How will FSU stadium experience change in 2024 amid renovations? Expect 24,000 fewer seats

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How will FSU stadium experience change in 2024 amid renovations? Expect 24,000 fewer seats

Ehsan Kassim, Tallahassee Democrat · Tallahassee Democrat

Thu, Feb 15, 2024 ·

10 min read

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Change can be difficult.

Florida State football fans are still coming to grips with the announcement of the renovations to Doak Campbell Stadium that have resulted in increased season ticket prices.

Construction is well underway at the stadium. Renovations are set to continue leading into the 2024 season and should be completed before the start of the 2025 season ahead of the Seminoles' opener against Alabama.

Four different companies are working on three different projects.

The stadium's west side, where stands are being removed, is a joint venture between national firm Manhattan and local firm Culpepper Construction. RAM Construction, another local company, is focused on the east stands. Whiting-Turner Construction Company will oversee FSU's standalone football operations facility, the Albert J. and Judith A. Dunlap Football Center ,

The Democrat sat down with FSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford and the athletic department's Head of Capital Projects Ben Zierden on Feb. 1 for an update on the construction, the costs and other questions fans may have about what the gameday atmosphere could be in 2024.

Alford admitted the construction will have an impact on the 2024 season. Capacity is likely to be capped at around 55,000, down from the sell-out capacity of 79,560 in 2023.

In 2025, Alford said he anticipates the maximum capacity to be back in the upper-60,000s, lower-70,000s range. But the experience for the fans should be improved, even with a lower capacity.

"It's extremely important to make sure that we're continuously trying to improve, whether it's with our student-athletes, and they're seeing what we're doing and how we're progressing and getting better and making sure that we also keep the fan experience at that level," Alford told the Democrat.

"Because I say it all the time: 'We lead the country in that 60 percent of our fan base travels over three and a half hours to get here. And we need to keep that experience going for the impact that we have on game day on Leon and Tallahassee because it's a tremendous economic impact."

So why now for the stadium renovations, as FSU has a lawsuit against the Atlantic Coast Conference over a hefty exit fee from the conference?

According to Zierden, renovations are overdue, with some of the steel holding the stadium together being put in place in 1951.

"It's been sitting out there for 73 years, and stood the time," Zierden said. "I think that what we're building now is I doubt that it'll last 73 years before it gets a refresh. But just being a part of those kinds of transformational projects that benefit student-athletes, our donors, our fans and our season ticket holders. It's just a big bold move and it's fun to be a part of."

Changes for the 2024 and 2025 FSU football seasons

FSU will play its annual Spring Showcase on April 20 and the scrimmage will remain at Doak Campbell Stadium.

"We'll be able to have the suites and all that'd be operable," Alford said. "Dunlap Champions Club will be operable, South-North endzone is operable, and partial east side [will be operable]."

While an exact capacity has not been established yet, Alford said in a Board of Trustees Meeting on Feb. 1 that he expected the capacity of the stadium to be in the upper 50,000 range.

That likely makes FSU football game tickets more premium than they have been in past seasons. There will also be constant construction going on around the stadium, meaning gameday traffic will also be different than in seasons past.

Alford provided a potential timeline for the stadium renovations at the university's Board of Trustees on Feb. 1. Zierden said potential delays due to weather and other issues that may arise are included in the timeline.

Timeline for FSU football construction presented at FSU Board of Trustees Meeting on Feb. 1, 2024

"Some of it needs to be adjusted. It gets adjusted every day," Alford said of the timeline.

But so far everything is going as planned.

According to Zierden, the west side of the stadium should be completely down within the next two weeks. That will make way for the temporary bleachers which will be in place for the 2024 season.

"Once that comes down, they'll do some preparation of the ground itself, pour a new concrete pad from the sideline, all the way back to the building," Zierden said.

"Then from now until the fall with the 2024 season, they'll be actually building back all the infrastructure probably about halfway towards the field. So all of the concourses, the general seating, all of that will be built back, really by the time we get to the '24 season.

"So then for the '24 season, we'll have temporary seating that will go down in front of that... They will continue to work in the area that they've already built back and that will be working on the concessions, the concourses, the bathrooms, all this stuff. That's kind of underneath the structure there."

InProduction, a provider of temporary seating, staging, structures, and sceni c production for the events industry, will install the temporary seats for the stadium in 2024.

The company also installed seats for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix in Las Vegas on Nov. 18, 2023.

"They are all temporary seats that they come in and build up," Zierden said. "It's nice chair backs. It's actually wider and better depth than what you have out there right now. So even though it's temporary seating for the '24 season, that seating experience is better than what we have out there right now, even in a temporary condition."

Part of the reason there will be a scaleback on the stadium capacity is because certain areas of the stadium are still under construction with demolition happening first.

"So we're in that and then they'll start building back," Zierden said. "[They'll] stop that portion as we get into the '24 season. Get through the '24 season then as soon as the '24 season is completed, they'll complete the rest of the premium areas because the premium areas for this project are down lower. So it's general seating up above with chair backs and then some bleachers on either side.

"Then the Founder's Suites, the Founder's Loge [boxes] and the West Club are all that's on the front part of the stadium structure. So, they'll build all the regular stuff first, stop for the '24 season and then complete in the offseason between '24 and '25."

Alford said the premium club seats are almost 75% sold out already and they are starting to develop a waitlist for people.

While FSU will have a reduced capacity even when the construction and renovations are fully done in 2025, there is an upside to it: More room at your seat.

All of it leads to a better fan experience, according to FSU.

"Right now your tread depth is 27 inches, meaning your knees are in the back of the person in front of you," Zierden said. "Then when we go through and even the bleachers that we put back there will be brand new bleachers, not the same bleachers that are out there now, a 33-inch tread depth.

"So we have a lot more space front to back, but then also the wider seat to give a lot more comfort there. And then obviously brand new concourses, concessions, bathrooms, social spaces, those kinds of things."

Update on Albert J. and Judith A. Dunlap Football Center

As any students, faculty, or frequent visitors have noticed when on campus, parking is at a premium with a large section of the parking lot outside of Moore Athletic Building now completely gone and construction taking its place near the practice facility.

Dating back to last fall, work has been going on to prepare for the building of the stand-alone football facility.

"We've been running water and chilled lines. All of that work going on, as you probably noticed in the fall, was all for the football-only facility," Alford said. "We had to move to build that new building on the east side because that's now hosting all the MEP [mechanical electrical plumbing.]"

Just as the stadium's renovations are expected to be completed by the start of the 2025 season, the football-only facility follows the same timeline.

"The second phase is what they've started now and that'll just be continuous from now all the way through August of '25 when they complete it and the football team moves in," Zierden said.

While the benefits and the features of the football-only facility have been well-documented, the impact it will have on the other 20 programs – including the incoming women's lacrosse team – is also something the FSU AD is looking forward to.

"This is gonna be able to free up not only the training room, they can take better class schedules, all the above to benefit the student athletes," Alford said.

Modernization of Doak Campbell Stadium, fan experience

Alford ballparked there has been around $500 million in total renovations campus-wide for athletics. Much of that is going toward the football-only facility and Doak Campbell, but a lot of work has gone into other sports as well.

The "party deck" at softball added another level, adding more seating for fans at softball games. There are upcoming projects at soccer and baseball, among other projects which are ongoing now.

While fans won't necessarily see it, the baseball Tradition's Room was recently renovated and modernized to show off FSU history.

"Instead of putting 50 plaques on the wall that are static, we work with Doug [Walker]'s team to catalog all of that into something that can then be put on a nice 65-inch display that you can find the person that you're looking for whether it's a Major League Baseball player or an All-American," Zierden said.

"We're talking about doing some something similar with soccer. If you go into the soccer building, they have a lot of the jerseys up on the walls of all the past international players and pro pro players. They're running out of wall space because they've had some success, and now we're going to do something similar ... where you catalog all that and then put it on a nice display and put some graphics around it. So, it's a great way to do more interactivity."

Alford added that the modernization of Doak Campbell has been something he has been working on since he arrived in Tallahassee, to help FSU keep up with other top-tier programs around the nation.

"Next year is going to be a lot of construction, even around Game Day. It's going to be a different experience with temporary seating, temporary concessions, all the above," Alford said. "But then when it comes 2025, it's going to be a modern facility with more fan amenities that will make that game day experience even better than what it currently was."

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports), Instagram (tlhnolesports) and YouTube channel (NoleSportsTD).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football stadium renovations: Changes for seats, parking 2024

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