Jun 8, 2006 12:10 pm US/Central
'U' Regents Announce Stadium Architect
by Darcy Pohland
Minneapolis (WCCO) ―
University of Minnesota officials selected the architecture firm that will design the new on-campus stadium, scheduled to open for the Gophers 2009 football season.
HOK Sport of Kansas City was selected over two other firms, to build the proposed $250 million stadium called TCF Bank Stadium.
The architecture firm that designed Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Camden Yards in Baltimore and college stadiums from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma will be the designer of the new TCF Stadium at the University of Minnesota.
Representatives for the firm said the drawings of the stadium will likely be largely different from what we've seen for the past few months.
"My passion is sports, and I love being a part of these legacy buildings," said Scott Radicic, HOK Sports architect.
Radicic and his team are putting a game plan together to build new football history and tradition at the university. The Gophers last played on campus in 1981 before moving to the then newly-constructed Metrodome.
"Our goal is to create the most unique college experience that's ever been designed," Ridicic said.
The stadium will be a horseshoe shaped bowl with 50,000 seat mix of benches and backed chairs. There will be 39 suites, 300 indoor and 1,250 outdoor club seats and 30,000 square foot indoor club area.
It will be intimate like the stadium at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, which was also designed by HOK Sports.
"People always want to sit as low and close to the field as they can," Radicic said.
The stadium will also be home to the marching band and have a Gophers Hall of Fame.
"We do want it to feel like a university stadium to have a collegiate feel, much the way Memorial Stadium did," said University President Robert Bruininks.
During the past legislative session, lawmakers approved a financing plan that commits the state to 55 percent of the $248 million cost of the on-campus stadium. The university is raising the rest of the money through a $35 million naming-rights deal with TCF Bank, other private donations and a student fee of $25 a year.
The architects plan to tap into that tradition and input from the 'U', alumni, and students before a design is created.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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