OSU Builds on Strong Tradition with Boone Pickens Stadium Renovation
oklahoma state university, recreation, sports, stillwater,
Building a strong college sports tradition takes passion, experience, and sometimes, brick and mortar.
Oklahoma State University is deeply rooted in Stillwater. Its sports programs inspire excitement and loyalty. On game day, the town is a sea of orange and black.
“There’s a great partnership between the city of Stillwater and the university,” says Kyle Wray, OSU director of University Marketing.
A long-time fixture in the Big 12 Conference’s South Division, OSU’s 48 team national titles puts it behind only Stanford, USC and UCLA on the all-time title list. From football to soccer, baseball to golf, OSU sports represent a history of success that most collegiate programs can only dream about.
Boone Pickens Stadium is the physical centerpiece of the athletic program. The first grandstand of what was then called Lewis Field was laid in 1920 and held about 8,000 seats.
Since then, the stadium has been slowly expanded as interest in football has grown.
Eventually, after a few successful football campaigns that began with the 2001 season, a new name – Boone Pickens Stadium – was unveiled during a 2003 game against the University of Wyoming.
The name honors OSU alumnus and Texas oilman Boone Pickens. His $165 million donation to the OSU athletic department instantly became the single largest contribution to an institution of higher education in American history.
Since then, OSU has literally built its program on the belief that champions deserve facilities. Every sport from soccer to equestrian has had facilities upgraded.
Boasting $185 million in upgrades, the football stadium renovation, which began in 2006, is no doubt the most visible transformation that has resulted from the donation. Now covered with a brick exterior to match the Georgian architecture of the OSU campus, the 1.1 million-square-foot stadium represents a flagship effort for the Oklahoma State athletic department. The overhaul, called the “Next Level” project, will be completed in 2009 for the season opener against the University of Georgia. By then, the stadium will seat around 60,000.
“The renovation brings the football stadium into a situation where we’ll arguably have one of the nicest stadiums in the nation,” Wray says.
Wray says that even though the facility will not be huge, it will have all the modern amenities of an NFL stadium.
“I think it will revolutionize football at Oklahoma State,” Wray says. “The facilities have a direct impact on recruiting. People want to play to a packed house.”
Story by Brandon Lowe
Photo by Jeff Adkins
