Venue News: Husky Stadium to Unveil Renovation Saturday; Nebraska Adds Seating to Memorial Stadium

Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, Sports Video Group

At 5 p.m. PT on Saturday, the University of Washington will open the doors of a newly renovated Husky Stadium. When the Huskies take the field against Boise State, fans will be closer to the action than ever before, writes The Seattle Times in a special report. The most noticeable change to the stadium will be the removal of the track that had separated fans from the field. The field has been lowered about 4 feet, and the separation from fans is almost nonexistent now; the corners of the west end zone are just 20 feet from the base of the stands on that end, and at the 50-yard line the field is just 48 feet from the stands. Fans will take notice of the permanent stands in the east bleachers, and the high-definition video board rising above, with HUSKY STADIUM purple letters marking its place across the top. Below all that are a dozen field-level suites, much like those at the Seahawks' CenturyLink Field

The new addition to Nebraska's Memorial Stadium will allow about 6,000 more fans to watch the Cornhuskers play football and also serve as a hub for research on concussions and other areas of brain science as well as athletic performance. Gov. Dave Heineman, retired football coach and athletic director Tom Osborne and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany were among the dignitaries who participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the East Stadium entrance last Thursday. The addition of 38 skybox suites pushes the stadium's total to more than 100, and capacity increased from about 86,000 to almost 92,000. Private donations and revenue from the new seating are funding the $63.5 million project, which will be paid off in seven years

Project supervisor AECOM has announced that the renovation of the west side of Kansas State's Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, KS, finished on schedule. Construction on the 45-year-old stadium had to be squeezed into eight months in order to be ready for the Wildcats' opener Aug. 30 against North Dakota State. The renovation resulted in new premium seating, improved media and broadcast facilities, the addition of the K-State Athletics Hall of Honor and other amenities. It also doubled the amount of field lighting to meet NCAA national standards for high-definition TV broadcasts

The Golden State Warriors' plan to build a waterfront arena in San Francisco is months behind its original schedule, and the repair cost for piers to hold the venue has increased by as much as $50 million, city documents show. The team could miss its 2017 targeted opening, and the new figure if it holds raises the question of who would cover the bill. The basketball franchise's representatives dispute the cost projection and downplay the delays as routine for a complex project. They maintain that the arena will be ready for the start of the 2017-18 NBA season but acknowledge their schedule is tight and doesn't leave much room for unforeseen problems.

LINK:	http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2013/08/venue-news-husky-stadium-to-u...
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