Hughes Stadium at the Oct. 25 Wyoming game (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)
FORT COLLINS — As Colorado State president Tony Frank prepares to make a recommendation to the system’s board in December about whether to move forward with the on-campus stadium project or commit to sticking with Hughes Stadium, this might be a hint of what might be coming: The university officially is inviting community members to tour Hughes Stadium at 1 p.m. on Nov. 18.
(I’ll let you in a little secret: Another way to take a tour is to attend a game.)
This from the university release:
“The goal is to demonstrate what repairs would be needed if CSU decides to renovate Hughes rather than building a new stadium on campus. Making basic repairs so that Hughes remains viable in its current configuration is among the four options the university is considering as it wraps up a nearly three-year study of whether to build a new, on-campus stadium. The other options include significantly adding onto Hughes, building a new stadium on campus in a phased approach, or pursuing a public-private partnership to build the full stadium envisioned by the university.
Details about the four options, a link to the public input form and a complete archive of stadium documents is available at http://www.colostate.edu/stadium/. Public tours of Hughes will be limited to 40 people. If the 1 p.m. time slot fills, additional tours will be scheduled. Registration is required for this event in advance, so please RSVP to ramtrax@colostate.edu.”All kidding aside, this is a slippery slope. As the football program undergoes a renaissance, the stadium uncertainty can cause problems. CSU cannot continue to portray its own stadium as a dump without having it soon at least mitigate recruiting momentum. In other words, that decision has to come in December … one way or another. And this tour sure seems to make it clear that simply patching up Hughes is not considered a realistic option. I’m not taking a stand here, but I’m a strong believer in doing it right or not at all, and in this instance, that means the two options that should be taken seriously are: One, build a first-class stadium on campus, regardless of the financial model, even if it’s scaled back in size; and two, commit to remaining at Hughes Stadium (under the Hughes 2050 plan) and turning it into the best darned off-campus stadium in the country … or something close to it.
Don’t build a glorified erector set stadium on campus. There are enough of those in the Mountain West Conference already.
And don’t just patch up Hughes.
I keep coming back to a stadium from my past: Oregon’s Autzen Stadium. That’s because I literally saw it built, it’s not on the Oregon campus (yes, it’s close, across the Willamette River); and it opened one year before Hughes. Oregon’s was built at a bargain price, and while it looks similar to Hughes, it was constructed of cement poured into earthen berms. But Oregon has improved it incrementally over the years, far more aggressively than CSU has updated Hughes.
So, again, I’m not taking a side here. I’m saying I can argue for both Hughes and an on-campus stadium — but only if done right.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
