The U. Wyoming War Memorial Stadium enhancement project is scheduled to finish this fall.
The budget includes 10 suites with four bar stool seats, as well as a president’s and athletic director’s suites each with 20 seats. Enclosed club seating and an interior club lounge will also be included in the east stadium construction. The suites have already been leased at 40,000 dollars per year, and the lounge seats will lease at a cost of 2,500 per seat per season. The plan is funded by private, state, and athletic department revenue.
The exact budget is somewhere around 30 million dollars for the stadium updates. The new seats are expected to generate around 600,000 dollars in new revenue for the University of Wyoming. Five million dollars are going toward providing additional safety in the upper concourse and enhancing concessions and restroom areas, as well as 1.2 million dollars for gateway and lobby enhancement.
According to the most recent campus construction update, the east stadium parking lot will remain closed until August. Workers are still constructing the eastside bathrooms, as well as carpet for the club lounge. Building and construction will continue this summer on nights and weekends to meet the completion deadline this fall. A small fire at the east stadium in late 2009 caused a brief delay in work.
The enhanced stadium will provide a better viewing experience for all fans. Better restroom facilities will be installed on the lower levels, and multiple elevators will be constructed. These elevators will make viewing games a much easier experience for disabled fans. An additional three million dollars from the budget will go to handicapped access.
Sampson construction won the construction bid for the project. They have the most experience with this kind of construction, and they offered the best medium between construction time and cost. Sampson is based out of Cheyenne.
War Memorial Stadium can hold 30,514 people and was built in 1950 as a tribute to War World II veterans. According to the Mountain West Conference, “It is still one of the most picturesque football facilities in America.”
This year, it will host some of the usual opponents, as well as some new teams. Boise State will play on September 18, and that game has already sold out most of the hotels in town. As usual, Colorado State will be the last game of the season on November 20 at War Memorial Stadium.