On Saturday, Nov. 16, APSU will play a home football game against Southeast Missouri State University, the Govs’ last home game of the season. The kickoff will be at 1 p.m.
After the game, APSU is hosting a demolition ceremony for the old Governors Stadium. Attendees will see the first piece of dirt dug up from the stadium as the university prepares for the construction of a new stadium.
Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing Bill Persinger said in an email the construction of the new stadium will affect parking on campus. Summer Street will be permanently closed, as the area will become a plaza for the new stadium. Summer Street is in between the Foy parking lot and the stadium.
At the Wednesday, Oct. 30 Student Government Association meeting, Dean of Students Gregory Singleton said 140 student parking spots will be lost, but two new gravel lots will be available. The gravel lots will not account for all of the lost spots, however.
The new stadium, according to Vice President of Finance and Administration Mitch Robinson, will cost a total of $16 million.
Private contributions account for about $2.5 million of the total.
“It’s an important facility to not only the university, but the entire community,” said Bill Persinger, the executive director of public relations and marketing. “We are well overdue to make an improvement there.”
According to a press release, APSU President Tim Hall said we “cannot progress in our recruitment and retention efforts, especially football, without improving the stadium.”
The new stadium, Persinger said, will be ready by the next football season and will hold around 10,000 people. The new stadium will feature new offices, training rooms for the players, locker rooms, meeting rooms and more weight rooms.
Ten skyboxes and club seating similar to those at professional football stadiums will be included in the new stadium.
Persinger said he played football in Governors Stadium himself and discussed the significant impact the new stadium will have on enrollment and football recruitment.
“It’s not an amazing stadium,” Persinger said. “The original APSU stadium was built all the way back in 1946, but several improvements have been built on top since then, with the latest being in 2007, when President Hall first joined APSU. Now, in 2013, students and future students will have even more improvements to look forward to.
Sophomore nursing student Shelly Colby is new to APSU and said while she thinks money is better-spent on educational purposes, the new stadium will be a good way to bring students together
“Hopefully, it will get everyone to go to more games and show more spirit,” Colby said. “This will have the potential to motivate our players.”
