Venue News: Mizzou To Upgrade Athletic Facilities; MLS Eyes Move to Queens

Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, SVG

Missouri has unveiled its long-promised plans to upgrade athletic facilities as it moves to the Southeastern Conference. An athletics master plan released by the school on Monday calls for adding at least 6,000 seats at Memorial Stadium, which currently has a capacity of 71,004. The expansion would consist of 5,200 bleacher seats on the stadium’s east side and 800 to 900 premium seats, along with new restrooms, lounges, and concession stands. Missouri also wants to add more enclosed luxury suites on the stadium’s west side and expand a concourse at the stadium’s north entrance that would provide room for another possible seating increase in the future. The school is also seeking to improve its tennis and golf facilities as well as its softball and baseball stadiums. The projects would cost $72 million in 30-year debt financing through revenue bonds, although a plan summary suggests Missouri would recoup its entire investment through the sale of additional premium seats and luxury boxes…

…After a wide search, Major League Soccer officials have zeroed in on a run-down section of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens as their preferred site for the league’s first New York stadium, according to multiple officials briefed on the matter. In recent weeks, top MLS officials have presented a detailed proposal to local politicians, outlining a plan for a 20,000- to 25,000-seat stadium on roughly eight acres near the northern end of the park. The plan, still in its nascent stages, would create a home for a brand-new league team, as yet unnamed. The league believes construction could be completed one to two years after the project receives the necessary approvals, according to officials briefed on the plans…

…Demand for premium seating in Sports Authority Field at Mile High has been so high that the Broncos are now planning renovations to its stadium in order to create more suites, betting they will sell out all of them. Of the Broncos’ 130 total suites, the team tries to lease 115 each season, leaving 15 to sell on a game-by-game basis. Last season, the Broncos left more than five additional suites unleased because they couldn’t find anyone willing to buy the leases, which cost an average of $115,000 per season. But the Broncos are so confident that they will be able to sell suite leases for the upcoming season that they are planning to convert two 32-person party suites, which are sold on a game-by game basis for $15,000, into six to eight mini suites, which they would lease on a seasonal basis for $60,000. The renovations would allow the team to generate an extra $276,000 of revenue per season from the same amount of square feet in their stadium, according to Ryan Barefoot, the Broncos’ senior director of premium seating…

…West Virginia University Director of Athletics Oliver Luck has stated the University’s strong interest in a proposed development project to build a new baseball stadium at the University Town Centre in Morgantown. The Mountaineer baseball team could be a tenant in the new stadium along with a potential minor league team and Fairmont State University. Events in the new ballpark could also include concerts, high school tournaments and American Legion games. Thanks to architect Kevin Turkall of Designstream LLC in Pittsburgh, renderings and aphoto gallery provide a conceptual look at what the baseball stadium might look like…

…Three games will be played on active aircraft carriers or at Naval docks on Nov. 9, and now another is scheduled to play at an overseas military base in Germany that same day. Michigan State and Connecticut will play their Veterans Day season openers at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, pending approval from the U.S. Department of Defense. The base is the home of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and also a North Atlantic Treaty Organization location.

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