Volume 103, Issue 7
www.TheEasterner.org
November 6, 2019
THE INDEPENDENT, STUDENT-RUN NEWSPAPER OF
EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
3 Opinion | 4 News | 6 Arts & Features | 10 Sports
Renovating Roos Field
A look at the potential benefits and impacts of the $25 million football stadium renovation DREW LAWSON Sports Editor EWU announced its intentions to move forward with a $25 million renovation of Roos Field on Sept. 6. The fundraising project is well under way, with EWU hoping to have all the money raised in the next two years. The question is, will this project be an asset to the athletic department and campus as a whole? EWU Athletic Director Lynn Hickey said she thinks the Roos Field renovation will boost campus morale and improve the game day experience for EWU fans. Hickey brought up the University of
Montana’s Washington-Grizzly Stadium and said that with the renovation, EWU fans will have a similar environment. “The (improved) quality of our seats will be so dramatic,” Hickey said. “When we went to Montana last week, and you drive up to that stadium, you’re thinking, ‘this is a real college football stadium.’ We’re going to have that.” Several other schools in the region have completed or are in the process of completing football stadium renovations of their own. The University of Washington completed a $280 million renovation of Husky Stadium in 2013. Since then, UW’s football team has averaged over nine wins
per season and enrollment at UW has risen from 43,762 total students to 47,571 in fall 2019. Chip Lydum, Associate Director of Athletics, Capital Projects and Operations at UW, said the response to the renovation has been extremely positive. “The stadium is symbolic and functionally important to the university and the community,” Lydum said. Washington State University completed the $61 million Cougar Football Project in 2014. Enrollment at the WSU Pullman campus has only risen slightly since then, from 19,756 students to 20,976 students. However, WSU’s football team has averaged eight wins per
season since then, compared to just three in the previous five seasons. Stadium renovations aren’t the only factor for more wins, but they usually contribute. UW and WSU aren’t the only schools that have completed renovations in the past ten years. Montana State University invested $10 million in an upgrade of Bobcat Stadium in 2011, and since then, enrollment rates have gone from 14,153 to 16,766. MSU is one of the fastest growing schools in the region.
Renovations, Continued on pg. 11
Keri Kelly for The Easterner
News
Features
Preparing for winter quarter registration
PNW artists push the boundaries of drawing
A breakdown of all you need to know about registering for winter quarter classes. The Easterner provides important dates and deallines no matter what year in school you are. EWU priority class registration begins today and will run through Nov. 19.
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The Contemporary Drawings of the Pacific Northwest exhibit will be a collection of artwork that displays many forms of mixed media. The purpose of the gallery is to challenge the idea of contemporary drawings through various forms of media. The opening day of the exhibit will be at 12 p.m. in the EWU Art Gallery on Nov. 6 and will continue through Dec. 6.
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