New sound system coming to Ross-Ade Stadium, maybe as soon as this season

FISHERS, Ind. — Mike Bobinski offered no guarantees.

But Purdue's AD said he's hopeful fans won't be complaining about the sound system in Ross-Ade Stadium this season — because an update is coming.

"The hope and the goal is that we will have our entire sound system in Ross-Ade replaced, upgraded, vastly improved by the opening kickoff in August," Bobinski said Tuesday night before the Boilermakers on the Road even at TopGolf. "That’s the goal. We’re working hard on that right now. Period.

"We have the money in hand. It’s a matter of if we can work through the process and get it bid, selected, installed, ready to go. But I think it’s achievable."

Purdue had a demo about three weeks ago, Bobinski said, to interesting results.

Despite having only one subset of what the new equipment would be, the sound was so substantive, the police came.

"They’d gotten a couple calls saying, ‘What’s going on in Ross-Ade Stadium? It's awful loud coming out there.' Not that we're trying to be loud — we're trying to have quality and substance," Bobinski said. "We're excited about that, and we think we're going to get that done for this year."

Bobinski said he's a "big sound guy" and values the importance of environment and realizes a good sound system can create a feel for games. He flat said Ross-Ade's old system wasn't good enough, so he's eager to add that element back into football games at Ross-Ade Stadium.

He knows fans are awaiting considerable improvements to the south end zone, including a new scoreboard, but those changes are still years away. Because they come with a significant cost.

This update, though, can be done now. So Bobinski is ready to move.

"That's my thing — we want to continue to make progress as we can," he said. "We have the funding, let’s do it."

Already, there is ongoing work on the exterior of the stadium, and though Bobinski acknowledged they may not be "life-changing," they certainly will spiff up the end zones.

"We're trying to improve the visual impact of the place," Bobinski said. "Just trying to make subtle improvements and changes. I think they’ll be nice. I think they’ll all tie in with the light poles, the strength those portray. The new branding elements in both end zones will be positive additions."

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2018. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.