Jan. 4: Regents OK pricier stadium

Promising wider seats, an eye-popping view of downtown Minneapolis and a familiar appearance that will remind fans of the school's football history, the University of Minnesota approved a $39.8 million budget increase Wednesday for a new campus football stadium.

Detailed drawings of the stadium, along with a new $288.5 million price, gave taxpayers the most revealing look yet at the 50,000-seat stadium as school officials were quizzed about the higher cost. University officials, led by President Robert Bruininks, also said they were confident that an estimated $36.2 million still needed in private money -- which is part of the overall cost -- would be raised by the time the stadium opened in September 2009.

"We could have done it on the cheap, but [in] five, 10, 15, 20 years we'd look like we'd done it on the cheap," David Metzen, a member of the school's Board of Regents, said in explaining the increase at a sometimes testy board meeting. "I think this thing is absolutely awesome."

The new drawings brought into focus what would be the first new Big Ten football stadium built in more than a generation.

Outside walls are to include the names of all 87 Minnesota counties, in what school officials said was a nod to the university's standing as a statewide asset. The long list of amenities would include a private suite for the head coach, a room for football recruits and space for the marching band.

On the outside, the stadium would at least faintly resemble the brick exterior of Memorial Stadium, the school's previous campus stadium that stood across the street from where the new one will be built. Memorial Stadium was demolished when the school moved its home football games to the downtown Metrodome in the 1980s, a move that at first was hailed but over time came under increasing criticism.

"We studied Memorial Stadium," said Scott Radecic, a former All-America linebacker at Penn State and now senior principal for HOK Sport, the nationally known architectural firm hired by the university.

No more from taxpayers

School officials said the budget increase would be covered by a series of money management decisions and the issuance of as much as $25 million in additional bonds, which would have an annual cost of up to $1.6 million. Bruininks promised that no additional money would come from taxpayers, and said he hoped the detailed design also would kick-start the separate drive to raise the remaining $36.2 million in private donations. As part of the effort, university officials had promised to privately raise a total of $110 million for the stadium.

Though Wednesday's stadium announcement was generally greeted with smiles, the university struggled to separate the project's momentum from a football program that within the past six days had endured a historic collapse in a national bowl game and the subsequent dismissal of head coach Glen Mason. Before and after the regents' meeting, Bruininks and athletic director Joel Maturi were peppered with questions about who might be Mason's successor.

"I was never worried that there'd be any long-lasting link between the coach and this stadium. So, I wasn't cringing," said Richard Pfutzenreuter, the school's chief finance director. "The stadium is going to excite people."

One regent disagreed

Wednesday's approval of the budget increase did not come without a feisty debate involving Frank Berman, the only one of the 12 regents to vote against the budget hike and stadium design. "I've tried to reconcile how in the world we're going to pay this debt," said Berman, alluding to the bonds the university has already issued for the stadium.

At one point, he got into a spirited exchange with Metzen, who tried to get Berman to conclude his comments. "I'm not going to be rushed," Berman replied. "I want to be heard on this, and I want some answers."

School officials said the stadium's costs had risen for several reasons, including structural reinforcements that could in the future support up to 30,000 more seats, and a rise in inflation that exceeded earlier estimates. Less-than-ideal soil conditions -- the stadium will sit on what one administrator said "some people might call a bog" -- also contributed to the overrun, officials said.

For the most part, however, regents embraced the changes. "I think this stadium rocks," said regent Cynthia Lesher.

One of the biggest changes includes upgrades to the general seating. Half of those 46,000 seats will be converted from bench seating to chairs with arm rests. School officials said the width of the seats also was increased one inch to 19 inches, making them as wide as those at the Metrodome, where the school's football games are now played.

Onlookers impressed

At a public reception later in the day for the stadium design, hundreds of fans and onlookers gazed at drawings of the project mounted on easels. "I'm impressed," said Peter Lee, a season ticket holder from Eagan. "There's a lot of brick on there -- I didn't want it to look too modern.

"I think the stadium's going to help," said Lee, referring to the football program's problems. "Now a lot of people are going to be holding their breath and see who they hire as coach." Architects said they rotated the stadium so that its open, west end would give fans a dramatic view of downtown Minneapolis. Drawings show two large signs with the stadium's official name -- TCF Bank Stadium, in recognition of the project's largest corporate sponsor -- on the scoreboards.

School officials made several attempts to distinguish the new stadium from the Dome. While the latter's concourse is 24 feet wide, university officials said, the new stadium's concourse would be at least 45 feet wide. Wider seats and longer leg room, said Kathy O'Brien, vice president of university services, were added so fans would not leave saying, "I spent an afternoon here and my knees were in the back of the guy in front of me."

Mike Kaszuba • 612-673-4388 • mkaszuba@startribune.com