Renovation plans include the complete demolition and reconstruction of the lower bowl and south upper stands. The track will be removed and the field will be lowered four feet to bring seating closer to the playing surface and improve sightlines.
A state-of-the-art football-operations facility, including team meeting rooms, recruiting facilities and coaches offices will be incorporated into the west end of the stadium. Premium seating opportunities, including 25 suites, 25 loge boxes and more than 2,500 club seats, will also be built into the facility. All these improvements are not expected to have any major effect on the overall seating capacity that currently stands at 72,500.
The projected cost of the renovation is $250 million. The bid submitted by Wright Runstad & Company is nearly $30 million less than the bids submitted by the two other competitors.
Renovation plans for the Husky Stadium, originally built in 1920, have been underway for nearly a decade. There has been no significant work performed on the stadium since a North upper deck added 13,000 seats in 1987.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin after the 2011 season. The proposal still needs the final approval of the president of the University of Washington.
