Iowa State announced a $14 million drive to give Jack Trice Stadium a facelift, adding 7,450 seats to the stadium and building a practice facility for basketball and volleyball underneath the added seating.

Athletic Director Gene Smith said the addition will benefit the future of ISU sports.

“It’s a great project for the future of our program,” he said. “I’m really excited about it.”

The new seating will increase the capacity of the stadium to 50,000 by connecting the east and west sides of the stadium through a lower-level concourse.

The practice facility for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball will be located beneath the new south-end zone stadium seats. It will include two full-size, multipurpose collegiate wood courts and will also feature locker and shower facilities.

“Both of them are important needs for our program. The practice facility because our programs, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, need improved practice areas.

“I think everyone knows that Hilton [Coliseum] is bringing in more events, which knocks our programs out of there for practice. It’s hard to get into Forker [Building] when we need to get in because of the growth of the academic programs and recreation activities,” Smith said.

If the new project is in place by 2002, Smith said at that time he believes the ISU football program will be improved and that the university will need those seats.

The project has already raised $10 million, and all of the money for the project has come from private contributions, Smith said.

A $1.5 million donation from Steve and Deborah Bergstrom of Houston has led the drive. Bergstrom is a graduate of the ISU College of Business and is president and chief operating officer of Dynegy Inc. He also serves on Dynegy’s Board of Directors.

Construction will not begin until all of the money has been raised, Smith said.

“It’s hard to project when construction will begin because we have to raise the additional $4 million. We’re just hopeful that we can complete our fund-raising campaign by December and then start the construction somewhere in 2001,” he said.

Tom Kroeschell, director of Athletic Media Relations, agreed, saying “ground will not be broken until the last cent is received.”

Smith believes these facilities are important in order for Iowa State to retain its successful coaches and for the future success of ISU athletics.

“You have to be able to have the right type of resources and support and facilities available for good staff members, and obviously [women’s basketball head coach] Bill Fennelly and [men’s basketball head coach] Larry Eustachy have done an outstanding job with our basketball programs, and we need to put these facilities in place to keep having that success.

“We also anticipate that our football program and our volleyball program will continue to improve ,and you certainly want those coaches to feel comfortable that they have the resources in place,” Smith said.

Ticket prices for the new south-side seating will be comparable to the old hillside tickets, Smith said.

“It will also allow us to create some different price tickets. It’s hard in the current configuration to have a lot of different ticket prices,” he said. “So by having the south-end zone, it will allow us to have lower priced tickets so that we can service another piece of our market place. I think that the other thing that it will allow us to do is hopefully block the wind.”

The new addition will also provide Hilton Coliseum with more opportunities for needed revenue, Smith said.

“There’s times, I know, that they are very sensitive to our practice needs and probably do not have some events in there, but this will make it a little bit easier for them to take a couple more events that might help them generate revenue because they have some serious maintenance issues that they need to generate revenue for,” he said.

In addition to the extra seats, additional restrooms will be included in the newly revamped south end and an elevator will provide a direct entrance to the lower level of the stadium, improving accessibility to the new seating for individuals with disabilities. The practice facility will also have a storage and catering area.

Smith said he doesn’t believe connecting the south end of the stadium will detract from Jack Trice, but will add more to it.

“We still have two hillsides left and those hillsides, on the east and west sides of Jack Trice Stadium, are the ones that are used the most and there is definitely an opportunity for people to continue to use the hillsides. So that’s not something that we’re taking away; we’re only enhancing the permanent seating for people.”

Some ISU students expressed mixed feelings about the plan.

Mark Walton, junior in elementary education, said he thought the addition could be beneficial for Iowa State.

“I guess it would bring more income into sports. I bet they could make a profit off of it,” he said. “[The additional seating] will make people more comfortable at the games, also.”

Erick Wisecup, sophomore in pre-business, said he approves of the plan.

“It will be a lot cooler. It will feel like more of a big-time college football program and bring in a lot more people. We need a lot more seats for all the fans who’ll watch the Cyclones win in the next few years,” he said.

Chad Janovick, senior in computer engineering, said he isn’t sure about planning for stadium improvements to match athletic success just yet.

“I really think it’s a good idea, but it might be a little premature. It’s really kind of sad that they had a three-game winning streak and couldn’t fill the stadium. … It’s a real shame Cyclone fans can’t come out and support the team,” he said.