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Although the Rice Owls football team's home has already undergone improvements, Rice school administrators have stated that some significant changes are now required. With the help of a sports design firm, the institution finished a facilities master plan last year that addressed the 1950s building. The Houston Business Journal was informed more recently by Tommy McClelland, Rice's director of athletics, that a "transformational" overhaul is required for the deteriorating stadium. "We're looking at whatever it takes. Our approach is we have to do something drastic. ... Just putting new paint on what we have is not what we're looking at," McClelland told HBJ's Chandler France. While the university has made some renovations, such as upgrading seating and adding new spaces over the past two offseasons, a more extensive project has been postponed despite being a priority for athletic officials. Joe Karlgaard, the previous director of athletics, had hoped to oversee a major renovation of the 70,000-seat stadium before his departure in August 2023. Rice had approved a design for a major renovation project in 2022, but that plan was put on hold. The project aimed to reduce the stadium's capacity instead of building a new one, aligning it with other teams in the American Athletic Conference, which the school joined in July. read more: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/rice-university-stadium-19518306.php?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0GOACiCfLSdtPF7ShNfnw4seQzzuj18gAKjh0KcUOeJzZAqLW2jqShlOE_aem_VNgLnj9bcfTt9bpEewOIEw