Notre Dame Stadium, maybe the most renowned college football facility
in the nation, now qualifies as one of the most up to date as well,
thanks to a major addition and renovations that boosted its capacity
to more than 80,000 beginning with the 1997 campaign.
The '96 campaign proved to be the final one in which the customary
59,075 fans gathered for Irish home games. Nearly two years worth of
additions and improvements to the yellow-bricked arena were part of a
$50 million expansion project that added more than 21,000 seats
beginning with the '97 season.
The current capacity of Notre Dame Stadium is 80,795, a figure that
was modified in 2001 from 80,232. In 1997, the figure was 80,225
which was based on computerized seating projections made prior to the
completion of the construction of the new seating area.
Notre Dame's football team completed its '95 home schedule Nov. 4
against Navy - and by the following Monday groundbreaking ceremonies
had been held and work had begun on the 21-month construction project
that was completed Aug. 1, 1997.
Elements of the construction included:
All field seating and the first three rows in the permanent stands
were eliminated to improve sight lines.
A new natural-grass field and a new drainage system were put in place.
Two new scoreboards were erected on the north and south ends of the Stadium.
A Jim and Marilyn Fitzgerald Family Sports and Communications
Center, a new three-tier press box with views of both the field and
the campus, was constructed on the west side - with seating for 330
media in the main portion of the press box, three television
broadcast booths, five radio broadcast booths and an overall increase
in square footage almost four times the original space.
New landscaping created a park-like setting on the periphery of the Stadium.
The lockerrooms for both Notre Dame and the visiting team more than
doubled in size - with the Irish locker area also serving as a
permanent area used by Irish players all year long for both games and
practices. In addition, a new, expanded training room was constructed
adjacent to the lockerroom.
Lights were installed in each corner of the Stadium bowl and on top
of the press box in time for use in the final month of the '96 season.
Material for the project included 240,000 concrete blocks, 700,000
new bricks, 500 cubic yards of mortar, 25,000 cubic yards of
cast-in-place concrete, five miles of new handrails and guardrails -
and eight and a half miles of redwood seating.
More than 3,500 sheets of drawings were used to build the project.
Eleven new openings, for a total of 31, were cut into the old
Stadium brick exterior to allow fans to connect the old and new lower
concourse areas.
The lettering at the north and south canopy as well as the
interlocking ND logo at the top of the press box west face are gold
laminate.
Within the design of the entry gates, fans may notice the diagonal
stripes of the end zone, hash marks and a football.
All existing urinals were refinished as part of the renovation, and
there are approximately two-and-a-half times more new women's toilets.
Each of the approximately 44,000 old seating brackets was
sandblasted and recoated with an epoxy primer.
Glazed brick was salvaged and reused in the expanded varsity locker area.
Notre Dame players continue to enter the field down a set of stairs
past the "Play Like A Champion" sign, but stairs to the visiting
locker room have been eliminated, with the top of the processional
tunnel ramp now serving as the visiting team entrance.
Casteel Construction Corp. of South Bend was the general contractor
for the project. Ellerbe Becket, Inc., of Kansas City, Mo., was the
architect.
The expanded Notre Dame Stadium was dedicated on the weekend of Notre
Dame's 1997 season-opening game against Georgia Tech, with events
including a three-day open house, a first-ever pep rally in the
Stadium the evening prior to the first game (more than 35,000 fans
attended), plus a Saturday morning rededication breakfast followed by
a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. Every former Notre Dame football player
was offered the opportunity to purchase tickets for the Georgia Tech
game and prior to the game the '97 Irish team ran through a tunnel of
those former players in attendance (those practices continue for the
first home game every season).
Other elements of the weekend included a specially-designed
rededication logo, a commemorative video and coffee-table book
detailing the construction project and an official flip coin for the
game against Georgia Tech. The official game program included a
24-page reproduction of the 1930 dedication game program and a
16-page color insert highlighting the expansion.
The Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame approved the
plan to expand the facility on May 6, 1994. The action of the
Trustees culminated a long and comprehensive review within the
University of the feasibility and desirability of stadium expansion.
The project was financed primarily by the November 1994 issuance of
$53 million in tax-exempt, fixed-rate bonds. The bonds were sold in
26 states and the District of Columbia, with more than 20 percent
sold to retail buyers and almost 80 percent to institutional buyers.
The incremental revenues from the expansion will exceed the debt
service on the bonds by $47 million over the next 30 years, allowing
the project not only to pay for itself, but also to generate $47
million for academic and student life needs.
Stadium expansion was the subject of one of 43 recommendations
submitted to the Trustees in May of 1993 by Notre Dame's president,
Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., in his final report of the Colloquy
for the Year 2000. The Colloquy was a University-wide self-study
carried out by committees composed of faculty, students and staff.
Father Malloy's report specified the conditions addressed by the
approved expansion plan with regards to financing and use of stadium
revenues, as well as matters of aesthetics, logistics, community
relations and communications. The plan approved by the Board of
Trustees addressed each of those issues.
Impetus for the Stadium addition came in September 1991 when the
national board of directors of the Notre Dame Alumni Association
adopted a resolution encouraging the University to study the
feasibility of expanding the Stadium.
Notre Dame Stadium, at 59,075, previously ranked 44th in seating
capacity among the 107 Division I-A football facilities.
With capacity increased to 80,795, it now ranks 15th - with Notre
Dame ranking eighth nationally in attendance in 1997, 11th in '98,
10th in '99, 13th in 2000 and 14th in 2001. Notre Dame's average
per-game increase of 21,150 fans in '97 ranked second nationally and
helped contribute to record attendance figures of 36.9 million in '97
for all of college football, including 27.5 million for Division I-A
games.
Ticket Breakdown
| Students | 10,795 |
| Faculty/Staff | 8,000 |
| Opponents | 5,000 |
| Season Tickets | 20,000 |
| University Allotments | 7,000 |
| Contributing Alumni | 30,000+ |
| Total | 80,795 |
June 2008
+Includes University Trustees, advisory council members, alumni board, alumni clubs, major benefactors and others.
