BOZEMAN – The state Board of Regents on Wednesday approved the first steps of an expansion of Montana State University’s Bobcat Stadium.
KBZK-TV reports that MSU President Waded Cruzado pitched the $8 million to $10 million expansion during a conference call with regents, and the board voted unanimously to allow $600,000 to be spent on finalizing designs and a work plan for the stadium.
Most of the money for the expansion is expected to come from donations to the nonprofit MSU Foundation. But the proposal calls for up to $4 million in financing from the university, which Cruzado says will be repaid in the future through ticket sales and other athletics revenue. She says the expansion will not be paid for with state money or by raising tuition or student fees.
Cruzado’s pitch reversed a decision made by former university President Geoff Gamble not to ask the regents for approval or start building until all the money has been raised for the expansion.
The proposal would expand the 12,681-seat stadium by 2,500 seats. The corners of the stadium, now open, would be rounded off and filled in with seats, and a new scoreboard, sound system and outdoor lighting for night games would be installed.
Cruzado’s request came a day after MSU announced a $1 million donation for the expansion made in honor of former Montana State football player and coach Sonny Holland, a Butte native and All-American linebacker and center for the Bobcats in the late 1950s.
Holland, who said he was “overwhelmed” with the news of the gift made in his honor, played on the school’s only unbeaten football team and coached the Bobcats to the NCAA Division II national championship in 1976.
The anonymous donor asked that Holland receive significant recognition in the expansion project.