Stadium convert

Okay. I’m coming around. In spite of myself and what I once thought, I’m getting excited about seeing a football stadium rise out of the ground in the southwest corner of Colorado State University, not much over a mile from where I live.

After years of controversy; protests, yard signs and some screaming and yelling, the citizens of Fort Collins gave up begging the University not to construct this behemoth, sure to cause unimaginable congestion and impose hardship on nearby neighbors. The fact of the matter was, CSU owned the land and had every right to build upon it whatever they wished. Getting it paid for and dealing with traffic issues aside, seems to me it was done deal from day one.

This Sunday morning I took myself on a campus tour into the stadium construction area. Huge cranes reached into the sky. Already rows and rows of seats were in place far above ground level. It’s gonna be big and it won’t be complete until next year, in time for the opening of the football season.

I got to thinking how much fun it must be to work on this project in most any capacity—to see such a structure coming to life and realizing all that will go on within its walls. This a project with such awesomely visible results.

Early into my run, I found a quarter in the road. No pockets so I carried it in my hot little hand all the rest of the way. That’s because I’m a stingy tightwad and I hate to waste anything. I just don’t have it in me to leave a quarter in the street. And I suppose that’s the reason why I didn’t like the idea of a new stadium on the CSU campus. I could not imagine abandoning a 50-year-old football stadium nestled below the foothills of the Rockies in a location many universities, I thought, would kill for. Plenty of parking. Room for endless tailgate parties. Three miles from town on good roads. No campus congestion.

In my “opposition to the stadium” days, I kept wondering why the existing stadium couldn’t be rehabbed and if not, what in the world would become of it? Abandoning it seemed such a waste and there did not seem to be a good way to recycle or repurpose it.

It took me a while to come around. I suspect CSU officials figured most townies, and even anti-stadium profs and alums, would see the light before the first game day in the new place arrived. I started to think that maybe an on-campus stadium was a good idea after this year’s Bolder Boulder 10k, feeling a thrill as I ran into Folsom Field and felt the energy of a stadium filled with people having a good time and cheering on their friends right there on the campus. And the view got even better as I took my place as a spectator.

I still have moments when I wonder why an on-campus stadium is the key to producing a winning top level football team. But what I do know is that the half-built structure down the road is already a campus landmark. Hopes are high that it will be the site of some happy hometown victories and the source of a whole lot of school spirit.

CSU will play its first game in the new stadium in September 2017. I’ll be walking over.