Tiger Stadium has seen more construction activity this semester than it has altogether since the dawn of the 2000s.
Shiny windows, flashing LED lights and a western plaza heavily populated by pillars, plaques and statues welcomed football fans this season into LSU’s iconic stadium as pieces of the beautification puzzle that the Tiger Athletic Foundation started putting together two years ago with the window-fundraising campaign.
The windows arrived first, followed shortly thereafter by the western plaza project and then the LED lights along the stadium’s northern façade.
But the makeover is far from over.
Construction fences surround both the north and south sides of the stadium and will remain in both locations at least through the spring semester.
The north stadium plaza project has already begun and will eventually create a fan-friendly concrete plaza much like the one on the stadium’s western side, complete with high archways for entry gates and wrought-iron fencing to barricade the sidewalks during the traditional band march and player walk down Victory Hill on game days.
The south end zone expansion project will have much larger implications. About 6,000 seats, consisting of approximately 3,000 club level seats, 1,500 general public seats and 60 suites will be added, along with two giant HD screens on either side of the suite sections, said Senior Associate Athletic Director Eddie Nunez.
The north stadium plaza project should be completed by the kickoff of the 2013 football season, while the south end zone project will take at least another year, Nunez said. The additional seating should help push Tiger Stadium’s capacity close to the century mark.
“You’re going to be right at a hundred thousand,” Nunez said, which would make Death Valley the seventh largest stadium nationally and third in the Southeastern Conference, slightly behind the University of Tennessee and the University of Alabama.
Tiger Stadium opened in 1924 with a seating capacity of about 12,000. This year, it broke its single-game attendance record during the Alabama game on Nov. 3 with a total of 93, 373 raucous fans.
Construction continues on the south endzone of Tiger Stadium. The renovations are expected to be completed by the beginning of 2013's football season.
