University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Dig It Everyone, Construction Is About To Start
11/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, November 20, 2009, 1:19 a.m.
The day was October 18, 1997. It was my first trip ever to Fouts Field as a student to watch North Texas play against some school from Idaho, Boise something I remember thinking. When I walked into the stadium I remember thinking, "uh did part of the stadium fall down 20 years ago and they just didn't rebuild it" and "is this that place where my parents always threatened to send me if I didn't listen to them?"
Then came my first trip to the venerable Fouts Field restrooms. At first I thought I mistakenly went into an old prison camp, only to realize no, this is a bathroom.
Fouts Field was 45 years old then; today the old girl sits at 57 and is going on 58 years old. She will enter her final season in 2010 and not a moment too soon.
Tomorrow the ceremonial groundbreaking begins a new chapter for not only the football program but the athletic department as a whole. I'm one of those doubters who never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, thought this day would really come. I mean come on, only big-time schools get new stadiums right? Isn't the Longhorns practice facility hosting a Super Bowl in a few years?
The fact that North Texas is building this stadium is a herculean achievement itself but to see the work done behind the scenes is the really exciting part.
Silly me, I thought the architects came in with books of stadiums, you pointed to the features you like, tell them how big you want it, and presto, a new stadium is built.
Not so. The process has been pretty amazing to sit back and watch, and this is an outsider telling you about it. The finite details for the new stadium that have leaked out are just half of it. Those drawings and fancy DVD's you've seen where you fly through the stadium from all angles mean nothing when it comes to actual process.
There have been countless meetings, drawings, and changes to the stadium. For some involved, they probably feel like they've built 10 stadiums they have done so much work. Not everyone has agreed either on what the stadium should ultimately look like during this process. We like the wing, we hate the wing, invert the wing, turn the wing sideways, get Paul McCartney on the phone and see what he thinks about Wings.
But the fact that we are at that point, arguing over what the stadium WILL look like instead of arguing over what we HOPE the stadium will look like should tell you how much has been achieved.
It has been a long and winding road for those who have been putting this stadium together and tomorrow represents the first milestone of the work.
In January the real work begins on the stadium, but tomorrow those ceremonial shovels, bands, speakers, dancing circus bears, and other esteemed VIP's are the beginning and the end of a legacy.
Fouts Field is going to close down in 2010. The new stadium opens in 2011. The time to start "Believing It" is over. The time to start seeing it begins tomorrow morning.
