OU Set to Christen Surrounded Stadium

NORMANLegend had it that east couldn't possibly meet west in the south end of Oklahoma's historic football stadium. For Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium to become a bowl, it appeared the necessary pieces wouldn't fit quite right structurally.

"Somebody decided that instead of thinking about this 'legend,' why don't we take a look at it?" said Larry Naifeh, OU's Executive Associate Director of Athletics.

That somebody was Vice President and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione, who admits he frequently wondered how imposing the Sooners' stadium would look without those familiar empty spaces in the southeast and southwest corners. So when the upper deck and suites were added to the stadium's east side in 2003, Castiglione had the Populous architectural firm do a cursory study of enclosing the south end zone.

"We knew we could get it very close to connecting, but we didn't know if it would be exact," Castiglione recalled.

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Architects offered an alternative that also would save money. As a result, roughly 35 percent of the previous south end zone structure ? which included bleacher seating, football operations, the training room and strength and conditioning facility ? was razed and reconstructed.

"As the design process developed, we learned it would be more cost effective to remove some of the existing infrastructure of the south end zone and build it from scratch," Castiglione explained. "That allowed us to move some of the substructure into a better place to make it more continuous. It was going to cost us more to build around it and renovate it than it was to tear it out entirely. Plus, it made everything flow so much better. For the first time, now a fan can walk around from one side of the stadium to the other through the south end."

With Owen Field completely surrounded by seats for the first time in history, OU football now has #surrOUnded a proud tradition that includes seven national championships (since 1950), 157 All-Americans, 45 conference titles and five Heisman Trophy winners.

"When you think about what this project has been since we broke ground (last August), it's truly amazing."
? Joe Castiglione

The $160 million project added 1,800 club seats, 66 loge boxes, 20 regular suites and two party suites. With multiple construction crews working 24/7, more than 750,000 man hours have been invested into the renovation thus far. The south end is ready for some football.

"When you think about what this project has been since we broke ground (last August), it's truly amazing," Castiglione said. "I don't even want to engage in the kind of hyperbole about the magnitude of this project."

Saturday's home opener against ULM will christen the freshly restructured stadium. Next week, in arguably the most anticipated non-conference home game of the Bob Stoops era, the Sooners will host Ohio State.

Use the slider to view the stadium then and now.

The current stadium site was built in 1923. The north end zone was enclosed in a 1948 renovation that boosted the capacity from 32,000 to 55,647. This south end zone enclosure will nudge the capacity from 82,112 to 83,489, but the project's primary purpose was not to simply add seats.

Castiglione insisted the renovation had nothing to do with remaining competitive in the relentless collegiate "arm's race" that includes football stadium super-structures of 100,000 seats or more. "This is not about that," he said. "This was about the need to upgrade the experiences with improved facilities for all our student-athletes. Now we're trying to think about what it is we'll need in the future."

The south end zone's infrastructure will be completed sometime this spring and student-athletes from each OU sport will benefit from the space. "As the season goes along, you'll see more and more the external area will be complete," Castiglione said.

The ground floor will include a new locker room, coaches' offices, meeting rooms, a massive weight room, a nutrition center, a 70-yard turfed speed and agility area, plus a 24,394-square-foot training room that's nearly triple the size of the previous one. The third floor of the building will house the football offices and the team's video department.

The video board is approximately 50 feet high, 170 feet wide and has 30 amplifiers, 24 subwoofers and 424,500 watts of power. The arrays are 47 feet tall and stand approximately 130 feet above the field. The video scoreboard sound system is similar to the one at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., home of the San Francisco 49ers and Super Bowl 50. Ford Audio/Video installed the sound system and WJHW has served as the audio consultant for the project.

The original designs included construction of a new press box on the west side of the stadium in the next phase. Castiglione repeatedly has said that work will proceed only when scheduling and funding allow.

Asked if there were any significant obstacles to overcome, Castiglione said, "There was nothing of any serious consequence. A project of this magnitude is always going to have some challenge that you didn't expect. ... As we were moving through the project, if we could anticipate a potential problem, there was always a solution being developed, so it didn't cause any delay in construction. Mother Nature has been very good to us, as well. We've had some weather events, but as we all know, it could always be worse."

"A lot of folks have focused a lot of energy into this project. We've been really fortunate through all this, having such a good team to get it done."
? Larry Naifeh

Naifeh echoed Castiglione's sentiments in complimenting all parties involved. "That's the part that shouldn't be lost in all this," Naifeh said emphatically. "A lot of folks have focused a lot of energy into this project. Each person, each group, has to push the other group. The key is making sure we keep pushing all in the same direction. We've been really fortunate through all this, having such a good team to get it done. It actually is fun, in spite of all the stress."

Castiglione said he personally is partial to the spacious open-air fan plazas in the southeast and southwest corners, but the monstrous scoreboard undoubtedly will draw the biggest fan reaction.

Castiglione recalled the morning he left his house at 5:15 a.m. to get in an early workout at OU and turned south off Tecumseh Road onto Interstate 35.

"Usually when it's dark you can see the Embassy Suites (hotel) lit up in green," Castiglione said. "It was obliterated because there was what looked like a strobe light show going on between red, white and blue colors. At first, I didn't know what it was. I wasn't checking at that time wondering if that could be the video board, but that's when I realized this is a whole different viewing experience. We've already heard from people who are four or five blocks away at a high enough elevation where folks can see the video board - from Campus Corner, OU, downtown Norman. I didn't realize we had created balcony seats around Norman by putting up the video board."

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