By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — Word has been going around of late that big plans are in the works with the West Virginia University athletic department, mainly that they are considering an expansion of Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Let us put that to rest.
While it’s true that a survey has been sent out to some of the top season-ticket holders and contributors, it’s not true that they are checking with them to see if the wind was blowing the right way to expand the football stadium in the traditional sense.
The 60,000 or so that it holds is quite adequate for the time being, at least until the rest of the world discovers our paradise here in north central West Virginia and decides to move it.
So don’t be concerned about increased traffic on game days or finding yourself sitting in the upper deck along with 80,000 or so blue and gold clad fans.
However …
You knew that was coming didn’t you.
According to Mike Parsons, the deputy athletic director, and his right-hand man Mike Fragale, they do have something up their sleeve and it may be the ace of spades when it comes to increasing revenue.
The survey is to see if there is an interest in increasing the number of luxury suites at the stadium, the ones having been built in the stadium on the hospital end of the field three years ago apparently having been a success.
One suspects in the economic situation in which America now finds itself, they may not find a whole lot of interest in their season-ticket holders and contributors upping their yearly budget for attending sporting events, even if it does buy them the comfort of being indoors and the right to play host to a number of their friends and employees, but the survey will let them know how that comes out.
While we noted that this would not affect the general public in any way, it will affect us poor ink-stained wretches who are working at the game. We, of course, have always been afforded prime seats high atop the stadium on the 50-yard line, safe from the weather, fed a hot meal that sticks to your ribs — sometimes for days — and provided with pretty young ladies to come around and pass out the statistics each quarter.
True, we ruin it all by having to talk to the players after the game and then having to write dispatches, but, hey, it’s a living.
The trend, however, in new stadiums that are being built is to take the media and tuck them in just a comfortable a press box in an end and to use the prime area now occupied by, as Ted Williams once referred to them as, “The Knights of the Keyboard” and use that area for luxury suites or high-price seats.
If this does go through, rest assured the media will be visiting the end zone far more often than Pat White ever dreamed of doing.
To be honest, I was stunned when they built the luxury suites that they didn’t take over the press area — that also has the athletic director’s box, the coaches boxes, the radio and TV booths and that is used to show off to recruits.
It was so out of character for an entity that never met a dollar it didn’t like, but apparently the double construction job was financially ineffective at the time.
Personally, I don’t care where they seat me. As long as my seat faces the field, it’s fine as long as they provide all the essentials needed for covering a game — TVs for replays, statistics, Internet and, of course, the young ladies passing out those statistics.
o o o o o o
There is one change that will affect some of you that is coming.
The annual spring game will be played a night this year.
Normally, it is played on a Saturday afternoon, but this year due to the timing of the game, being late on Friday, April 30.
The way it was explained to me was that in part it has something to do with May recruiting starting on that Saturday and coaches wanting to hit the road and that final exams start on May 3 and the coaches wanted to give them some time to study.
Being at night, it may prove to be a bonanza and certainly you would hope they could draw 20,000 or more as it benefits the WVU Children’s Hospital. In 2008 more than $61,000 was donated and more than $600,000 had been raised since 1984.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
