Scramble for money drives poor plan for Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium renovation
Today the OU administration announced plans to spend nearly a half billion dollars, tear down the historic west side of Memorial Stadium and reduce seating to one of the smallest in the SEC, displacing 7,000 season ticket holders.
With excitement for the football program at its height in several years — Saturday’s crucial game against Missouri is a must win to maintain a shot at a playoff berth — the timing of this announcement is a balloon popper.
The cost will be $450 million. Renovation will be complete in time for the 2029 season.
A close look at the initial conceptual drawings released today shows a redesign of the west side of the stadium that includes large walls to separate the high dollar suite holders from the pauper fans.
I’m wondering how OU President Joe Harroz will react to any smattering of “boos” that will greet him in case he does one of those grip and grin plaque presentations after the details of the plan reveal its disruptive impact on fans that don’t pay $50,000 a year to attend football games.
This plan trades thousands of long-standing football fans who have been loyal to the program, for a few hundred pocket books.
Did the OU administration think this through? Well, the disturbing answer is, yes.
“It’s the way that we connect people who like us are very interested in investing in championship level program in the future. That’s what this is about,” Athletic Director Joe Castiglione said in an interview of the KREF radio station on Friday morning.
Translated: “We are reshaping the west side stands to cater to big time donors because we need the money.”
All this work won’t happen until 2027 and 2028, so fans have a little time to prepare for the construction zone circus that the Oklahoma football experience will be.
In the meantime, it is more clear than ever that ticket prices will go up, longtime season ticket holders (including probably me) will get shoved to the corner (or kicked to the Jenkins Street curb) and fan grumbling will increase, which can only to be tempered by Brent Venables-orchestrated championship success. Brent has enough pressure already.
A close look at the drawings shows the slope of the west stands (sections 1 through 10), originally constructed 100 years ago, will be removed and lowered. That will enable more donor suites to be installed closer to the field, the primary purpose of the renovation work. The west side upper deck stays as is, but a bigger press box will be built above it.
While the coaches and players are asking the crowd to be loud and impactful on game day, the university leadership is deciding to cut out 7,000 fans to make it a more comfortable experience for donors.
Denver Finlinson, the principal architect at Populous (the people who designed The Sphere in Las Vegas), said in a statement that his renovation design was to make a stadium “that feels more connected, more comfortable and more engaging.” He said the improvements reduce density and ensures seats deliver “higher value, greater comfort…”
In other words, so they can charge more per ticket and provide a latte machine.
When did comfort become the priority? Has this guy ever been to a college football game? Especially one involving Top 10 teams in the SEC? We stand for most of the game. It’s easier to scream and yell.
The design is essentially a larger version of what Finlinson drew up for Florida State, where a smaller chunk of the press box side stands at Doak Campbell Stadium was destroyed to put in field-level suites.
Increasing the number of suites so uninspired but wealthy attendees can enjoy more wine and cheese — and eliminating a good segment of core Sooner fans who have attended games through thick and thin — is a recipe for a shrinking and unenthused constituency. That’s not a good thing for Oklahoma. It’s not a good thing for college football.
I get the fact that with NIL and the ridiculous cost of coaching salaries the price of successful college football is skyrocketing and Oklahoma and other programs have to focus on revenue generation. But, for the long-term, what does it mean if your base constituency shrinks?
‘It’s the way that we connect people who like us are very interested in investing in championship level program in the future. That’s what this is about’ — Athletic Director Joe Castiglione
Right now Oklahoma is one of the most watched college football programs in the country — 9.5 million people watched last week’s Alabama-Oklahoma game on ABC. But if the non-big dollar fan base is not catered to by the university, how long will it be before the children and grandchildren of the Sooner Nation stop showing up?
(I suppose with 7,000 fewer seats, maybe that’s what they are expecting).
Or worse, stop watching on television because they don’t care any more?
And, what game electricity will the team get from a stadium filled with out of town guests of Devon Energy who don’t know a first down from a touchdown?
Nevermind the fact the aesthetics of the proposed west side design are wonky. It eliminates any symmetry of the original U-shaped bowl of the stadium — a copy mark of the house.
Sure, a new press box and perhaps a better upper deck would be a good thing for Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
But the current plan — as projected in the released drawings — is not a good look.
The stadium renovation planners should go back to the drawing board and begin with one established principle: Do no harm to the fans or the game day experience.
Let’s not turn the Palace on the Prairie into the Clubhouse at Oak Tree.
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