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The Big House May Get Even Bigger

 

 

 
Plans are afoot to increase the capacity—and add luxury suites—to Michigan Stadium, already the Big House of all of college football with room for 107,501.


FROM THE WOLVERINE STATE comes word of grandiose plans—albeit preliminary ones—for a $200 million upgrade to the University of Michigan Stadium.

Fondly referred to as the Big House—conjuring up images of Al Capone and Don Vito Corleone—the immense stadium currently has a seating capacity of 107,501 (219 seats more than Penn State’s Beaver Stadium).

Aside from Arms Race considerations, the Big House nickname is likely to have some non-football fans wondering whether that kind of money would be better spent on prison facility upgrades—the real Big Houses.

Even some Michigan football fans have expressed some distrust for the new plans. One season ticket holder worries that U-M's stadium will become too much like a professional sports facility. He said, "We already have seat licenses; now we're going to have suites. We're starting to look and smell and quack like a pro (organization)."

It’s no surprise that most U-M’s renovation expenditures are earmarked for luxury facilities and amenities that will reap considerable profits back to the athletic program. Initial plans call for the addition of 79 luxury suites and several thousand club seats (with backs and armrests).

So preliminary are the plans that an architect has not yet been selected (HOK: are you on the case?).

As jumbo as Michigan Stadium is, there are three important factors that will likely ensure the success of the proposed renovation:

  1. hundreds of thousands of U-M alumni and fans
  2. the longstanding tradition and accomplishment of the Wolverine football program
  3. the continued application of the 1986 IRS tax reform that allows fans to write off 80% of luxury suite fees as charitable donations to the university


Meanwhile, U-M’s archrival on I-96 west is engaged in its own $61 million football stadium upgrade.

Michigan State University will be opening 24 suites in Spartan Stadium that will go for up to $80,000 per year. Says one proud suite buyer, "It's got heating in it, it's got air conditioning in it, it's got TV in it."

The two Michigan schools are not alone. There are six other Big Ten schools involved in similar upgrades.

These upgrades are obvious evidence of either: (a)- the unabated, spiraling one-upsmanship of the arms race; or (b)- appropriate savvy smart investments that maximize revenues to decrease dependence on state subsidies and support dozens of non-revenue sports.

Take your pick.


This 396 word summary—with accompanying commentary—was excerpted from a 1557 word article from the Detroit News of 2-13-05, with back-up statistics from the ESPN Sports Almanac, 2005 edition.
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