- Total Seats = Approximately 25,000
Originally estimated at $52 million, the price has dropped due to the current economic situation. $10 million will still come from private donations, while the other $42 million will come from university funding. JMU needs $4 million of the private donations raised at the end of March '09 to hit their "break ground" goal. Right now we have $3.4 million raised, so we need $600k more in about a month and a half. JMU is looking for 5 year commitments, so ideally they want people willing to donate something like $5k over the next 5 years. However, they will take any meaningful commitment you are willing to make. If you are interested, in contributing, please email JMU's Director of Major Gifts, J. Batt, at battjm@jmu.edu.
Current State of the Economy
The cost of the stadium expansion will likely come in 10-20% below the original $52 million estimate. That makes now the perfect time to start the project, even though the school is currently looking at a 15% budget cut. It will be cheaper and this money is coming from a different pot than other University funding and is designeated specifically for the stadium expansion. It will also stimulate the local economy by providing lots of jobs as the destruction and construction takes place. The lowering of the cost means that JMU won't have to raise their student fees as much.
My Pledge
I have decided to pledge 50 cents for each unique visitor I get to the Windbreaker for the month of March. I am hoping that this pledge will inspire others to give what they can. Even if you can't give a lot, every little bit helps.
High time JMU did something about the stadium. We are losing out a lot of great talent because of better facilities to other schools.
ReplyDeleteNow we can truly compete to get the best of the best and also attract more Alumni and locals to the game making it even more fun.
This will get JMU's name out and generate press and eventually fetch more scholarship money as the program gets better each year.
..and yes injecting money in the local economy is always a win-win for all parties concerned!
This is great news for JMU. The last 5 years or so have seen the JMU football program take off with some quaity talent and great facilities on-par with some 1-A programs.
ReplyDeleteThis is good for JMU and yes the local economy. If JMU continues to invest in quality programs its name and prestige will increase.
JMU already has a fine acedemic reputation and is rated very high for one of the best schools in USA.
This "expansion" is jsut not for the football program but for JMU itself.
It's hard to find quality information like this, I'm glad i found this, thanks for the valuable information.
ReplyDeleteThis is gonna be a really sweet facility... even some of the 1-A school don't have such state of the art facilities. This stadium will take JMU to new levels and hopefully help heavily with the recruiting.
ReplyDelete