Ad Disclosure
WATCH: Barry Odom talks Missouri’s final scrimmage, shares thoughts on stadium expansion
By Keith Farner
Published:
Missouri held its final scrimmage this weekend as the team prepares for its season opener against Missouri State.
Coach Barry Odom said there was a sense of urgency around the program as it shifted plans to prepare for the opening week as classes recently began and schedules changed. The Tigers went through a simulated game day schedule, from wake up call, to pregame meal and walk through.
“It’s nice to now put a game plan in action against somebody else,” said Odom, who added that the team began preparations for the opener about two weeks ago. “We’ve had a taste of it. We’ve had a couple bonus practices for that opponent.”
Odom also discussed the recently approved plans for expansion of the south end zone at Memorial Stadium, a $98 million project. Ground breaking is expected for sometime in the winter and the facility would then open for the 2019 season. It will include 16 new suites, a 750-person field-level club, a 1,254-seat indoor club area and 1,324 general admission seats. There will also be standing-room only sections to replace the current 10,800 general-admission seats.
In a video from Missouri Athletics, coach Barry Odom thanked the administration and donors for their contributions to the effort.
“It leaves me speechless at times in my gratitude towards them,” Odom said. “For our curators to step up in a unanimous way, and the belief and moving forward with our football program, I’m honored to have an opportunity to represent this program and this university and our state. And not a day goes by that I don’t think about that.”
The University of Missouri System Board of Curators, who heard a formal presentation from Tigers athletic director Jim Sterk, approved construction of a three-story, 200,000-square foot structure — including roughly 150,000 square feet of enclosed space — that will replace the existing general admission bowl.
The replacement of the 10,800 general admission seats will be 16 suites, 1,500 premium seats and 1,300 outdoor general admission seats.
There will be a new team locker room, training facility, weight room, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, recruiting reception area, dining facility and equipment storage. There will be new videoboards, a rooftop video deck and two-bay loading dock along with a new road connecting the west side of the stadium to the south side.
Capacity will drop from 71,004 to about 65,000, but school officials project a net revenue increase of about $4.5 million from the new premium options for attendance. The current general-admission seats generate $1.5 million, but the Kansas City Star reported Sterk told the Board he expects the new seating options to create “in excess of $6 million” in revenue.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
