The initial groundwork for what a south end zone renovation of Ross-Ade Stadium will look like are being put together.
Purdue University Board of Trustees chairman Michael Berghoff said on 'Gold and Black Live' last Friday that university officials met Sept. 20 with the Populous architectural firm to begin to piece together a beginning to this long-planned project. Populous, headquartered in the U.S. in Kansas City, has led college football renovations projects of TCF Bank Stadium at Minnesota, Kyle Field at Texas A&M and McLane Stadium at Baylor. The firm has also done football stadium renovation projects with 14 National Football League franchises.
"I thought it was a great, healthy exchange of ideas," Purdue athletics director Mike Bobinski said Tuesday. "I would categorize it as a starting point for a re-imagining of Ross-Ade Stadium and a necessary first step."
Berghoff, Bobinski and members of the football's staff, including Greg Brohm, were in attendance to create a checklist of what is needed as part of what will be a multi-million-dollar undertaking.
"The purpose of the meeting (Thursday) was to map out the master plan for Ross-Ade, the south end zone, the north end zone and anything else related to the program," Berghoff said.
This south end zone and stadium renovation is seen as the next step in a football facilities overhaul, this initial step coming just 13 months after the opening of the three-level, 112,00-square-foot Purdue Football Performance Center.
"What we found (in the meeting) is Greg Brohm said after two years in (the Football Performance Center), we like the place. He said we don't need a locker room like we have in the Football Performance Center," Berghoff said. "Do we need a team meeting room? Yes. Do we need a place for coaches to gather? Yes. Would it be nice to have recruiting areas to showcase what it's like to be here on a Saturday? Yes."
Berghoff said Populous will "modify the original plan" that was based off artist renderings released by the Purdue athletics department in 2015 by then-athletic director Morgan Burke. Berghoff added last week that he anticipates the firm will have a design back to Purdue officials by the end of this calendar year. Based on the comments of both Berghoff and Bobinski, Purdue fans can anticipate a different-looking model for the south end zone and possibly the north end zone when Populous is done with its new design. Berghoff mentioned possibilities including fan seating over the top of what would be a new locker room in the south end zone and possibly a student-athlete nutrition center around where the patio exists now.
"It's certainly not a fully formed plan at this point because I think it's going to take lots of work to get this put in place because at first we imagine a plan and it's amazing how then things change over time," Bobinski said. "The world around us changes all the time and what I need to say is how I really appreciated how open (Populous) is to rethinking it around the new vision we have for this project in 2018."
Berghoff said that university officials want to capitalize on the fan interest surrounding Jeff Brohm's quick turnaround of the football program. Brohm's staff has given university administration the message they have "nearly all the tools they need".
"When we were talking about the master plan, the first one, people were worried about building something nobody would show up to and I never felt that way (about our fans)," Berghoff said. "I knew they'd come back but I just didn't think it would come back so quickly and so consistently."
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