This rendering shows Kinnick Stadium as it will appear from the south entrance after the two-year renovation project beginning at the end of the 2004 football season.

Since 1929, Kinnick Stadium has been the home of the University of Iowa’s football team—and, unfortunately, it’s starting to show.

At the end of the 2004 football season, a two-year, $87 million project to renovate the 75-year-old football facility will begin. By the time all the construction dust clears, say UI administrators, Kinnick will be one of the premier college football stadiums in the nation.

“Kinnick is already one of the grandest college football stadiums there is—and we want it to stay that way,” says associate athletic director Mark Jennings, 73BS. “Thiscampaign will not only allow us to provide a more attractive place to host football games, but also to keep Kinnick Stadium as a centerpiece of the campus for years to come.”

Although minor construction started this summer, the majority of work will take place over the next two off-seasons. Crews will work in shifts around the clock to complete the renovations by August 2006—without disrupting the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

After this season, renovations will begin on the stadium’s south side, east concourse, and the press box. The following year, the press box will be completed, renovations will begin on the west concourse, and the west side parking lot will be expanded.

As well as accommodating the media, the new four-storey press box facility stretchingfrom goal line to goal line will include indoor and outdoor club seating and luxury suites. The south end zone will house new locker rooms for the home and visiting teams—complete with the traditional pink walls that greet the Hawkeyes’ opponents.

Fans who visit Kinnick in 2006 for the September 2 game against Western Michigan will notice the improvements the minute they walk through the new main entrance in the south plaza. If they’re sitting in the bleachers, they’ll feel more comfortable in seats that have been widened two inches. They’ll also appreciate the new restrooms, better concession stands, new scoreboards, and public address system.

Other changes will become apparent as soon as the Hawkeyes take the field—complete with new synthetic playing surface—from the southwest corner instead of the northeast. From their new quarters in the south bleachers, student fans will cheer and the Hawkeye Marching Band will belt out the Fight Song.

Reassuringly, in the midst of all these changes, some things will remain the same: Kinnick’s historic brick walls and arches will continue to welcome the Iowa faithful.

Private gifts of $10 million, revenue from the private suites and indoor and outdoor club seating, and a series of bond sales beginning in early 2005 will finance the new, improved stadium. Although a hike in ticket prices is not expected, there will be a change in the way priority seating is handled by 2006. A new points-based system will determine where fans sit.

“There will be a handful of people who won’t agree with the new ticketing system, but it will be a better and unbiased way to seat people,” says Jennings. “We also don’t want anyone to have the misconception that this project is just for those who donate the most money, because it’s not. It’s about having the average fan’s game day experience enhanced.”

For more information on the Kinnick Stadium campaign and to view renderings of the renovation project, visit www.uifoundation.org/campaign/kinnick/index.shtml.