F I U Finalizes On-campus Stadium Deal

[MeanGreen61]

FIU Finalizes On-Campus Stadium Deal With Odebrecht Construction, Inc.

Courtesy: FIUSports.com

Release: 04/25/2007

A rendering of FIU's new football stadium following constuction.

MIAMI (www.fiusports.com) – Florida International University’s dream of a state-of-the-art, on-campus stadium is one step closer to reality after FIU and Coral Gables-based company Odebrecht Construction, Inc. signed a contract to begin construction, it was announced today.

“I am pleased that we have reached an agreement that allows us to get started on the stadium expansion," said FIU President Modesto A. Maidique. "The new stadium will become a landmark and a gathering place for the FIU community.”

The first phase of construction will bring the stadium’s capacity to approximately 18,000 and will feature 1,400 club seats, a 6,500 square-foot Panther Club, an upper concourse and 19 suites. Seating will include chairback seats and bench seating, all with backrests for fan convenience. Additional phases of construction will include a student support complex and will bring the stadium’s seating capacity to approximately 45,000.

“This will be the crown jewel of FIU’s athletic department,” Athletic Director Pete Garcia said. “The stadium will be the vehicle that will take the athletic department to the next level.”

“We look forward to building an excellent facility; one that will enhance the campus environment and contribute measurably to FIU athletics, student life and the broader community,” said Gilberto Neves, CEO of Odebrecht Construction, Inc. The company, which has been operating in Florida for 16 years, is responsible for building two of Miami’s most important architectural icons – the American Airlines Arena and Carnival Center for the Performing Arts – as well as the expansion of Miami International Airport’s North and South Terminals.

The new stadium is set to open for FIU’s 2008 football season and will be the only Division I on-campus football stadium south of Orlando in Florida.

“This puts FIU on an even playing field, in terms of facilities,” head football coach Mario Cristobal said of the deal. “Now local athletes have one more reason to stay home and build a championship program, and athletes from all over the state and country will have one more reason to come here. This will have a huge impact on recruiting and will give our students and fans something to rally around. It is a great foundation to build on.”

[GreenEddieNT]

The first phase of construction will bring the stadium’s capacity to approximately 18,000 and will feature 1,400 club seats, a 6,500 square-foot Panther Club, an upper concourse and 19 suites. Seating will include chairback seats and bench seating, all with backrests for fan convenience. Additional phases of construction will include a student support complex and will bring the stadium’s seating capacity to approximately 45,000.

45,000????????? That has got to be a misprint. If they can actually fill a 45,000-seat stadium playing Sun Belt teams when they hardly have a fan base at all I'll be shocked. Oh, and yes I know they have a lot of students but they have a small fan base. The number of students don't mean anything. What fills up big stadiums is having a large fan base and FIU just doesn't have it. If they had Miami all to themselves with no competition then I might believe they could grow their fan base to where they could fill up such a stadium but in a crowded sports market like Miami FIU is a friggin afterthought.

[MeanGreengdub]

Ya, the 18,000 seats looks kinda lame, I'm not going to lie. Of course it's probably better than Fouts but when you think about it, what stadium isn't? Still though, they should build more seats to begin with. It looks like a soccer stadium.

[NT80]

45,000????????? That has got to be a misprint. If they can actually fill a 45,000-seat stadium playing Sun Belt teams when they hardly have a fan base at all I'll be shocked. Oh, and yes I know they have a lot of students but they have a small fan base. The number of students don't mean anything. What fills up big stadiums is having a large fan base and FIU just doesn't have it. If they had Miami all to themselves with no competition then I might believe they could grow their fan base to where they could fill up such a stadium but in a crowded sports market like Miami FIU is a friggin afterthought.

45,000 is for "future" phases. They are starting with renovations and expansions of their current stadium to bring capacity up to only 18,000. Any future expansion will be based on them joining the Big East or SEC!

[UNT_playmaker]

Dont they need 30,000 seats to be in D-1 status. Like I always said Florida Atlantic and FIU seem to be Div 2 or 3 teams.

And Fouts is a Div 2 or 3 Stadium as well.

[GreenEddieNT]

45,000 is for "future" phases. They are starting with renovations and expansions of their current stadium to bring capacity up to only 18,000. Any future expansion will be based on them joining the Big East or SEC!

Oh, so in other words, never.

[island eagle]

Oh, so in other words, never.

It looks ok, but I don't see designing a stadium with so many end zone seats.

[PlummMeanGreen]

The size of your stadium will eventually be an indicator of what kind of player your school really wants to be in NCAA D1-A. In the Lone Star State, a school like our alma mater may need to go the extra mile just to keep our hand in play. If we can get the Big Donor(s), we (still) really need to build a stadium of no less than 40,000 seats.

When we get the UT's, TAMU's, OSU's, OU's, Texas Techs, etc, etc, etc, to play us in Denton in the future, my math says we can make much more in gate receipts if we have at least a 40,000 seat plus capacity stadium over at the Mean Green Village rather than the 31-32,000 ('bout the size of Fouts) some of you would be happy to settle for.

FWIW, I'm trying to remember how some of the aforementioned above schools have bust their butts trying to schedule us in a similar-sized (30-32,000) Fouts Field? In fact, hasn't the MUTS been scheduling some pretty impressive home football games of late with some upper echelon schools? SMU, TCU and Baylor have been nice in recent years at Fouts Field, but its the larger Big 12 state schools that UNT should be aiming for with its future home schedules. They bring fans out of the wood work whereas our own would have to buy tickets well before Game Day if they want to get a decent seat. The gate receipts from those kind of games can also underwrite for us a baseball program that had been promised.

Another question I have is: If the Dallas Cowboys are spending $1 billion on their football palace (with the rising cost of construction) and because we keep waiting around (under$tandably, of course) with our future new stadium, what are we really going to get for $40-50 million anymore? What would SMU be paying for their present stadium if they had built it present day, circa 2007? Could you easily add another $20 million to their original cost? IMO, I think you could add a minimum of $20 million as to what they built theirs for several years ago. Fact is, the longer we have to wait to turn dirt at the Top of the Golden Triangle, the less we are going to get for $40 million. We are really in a race for time with this whole thing in Denton, but we cannot afford to do what FIU is doing because their present student's grandchildren will probaby never see their stadium go much past the 18,000.

I still defer to the below signature paragraph and what others of you have said on this matter as well.

Edited April 27, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

FIU Finalizes On-Campus Stadium Deal With Odebrecht Construction, Inc.

The first phase of construction will bring the stadium’s capacity to approximately 18,000 and will feature 1,400 club seats, a 6,500 square-foot Panther Club, an upper concourse and 19 suites. Seating will include chairback seats and bench seating, all with backrests for fan convenience. Additional phases of construction will include a student support complex and will bring the stadium’s seating capacity to approximately 45,000.

WOW...They are going for the gold. I think everything they listed here is EXACTLY what we need in our new stadium, except for maybe 30 Suites instead of 19 (I think these are the money bringers). Not sure what the Panther club is, but we sure need a Mean Green Club that size that could possibly overlook the field. And individual seats?? Thats great. Backrests...also great. Whether you like the design or not you all must agree that they are really incorporating luxury here. They are crossing all their Ts and dotting all the Is and leaving very little out, if anything. We need to include everything they have here plus more in our new stadium.

[Charlie NT 73]

Yes- NT needs a great new football stadium- first class facility! I do beleive the new

stadium will become a reality someday. For now- I would like to see Fouts packed every

home game. Sell outs! We had 5194 fans for the spring game--and all of us saw the birth

of something special! I beleive our own "grass roots" system--talking to our friends--and

fellow NT grads--will pay off. The interest in NT athletics is coming back bigger than

ever. I have had many ex NT grads , that never thought twice about NT football, now tell

me they are excited about NT football, and they want to go to the games. I had a few

NT alumi come to games last year--man, were they ever impressed with all the pre-

game activities! Now with Coach Dodge running the show, these same alumi are even more

fired up about this coming season. Pride in NT is coming back, and I fully beleive we

will see more fans at NT than ever before! Any success on the field, will just add more

fan support! So, I say, keep talking to everyone you know-pass the word-it all starts

with us, in our own backyards!

[Mean Green 93-98]

It looks ok, but I don't see designing a stadium with so many end zone seats.

Absolutely. What's with the huge gaps in sideline seating, only to cram more in the endzone?

[UNTLifer]

Dont they need 30,000 seats to be in D-1 status. Like I always said Florida Atlantic and FIU seem to be Div 2 or 3 teams.

And Fouts is a Div 2 or 3 Stadium as well.

Stadium size doesn't matter anymore. Butts in seats must average 15,000 though.

[BonfireBrian]

Yes- NT needs a great new football stadium- first class facility! I do beleive the new

stadium will become a reality someday. For now- I would like to see Fouts packed every

home game. Sell outs! We had 5194 fans for the spring game--and all of us saw the birth

of something special! I beleive our own "grass roots" system--talking to our friends--and

fellow NT grads--will pay off. The interest in NT athletics is coming back bigger than

ever. I have had many ex NT grads , that never thought twice about NT football, now tell

me they are excited about NT football, and they want to go to the games. I had a few

NT alumi come to games last year--man, were they ever impressed with all the pre-

game activities! Now with Coach Dodge running the show, these same alumi are even more

fired up about this coming season. Pride in NT is coming back, and I fully beleive we

will see more fans at NT than ever before! Any success on the field, will just add more

fan support! So, I say, keep talking to everyone you know-pass the word-it all starts

with us, in our own backyards!

Good post Charlie! I agree, we all have to do our own part.

My friends and I (all season ticket holders) have already begun preparations for tailgating next year.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Yes, we need to fill Fouts Field every game and many of us have seen "Fill Fouts Field" signs or banners (in every size) for decades; with some of our elect even using the fact that we rarely did fill Fouts as the main reason we didn't need a new football stadium. (FWIW, many are very glad we didn't use a similar philosophy that would here in the year 2007 still have us playing men and women's varsity basketball in the Men's Gym).

Unfortunately, the casuals or borderline fans/alums who thru the decades could have helped us "Fill Fouts Field" were never truly effectively reached with any semblance of a well planned/well financed marketing program; and all that coupled with some bad teams mixed in thoughout the past 4 or so decades never seemed to help our MG cause, either. Nevertheless, such prior scenarios never helped some on past athletic staffs (of which some from that group who were really giving it the good ol' college try) as far as having a successfully marketed MG football program. Large promotions budgets each Fall seemed to always be sorely lacking.

One glaring fact to many of us still sorta' sticks out like a sore thumb and that is..................how it staggers the mind how in this new millenium we have to work so darn hard with 6 million North Texas Metroplexers living in our back yard for us to merely get 30,000 football fans out of the 6,000,000 DFW area citizens into Fouts Field on Game Day--no matter who the opponent. Thankfully, though, it is a new era and this will give many a fresh new start or beginning to change some old habits and try some new ones on for size. Todd Dodge's "Norman Vincent Peale'ish" positive approach with our fans and alums can really go a long ways in helping the Mean Green cause, too. After all, many do have a need to have our top UNT officials to show sincere excitement and then pass all that on to the rest of us as far as what product we can expect from our main campus in Denton.

Fact still remains that the kind of schools we could schedule and then (most impressively) fill our home football venue (a 35-40,000 seater) are the kind of schools that Fouts Field (because of its small capacity, electric blackouts during half time stories and even what Fouts Field even symbolizes to most non-North Texans as most of us who have worked in DFW for a few decades could tell many of you from first-hand experience); anyway, I suppose all this has created the decades long scenario as to why we haven't scheduled the regional state supported top dog schools.

If we could scheduled UT, TAMU, Texas Tech, OU, OSU, etc, etc, etc, then when we filled a rather sizable new stadium in Denton it would speak volumes here in the Lone Star State (and locally, at all DFW area company water cooler/sports opinion sessions); all this rather than filling a stadium the present size of Fouts against SBC opponents. Simply put, I'd rather have 1 or 2 sellouts a year in a 40,000 seat football palace at the Mean Green Village against a "Somebody University" than averaging 20-25,000 (which we have yet to do to this day) against the kind of schools we traditionally have on our home football schedule each Fall.

But still once again.......it is a new era in Mean Green Country and an era that we really do need to shake and bake if we are ever going to make this college football business thing work in Denton, Texas, America.

Edited April 27, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[ParksAndRecRick]

Ok...beat me up. I would love Ford Stadium home of SMU in Denton. Wonderful small stadium. Bring it to the real "Big D"!!!!!

[CMJ]

(FWIW, many are very glad we didn't use a similar philosophy that would here in the year 2007 still have us playing men and women's varsity basketball in the Men's Gym).

Except we routinely had overflow crowds of over 4K in the Snake Pit for Men's Games. It's almost unbelieveable to think we had that sort of following now when we average about 2K in a far nicer facility, but we did.

[FIU Fanatic]

Absolutely. What's with the huge gaps in sideline seating, only to cram more in the endzone?

Regards to Mean Green fans. The rendering is that of Phase I of the stadium construction. The reason the "design" looks odd is because it won't be finished until phase II is built. It keeps the "old" North Side bleacher right where it is right now, which is far away from the field, due to the track being there. The rest of the stadium will be new stands closer to the field, once the track is removed. Now, Phase II will enclose the stadium close to the field, becoming a bowl, and include a 6-8 story building attached to the new North Side of the Stadium. The North side will then become the Main Stadium Facade and include a 100,000 square feet student support center. This center will include Admissions, undergraduate advising, financial aid, and welcome center. Additionally, new.improved locker rooms, new coaches' offices, weight room expansion, and meeting rooms will be added.

Hope this info helps a bit.