By Chris Macaluso
LSUsports.net
Tiger Stadium.
Death Valley.
Whichever name you choose, wherever you choose to say it, the longtime home of LSU Football has always brought pride to Tiger fans and struck fear in the hearts of opponents. For the past 12 seasons more than 78,000 fans have been able to witness the exciting action in person on any given Fall Saturday.
Now, after more than two years of driving pilings, laying foundations and bolting in bleachers, Tiger Stadium will welcome some new guests inside its hallowed walls. The new East side upper deck has added more than 11,000 seats, increasing capacity to 91,600 and making Death Valley the fourth largest on-campus college football stadium in the country.
“This puts us back among the top schools in the country as far as seating capacity,” said long-time LSU Athletic Director Joe Dean. “But it also sends a wonderful message to our fans that you (the fans) are great and you will support us. Build it and they will come. I think that’s what we’ve done.”
Tiger Stadium has seen many renovations and additions through the years.
When the first game was played in the stadium in 1924 a mere 12,000 fans watched the Tigers from the east and west stands. In 1936, the north end zone was added giving the stadium a horseshoe configuration and allowing 46,000 to cheer on the Tigers. The addition of the South end zone added more than 20,000 new seats in 1953 and the west upper deck which was added in 1978 made Tiger Stadium one of the largest in the country by stretching seating to more than 78,000.
But while Tiger Stadium remained relatively unchanged through the 1980’s and most of the 90’s, other schools made their facilities larger and larger. In the early 1990’s, Tiger Stadium had fallen from one of the largest venues in the country to the sixth biggest in the Southeastern Conference. According to Dean, that wasn’t good enough for LSU fans.
“We went through a period when we went to about 68,000 and then added the west upper and we were one of the biggest stadiums in the South,” Dean said. “Then the other stadiums began to expand, like Florida and Auburn, Alabama and Georgia. When we added the west upper deck all those other stadiums, Tennessee included, began to expand and we were no longer, in a sense, the football capitol of the South. We didn’t think that but other people may have because of the size of our stadium.”
Construction on the East side expansion officially began in March of 1998 when crews from MAPP-BEERS construction company broke ground and began driving more than 700 pilings into the ground to provide support for the new deck. But the idea for the project had been floating around inside Dean’s head since the early 1990’s.
Dean said the cost of running the Athletic Department has increased by about a million dollars a year every year of his tenure. He said it became increasingly obvious that something would have to be done if the department was to continue to pay for existing programs. The department turned to the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF), a support group compiled of alumni and fans that provides both volunteer time and monetary support to the LSU Athletic Department, for help in finding a way to generate the additional funds.
“Expansion was a vision of Mr. (Joe) Dean and other people in the University administration,” said TAF Executive Director Rick Perry. “They approached us to see if we had any interest in participating in the project. Our board of directors decided this would be a great project for the Tiger Athletic Foundation. It was a project we thought would be of great benefit for the University but it was also a project that, because of Joe’s (Dean) vision and the path that he was laying for the future of the Athletic Department, we knew would be vital long-term to the success of the Athletic Department.”
Both Dean and members of the TAF were extremely ambitious in their goals for the project’s completion. They gave MAPP-BEERS just over two years to complete the project, a goal that would have been impossible to meet had the Athletic Department not enlisted the help of the TAF.
Because the Foundation is a private organization, it was able to circumvent many of the bid processes usually required by the State for other major on-campus construction projects. Perry said getting around some of the State policies, along with a little help from the drought that has gripped Louisiana for the past three years, allowed crews to go to work as soon as possible and work nearly every day. Money from the purchase of tickets and luxury suites by TAF members has almost equaled the nearly $50 million needed to pay for the expansion.
“We’re extremely pleased,” Perry said. “This was a project that was on a fast track. To do this in really under two years is quite remarkable. We had tremendous support from the University and the State and especially the Athletic Department throughout the entire process.”
Dean said now that the project is complete he is hopeful it will be a big part of new coach Nick Saban being able to turn around a Tiger football program that has struggled the past two seasons. Dean said the added fan support should mean a lot and one only has to look across the street from Tiger Stadium to see what a difference fan support can make.
“Our players are human and they love playing in front of a large audience,” Dean said. “The giant roar of the crowd is very meaningful to any athlete here. It’s like baseball. We’re almost unbeatable at Alex Box (Stadium) because our fans come and support them and the kids respond.”
Dean said he has no doubt the same will happen in the new-look Tiger Stadium.
“The interest in LSU Football is enormous,” Dean said. “LSU Football is a way of life for our people. The loyalty of our fans is incredible. Our fans are the greatest. They will come.”